Track Tac

How do you clean your axle?

mike97760 said:
We take the whole axle assembly apart after every race, put the bearings chain and small parts in the sonic cleaner. The axle is cleaned with very high grit sandpaper or emery cloth and sprayed with WD40.
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What cleaner do you use in the ultrasonic?
 
I don't put water on my karts......period. Toothbrush, couple rags and a bottle of simple green. All I need. Might take me longer but it works for me and I get to inspect every piece along the way. Check my bolts and safety wires etc.

I take my hubs and rear bearings out. Clean them with brake cleaner or parts cleaner. Blow em out with air and relube.
 
mike97760 said:
We take the whole axle assembly apart after every race, put the bearings chain and small parts in the sonic cleaner. The axle is cleaned with very high grit sandpaper or emery cloth and sprayed with WD40.
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Why do you sand the axle ?
 
jsf74 said:
Y’all over think this entirely too much. Power wash, blow dry, spray with wd40 and wipe down. Clean bearings separate in parts cleaner and triflo. Ready for next weekend. Some of people’s cleaning methods are absurd.
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It is just not a lazy way of cleaning a kart. Do what you want. They are just SUGGESTING what you can do. I NEVER SKIP MAINTENANCE. Yes what you suggest will do fine but what they suggest is just more thorough way of cleaning
 
I would suggest NOT to put the chain in the sonic cleaner. There is grease injected in the rollers / pins by the manufacturer. The sonic cleaner will break down that injected grease and leave the pins/rollers unlubricated. It is near impossible to replace this lubrication. None of the chain manufacturers recommend to submerge the chain in a water or water soluble products nor recommend sonic cleaning. Don't get me wrong, the chain comes out looking sparkling clean. But it will wear out faster and will not roll as smooth under load (it will spin free on the stand). Much like a worn out bearing will spin great on the stand but under load really robs horsepower.
 
I was just curious as to some other methods. We have our own every week and we try to put water anywhere near bearings. We do clean the chain in gas and leave it submerged in oil for a few days.
 
On an old thread, there was talk of putting your item to be cleaned in a ziplock bag with cleaning, or lubricating solution of choice. Then putting in your sonic cleaner with whatever inert liquid to clean parts. Thus keeping that fluid free of contaminants.

Crock pot for chains to get oils back into link pins and joints.
 
Take axle out. Take gear off. Spray down with degreaser. SD20 works great but any degreaser works. Hit it with the power washer. Dry with cloth and air hose. Soak it in WD40. I like to use the fogger. Let it sit and soak until ready to go back in clean kart. Inspect bearings. Repack with grease if needed. Reassemble. Reinstall.
 
It's just a piece of steel or aluminum pipe. It don't matter how you clean it, so long as the bearings are tended too. Worry bout what matters to be fast, not what's pretty. If you want pretty go race with what's pretty not fast.
 
Pretty don't buy the best looking nothing if there good dirty. But good dirty buys happiness. ... hummm maybe that's one for the original sayings thread? ... :)
 
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