please help me degrease my lock.

[south town ninja]

I have an old American Lock 5200 series given to me by a friend who was in the army a couple of years ago. it is greasy as all get out and this is presumably the reason i can't pick it. i read post on here regarding this , and it said to "give it a petrol bath." i soaked it in unleaded gasoline for about 12 hours, took it out, let it dry, and it's still greasy. there were further instructions to blow it out with compressed air, ( which i did not do). is this the reason its still greasy?

[Mitchell S]

Why not soak it in degreaser? Dry it out and then lubricate with a lock lubricant before using.

[cheerIO]

Brake cleaner from the autoparts store works well.

Do it outside and wear eye protection. You don't want any of that stuff getting into your eyes accidentally and the fumes are wicked.

[Zenophryk]

The petrol bath is a good way to go, but it needs agitation to move the grease out. Petrol will dissolve the grease and allow it to be cleaned off and out (usually) but if it's not cleaned off when wet then once the petrol dries the grease goes back to it's original form. So once it's done soaking take a stiff brush and scour up the outside and rinse and repeat. For the inside that's where the compressed air comes in handy, since it's hard to get a brush in there.

-Zenophryk

[GWiens2001]

The petrol bath is a good way to go, but it needs agitation to move the grease out. Petrol will dissolve the grease and allow it to be cleaned off and out (usually) but if it's not cleaned off when wet then once the petrol dries the grease goes back to it's original form. So once it's done soaking take a stiff brush and scour up the outside and rinse and repeat. For the inside that's where the compressed air comes in handy, since it's hard to get a brush in there.

-Zenophryk

Or once the petrol bath is done, use a lighter and the grease will disappear. Along with your arm hair, eyebrows and other facial hair.

Gordon

P.S. - for those who take things literally - don't use a lighter after a petrol bath.

[nick08037]

Brake cleaner from the autoparts store works well.

Do it outside and wear eye protection. You don't want any of that stuff getting into your eyes accidentally and the fumes are wicked.

An extra benefit to using an aerosol brake cleaner as suggested here is to use an extension spray tube to direct the stream up into the full length of the keyway. "_and wear eye protection_" -Nick

[Zenophryk]

Brake cleaner is wonderful stuff. I always have a few cans on hand. I even sometimes use it when I work on my brakes.

And Nick is a wimp. Eye protection is over rated. with bigger risks come bigger rewards.

-Zenophryk

[teamstarlet]

And Nick is a wimp. Eye protection is over rated. with bigger risks come bigger rewards.

+1

Are you able to get the lock open? If so, I would completely strip it down and wash each component in brake cleaner, then lightly lube with a lock lube such as Lock Saver.

[nite0wl]

I use a four step process:
1. Bathe in WD-40 over night
2. rinse and irrigate with high concentration isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol)
3. wash off any remaining WD-40 and alcohol with warm water and dish soap, dry thoroughly
4. Apply lock lubricant (I find the wet-application PTFE lubricants best for this as they won't clump up like powdered graphite will if you missed a drop of water but they still dry to provide a long term lubrication that won't lock in dust and debris).

This process works best if you can field-strip the lock (disassemble into core, shackle, cam, ball-bearings, shackle spring) so that you can more easily remove those chunks of hardened factory grease and clumps of dust and debris that form on wet lubricants.

[Berget]

I don't fancy brake cleaner for heavy degreasing jobs. There's some types of grease that brake cleaner just cant solve efficiently. I prefer diesel since it's both cheap and very efficient against anything greasy. I finish it off with a quick spray of brake cleaner, xylene or similar solvent.

However nothing beats tri (trichloroethylene) when doing degreasing jobs. But I think that has been banned for quite a while now. Not that you want to be around it anyway...

[GWiens2001]

I don't fancy brake cleaner for heavy degreasing jobs. There's some types of grease that brake cleaner just cant solve efficiently. I prefer diesel since it's both cheap and very efficient against anything greasy. I finish it off with a quick spray of brake cleaner, xylene or similar solvent.

However nothing beats tri (trichloroethylene) when doing degreasing jobs. But I think that has been banned for quite a while now. Not that you want to be around it anyway...

Used to work with TCE back when I worked at a place that made flight control boards. It is some nasty stuff, but it cleans about anything. Used to use it to clean off my running shoes. Made them look like new. Would not want to play around with it anymore now that I know better. But it sure did clean stuff.

Gordon

[bembel]

Washing soda (Sodium Carbonate) is also a very good degreaser and it's dirt cheap here. I always use it to clean the kitchen hood (wow! ) but it can degrease everything else as well. Don't use on aluminum.

[Berget]

Ah, so it goes by TCE in the states?

I've heard of painters who, after a particularly messy day, washed their faces with it. Never met anyone though. Wonder why?

Most alkaline solutions have some degreasing properties. I've never used sodium carbonate, but sodium hydroxide is another great alkaline solution that have some great uses. Degreasing is one. Removing paint is another.

[tacit_guardian]

I use a product called "Blue Thunder" that's 315g/l phosphoric acid. It's safe to use on nearly all metals, and dissolves corrosion, mineral deposits and most lubricants. I would suggest a diesel bath and a scrub with a brush, dry and blow out with air, treat with a solvent like the one I use, wash with clean water and blow out, bake at 150C for half an hour or so (don't forget that due to the different thermal coefficients of expansion of metals this will also work to free up a crudded up mechanism if you have a really old crusty lock, so it can be useful as a first step for one that's frozen) then cool and lubricate.

Cheers
TG

[Comrade627]

Here's what I do to the old 5200's I find.

1. Blast with WD40 while raking with no tension tool. This helps the fluid get up into the chambers.

2. Repeat step 1.

3. Let soak over night (outside).

4. Perform step 1, substitute WD with rubbing alcohol.

5. Flush with hot water.

6. Sniff. If you still smell WD, repeat step 4. If no WD smell, rinse lightly in alcohol and let dry. Rake while rinsing as well.

7. Pick. Alternate between CW and CCW.

While doing CCW with a 5200, the driver pins can drop into the plug if you don't block them. No big deal either way, just use a wrench handle or whatever to push them all back. If the plug doesn't want to rotate very far in CCW, push the shackle in and out while you turn the plug.

Source: I've done this probably 50 times.