eagletree

I was about to set up my Cycleops Hammer tonight and started to put my old 11-28 105 Cassette on it. I pulled off the 8sp/9sp/10sp spacer and oring and slipped it on. When I started to tighten it down, it made a lot of "Scritch scritch" noises where obviously there was a lot of sand left in it from my winter riding. It would not even tighten enough to get the bike on (yes, I should not have even attempted once I realized how dirty the thing was). I'm guessing the dirt in there is just enough to not let the cassette compress fully. The photo doesn't show just how dirty it is, but there is a lot of sand between everything.

My question is, what is safe to clean it with? I normally clean carburetors and other small parts in a pine-sol bath in my ultrasonic washer, but I started wondering if that would damage these parts. I tend to have some things I wash that way discolor and it looks like there is a lot of nylon in this thing so I'm not sure it would handle the heat well. I have other even more nasty agents like cleaning solvent and mineral spirits, but it seems those might hurt them too. What is safe to clean a cassette with? Should I just use super hot water and toothbrush?

Thanks in advance.

dsbrantjr

How about Dawn liquid in hot water after wiping the heavy crud off with cloth?

Iride01 

As long as it's off the free hub, clean it with whatever you want. Well almost, I suppose I don't have to caution you about using nitric acid or any other acids right? Perhaps not lye either or other caustics.

When has mineral spirits been a "nasty" cleaning agent? That would be my first choice, although I'd probably find a can of WD-40 while searching through my poorly organized overcrowded fire hazard of a garage, before I found my can of mineral spirits. So I'd be happy with WD-40 or any other light lubricant or petroleum based solvent.

If you think it's green, soap and water is okay too.

Troul 

pressure washer & hot carwash soap+water. Then brush it down, repeat the hot suds wash & wipe it clean.

SalsaShark

Simple Green, hot water, and a toothbrush. It will gleam like new!

Bigbus

I can just envision you running around your driveway with the pressure washer as you chase down a cassette...

eagletree

Yes, 3000 PSI will tend to shoot something this small like a throwing star, and I have no driveway, just a muddy gravel road out here, it might end up more covered with dirt than when I started, that is, once I find all the pieces.

These are good suggestions. I think I'll try the sink, hot water is about 140 or so, dish soap may do the job. I do keep a lot of mineral spirits around because that's what I cut paint with for spraying. It's tempting to use that if it won't hurt the plastic/nylon parts of the thing, but the sink is a lot less messy, so that will go first.

Thanks all, sounds like I was worrying too much and they are more rugged than I imagined.

It will sure be nice to be a smart trainer tomorrow night. The old Fluid Primo Elastogel can go be retired now. Though I may be back tomorrow asking why it still doesn't compress enough .

Miele Man

I disassemble my cassettes to their individual cogs and spacers and then wash them with dish or laundry detergent and hot water. To scrub them I use either a tooth brush or a stiff bristle brush I buy at a dollar store.

If I don't want to take the cassette apart, I find that the brush end of a brush use to clean a car windshield of snow works really well.

Cheers

SethAZ 

I usually don't have much of a choice whether I take it apart or not. It usually takes itself apart when I remove it from the hub. Then I'll just use a mix of hot water and some citrus degreaser, and an old toothbrush. I don't take my casettes off very often, mostly just if I want to swap my "flatlands" cassette that has more closely spaced tooth counts (my usual one, on my bike 99% of the time) for my "climbing" casette, which adds some teeth to the largest two or three cogs.

eagletree

I was wondering about that, mine is a pile of loose cogs and spacers, yet every video I see online, they look like they hold together except the two tallest gears. Not a big deal because it all slips on quickly enough anyway one at a time, but I just don't see how they keep them together.

freeranger

For those who might be reading this thread, but don't want to take their cassette off, a pipe cleaner can be used to get between the cogs. You can soak the pipe cleaner in whatever solution you are using to loosen the grime.

Iride01 

The manufacturer's expect them to get all gunked up with petroleum based chain lubes, so I wouldn't expect mineral spirits or most any other common petroleum based product to hurt them.

SethAZ 

My climbing cassette is currently sitting in a plastic bag on my parts shelf, the sprockets and spacers only held by a zip tie. The cassettes I'm used to dealing with are not single-piece assemblies, but like you say, some sprockets in an assembly with the rest being loose.

As far as cleaning the cassette on bike, I've got a bag of these loose rope-like things that I can just pull in beween the sprockets to get the major crud off, then I'll spray it down with a little citrus degreaser and call it good. I don't remove the cassette just to clean it; I only remove the cassette if it's being replaced (haven't done that very many times, I think once on my old bike and once on my MTB) or if I'm going on a special mountain climb group ride that will be challenging enough to swap in my climbing cassette (has some higher-tooth sprockets on it). That doesn't happen too often either.

Troul 

if commonsense of securing it in place is nonexistent, then it chasing the part will be the outcome.

eagletree

Thanks for all the ideas and info. It cleaned up beautifully and now fits on the Hammer. The sink is a bit dirty, but that's fine with me. It can simplify things to be single at times.

Sadly, the freehub lost a bit of metal on the threads due to all that mung. I should never have attempted to install it the first time without cleaning. Tightened up fine though, just probably won't last as long. Hopefully the freehubs on these trainers can be replaced.

The Hammer installation brings up a new question but... that is another thread since it's not related to this.

UKFan4Sure

About 3 years ago, I invested in a heated ultrasonic cleaner. It cost me about $125. It has been the best investment in a "tool" I have ever made. I fill it up with water, put in a bunch of Dawn liquid, and let it stew on 65 degrees C for about 50 minutes. I've used it for carburetors, bike chains, cassettes, small parts of other various degrees. Also, if you put the rust remover liquids in it, the heat and vibration take off all rust in less than 30 minutes.

I know this doesn't solve your immediate need, but it's something worth saving and purchasing for later.

August West

I've thought about getting one of these. Which one do you have?