The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk How to get rid of a layer of tar....

Looking for ideas on this one....My latest addition, a 1946 COE, was used at some point for hauling / spreading tar. It has a layer of tar on the rear leaf springs, some on the rear axle and on the back plates to the brake drums. It is probably 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and is old and dry.

I have tried a couple of the 'over the counter" remedies for bug and tar removing and that appears to have been a waste of money. I have heard of a couple of things like using a propane torch and burning it off. Another idea was to spray it down with diesel fuel and let it soak in and try using a power washer to remove it. (Probably not both of these methods at the same time or I may be minus some eyebrows). I would have normally kept this in the Big Bolts group but I was looking for a little wider audience.

Does anyone know of any other methods or industrial strength degreasers / cleaners that would handle a tough job like this?

Thanks for the help!
Kevin

I have used diesel on a 90 C2500 that was a construction truck, it had tar mostly below the belt line & the fenderwells were caked. I put it in a garden sprayer, soaked & scraped the thickest stuff off w/putty knife, then soaked again & power washed. It looked like new under all that tar. I did it in the driveway in front of my shop, as grass does not like diesel. Brian

I would think that heat in moderation along with some elbow grease and a putty knife would be the first thing to use. I would follow up with a petrolium like gasoline or deisel fuel to clean it up.

I don't recommend the heat approach. That tar burns hot and for a long time....

The "soak it and pressure wash it" approach seems the best.

Ditto Tom. Any heat with an open flame applied to any petrol based product is asking to be a "freak accident" in the newspaper. Same for using gasoline.

did you try oven cleaner?

I actually like the heat idea. Soak it in some diesel, then set it on fire. I don't think it'll get hot enough to change the temper on the steel... but then again it might.

Why not try cold? Put it in the deep freeze then hit it with a hammer to try and shatter the tar off.

I like the heat idea as well-at least for the course stuff. Maybe you could try a heat gun in order to avoid an open flame. Once the main stuff is off, I've found that paint thinner works well on tar. As a final cleaner I'd use oven cleaner-it washes off with water and leaves that lemony fresh smell!

Acrasol is the best thing I have ever seen for road tar. First scrape off excess, soak good with degreaser, preasure wash, and then acrasol.
Several manufacturers for this stuff, I have axcess to Kent brand. We use it on new cars to remove road tar. Won't hurt the finish, will take off wax.

Use a steam cleaner unless it's really hard then I would go after it with an air chisel,
Scott

Castrol SuperClean wil dissove tar, too. Might have to soak it and let it sit to work.

I've had pretty good luck using a needle scaler to remove things like hard grease and tar. Even if it dont get all in it, it gets it down to where you can use a chemicla to finish the removal. I only paid $30 dollar for mine, and its paid for its self with the time saved cleaning stuff by hand, and a lot less time in the sand blaster later.

A lot of great ideas there guys...thanks! Several ways to go so if one thing doesn't work it is good to know there are other options.

I have never thought of using oven cleaner...just as long as I don't have to wear an apron when I put it on

Jeff, I have never heard of a needle scaler, do you have a quick description of this tool and where you got it?

I've used mineral spirits and it disolved the tar fairly quickly.

Tom & Tiny, I did say heat in moderation. I didn't mention open flames.

Gasoline will work as a solvent, I guess you have to know better than to smoke while using it. Don't use it in the front lawn. Use it outside and work in an up wind breeze. Try not to huff it.

!!! Caution !!! using Castrol SuperClean, wear chemical resistant gloves, as this stuff works great on metal parts, it is not and I repeat is not skin friendly. I have the emergency room bills to prove it. Works great on caked on grease and crud though.

I would construct a vat that I could dip the parts in, and use Lye, which is much cheaper than oven cleaner (and the same thing). You will need gloves to avoid burning your skin, but if you can make a tank to submerge the parts in the lye you can leave them in there for weeks until the tar all dissolves away. This will also take off paint but will not rust or harm the metal.

Brake cleaner has worked well for me when it comes to tar.

it is an air powered tool, that has is based on an air hammer, with a fiture on the end containing 11 to 17, hardened steel needles. They viberate and loosen the dirt, grease etc, from the steels surface. I believe that i got mine at Northern or one of those online stores. You can speed any amount of money on one up to 7 or 800 dollars. They make two kinds, one is straight, inline and the other is a pistol grip.

As an FYI - one of the first projects I did at the Dallas Railroad museum (Was Age of Steam - now called 'museum of the american railroad') was to remove (in texas (in august)) tar which had been put on an old pullman car that was 80+ feet long. They weigh about 100 tons and are made of heavy duty steel. The tar was put on to seal the cars and get an old car to last a bit longer, but shouldn't have been on there.

I took a garden hoe, bent the blade forward into a scraper and sharpened it. Then I mounted a blow torch on it and had it heat the tar as I scraped the 1/4" plus layer of that filth off by pushing the scraper forward. I could push it forward at a slow steady rate and hade the heat half on the blade and a bit in front. I then went over the entire car with a knotted cable wire wheel on a 1 hp grinder.

That was one of the nastest jobs I have ever done. But the car is happier today (the Glengyle - a 7 and 2 compartment car - national historic mechanical engineering landmark - made in 1910 - one of the first pullmans to get air conditioning - and that's where most people first experience AC, was on a railroad car).

I also have a needle scaler - but if you use a knotted cable wire wheel brush on a grinder, it will spin the normal layer of tar off in a hurry, but it will take off rust, and paint, and everything else as well!

I used to work for a asphalt company and what we would do for the work trucks was take GoJo and wipe it on the tar and let it sit for a while. The tar would just start running off the trucks and then we would hose the trucks down with water. If we needed to we would just apply more GoJo. Try It, you will be amazed!

Not sure about road asphalt but for roofing asphalt anything heavy with citric acid works great.

Also asphalt is brittle and can be chipped off quite easy with a hammer if its real cold and this will not leave any residue. I would definatly try beating on it before soaking ay solvents into it.

Id stay away from heat period. If youve got clean metal itll end up sticking to it more so while dirty rusty metal will help with breaking up the adhesion.

Jeff

Im not talking about asphalt itself, I was talking about the tar that we used to get on the trucks from when we put down a layer of tar before laying the asphalt

if i remember right i heard that if you spead peanut butter on tar let it sit for a while then wipe off it would take tar off