Help in cleaning asphalt and tar from a chainsaw

[txgp17]

Hello Gents, I've lurked here many times but this is my first post.

I'm career firefighter and presently I'm assigned to maintain tools and equipment. One item that falls into that category is chainsaws. My Dept owns 50 chainsaws, all Stihl.

The model we use for roof ventilation is a MS 460 Rescue. It's your standard 460 with a guard to keep debris off the muffler, a wrap handle, and a carbide tooth chain.

As you can imagine, cutting asphalt shingles with a chainsaw is messy. The saw chain slings bits of asphalt into the air, and they get sucked into the air cooling channel by the flywheel, and when they land on the hot engine block, they melt, and stick to the cooling fins. It's very hard to get off.

So I'm looking for a way to easily remove this stuff without a lot of labor and without ruining the plastic, hoses, and gaskets.

I tried engine degreaser and it didn't touch it. Brake cleaner is awesome but very expensive. Berryman Chem-Dip melts it like butter but it strips paint and discolors the plastic. Gasoline works great but it really make a mess and there's the obvious fire hazard. We've also tried a parts washer that uses Ozzyjuice cleaning fluid but it just won't do the job.

I'm considering removing the carburetor, bar, and handlebar, then draining the fuel and bar oil tanks, and putting it in a 5 gallon bucket, then filling the bucket with kerosene and leaving until the tar is dissolved.

I'd welcome any advice you guys can lend my way.

Here's a pic of one saw, this amount of contamination is common.

 

[GrassGuerilla]

That saw is worthless and should be disposed of properly. I'd be glad to dispose of as many of the (did you say 50?) as necessary to help our first responders...

Welcome to AS!

 

[RedFir Down]

I would try using something like a small sharp putty knife and scrape as much off as you can, then I would try some tar remover. I just researched tar remover for a minute and there are a few products that have good reviews, one being Karnak asphalt and tar remover. The other is called Black Jack asphalt and tar remover.

Good luck and hope this helps.
Welcome to the site by the way.

 

[Stihlbillie]

Use an axe

 

[HarleyT]

Use gasoline, and don't smoke.

 

[Little Al]

I've used traffic film remover used stronger than the normal strength mix work good & will not affect the plastic

 

[Chainsaw Jim]

50 ms460's?! How big is the fire department where you work?

 

[Michigan Escapee]

Thinking you want something in bulk that does not melt your liver, or cause flipper babies.

http://safesolvents.com/products/tarbuster/
http://greenstateservices.com/jackhammertarandasphaltremover5gallons-1.aspx

Even though "safe", would not be splashing it around a whole lot. For all you know, it might be one of the fusel alcohols. Won't kill you, but breaking it down may result in a 3 day hangover. Almost all the fusel oils/alcohols are extremely good solvents. like this one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isobutanol

 

[hseII]

I've used traffic film remover used stronger than the normal strength mix work good & will not affect the plastic

Please share details.

I've got yellow road paint where yellow
Paint shouldn't be.

 

[MattG]

Hello Gents, I've lurked here many times but this is my first post.

I'm career firefighter and presently I'm assigned to maintain tools and equipment. One item that falls into that category is chainsaws. My Dept owns 50 chainsaws, all Stihl.

The model we use for roof ventilation is a MS 460 Rescue. It's your standard 460 with a guard to keep debris off the muffler, a wrap handle, and a carbide tooth chain.

As you can imagine, cutting asphalt shingles with a chainsaw is messy. The saw chain slings bits of asphalt into the air, and they get sucked into the air cooling channel by the flywheel, and when they land on the hot engine block, they melt, and stick to the cooling fins. It's very hard to get off.

So I'm looking for a way to easily remove this stuff without a lot of labor and without ruining the plastic, hoses, and gaskets.

I tried engine degreaser and it didn't touch it. Brake cleaner is awesome but very expensive. Berryman Chem-Dip melts it like butter but it strips paint and discolors the plastic. Gasoline works great but it really make a mess and there's the obvious fire hazard. We've also tried a parts washer that uses Ozzyjuice cleaning fluid but it just won't do the job.

I'm considering removing the carburetor, bar, and handlebar, then draining the fuel and bar oil tanks, and putting it in a 5 gallon bucket, then filling the bucket with kerosene and leaving until the tar is dissolved.

I'd welcome any advice you guys can lend my way.

Here's a pic of one saw, this amount of contamination is common.

Asphalt is tough, and based on oil-based compounds. So I don't think you can escape from the need to use some rather nasty chemicals/processes to get this off. I can't see a free lunch here....

 

[HarleyT]

Just use a 5 gallon bucket, and gasoline outside, use gloves and an old paintbrush, and in 15 minutes it will be clean.......

 

[HarleyT]

You are not working on the space shuttle.....

 

[CentaurG2]

I would opt for Coleman lantern fuel. Its pure gasoline (white gas) low fumes and as long as you are not in California, should not give you cancer.

You could also opt to just burn it off. You are a fireman and its just a stihl and you do have 49 others.

 

[7sleeper]

As has already been mentioned, be very careful with the chemicals, they can be quite toxic when exposed more often.

7

 

[tpence2177]

Think of it as rhino lined?

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[MattG]

You could also opt to just burn it off. You are a fireman and its just a stihl and you do have 49 others.

Of course you're joking.....

But if you aint - might that not melt the alloy? cos alloy has quite a low melting point for a metal. Childhood memories of throwing ally things in fires, and collecting the pretty solidified pools a few days later

 

[GeorgiaVol]

I worked at an asphalt producer for a while. We used all sorts of products but mostly diesel fuel to remove asphalt off the equipment. Its not as volatile as gasoline and a little thicker. Other than needing ventilation I wouldn't know how the rest of the saw would react to it.

 

[GeorgiaVol]

I think I would warm the saw up, scrape what I could off the use a paint brush with diesel fuel after it had cooled off to remove the rest.

 

[JonCraig]

1) How many uses does it take for that to build up? Ie, is this an annual endeavor or weekly, or after each use, etc.

2) What is the current lifespan of one of these saws, and how many have you replaced already? What was the cause of failure?

What I'm getting at is this--I imagine this as about the harshest condition the saw can be used in, and I imagine that no matter how good the filtration setup, the saw is ingesting all sorts of fine debris just from your work environment. It could be that the saws will die not from overheating due to tar covering some of the cooling fins, but from ingesting smoke, debris, being dropped off a roof, plastic melting from the heat, etc.

Long story short--maybe the tar is a non-issue? Genuine question, as I don't know the specifics of where & how they're used.

Edit: Also, how much time will it take you to disassemble, clean, reassemble, & test each saw? This is pretty directly related to how often it's needed in question #1. Is that amount of time, at your hourly rate, more than the annual estimated replacement cost for X percentage of saws? It might be cheaper in the long run to replace saws than to pay you to clean them. Food for thought.

Finally, thank you for your service.

--JC

 

[heyduke]

i had to clean a fire department vent saw a few years ago. three of them had been recovered from the county's dumpster. the other two went to the fireman's cousin's. the asphalt build-up had caused the ignition modules to overheat and fail. so it's important to keep them clean. as i remember, i used 50:1 mix(outside my shop), my most used solvent. i suspect that kerosene would work well too and lacks the dangerous low flash point and high vapor pressure. you might want to think about removing the starter, muffler and cylinder and possibly the ignition module, makes it a lot easier and doesn't take as much time as you'd think, once you get the hang of it and gives you a chance to inspect the cylinder bore and rings while you're at it. then you can soak the cylinder and muffler in solvent. i didn't have any problem with plastics. a ring compressor is a good tool for easy reassembly.

after installing a a new ignition module, chainsaw guide bar and chain, i still use that saw all the time, a husky 575, not a stihl, probably the best saw i own.