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Some penetrants compared.


TeamCF
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It's kinda on the old side and I'm sure most of you have seen this already.

 

But it's popped up and guys are giving it the rounds on the 4X4 boards I'm on.

So I thought I'd share it with you. :)

 

"The April/May 2007 edition of Machinist's Workshop did a test of penetrating oils where they measured the force required to loosen rusty test devices. Buy the issue if you want to see how they did the test. The results reported were interesting. The lower the number of pounds the better. Mighty interesting results for simple acetone and tranny fluid!

 

Penetrating oil . Average load .. Price per fluid ounce

None ................. 516 pounds .

WD-40 .............. 238 pounds .. $0.25

PB Blaster ......... 214 pounds .. $0.35

Liquid Wrench ... 127 pounds .. $0.21

Kano Kroil ........ 106 pounds .. $0.75

ATF-Acetone mix.. 53 pounds .. $0.10

 

The ATF-Acetone mix was a 50/50 mix (1 to 1 ratio)."

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Add a few more ingredients to the ATF mix and you have genuine Ed's Red.

 

I would like to see creepage rates through rusty threads compared, but that's be a tough protocol to set up.

 

Maybe the ones that did best here didn't *lube* the best, maybe they just *crept* the best.

 

 

"According to Ed, “Ed’s Red” will flow at -65oF and won’t carbonize at 600oF. It has seen use by both the FBI and the Army Marksmanship Training Units."

 

http://blog.captivereefing.com/2008/04/17/eds-red/

 

 

 

 

Dave

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Yeah just watch out if using heat with the ATF mix.

All of them are flammable. But with that acetone in there.... :eek:

 

(I poured a bit out and lit it to see just how easy it burned. Lit right up easy, lots of black smoke. I lit it on fire so you don't have to, hehe :rolleyes: )

 

I'd like to know just how it creeps as well. Maybe some experiments are in order. From what I've heard the ATF gets into places on it's own pretty well. The acetone is mainly to thin it out a bit.

 

For reference I used an old "evian style" water bottle to mix mine up. Seems to be holding up the past week against the acetone pretty good. Just made a bit in the bottom to try out first.

 

For the acetone I used some stuff in a can from the hardware store. I guess you could raid your wife/girlfriend's nail polish remover but it's not pure acetone.

 

On a side note the PB Blaster which I have two cans of didn't do as good as I would have hoped. Oh well. Works great for lubing up dirty threads that are not totally frozen. :)

Edited by TeamCF
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It would be interesting to see the spec's on Yield. It is by far the most effective rust penetrant I've used.

 

Well - if it's better than Kroil (which I haven't used) as you sugest, then it should score rather well.

 

One thing I don't see is how long they allowed them to penetrate before performing the test. And it would be interesting to see how they perform with heat applied first or durring the application of the product. Sometimes how you apply it is just as important as what you apply.

 

GD

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Well - if it's better than Kroil (which I haven't used) as you sugest, then it should score rather well.

 

One thing I don't see is how long they allowed them to penetrate before performing the test. GD

My own experience has been letting it soak in for at least 5 minutes. I can't add any thoughts about applying heat since we've never done that; never needed to.
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Heat is sometimes the only way in my profession - getting it hot first then dowsing it with yield often wicks the stuff into the threads or helps to bust up the rust/corrosion/tar, etc. We work on all kinds of stuff - asphalt pumps are notorious for not coming apart - we had a 24" pump a while back that never did come apart - they had friction welded the shaft to the cast iron housing - had to send it out and have the shaft line-bored out of the housing because the housing was worth $18,000 and the customer wanted it saved and rebuilt.

 

Sometimes not even a good penetrant is enough :rolleyes:. It gets scary when you have a 50 ton hydraulic press pushing on red-hot parts that you know you can't lift even when they are cold.....

 

GD

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would also be good to see the results of:

kerosene

lube job

crc 5-56

 

Yeah it would be nice to see more products tested. I wonder if any results are hiding away out there somewhere on the net......

 

I think they included WD40 just to prove how bad it was. :lol:

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  • 3 weeks later...

one thing we've found at our dealership is Mopar-branded Rust Penetrant. I don't know who manufacturers it, but it is RIGHTEOUS stuff...I want to name my next child after it. Like I said, I don't know who actually makes it, but I'd like to know so I can see if it's available in the aftermarket.

 

** anecdotal evidence: There was a 5th-wheel hitch ball threaded into a homemade brace installed under a truck bed I was trying to remove. No luck at all. I got a large pipe wrench (about 2' long), a cheater bar on it making it about 3 feet long. Added to that was a large pipe, about 4 feet long, so I was pulling more than 5 feet away from the ball. I got it to move about a thread's height out and doused the upper and lower threads with Mopar penetrant. Threaded it back in with the same tool combination. Let it sit and then was able to thread the whole hitch out with one finger on the end of the original pipe wrench alone...just spun it out!

Other occations I've had a 100% success rate removing O2 sensors from Suzuki Verona catalysts where everyone else (not using penetrant) have about a 50% rate of having to rethread the bung after the sensor pulls the treads out.

 

Amazing Stuff, but I'm really thinking I'm going to get some acetone and mix up some of my own and give it a shot.

~Erik~

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