I am about to start to put my rear diff back together (after taking it apart to replace rear oil seal and clean/lube the splines) and after pressing the main bearing back into the housing a mechanic colleague of mine suggested that I soak the assembly in brake fluid to really clean the bearing housing before final re-assembly.

Is this a good idea?  I would like to make sure the assembly is very clean before putting it back together, but I am unsure of the suggested practice as what happens if there is any brake fluid left in the bearing assembly when it it put back together and the diff filled with oil?

Suggestions/opinions welcome.

I just got a lesson in doing this from an ex BMW guy. Clean out with petrol and then air line blow it clean and dry so no residue. Before putting in the bearing. You wont get the residue out of the bearing. The bearing of course will be new and clean.

I have never heard of doing that although it may be right I have used brake fluid and paper towel to clean the honing grit leftovers from cylinder bores and the first couple of wipes usually come out with plenty of crud on them. I do that till the white paper towel comes out clean.
I also know some people who use auto trand fluid for the same thing.
In the situation you are talking about I would not do it as I dont think any dirt would be left after a wash with clean petrol and a blow job.

I would use brake CLEANER...

RicK G wrote:I have never heard of doing that although it may be right I have used brake fluid and paper towel to clean the honing grit leftovers from cylinder bores and the first couple of wipes usually come out with plenty of crud on them. I do that till the white paper towel comes out clean.
I also know some people who use auto trand fluid for the same thing.
In the situation you are talking about I would not do it as I dont think any dirt would be left after a wash with clean petrol and a blow job.

You got any more info on the "Blow Job"

When I was in France my air bed went down on me during the night. I had to give it a blow job too.

For last weekend I bought a new airbed.

My little 12v thingy I use to do a blow job on my air mattress stopped working at the Alpine Rally when all the smoke got out so I had to do it by mouth.

 

No wonder the ice is thin with all that hot water under it.

Brake fluid may not be kind to seals.

just keep rinsing with some kind of solvent until nothing more comes out, white spirit, paraffin, petrol e.t.c

Dry out with an airline.

Brake fluid is nasty, you'll only end up marking some paint/plastic/fingers/eyes