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Wondering what is the best (and safest) way to clean vintage R/C gearbox and Diffs.

I have done a lot of searching and see that a lot of people use Naptha, I am just wondering if it is safe to use on a vintage gearbox, diffs, and "gears"?

If it helps......Of course I am talking about an RC10 as well as Kyosho Optima and Optima mid parts

Not sure if the best way... but I use warm water, dish soap and an old toothbrush first.

Then kitchen towel and motor spray (which is a trychlo-base, so try to use gloves as much as possible) for greasy residues

Naptha is pretty bad, I wouldn't use it at all. Maybe for nitro.

Use simple green full strength or diluted, on any plastic or steel parts. Aluminum parts can sometimes shadow stain so use caution there. I drop the parts in and let soak 24 hrs or however long you forget. Follow up with a scrubbing with a tooth brush and that will clean them.up nicely. Alternatively and as a second bath, regular dish soap and warm water works awesome(again with the tooth brush)

I second the simple green soak then warm water and dish soap.

Which type of Simple Green? They now have the original recipe, along with industrial cleaner & degreaser, clean building, heavy duty, crystal, and I think one or two more.

I am guessing the original, All Purpose, Stuff.


Thanks for the info. Simple question, but I'm glad I asked before taking others advice.

I use the original myself.

QD electronics cleaner and also Mass Air Flow Sensor cleaner (spray cans) will degrease quickly without harming plastics (greasy diff components).

Yeah the original green stuff is what is use.

WD-40 and a toothbrush, then a rinse in hot water and Dawn dish soap.

Thanks for all the answers. I have been using dawn, just picked up some simple green, but still need to get WD-40.....that stuff was always a sin to have around when I grew up.

Also have a bunch of bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide for the RC10's white part.

Spray Nine cleaner works really well for grease on plastics. I just used some and a toothbrush on a set of Yokomo diff pulleys.

Dawn Power Dissolver was the most amazing cleaner I've ever used but it's been long discontinued.

Simple green is good as it conditions both rubber and plastic, it doesn't contain any harsh solvents to dry out plastic or rubber.