One of the things I like to do in my shop (garage) is to clean off nasty, dirty, greasy parts. I had looked into getting a solvent tank to put in my garage. But they can cost a pretty penny. They have some home mechanic versions of this that runs about $40-$60…but that’s still out of my broke-butt budget.
So rather than shelling out that kind of cash, I went to Wal-Mart to get some degreaser and a plastic bin. This Orange Degreaser is only about $4.00 for this large container. I found it in the automotive area, near the car wash detergents and Simple Green.
This stuff is pretty strong so I added a bit of water to dilute it, funny thing is, even with water, this stuff was still potent! So I took of Priscilla’s XTR chain and placed it in the solution in the plastic container. I let it sit there for a few minutes. From this picture, the solution is still pretty clear.
Then about 5 minutes into it, it started to show that the degreaser was breaking down the muck on the chain. I then started scrubbing the chain and check out how dark the solution is…
This is after 10 minutes of marinading in the stuff, and a few scrub jobs, now that’ a clean chain!
I’d totally recommend saving a few bucks and buying this degreaser. This stuff is cheaper than what you would find at the shop.
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Show CommentsThanks for the tip, it’s always good to have some kind of solvent tank around… looks like your chain came out nice and clean!
That’s funny, I have the same setup right down to the plastic tub. I’m still working through a jug of the regular Greased Lightning Multipurpose though. Stuff works great. I’ll have to try the Orange Blast when I run out.
$4 for Greased Lightning, count me in!
I have also found that if you put some degreaser in a large gatorade bottle and shake it up with the chain inside it does a great job without much mess.
One note of warning…I’ve worked as a mechanic in a bike shop for years, and when I do overhauls on bikes, I usually prefer to spray the chain with a solvent/degreaser (like White Lightning). When you soak a chain in a degreaser like above, it can eat away at the lubrication between the links themselves, to the point where you can never re-lubricate it. It might look prettier, but you can get chain suck when riding, which no one wants to deal with.
Other than that, though, I use that type of degreaser to clean brakes, derailleurs, cranks, pedals, etc, with no problems, you just need to be sure not to leave them in the solvent too long.
I will definitely make use of this tip. Thanks for posting this!
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