ZZ Top aside, I’m cleaning up the Cush drive on my Cali project and seeking some answers/input here. Today I was able to remove the plate to get at the pucks and such underneath but I had to apply heat, spray lube, and a tire iron for leverage to get it off. Pictured here is the “stem” and the cover. Some questions.
1) What should I use to clean those parts up? I first sprayed some brake cleaner to try and remove the orange corrosion, then wd-40. Those “kinda” helped as the pictures you see here are after I hit them.
2) When I put it all back together I assume I use a good bit of grease on most all parts?
3) I drilled all the pucks and I have plans to install them all - not half of them as Field and others recommend - but should I put some kind of rubber spray lube on them as well to try and keep them from drying out?
4) I’ve drawn a couple red lines on the inside of the Cush cover that goes over the bearing stem. What are these grooves? They seem to circle the inside and even cross at a couple points? What do they do? Are they intentional or something that maybe happened from wear?
