Cleaning quick disconnects

lblair · Jul 4, 2001

Yeah the WD-40 works well. It has many uses around the shop. If ya buy it bulk and put it in a spray bottle it goes along way. It dont take much to break down dirt on fittings or tools. I use it to clean my mower deck also after the wash with water. It keeps every thing easey to clean the next time too. Happy tractoring, Larry

jdrotert · Aug 3, 2001

Just to throw in my $.02, my uncle (who is a full-time farmer), has an air hose reel mounted outside his machine shed. He has an air gun with a cup mounted on the bottom which he fills with diesel. The blowgun has an extension tube on it. It blows a little diesel with air. Before hooking up any hoses, he drives over to the hose reel, blows clean the connectors then wipes them off with a rag. It has higher pressure than a WD40 spray can. Does anyone know where I could purchase one of these blowguns? I guess I will have to ask my uncle where he got his.

jinman · Aug 3, 2001

Sounds to me like you are describing an airbrush gun normally used by artists. The little cup would usually hold a small amount of paint. It sounds like a handy tool to have around. You might check a craft/hobby/art shop to find one, if it is what I am thinking about.

JimI

Bird · Aug 3, 2001

Instead of a cup on an air gun, I have an air gun that's called an "engine cleaner" that came with a 4' suction tube that I can stick in any liquid and it siphons the liquid along with the air blast. I've used it for spraying solvents on engines, spraying herbicides and insecticides, and for spraying diesel/motor oil mix on the bottom of mower decks. You can buy them lots of places, but it's part #34-34575 for $13.99 at Tractor Supply Co. Very handy tool for lots of things, and of course, you could shorten the suction tube if you wanted to.

Bird

jinman · Aug 4, 2001

I have one of those too, Bird. But it's kinda like using an elephant gun to shoot a mouse when I think of using it to clean quick disconnects. I use mine to spray solvent on engines and equipment prior to pressure washing. A small pump-up sprayer (1 qt) might be a better tool to keep a little diesel in for this job. What do you think?

JimI

Bird · Aug 4, 2001

<font color=blue>like using an elephant gun to shoot a mouse</font color=blue>

Oh, I agree with you, but if someone wants to use diesel, it's a workable alternative if you don't have a small sprayer on hand. Personally, I just used plain compressed air to clean my quick couplers.

Bird

MikefromMI · Aug 8, 2002

Day late and dollar short.... I've seen this in the Sears tool catalog before. Think it was 35$.

OkieG · Sep 10, 2002

A couple of years ago I bought a pressure washer. It's one of those tools that you don't know how you got along without, once you have it. It does a great job rinsing away the grime that collects around quick disconnects. Usually, if the quick dicsonnects are dirty, there is at least somewhere else (sometimes everywhere else) on the tractor that could use a little washing while you're at it. The spray pattern (and pump pressure) is adjustable. The protective rubber caps that cover the quick couplers keep the mating surfaces clean, but the pressure rinse eliminates debris that could fall in the way.

Mosey · Sep 10, 2002

I recently had rear remote hydraulics installed on my Boomer and cringed at the thought of dirt getting into the hydraulic system. So, I bought some balloons at Walmart (you can pick the color, but I got black) and cut the end of some of them off so they're not balloons anymore, just a flexible tube. I put the balloon on the hose, then hooked the hose up to the tractor, then stretched the balloon over the coupling. When I don't have anything hooked up, I put uncut balloons over the rear remotes, even though they have some rubber seals that go inside, the balloons keeps the dirt out better than the rubber seals. You can also put the balloons on the end of the hoses when you're not using the cylinder. If you look close you can see what I mean in from the post <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=implement&Number=161782&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=all&vc=1>Spence, hydraulic top link questions. The balloons I got barely stretched enough to get them on, so if you could find some with a bigger mouthpiece part it might be easier.