Good question... Im awaiting a more experienced reply. Ive been welding for many years, the old timers always said not too clean metal with brake cleaner if your planing on welding. They said harmful gasses will arise from burning it. (Even if dry) chloride... And others . its been my experience the old timers are usually correct.
Should I use brake cleaner for front differential maintenance?
- Thread starter Bud125
- Start date
That is correct. Burning brake cleaner makes phosgene gas:
https://www.brewracingframes.com/safety-alert-brake-cleaner--phosgene-gas.html
Wow! Great link. Makes you feel lucky, considering the years of young and stupid. Not to mention all the shady bosses and places ive worked finding out too late the things i / we were exposed too ranging from mercury, pcb's ,asbestos, even radiation. Our bodies truly are fragile
The old timers I've known NEVER said that. They had no reason to because brake cleaner wasn't invented yet.
the factory service manual specifically states to flush it out with clean gear or motor oil, and NOT to use gasoline or kerosene. It doesn't specifically mention brake cleaner, but my hunch is that it's more similar to the stuff they tell me NOT to use than it is to oil. In a conventional diff without any plastic or rubber hoses I have no idea what harm it could do, but I'm not a chemist and it seems like an odd thing to put in the manual if there wasn't a reason for it.
I don't buy the argument that it doesn't matter because it evaporates so quickly, because while it does on an otherwise dry surface, it likely gasses off much more slowly once it's been mixed with residual gear oil. My reasoning for this is that when I have mixed it with gear oil, I can still smell brake cleaner in it hours later.
That said, it's used to clean out probably hundreds of axles per day all over the country and I'm unaware of any failures or damage attributed to brake cleaner.
Agreed... better to be safe than sorry...
In order to prevent ruining certain surfaces, avoid using brake cleaner on plastics, rubber, and any painted surface that you want to maintain. Protect these surfaces with careful application and small amounts of product at one time. In addition, read the safety information on all products before use.
Brake Cleaner Ingredients
- Chlorinated Brake Cleaner.
- Tetrachloroethylene. This solvent — also known as perchloroethylene — is the primary ingredient in this kind of brake cleaner. ...
- Carbon Dioxide. Carbon Dioxide is used as a propellant in the aerosol format of brake cleaners.
- Non-Chlorinated Brake Cleaner. ...
- Heptane. ...
- Acetone. ...
- Carbon Dioxide.
You must be older than me... Some of these old timers are still with me. Knowledge doesn't have to be ancient too be useful...
At 72 I'm officially an old timer and I don't recall it ever not being available even in the 60's.
I had no idea brake cleaner has been around that long.
I'm 53 and probably am an old timer to some. I use brake cleaner way too often and found out about not welding after using it but I don't think I ever even heard of it until about 20 years ago. As for the old timers, the ones in my mind were your age shortly after I graduated high school. Back then it was kinda rare to meet one that wasn't missing a body part (finger(s), eye, toe, etc) either because of WWII or working in a steel mill.
That looks like it's referring to me. If so you're full of shit.
CRC BRAKLEEN®, the ORIGINAL aerosol brake parts cleaner, was developed in 1971. BRAKLEEN was the very first product of its kind and is still the industry leader today. Hundreds of thousands of technicians and do-it-yourselfers rely on BRAKLEEN and CRC professional-grade brake maintenance products for fast and effective brake service solutions.
https://www.crcindustries.com/products/crc/crc-brakleen.html
Edit: not saying other forms weren’t available before this. All of this is before my time.
https://www.crcindustries.com/products/crc/crc-brakleen.html
Edit: not saying other forms weren’t available before this. All of this is before my time.
OP
Epilog- Did not use brake cleaner, didn't need it. Dif looked really good to my untrained eye. No metal flakes or chunks just a little fine paste on both the drain and fill plugs. Fluid was a bit cloudy so it was time for a change. I was a bit worried as it was obvious that that the cover had been pulled before by the sloppy rtv job. I decided against the "aftermarket" dif cover and am installing the stock cover, will maybe get a guard for it in the future.
CJeeP1
New Member
I just changed my differential fluid. Now it is making clicking noises mostly when turning right. It did not make any noise prior to changing the fluid. The fluid was clean and no metal shavings on the magnet. Any suggestions?
Jack up the front end and rotate the tires, try to identify exactly where the clicking is coming from.
Tighten your diff fill plug too tight? Might be riding on the locker actuator ring (assuming Rubicon).