Snow How do you all avoid rust forming on your tractors from road salt?

[PorkChopsMmm]

I will be picking up a lightly used BX2370 next week and I am wondering if I should be worried about road salt getting on the tractor or implements. My driveway is ~900 feet long and gravel. I occasionally throw some rock salt down on the driveway and there is whatever falls of the cars from driving on roads. I could also drive onto the road a bit to push snow across the street.

Is this something I should be worried about? How do you all clean up your tractors? I want this tractor to last for 30 years and figure I need to treat it right from the get-go. Thanks!

 

[Industrial Toys]

No equipment of mine ever sees salt. I would sooner land on my back, smashing my head in the process on some slippery surface then subject my babies to that evil substance. Not too mention what it does to concrete!

A friend of mine got a used cub cadet CUT and he has had one problem after another all caused by salt! Particularly in the wiring connections. He is tearing his hair out, because he can't figure out, how the salt got into all these places! And he works closely with municipal and snow removel contractors, so he sees a lot of machines and still can't understand it.

I sold my little JD 770 with front mount mower to a neighbour to use at his business. It was in show room condition when it left here, and I was just horrified to see what it looked like just a few short years later, just due to SALT!

 

[PorkChopsMmm]

Good to know. Makes me think about putting any on the driveway. That being said -- I can't stop the cars from tracking it in.

 

[imgone52]

Salt problems deep inside a piece of equipment can be from being trailered and all the spray it is subjected to. FYI

 

[Looking4new]

Wax the snot out of it! I use Zip wash 'n' wax.
Another thing you should do is get some dielectric grease and liberally coat all of your electrical connections including the battery terminals.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I wax most of my stuff and they look good. But rust never starts in the middle of a body panel. It starts where things meet or a bolted together. That means two hundred places on the tractor you can't really treat! Plus latches, catches, screws, bolts and so forth. Much of the wiring is totally inaccessible and unless you are troubleshooting, you would not even know it's there. Modern tractors with all their wiring, electronics, safety interlocks are a nightmare if salt gets in there! Some of these tractors are impossible to get wiring diagrams for, like my friends Cub Cadet. They have pictures of the harnesses but no schematics that you can logically figure out what's going on when things stop working.

 

[TerryR]

My driveway is ~900 feet long and gravel. I occasionally throw some rock salt down on the driveway...

Our grading contractor told us to never put salt on a gravel driveway. He says it keeps the top few inches from freezing while that underneath does, and the driveway turns to mush. He claims he's had to remove the top layers and replace them to address the problem. Anyone ever heard of that issue?

Terry

 

[bigtiller]

Our grading contractor told us to never put salt on a gravel driveway. He says it keeps the top few inches from freezing while that underneath does, and the driveway turns to mush. He claims he's had to remove the top layers and replace them to address the problem. Anyone ever heard of that issue?

Terry

I pay a company to spray a 400' stretch of gravel road in front of my house twice every summer with calcium chloride. It has a residual affect so that even now, nearing the end of winter, it is easy to see where the 400' long strip is. And this spring when the frost goes out and the roads turn to mush, my 400' stretch of road will be nice and firm.

I think your neighbor may have other issues like maybe drainage.

 

[PorkChopsMmm]

Thanks guys, all good to know. My tractor should be shipping from Barlow's in KY next week up here to Michigan. I asked them to wrap the tractor so road salt wouldn't get on it. I will also limit/stop salting my driveway. I figure with my own tractor with a back blade I won't need to.

 

[HEC]

I pay a company to spray a 400' stretch of gravel road in front of my house twice every summer with calcium chloride. It has a residual affect so that even now, nearing the end of winter, it is easy to see where the 400' long strip is. And this spring when the frost goes out and the roads turn to mush, my 400' stretch of road will be nice and firm.

I think your neighbor may have other issues like maybe drainage.[/QUOTE

They use calcium chloride on the highways here in Maine now and it is much worse than salt ever thought of being . It gets into everything , no longer just replacing brake pads now you have to replace the entire system as it rots out everything . Truckers have a hard time keeping electrical items working as it is so much worse than salt . It sure is keeping the repair shops up here busy .

 

[oosik]

I live far enough out that the county doesn't use de-icing compounds on their roads. And the only time I come in contact with the county road is where my driveway connects with it.

They use some kind of liquid sprayed from a tanker truck now - in the big city. I noticed it completely ate the tubular running boards off my son's pickup.

I avoid the big city - Spokane - like the plague in the winter.

 

[PILOON]

I noticed a bit of rust forming and since I had a couple of rattle cans of gravel guard left over I sprayed the undersides of my fenders.
As far as I can tell that has done a good job of deterring rust especially in folds and creases.
Cheap prevention IMHO.

 

[Jay4200]

I will be picking up a lightly used BX2370 next week and I am wondering if I should be worried about road salt getting on the tractor or implements. My driveway is ~900 feet long and gravel. I occasionally throw some rock salt down on the driveway and there is whatever falls of the cars from driving on roads. I could also drive onto the road a bit to push snow across the street.

Is this something I should be worried about? How do you all clean up your tractors? I want this tractor to last for 30 years and figure I need to treat it right from the get-go. Thanks!

I spray my tractor down with the hose in the Spring and in the Fall, whether it needs it or not.

I wouldn't worry about it. As long as the paint is intact, it won't rust. Touch up any dents or scrapes during your annual services, and it'll outlive you.

You should see my 15 y/o pickup right now...it's theoretically green, but it's completely white right now. I'm lucky to wash it every 3 years, and it's rusting, but only where I've crashed it.

 

[Looking4new]

I believe what they are spraying on the paved roads is magnesium chloride not calcium chloride, because calcium chloride makes asphalt slippery as loon poop.

 

[Mace Canute]

If I used my tractors in a salted environment I'd spray them (judiciously) with Rust Check. It has a water displacer in it and a creeping agent in addition to rust inhibitors and I've used it religiously on my 20 year old Chevy truck to keep rust away.

 

[newbury]

I'm moving everything to Mississippi. We rely on warm weather to remove the snow.

10 snowiest seasons in Tupelo snowfall TOTALS:

1. 14.8" 1935-1936
2. 10.8" 2010-2011
3. 9.2" 1939-1940
4. 9.0" 1984-1985
5. 8.3" 1987-1988
6. 8.0" 1934-1935
7. 6.5" 1983-1984
8. 4.3" 1994-1995
9. 4.0" 1930-1931
10. 4.0" 1999-2000

Tupelo Top 10 Climate Lists by Month

 

[Al Mac]

Why not use sand, ashes (wood stove) or kitty litter if traction is the issue on a driveway. Some places are using beet juice with good results.
Plenty Magazine - Environmental News and Commentary

Spring will take care off the ice.
While these will track more mess into the house. The salt could be used on the walks close to the house.

I drove a calcium truck some 30+ years ago for the dirt roads here. It rotted everything out that it was on in a short time.

Al

 

[Looking4new]

The salt could be used on the walks close to the house.

I drove a calcium truck some 30+ years ago for the dirt roads here. It rotted everything out that it was on in a short time.

Al

My company changed from calcium chloride (35%0 to 32% Magnesium Chloride about 10 years ago. Mag. Chloride does exactly the same thing as CC only it is a little more environmentally friendly. Mag Chloride can be weakened down to use as a de-icer in winter, where as CC will make pavement slick.

 

[RalphVa]

Use fertilizer instead of rock salt. it melts snow and then fertilizes, rather than kills vegetation.

I use Rust Reformer by Rustoleum. It's a black primer, plus has a chemical in it that turns FeO (rust) to FeS (which is also black). I once sprayed my Gravely snow plow with it that had some bare, shiny spots on it, and it never ever rusted. There have been other of these kinds of products out, and I've used most of them. They all work by chemically changing the rust to iron sulfide.

Ralph

 

[Hammer Head]

In the fall I wax all that I can and spray everything else with fluid Film. In the spring I use gunk and pressure wash everything.
Grease and wax for the summer.