Best way to clean crusty parts

[hart11b]

My boys and I are doing the entire front end on our 1969 C20. We have it all taken apart, but the control arms I am reusing are extremely crusty. Lots of grease/dirt built up on them from 55 years of farm.

I’ve gotten rid of most of the big stuff with a brush and a hammer/chisel. I planned on soaking them for a few days in a degreaser concoction and then taking them to get blasted and then repaint.

Is there a better way to do it? If painting, just use a chassis black enamel after primer?

[68Gold/white]

Diesel will dissolve all the greasy cruddy stuff. If I have a small area, I use WD40, its about the same stuff. To get any thin residue left on, Simple green.

[Getter-Done]

The Mean Green from DG is pretty good.

Link: https://www.dollargeneral.com/p/mean...n/720547001017

[Rust_never_sleeps]

I've been using Purple Power(since seeing a video demonstrating it working better than Super Clean) for the reasonable stuff.
For the "poor man's undercoating" where the oils and grit have caked up, I've been scraping the worst of it off and using O'Reilly generic engine cleaner. I've stopped using brushes until the sticky crap is gone because it just gunks them up

[novaX522]

I used brake clean for grease and gunk. I used a 4” grinder with a wire wheel to get the crusty stuff off.

[jerry moss]

oven cleaner from the local dollar store works well on gunky stuff

[hart11b]

Thanks for the replies. We’ll get to work with a few of the techniques and post the results when complete.

[72c20customcamper]

Lots of scrapping first . Then EZ off oven cleaner .

[raggedjim]

If they are off I soak them in one of the degreasers listed for a couple days then load them up and take them to the carwash. The guy who owns it is a buddy of mine and he said it doesn't bother him, but he hates the horse guys who clean out their trailers there!

[leddzepp]

Bilge cleaner

[Palf70Step]

Dollar Store oven cleaner and my pressure washer is how I do most super greaser things like the frame/suspension. If I don't have the oven cleaner or after it, I use the purple power stuff.

[Shifty One]

1 to 9 ratio of molasses to water. Don't leave softer metal parts too long, it will eat them.

[Chevy nutcase]

Originally Posted by Shifty One

1 to 9 ratio of molasses to water. Don't leave softer metal parts too long, it will eat them.

Molasses? 🤔 please elaborate

[MySons68C20]

https://www.google.com/search?q=mola...t=gws-wiz-serp

[Rust_never_sleeps]

Molasses has citric acid(as a preservative?) so it can work on rust, but IDK if it's any good on grease.

[desert-rat]

Spray degreeser, let it soak than head over to a self serve car wash and use the high pressure washer.
Or take the parts to a mashing shop to have the parts cleaned. That's what I did when I was restoring my '87 Chevy, I took the parts to a machine shop, had them remove any ball joints or bushings, they soaked the parts overnight, put the parts through a cleaning machine, I took the parts home to get painted, than back to the shop to have any ball joints or bushings pressed back in.