heavy caked on clay/mud

[internal_demise]

i have recently been prepping for an engine swap...so i pulled the transmission to inspect and beyond.On the transmission, and many other parts of the truck; there is this heavy caked on mud of some sort.. it is so rugged you have to scrape really hard to get it off.. i spent over an hour scraping my transmission and there's still a lot more on it;in some spots its as much as 1/4 inch thick of mud on it.. i was wondering if any body else has had the same problem?? And what is the best method for removing this crap..

[Donnie]

Pressure wash????................donnie

[sargentrs]

Had the same deal with the C-4 I got from a parts truck I bought. Caked on grease/mud/grime. First I sprayed it down with Purple Power and let it sit, keeping it good and wet for 2 days. Then I pressure washed it with a 2300 psi pressure washer and Purple Power soak. Even with the 15* nozzle a half inch from it, it didn't faze some of it. I spent about 8 hours over the course of a week with a scraper, flathead screwdriver, pick, pocket knife, Purple Power, Simple Green, gas, pressure washer and garden hose and got MOST of it off. Now that I have one, I'm going to media blast the rest of it out of the little nooks and crannies.

[Whateverman]

this is my gunk removal toolkit :
varsol to loosen stuff up
a couple of putty knives
one of those scrapers that takes wrist slasher blades
some wire wheels for the handrill & a cupbrush for the angle grinder
some liquid laundry soap to mix with the varsol and loosen stuff up even more
some wirebrushes of varying sizes
a screwdriver to get into the nooks that nothing else will
a bunch of rags or a million rolls of paper towel

[Kurt Combs]

I sometimes use a big screwdriver and a small hammer to persuade it to come off. You can also use an old wood chisel that you don't care much about and tap it with the same hammer. I usually point the screwdriver or chisel flush with the metal surface and try to push them under the stuff. That stuff is hard, it is old, and it has been cooked on in thin layers.

[BobbyFord]

Go to your local rental yard and rent a pressure washer.

[basketcase0302]

Where are you at and where is the origin of this truck? It sounds to me like you're actually scraping undercoating off. There were many "Joe's Garage-mom & pop" type companies that sprang up in the 70's in the north who's only purpose was undercoating vehicles. I'd ran into a few that mad it down South here. Pressure washing and spray chemicals won't do anything for it if this is what your dealing with-only a nice hard scraper.

[internal_demise]

I bought the truck as a restoration project for my father and i to work on.. it is a 1967 ford f250 4x4. it was bought from Missouri, spent most of its life on a farm i beleive,sat possibly in a swamp of some sort. It now lives with me up north..I think it lived in the dust bowl area. because there is dirt everywhere. i value your concerns, but there is no sort of undercoating on it what so ever.. thank you everyone for your help.. im going to try the pressure washer/scrapeing method..

[mrollings53]

If it is out of the truck, you can take it to one of those self carwash places. The ones with the wand that hangs on a boom from the ceiling. The wand is a pressure washer, and if you don't feel like shelling out for your own; it's not too expensive for the occasional use. Once everything is as clean as the pressure washer will get it; take and sandblast the rest. I spent three hours blasting the case to my C6 replacement after I broke the original. Just make sure not to blast directly on anything inside the case. Then pressure wash it again to clean out all of the sand.