Sanitize Shank and Faucet?

I just got a shank and faucet, making the upgrade from picnic taps, one at a time.

The shank seems kind of oily on the threads. Do I need to sanitize the shank and faucet, or should they just be good to go? It seems like if I put the apparently oily shank into sanitizer, it would make the sanitizer all oily, too. But if I clean off the oil with some dish soap, will the shank then rust eventually? Or maybe I should run some sanitizer through the beer line/shank/faucet assembly rather than soak all in sanitizer?

Feeling like a noob...

I'd wipe them off then soak the shank and tap. Then...I'd run sanitizer through my whole system (ball lock connectors, beer line, shank and tap) by filling a keg with sanitizer.

my recomendation would be to hook up your new faucet and shank to whatever your putting it in. Then put some starsan or whatever in an empty kep and pump it through your lines and tap/faucette. Let it set there till you put beer in teh keg, then use the beer to push the disinfectant through and throw out the first cup. Thats what i do on my keezer every keg switch - i have no problems.

I dont see the need to soak the whole shank in cleaner as just the internals will have beer though them. Also, the oil on the shank probably adds in the installation and lock nut of the assembly.

I never bother sanitizing the tap lines. I use BLC to clean the lines, and I figure that if that doesn't kill everything, nothing will.

A good initial cleaning is in order, but after that, I clean in-place every month (or two kegs), and do a complete tear-down every six months or so. Never had a problem with infections or off-flavors.

I think what I'll do, then, is clean the beer contact surfaces then I'll use CO2 to push sanitizer from a keg through the assembly and then hook it up to beer.

FWIW I don't even clean my beer lines between kegs with my current picnic tap setup, and I haven't noticed any problems. When one keg kicks, I move in the next one, pull a few ounces through the tap to replace the old beer's foam with the new beer and it's ready to go.