Can anyone tell me the best way to clean sand out of pulleys?

When flying at the beach it is impossible not to get everything covered in sand. The only part of the kite that really seems that it could be susceptible to damage from sand are the pulleys. Mine are spinning fine but it seems like I should try to remove as much sand as possible from them since the sand could probably work its way in and bind them up eventually.

Should I just spray them with a hose and pressure wash them?
Or blast them with an air compressor?

Are the pulleys sealed such that they should be reasonably resistant to sand? BTW, I'm talking about Ronstan pulleys that come on Ozone depowers.

I just clean them with water once in a while. Not even pressure wash but just submerge them in water and spin a couple of times.

I guess I'll just give them a good dunking then and see how that goes. Thanks.

We have very fine grain sand on Jekyll that gets into everything. I keep a soft hair paint brush and a compressed air can in the kite bag. Also a bristle brush for getting sand off the tires before getting back into the kitemobile.

Quote:

Originally posted by acampbell We have very fine grain sand on Jekyll that gets into everything. I keep a soft hair paint brush and a compressed air can in the kite bag. Also a bristle brush for getting sand off the tires before getting back into the kitemobile.

I was thinking that the compressed air may work better than water because it would dry out the sand so it doesn't stick.

A tire brush is a good call. My trunk is filling up quickly with sand. I was out in wet sand yesterday and you just can't knock that stuff off. Gotta do some cleanup after work today.

Canned air and some Triflow to lube them up has worked for me.

I went with the compressed air. I'm not sure what triflow is but I've got some White Lightening grease for my mountain bike chain that is very thin that I plan on using on them.

I'd clean them out good with air and then a good gob of axle grease should keep them spinning real smooth. Just kidding! I would think water would reach places the air wouldn't be able to. White lightning would be perfect since it sheds dust and dirt instead of grabbing it.

I jest cleaned out my pulley 3 in 1 oil is a sand magnet

(I shuld have known that :flaming: ) Ware would I find White lightning at ?

Just checked google... here is a link to the ULTRA WEATHERPROOF WHITE LIGHTNING. You can click around to check out the rest of their site... it seems for kitesurfing, this would be the way to go.

You can also check out your local mountain bike stores. They should have White Lightning.

I use water and a tooth brush on my ozones... I have also tried white lightning it is a good lube but can be sticky waxy really but sand still gets in. I found it was harder to clean with the lightning than with out so I just keep a toothbrush and save a bit of water to clean the worst out just before I pack it up. I only clean the speed system pulleys not the safety one, mine at least is more a slider than pulley.

Harken 404 has ceramic bearings no need to clean. as the bearings will powder the sand.

I've been using McLube Sailkote, which I first used on my sailboat hardware and sail tracks. Don't know exactly what it is, but it's dry, lasts awhile, and doesn't attract dirt.

White Lightening and Boeshield were OK, but even they have a waxy coating which tended to let fine powdered sand cling. Not much of an issue in the Midwest, but something I noticed on trips to the coast.

krumly