Yes water would pose a problem. In that case a nice clorinated solvent with a high evap rate might work well. In the old days refrigerant R-11 was considered one of the best solvents around.

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1981 300D 147k
1998 VW Jetta Tdi 320k
2001 Dodge Ram 2500 141k
1979 300D 234k (sold)
1984 300D "Astor" 262k(sold)
Mercedes How-To and Repair Pictorials
I love the smell of diesel smoke in my hair

Back in the day.....lol......on the ships, we started getting Agitene for our parts washers.....as I remember it works well, but wear rubber (or whatever) gloves.....it will do a job on your skin.....seems that it lasted a couple of trips to Europe...or about 90 days under relatively heavy use....compared to what y'all will be doing......

...now as sefaring folk are want to do...make it more better.....an addition of carbon solvent makes it better, but it really puts out the vapors.....hard to breathe.....

Agitene does not require heating either.....a short length of 3/8" black iron pipe, with some small holes drilled into it.......and an air connection on one end, cap on the other......let your air compressor do your work for you....a little bit of air bubblibg from the pipe will keep the Agitene moving, and increase it's grease cutting action......

wash your parts in warm soapy water after you are done cleaning.....blow dry, coat lightly with lube oil, or WD-40, or LPS V3 (another Grainger product)......

SB

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Diesels:
'85 300D, "Max, Blue Benz", 155K, 27.0 MPG
'84 190D 2.2, "Eva, Brown Benz", 142K, 40.2 MPG
'77 240D (parts car)
'67 Eicher ES 202 Tractor "Otto" (2cyl, Air Cooled, 30HP)
Gassers:
'94 Ford F-150, "Henry", 170K (300 Six) 17.5 MPG
'85 190E 2.3, 148K....Parts Car
'58 Dodge W300M Powerwagon (Flat Fenders) Less than 10 MPG

If you are looking for a cheap parts washer and we all wouldn't be here if we were not ch....er ah thrifty, go to your friendly wally world and pick up aluminum baking pans in all sizes. Match the part to the pan and also save solvent. Large parts may suggest the turkey roasting pan. I use flux brushes to aid the effort. After finishing, I can reuse almost everything except the solvent.

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Dan
1981 240D
1987 300D Turbo
1973 220
Das Beste Oder Nichts

I use kerosene in mine works great....fairly easy to dispose of.

Those pans do not have the nice fitting lid which the HF cleaner has...and its own legs...
and I CAN reuse the solvent... just ' decant' it into something with a good lid , wash out the bottom of the pan with water ( this is possible because I have mixed the Gunk Concentrate with it ) and I am ready for the next time... Kerosene is about $8 in a can and $4.50 bulk .. but I consider that high....so I reuse until it won't work anymore. These axles are about 2 feet long... they just don't make Turkeys that long.

Hope you're taking pics of your Gravely work....

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John