Best de-greaser for excavators & other items of heavy plant

[BLYTH]

Hi,


I'm new to the forums here, came across trying to google search some degreaser for our excavators and after a quick look around thought it would be a good idea to join up!


Anyway, we have a pretty large fleet of excavators ETC, and looking for the best degreaser (Ideally bio-degradable) at the moment we use swarfega stuff, which is all right, but doesn't get rid of the stubborn stain's left behind by the grease. Any information would be greatly appreciated.


I look forward to posting more in the forum!

Thanks

B

 

[CM1995]

Welcome to the Forums BLYTH!:drinkup

I too am interested in what the others are using.

 

[BLYTH]

Welcome to the Forums BLYTH!:drinkup

I too am interested in what the others are using.

Thanks mate.

 

[fast_st]

Royal purple degreaser (homedepot) is pretty decent for cleaning up, its tough on aluminum so don't let it soak too long and don't concentrate it too much. I'm not sure on biodegradable, you're not going to make the grease biodegrade. For stupidly heavy degreasing, easy off works but will remove grease/paint and all.

 

[joispoi]

I use brake cleaner to clean up any area that needs to be opened for repairs. It's great for field repairs where there's no practical way to bring in a power washer. It's not biodegradable, but it keeps the grit and grime out of the internals.

 

[ben46a]

I'm not sure if ZEP branded degreaser is available in your area, but ZEP orange gel is the best I've used.

 

[mitch504]

Greased Lightning works pretty good too

 

[BLYTH]

Thanks for all the feedback, I'll check into they products today.

 

[catfixer]

we use a mixture of crc brakleen, purple power floor cleaner, and a hot water pressure washer

 

[ddigger]

There is a detergent that I buy from my{card lock** bulk oil distributer by the 5gal bucket, its amazing just put it in your weed sprayer to apply, let it sit a minute and then just rinse it off the grease just melts away. Next time I go to my yard I`ll get the name for you.

 

[blitz138]

It kills me to say this, Citrol from shaeffers, its citrus based, biodegradable, and it works.

 

[powerjoke]

We don't really have a need for it with a hot water washer but when we do it's ALWAYS Castrol SuperClean..... The walmart brand PurplePower cost a little less but you will use a lot more of it.

We have several buckets of "PinkPanther" powdered solvent because they give us a bucket every time we buy a new washer but we never use it.

On a side note, we used to use Hotsy washers but now we have Hy-Flo and we have yet to find anything that will out perform them. I believe I still have an old (8-9yrs) Hotsy I would sell u cheap if you wanted it.

Pj

 

[MadMitch]

This is the way I clean any of the machines that come in.

Park it in wash bay.

Use hands and fingers to remove excess grease from joints. The blown out grease that's been pushed out from new grease. Remove all of it with ya hands and wipe it on a rag so all you have left is just smeared grease on the joints. This saves extra clean up. If you just hit it with a pressure washer, the grease will blow everywhere and make even more of a mess.

Next I spray some degreaser all over the boom and blade etc. or wherever you want to clean the grease from. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes and wash off. I find that if you let it dry it just ruins the paint so wash it off while it is still semi wet. This might be easier if you do the machine in sections. Working from the top down also helps. No point in getting the bottom of the boom clean to have it get covered in **** again when you start washing the top off.

If you have degreased and still have grease residue or marks, break out the diesel. Soak a rag in diesel and get to work wiping down all of the areas that need cleaning. Make sure to wash it of straight away again. This should take all of the marks off. It can be a messy job but put in the effort and stand back with a beer and appreciate a clean machine after all the hard work.

The pressure cleaner on hot water should clean alot of the grease off anyway.

But my number one tip would be to keep on top of cleaning the machines. It takes more work and effort to clean a neglected machine than it does to clean a machine every few weeks or less. It's also a great time to find damage and can aid in resale value.

 

[hitachi daft]

bonnymans tfr 400 works a treat dealer in Scotland motherwell I think not to dear either

 

[BLYTH]

Hi guys,


Had a long read through your responses and have been searching for the name brands but with no luck as it looks like the products are not available in my country. Thanks for all the help though.

Hitachi daft, Thanks I'm gonna get right on to them and see if they'll send me sample, we have a pretty large fleet of plant so hopefully I can arrange something with them. I will post results if I get anywhere.

 

[bob455]

yep zep orange gel

 

[treemuncher]

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to say thanks to all that posted. I've already been using some Schaeffer greases but I had never heard of Citrol. I bought some Citrol and I'm blown away at how well it cuts this really tacky grease that nothing else would cut through easily, not even acetone. Straight Citrol on a microfiber towel cleans like nothing else I've ever tried.

The suggestion to wash hotter and with less pressure also works great. I put my old Northern branded Hot Box steamer unit back to work as my current washer unit only does hot water up to 180 degrees. The steamer will go to 230-240 degrees max and makes a huge difference on the heavy greases. It's a pain to drag out 2 units but it is work the results. My engine compartment is the cleanest it has been since the machine was new. The time to do it was now while the engine was out.

 

[Mbar]

I use zep truck and trailer wash with a hotsy on my service truck. Works great in the bed and back of the truck where the real mess is