Cleaning inside lower legs

[e-glide90]

What is safest way to clean sand out of lower legs after blasting and powder coating ? Is brake cleaner safe to use around powder coat ?

[calif phil]

Brake clean will work fine as well as a hot soapy water bath afterwards. Then blow out with the air nozzle followed by a wipe with lint free towels.

[Buglet]

  Do not use brake clean around power coating as it will stain it. Maybe be the cheap stuff will be ok , but the good stuff will hurt the power coating. Hot water with Dawn works the best and will not hurt the power coating.

[Rockout Rocker Products]

I seem to recall there's 2 different kinds of brake clean..... green & red labels maybe? CFC and CFC free? One is ok one is bad 

[Deye76]

Use hot soapy water. Then the air hose. Might take a couple washings.

[Rusticwater]

I seem to recall there's 2 different kinds of brake clean..... green & red labels maybe? CFC and CFC free? One is ok one is bad 

Here's one explanation. Be sure to pay attention to the part about "primary component of paint stripper."
Link

I'm not an expert, and I assume the formulation varies among manufacturers.

[MikeL]

I use the good ol' solvent tank to wash out the grit. Then I get some fast drying mineral spirits and spray the inside and blow dry. Brakekleen is good but my liver over the years filtered out way too much brakleen. Kinda use it sparingly nowadays.


                                                                                               MIKE   

[e-glide90]

Thanks for the replies, did the hot soapy water several times, turned out good.  This site is the best.

[Deye76]

Don't forget to clean out the threads for the fender bolts.

[JW113]

A day late and a dollar short, but maybe next time...

Take to car wash and use pressure sprayer. (if you have one near you that is)

-JW

[e-glide90]

JW  great idea, may still do that just to make sure. Just so the wife can hang on to them while I spray!! 

[dynabagger]

I just went through this. Hot water, dish soap and a bottle brush is how i did it. I did have  problem with the 14mm x 1.0 threads for the compression adjusters. Its a FXDX fork. Almost ruined the aluminum adjusters due to the threads not being smooth. Use a thread chaser for any threaded openings.

[Admiral Akbar]

I've replaced lowers or tuned 3 sets of forks in the last year. The original PCed lowers on one bike were chewed up because the original owner failed to clean out the sand residue.

I don't care for soapy water.  IMO Mineral spirits or stoddard solvent are the best.  It don't hurt PC and does a better job of dissolving any residual oil.  I clean with a blue paper towel or rag on the end of a stick. Slot the stick if round to ensure that you can push the rag to the bottom and get it to spin.  It's absolutely important to get the bottom of the hole clean so that the stop and damping rod sit square.