How often do you powerwash your equipment

[stevess]

i think water destroys metal more than it helps. i never have enough time to make sure all the water that has found a place to sit is gone. i used the dry clean method..... leaf blower
steve

 

[Short Game]

Compressed air when the crud is dry. Blow it away so it doesn't hold moisture against the machine.

Pressure wash the bucket or box blade to get the mud off so they don't rust.

Don't test seals. They are made to seal the oil in, not 2,500 lb. water out.

 

[canoetrpr]

Glad I didn't buy your trade-in. It is probably heading for component failure from moisture ingress at some point in the near future.

Considering I've only had my power washer for a month and I've been away on business two weeks of that month, I highly doubt this. It has gotten used about two or three times in total after mowing. When I said 'every time', I should have said 'every time since getting the pressure washer'.

I guess the question is, what is worse on the equipment - manure, or pressure washing it that manure off occasionally, regularly ? One can judiciously pressure was with a wide nozzle, things like the loader bucket which gets manure stuck inside it or the deck of the rotary cutter and not the gear box, pivot pins etc.

I think I will stick to blowing debris off the rotary cutter with the compressor and using a hose or pressure washer on a wide nozzle occasionally to keep the manure from sticking in the bucket.

 

[canoetrpr]

Compressed air when the crud is dry. Blow it away so it doesn't hold moisture against the machine.

Pressure wash the bucket or box blade to get the mud off so they don't rust.

Don't test seals. They are made to seal the oil in, not 2,500 lb. water out.

Seems like good advice. I think I will take it.

 

[WilliamBos]

Seems like good advice. I think I will take it.

I wash mine each time I wash my truck before the winter hits, usually monthly.

Also, I used the lowest pressure nozzle, and stand a distance away from the tractor, the soap application is more important, as to what gets soaped.
All will get one more, then a fluid film spray before storage.

The only things that get soaped are tires/rims, cab, hood, fenders. If I had a loader, it would get soaped too. The rest gets a light spray from a safe distance, with the low pressure nozzle.

No need to create problems with over washing. No idiot baths.

 

[sweep]

Pressure washing is H E L L on any equipment, especially equipment with oil filled gearboxes and seals and bearings and all those things that moisture can destroy.

I wash with a garden hose to get the crud off, and pressure wash maybe 2 times a year. I NEVER pressure wash any haying equipment, my bailers have never seen a pressure washer, I just blow the chaff off, grease, check parts for wear and call it good.

I wash my mower decks, pull the blades and sharpen or replace prior to winter storage and coat with slip plate.

Glad I didn't buy your trade-in. It is probably heading for component failure from moisture ingress at some point in the near future.

Amen
I would never power wash my tractor. Just a regular garden hose 3-4 times per year.

 

[LBrown59]

I love putting a way a clean tractor but it is just not practical to powerwash it everytime I use it.

Today I was moving around manure and so there is a lot sticking inside the bucket and outside on the QA coupler. Working in the same thing tomorrow as well so I figure I'll wash it off once that job is done.

I've been trying to powerwash my old tractor and rotary cutter after every cutting (once every 5-7 days - I do rotational grazing and mow weeds after moving the cattle out of a paddock). That too gets tiresome.

Curious to hear how often you guys wash your equipment. How much harm am I doing leaving some manure stuck to a bucket or other organic debris stuck to a rotary cutter? Of course the rotary cutter will get washed well before storing it for the winter.

My tractor gets pressure washed 2 to 3 times per year.
I pressure wash the attachments once per year at the end of the season before they are put away for the winter.

For some reason my machines love mud. I believe there are little dwarfs that get my machines out at night and have mud bogs:laughing:. I power wash quite a bit, IMO it is part of proper maintenance, how could I find an issue if I can't see it{??}.

I power wash several times a year. Usually when I have the power washer out for some other reason. Once I string all those hoses I generally just wash everything in my path.

Power washing is a bad idea.

Pressure washing is H E L L on any equipment, especially equipment with oil filled gearboxes and seals and bearings and all those things that moisture can destroy.

I wash with a garden hose to get the crud off, and pressure wash maybe 2 times a year. I NEVER pressure wash any haying equipment, my bailers have never seen a pressure washer, I just blow the chaff off, grease, check parts for wear and call it good.

I wash my mower decks, pull the blades and sharpen or replace prior to winter storage and coat with slip plate.

Glad I didn't buy your trade-in. It is probably heading for component failure from moisture ingress at some point in the near future.

Let me know if and when you sell equipment, I'll consider yours.......

I actually found that out the hard (and expensive way). I used to pressure was my big round bailer to remove the chaff and I compromised the upper roll bearing (got water ingress from the pressure) and had the bearing sieze in the field. I had to rent a bailer and then replace the bearing, the cross shaft, the spacers and one roll belt to the tune of about a grand for parts plus the day rental. I could have easily set the bailer on fire if I hadn't been watching and saw the smoke from the frying bearing/slipping belt.

Manure might fade paint in a bucket but it's a bucket. The paint just keeps the rust at bay. That's it. Show me a commercial unit with paint on the bucket and I'll show you a lemon.:laughing:

Clean and purty is for the Caddilac and the motorcycles. I prefer to put away a dirty tractor/implements. I know they were working......

Power washing is a bad idea.
I just greased the BH on my BX23 and was suprised at the water that was pushed out of the fittings and all I had done was let the hoe stick out of the garage door and it rained lightly a couple of times .
After seeing this I decided no power washing for me.

 

[5030]

Considering I've only had my power washer for a month and I've been away on business two weeks of that month, I highly doubt this. It has gotten used about two or three times in total after mowing. When I said 'every time', I should have said 'every time since getting the pressure washer'.

I guess the question is, what is worse on the equipment - manure, or pressure washing it that manure off occasionally, regularly ? One can judiciously pressure was with a wide nozzle, things like the loader bucket which gets manure stuck inside it or the deck of the rotary cutter and not the gear box, pivot pins etc.

I think I will stick to blowing debris off the rotary cutter with the compressor and using a hose or pressure washer on a wide nozzle occasionally to keep the manure from sticking in the bucket.

you won't hurt the bucket with any pressure washer of any pressure but the rest, I'd be careful with. I'm an air hose person as well. Plenty of air here, both on forum (hot air) and off forum, 30 CFM @ 175 psi.

I have a blow gun with a 3 foot rigid extension nozzle so I don't get blowback of crud because I play in poop as well.

Just pulling your leg on the trade. Your trade is too small for me anyway.:laughing:

Keep remembering things....

You'll need to wash out your cabin air filter yearly or whenever it gets full of crud. I use dish soap and a garden hose. No pressure washer there either....

 

[silvertramp]

That would be never. I take the leaf blower to the bush hog at the end of the season. For the 1st 25 years it didn't even get that. It's never been washed, painted, or stored indoors.
The tractor gets the leaf blower treatment a couple times a year. It's self washing.
The motorcycles get a though detailing each spring. That seems to be enough to keep them from deteriorating. I've got a '79, '87, & a '99.

 

[5030]

Wet, nasty, mulched grass under a mower deck will decompose and turn acidic and eat the deck up in a few seasons, mix in some cattle manure (from mowing feedlots) and you really have a corrosive brew.

I wash mine every falll....and slip plate.

Your mower is on borrowed time.....

Probably getting easier to move around, it's getting lighter every symmer.