often working on a 30-odd yearold car, you undo a bolt and the thread is all full of crap. i always worry about stripping threads out (god knows i've done enough of them), so i like to give them a clean and a spray with inox before putting the bolt back in

 

cleaning the thread in the body or part isn't usually a problem, you can grind a bit lengthways out of a bolt and wind that in, cleaning all the crap out, or i've even gone to the massive several dollars expense of buying M6, M8 and M10 thread taps, which i just quickly wind in and out and get all the gunk out nicely

 

bolts are another matter

 

not really wanting to spend like 20 dollars each on the accompanying M6, M8 and M10 die, i usually hold a razor blade in one hand, and thread the bolt against the blade with the other hand. it gets just about anything out of the threads, from dirt and silicon to rust, but it's tedious, especially if you have alot of dirty bolts to do

 

what do you guys do to clean bolts? are there any secrets here i'm missing out on?

I just run mine on a bench grinder with a wire wheel attached....have never had any damage done to the bolt...and they come up clean as hell

 

Note: Have lost a few on the odd occasion from accidently letting go and lost sight of them, flying across the garage.

i considered this, except i don't own a bench grinder, and i've taken far too much skin off already with wire wheels on the drill =) i should find a cheap bench grinder

The fear of taking skin off at 4 billion rpm is why I sometimes don't hold the bolts tight enough and let them go haha.

 

Try holding a wire brush flat on the ground and running the bolt up and down it and turn the bolt around as u go...that may work?

wire brush works ok, followed by a rinse in petrol or degreaser. hold the bolt by it's head in a vise. if the thread is stuffed find another bolt.

That is a good idea actually...My spare parts are all over the place at the moment because I moved at the start of the year and haven't moved all my car parts, but I used to have a few buckets of spare nuts and bolts.

How can you possibly get by without a bench grinder with wire wheel??????

 

I use mine so often that it should have a step-on switch for convenience.

 

I keep a pair of visegrips right next to the grinder for holding the heads of small bolts, and other parts that need cleaning up - sure saves on skin.

I get a whole stack of bolts, put them in a tin of petrol and shake it around and they usually come out a shitload cleaner than they went in..

small wire wheel in a hand drill with a trigger lock....works awesome for degreasing/derusting axle housings

wire brush works ok to a point, if the bolts are rusty or damaged i find a thread file exelent to clean and retreive threads. These files are square in shape and have all your usual thread pitchs 4 per side hench why they are square, cheaper and more practical than buying heaps of dies