made a mess with brake cleaner

[chuckwood]

I'm building another husky L65 out of my big parts pile. The case is dirty, lots of baked on oil and sawdust gook, and some crud inside the crankcase. In the past, I've usually used engine cleaner with a water rinse and then blow dry. This time I was out of engine cleaner and way overstocked with brake cleaner, so I use that. The brake clean did a good job, removed the crud, but then it went on to start removing paint. Oops! Now what do I do? The paint is flaking off inside the crankcase, much worse than it did on the outside of the saw. Great! Now I'll have to figure out a way to get all the loose paint out of the inside of the case. The stuff is no doubt going to get into the bearings if I'm not careful. I'll never do this again......

 

[dl5205]

Looks like a good opportunity to go ahead and split those cases, pull the crank, totally take the saw to pieces, use some more of that brake cleaner to finish stripping the paint, re-paint or powdercoat, and come back together with new parts.

Do I remember reading somewhere about some kinds of brake cleaner actually changing the metallurgy of some alloys?

Was your stuff modern, non-chlorinated or the older variety?

Just did some more checking, I'm probably mistaken about the metallurgy thing, it was fatal Phosgene poisoning I was thinking of.

Nasty stuff.

 

[AKDoug]

I've never had non-chlorinated brake clean do that, but others have reported it. I stick with CRC brand because it's never given me issues.

 

[1Alpha1]

Brake cleaner can and will damage or destroy old paint. I haven't had any issues with it, but I have seen the results that others have reported.

I used some on plastic recently, and it began to eat away at it. I caught it in time and was able to flush it off. That was a first for me.

 

[chuckwood]

Looks like a good opportunity to go ahead and split those cases, pull the crank, totally take the saw to pieces, use some more of that brake cleaner to finish stripping the paint, re-paint or powdercoat, and come back together with new parts.

Was your stuff modern, non-chlorinated or the older variety?

Just did some more checking, I'm probably mistaken about the metallurgy thing, it was fatal Phosgene poisoning I was thinking of.

Splitting the cases is not the answer I wanted to read, but what else can I do? If I dump paint stripper inside the crankcase how do I make sure there will be no paint goo left in the bearings? Flush out the inside repeatedly with solvents, then remove the bearing seals and flush out the bearings with more stripper and solvents? Then follow up with an air nozzle and blow dry.

I used non-chlorinated brake cleaner. If you clean metal with chlorinated brake cleaner and then weld, you run the risk of disabling or even killing yourself with phosgene gas that will be generated.

 

[Walt41]

I would not put paint stripper anywhere near the inside of any engine, that said you are a member of the right forum to go ahead and split that thing with no less that twenty assistants at the ready if you have a question.

 

[treeslayer2003]

chuck I split my first case a few weeks ago, it not hard as you think.

 

[blsnelling]

The ONLY way to do this right is to split the case. At a minimum, you need to pull the crank seals for a good flush after removing the rest of the paint.

 

[chuckwood]

I would not put paint stripper anywhere near the inside of any engine, that said you are a member of the right forum to go ahead and split that thing with no less that twenty assistants at the ready if you have a question.

So the paint stripping has to be done when all bearings are out of the way? I'm wondering why the factory would have painted inside the case in the first place, it's not needed there.

It's nearly impossible to find crankcase gaskets for the L series Huskys. I do have one, just one. If I use it, my next build will require cutting one out of gasket paper by hand - not a task I look forward to doing. I like these old, heavy saws because they are simple to work on and very tough - there's hardly any plastic on them and they can take a beating. I use them for milling small logs, they've got good torque and power and have never let me down.

 

[chuckwood]

chuck I split my first case a few weeks ago, it not hard as you think.

I've not done one yet, but a while back, I printed out the plans for cutting out and welding up a splitting press for huskies. I guess it's time to fire up the plasma cutter.....

 

[treeslayer2003]

I did the angle iron bolted to the studs and a puller. there is a thread here somewhere. it popped right apart.

 

[Jimmy in NC]

I had a saw do that a few weeks back. Stihl TS400 that I was planning on splitting anyways. Split it, new bearings and the works, and you'll have a happy saw for many many years to come. Not the worst thing in the world to happen.

 

[Heilman181]

It's nearly impossible to find crankcase gaskets for the L series Huskys. I do have one, just one. If I use it, my next build will require cutting one out of gasket paper by hand - not a task I look forward to doing. I like these old, heavy saws because they are simple to work on and very tough - there's hardly any plastic on them and they can take a beating. I use them for milling small logs, they've got good torque and power and have never let me down.

Are the tolerances that tight that you MUST use a gasket? Can you get away without a gasket and using something along the lines of Hondabond, Yamabond, or the other gas/fuel resistant sealers?

 

[Modifiedmark]

I've not done one yet, but a while back, I printed out the plans for cutting out and welding up a splitting press for huskies. I guess it's time to fire up the plasma cutter.....

You don't need a case splitter, use a propane torch to heat the case around the bearings and it will pop right apart.

Before you use your last case gasket, put it on a scanner and make a scan of it. You can later print that out on a piece of card stock and use for a pattern for making gaskets.

We run old saws, we make gaskets, just part of owning and working on old saws. You could always go buy a new saw and not have to make gaskets.

 

[Modifiedmark]

The ONLY way to do this right is to split the case. At a minimum, you need to pull the crank seals for a good flush after removing the rest of the paint.

And Bradley, what do we do after we pull old seals? That's right we put in new seals now don't we?

 

[Marshy]

Break cleaner probably damaged the seals anyways so I would expect to replace them. I've seen it shrink orings and such, I would trust the seals at this point.