Best way to strip casting that has oilite bushings

Hello -

I'm pulling an old machine apart and my usual go-to process is to drop the smaller cast iron parts in a tub of ZEP Industrial Purple. It does a great job at taking all the grease, oil, paint etc. away right to bare cast iron. However, I have a couple of pieces that have Oilite bushings in them. Being Sodium Hydroxide based, I am concerned the ZEP will attack the bronze based Oilite bushings. Can anyone confim/deny this and/or provide me with an alternate technique that's worked well for them?

Side note - after bringing the part to bare cast iron, and then painting etc. again, is there a technique that can be used to "reload" the oilite bushings such as a vacuum chamber or something ? Most of the bushings have gits oilers closeby so it should not be a big issue as they will see a bunch of oil anyway and probably take it up in time, but just thought I'd ask.

Thanks !

Remove bushings first? A quick wash should not affect them, a long soak might?

Remove the bushings and replace them with new ones. It's neither difficult or expensive.

Mark Rand said:

Remove the bushings and replace them with new ones. It's neither difficult or expensive.

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What if the bushings are at each end of a long bore and the central part is such that it won't allow you to push them all the way through ? I am envisioning some sort of internal vice jaws that open out and catch the internal end of the bushing, and then allow you to either use a slide hammer, or a jacking arrangement to extract them? Have never done this before so bear with me and my questions - thanks.

Harbor Freight, I think they call it Princess Auto in Canada, has a pretty good little bearing puller which goes into bore, expands, then slide hammer out. HF link, see ads on ebay for similar units for less, may or may not be same quality as the HF unit. And I'm sure if you look around you could spend more on a nicer, possibly USA made unit.

Slide Hammer and Bearing Puller Set, 5 Pc.

It's really simple to turn a disc the size (OD) of the bushing you want to pull, then if saw away a piece of the disc and you can turn it on its side, slip it into the bore behind the bushing, straighten it back up and now you have a disc you can screw your slide hammer into and whack away.

You have to actually do it to realize what I'm trying to explain, but it's really easy and effective for pulling any bushing, etc, in a blind hole using a slide hammer.

Stuart

There are other methods to strip castings. Sandblasting, needle gun (one of my favorites), angle grinder with a variety of wire wheels, for example.

Some guys like paint stripper but I've only used it once or twice in my life, hate the stuff.

I suppose you could mask the oilite bearings somehow, maybe turn plastic plugs to press into them?

metalmagpie

Grille cleaner from SAM'S club is a 3 pack for 9 bucks.

Spray on and let soak.

Rough up a bit with a brush and spray a bit more.

Rinse with water and repeat.

Removes grease and paint

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+1 for needle scaler.

I have stripped several good size machines of paint and filler in a day.

If you don't have a needle scaler you are missing out. They strip paint, they blast away rust, they peen, they are the perfect tool to tighten up that crappy bearing bore that cheapo bob dropped off and expects you to fix for $20.