"Cosmoline...keeps my rifle clean"

[Bob Riding]

After reading the threads about modern throwout bearing noise and/or failures, I was scared straight into NOS land!  I was able to snag a NOS throwout bearing off eBay for a reasonable price. It is obviously original since it came in an old box, wrapped in waxed paper and covered with what looks like cosmoline . Assuming that's what it is, what's the best way to remove it without degrading the 70 year old grease inside? Wiki says various things like brake cleaner, soap and water, dry ice shot from a gun, etc! Also I assume once it's installed in my clutch assembly, it will loosen up, as it's a bit stiff right now.

[Sniper]

Kerosene on a rag to wipe it off.  It will be messy, smelly and flammable so do it outside.  Maybe wear some nitrile gloves for easy hand clean up afterwards.

[cdnpont]

Would the original grease not be pretty much petrified by now?

[D35 Torpedo]

Heat it up and see if the grease loosens up.

[Bob Riding]

24 minutes ago, cdnpont said:

Would the original grease not be pretty much petrified by now?

My brother-in-law didn't think so. (ex-vintage car restorer) I guess we will see...

 

[SteveR]

I had to install Guillotines (no not that type) in the Printing trade. They were commonly called Paper Cutters. The one that I had to install came from Germany. All the unpainted surfaces were sprayed with cosmoline. It was 2 days of cleaning with 2 people doing it. The first time I did this the engineer that was training me kept on saying, "I hate this stuff"! When I asked him why he said, "You wait." We were using a solvent called, Blanket Wash. The stuff came off fairly easy but he kept saying, "I hate this stuff"!

I could not understand him saying this and every time I asked him why he hated it he would only say, "You wait"!. It took 3 days of cleaning and after a week the Guillotine was installed and operators trained. At the airport as we were going home, him to Chicago and me to Minneapolis. I asked him one last time why he hated the cosmoline. His reply, "You wait"! With that we parted and I was none the wiser. 3 months went by and I had to install a Guillotine with the help of one of our younger engineers. As we started cleaning the cosmoline. I said, "I hate this stuff"! Roy said why its not so bad. I said, "You wait"! Roy was a bit bewildered at why I kept on saying, you wait just as I had done. On the last day of cleaning Roy asked me again and I came clean. I said when you go home tonight and eat dinner and when you wake up tomorrow to eat breakfast. Every time you bring your hand to your mouth you will smell that cosmoline. That is why my instructing engineer kept on saying "You wait! It's not a strong smell but it get sickening after a while and lasts for several days no matter how much you clean your hands. It's a smell that the first time you use it, isn't bad. However the next time you are around it you just can't stand the smell of it. 

[cdnpont]

At the steel mill where I worked, new cold mill work rolls would arrive in coated in what I assume was Cosmoline. And being a new kid in the yard gang, we'd be sent over to the roll shop tasked to remove it. At the time, the only thing that that would even touch it was Trichlorethylene. A now banned and toxic substance, we merrily got soaked in it taking the stuff off. 

[Bob Riding]

Well it was easy-peasy. I wiped down the throwout bearing with brake cleaner on a rag, the placed the bearing in the sun. An hour later the bearing was spinning, with no sound. Sometimes old grease is good grease!

Thanks for the advice.