Cheap Hardware cleaner

[si Banker]

It is always nice to have clean hardware when you are reassembling or servicing your car but cleaning, nuts, bolts and washers tedious at best. I having a harder time with the small parts because of the onset of Parkinson's. I have lost much of the dexterity in my hands so it makes handling small nuts and bolts difficult.

That said, I came up with a solution. I took a small water bottle, 16 ounce, and filled it half full with a 50/50 solution of Simple Green and water. All you need to do is shake it! If you use the water bottle as a way of organizing your hardware during disassembly it will have time to soak.

I hope this is of value to someone.

[s_morrison57]

We have a product in Canada called CLR, calcium, lime, rust, I soak that kinda thing in there over night and wipe them clean in the morning, works great.
Finn

[porschenut]

We have CLR in the states too. I never thought of using it for this purpose.

[kiwiokie]

I can confirm CLR works great but be careful as it will quickly remove the cadmium plating on hardware.

[steely]

Originally Posted by si Banker

All you need to do is shake it!

Great idea - I force myself to put the hardware in old medicine bottles that I label. Now the bottles can get double duty. Thanks.

[rusnak]

I use diesel, then Super Clean, finish with dish soap for really dirty parts. Larger parts benefit from a wire cleanup brush and Brakleen or similar solvent. Small throway brass brushes are great for small parts and hard to clean areas.

[dtxscott]

In the spirit of diesel, I use Kerosene. It dries clean and is easy on rubber/soft parts.

I used to use it on motorcycle O-ring chains with good results.

The brass and nylon brushes are great, too.

[911pcars]

Try one of the citrus-based, water-soluble cleaning liquids, a parts basket, stiff parts brush and a large bucket.

I use a product called "Oil-Eater", available at most industrial supply houses; also at Costco if there's one near you. Can be diluted for general purpose cleaning chores.

Costco Business Center: A different warehouse designed to meet the needs of your business.

Sherwood
(no affiliation)