Technical Cleaning large parts in the rural desert?

I live on just over an acre of scrub brush desert, with the only concrete currently being the slab under my house, and in the 2 car garage. The garage is full of tools, equipment, my '62 International, and a bunch of random junk. The rest is all dirt/sand/gravel..just like you'd find in the desert wilderness

What I also have is half a dozen axle housings, two engines, a transmission, and some other parts covered in 50+ years of dirt grease and grime that need cleaning. Obviously I'm not getting these things into my bench top parts washer, and I'm not wild about putting them on top of of a couple crates and hitting them with the pressure washer. Not that I'm concerned about the washer, but rather that I don't want the run off going into the ground and making my place look like a junk yard.

I was thinking about having a concrete guy lay something like a 20x20 concrete pad with a raised apron so it's big enough to roll a ch***is or my trailer on to, then figuring out how to pump off the water for processing. But then I've learned that I have a tendency to over the top over think things, so I thought maybe some of you guys might have some good ideas.

 

If I was that concerned about run off, I'd find a coin operated car wash and see if management would let you clean the stuff there. They are likely required to have oil separators in the drainage system anyway.

 

You don't want to leave a huge "carbon footprint"? Hard to get around that with parts cleaning, especially large ones. My work/garage area has a LARGE area covered in crushed gravel in 3/4 inch and larger size, and around 2 inches deep, placed on top of double sheeted plastic. I s****e as much crud and grease off as I can, then use full strength Super Clean in the purple jug, and a garden hose/nozzle to clean suspensions/undercarriages/large parts such as engines and transmissions. Sometimes I use Easy Off oven cleaner. No, it's not the best way, but the stuff washes into the rocks/gravel, and is mostly contained by the plastic, and evaporation takes care of the water. Oily spots disappear over time in the sun; that would't take long where you are. If you have a concrete pad poured, and wash everything into a containment area, you still have to clean it out and dispose of it; pretty labor intensive. What do machine shops in your area do with their gunk and crud? I see all the runoff from our roads when it rains, and the sheen of oil in the retainment ponds, and all that goes into the ground or through pipes into streams; and these are managed by the SAME people who write the laws for automotive facilities and the like (???). Ever walked along railroad tracks, and wonder why nothing grows along them? All that washes into ground water too. Creosote timbers, and telephone poles, the insectisides they are also dipped in, all that also washes down steam, so to speak. I know we all want to do our part, but it's really nothing compared to what already has gone on, continues to go on, and will continue to go on long after we're all gone. The horse was out of the barn long after the door was finally closed. I know there are further worse things that go on than I am responsible for, and I do try to limit what I really need to do. JMO. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Sand blasting is a option. HRP

 

It is usually just time consuming but not too hard to s****e the heavy grease and gunk off the parts with a putty knife or other s****er before hitting them with the degreasing solution of choice.
I'd agree that having a containment setup for washing the parts with a trap to catch the water runoff and let it evaporate would be a wise thing. Then you can just clean up the trap when the water evaporates and leaves a layer of gunk and haul the residue off to the dump with the trash.

 

I would spread some thick poly sheeting and then buy some absorbent oil booms from www.newpig.com. The poly sheet will catch the big globs of grease and the absorbent boom will soak up the oil sheen. You could also purchase a cheap kiddie pool from one of the big box stores and use that as secondary containment.

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I have four acres in the desert, and don't have a pressure washer. I do a lot of s****ing, and sand blast stuff like axle housings and transmission cases to get the thick stuff off. I usually end up sandblasting steel parts, and a few cast iron parts, if it's stuff I can clean the sand out of with my parts washer or other means.

I have a 20x30 concrete apron on the back of my shop (there are also doors there for cars to park), that's where I do the sandblasting. I don't seem to get much grease **** on the acres of dirt, somehow.

At the junkyard I worked at in Tucson 35 years ago, we steam cleaned engines out back...but not long after I left, the state DEQ made them put in a concrete wash area. The property had been for sale for a long time, the land value was quite low because of the cleanup that needed to be done, because of s****ping cars there since the 40s. It's a real concern.