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I'm trying to fix a vintage side wheel reel lawn trimmer. Nothing is broken but the old grease(a heavy white compound) has set like a thick putty. This prevents the pawl from engaging and the reel won't turn. For want of anything handy I'm soaking the wheel and gears in WD40 but though that will soften common graphite grease I doubt it will budge this stuff.

Eric,

I would soak it overnight in a can of kerosene then, wearing nitrile gloves, I would use an old toothbrush and brush clean onto old newspaper. Gasoline may work better, however, it is nasty stuff and I don't working with it.

If you don't have kerosene handy and don't want the hassle of buying a gallon, use standard charcoal lighter fluid, which is low grade kerosene.

Naptha may work as well.

Whatever you do, be sure and wear eye protection.

Thanks for the info.

I found that the WD40 worked somewhat- one of the ingredients is a hydrocarbon similar to kerosene and it softened the grease to the point I could scrape it away and rub it out of the gear teeth with a scrubber. The pawl is working pretty freely now, and if it sticks I now know how to take it apart.

One of the best solvents that I know of is lacquer thinner. When I was working doing mechanic work in a body shop I used it for just about everything because we had it there by the 5 gallon container. Extremely flammable though!

Josh

beat_truck wrote:One of the best solvents that I know of is lacquer thinner. When I was working doing mechanic work in a body shop I used it for just about everything because we had it there by the 5 gallon container. Extremely flammable though!

Josh

also it's so volatile that I must refrain from breathing it. we use a little to clean glue residue from a mat cutting machine and the smell is pervasive.

Unfortunately, the stuff that seems to work the best is also not good for your health. The "green" environmentally friendly cleaners, paints and solvents often don't work as well as the traditional stuff.