Paoili Shocks and brake cleaner.

G

ghwallice

Hero member
Location
Ipswich
I want to drain the oil out of a few sets of Zane front shocks and flush them out.

Is anybody able to tell me if brake cleaning fluid will destroy the seals ect?

I guess process would be undo the top, drain the oil, put in 200ml?? of brake cleaner, pump it for a while, undo the top again and stand upside down to drain out and the rest evaporate. If I do it quick, say 10 min process, I'm hoping not cause any damage.

Any thoughts?

Regards, Greg
 
Any thoughts?
The obvious question. Why not remove the sliders and clean them properly?
You can then inspect them for wear and tear as well. Seals are cheap and it could be good to just replace them.
 
I wouldn't have thought brake cleaner would be a suitable product for flushing out hydraulic forks. It's for cleaning external brake components like disks, calipers, drums, etc. to remove the fine dusty grime that's produced as the friction material wears (that dust is horrible stuff if you breathe it in).  No idea what's in it and how it might affect seals.

My preference would be to use a thin oil like kerosene to flush them out. Don't waste the kero after you've finished cleaning the forks. Pour it through a coffee filter to get any gritty bits out of it, then put it in the fuel tank of your diesel vehicle. A bit of fork oil contamination won't do any harm.  :D
 
I used to love using Newlon Carby Cleaner on everything and then I read the can, bad for painted surfaces. Reading the safety info helps with this stuff.
 
Flush the forks out with kero and then flush the kero out with metho, leave for a while for the metho to evaporate then re-assemble and refill with the correct amount of fork oil. Easy peasy. ;)
 
Legs said:
Flush the forks out with kero and then flush the kero out with metho, leave for a while for the metho to evaporate then re-assemble and refill with the correct amount of fork oil. Easy peasy. ;)
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I'm with Terry all the way cant beat good old Kero here, I for one wouldn't be using either brake clean or carby clean in forks..............
 
Sir Sidney Ruffdiamond said:
Not sure we can buy that stuff anymore over here - fire risk  :-X
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Am sure you can get paraffin which for all intensive purposes is the same... ...........
 
Brake cleaner shouldn't hurt any of the seals or plastic bushings[if any] it will dissolve oils on the surfaces and will be clean. Some of whatever grit will be carried off by draining the oil,more by the brake cleaner. Flushing with kero would be a good first step after draining the oil then a final flush with the brake clean. Taking them apart and cleaning them wouldn't really be a whole lot more of an effort though.
 
I'm not sure that kerosene and paraffin are the same thing. They smell different for a start, and I think paraffin is more viscous than kero. Not that it matters for the purposes discussed here. Either will do.
 
wdietz186 said:
Some of whatever grit will be carried off by draining the oil,more by the brake cleaner.
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If there is any 'grit' in a modern fork like these you have problems! It should be spotless in there - no lint, or traces of anything.
 
Dellortoman said:
I'm not sure that kerosene and paraffin are the same thing. They smell different for a start, and I think paraffin is more viscous than kero. Not that it matters for the purposes discussed here. Either will do.
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Kero tastes better, with a dash of OJ.
 
ghwallice said:
OK. Thanks for the feedback. I'll use kero and metho. Regards, Greg
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Nothing in the forks that can be harmed by brake cleaner.  Spray cans help dislodge the crud that accumulates at the bottom of the tubes.  Guess anything that shifts old oil will be OK.

As Quentin stated, you find grit, you got problems... :D

piet
 
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