Old school Kubota rebuild

[alchemysa]

The M5500DT parts diagrams here may be similar enough to be handy... Kubotabooks.com

 

[MarkV]

cool project for sure. someone mentioned soda blasting. do yourself a favor and DO NOT soda blast. you cannot paint over sodablasted metal. the paint will peel off in sheets. its a long boring explanation but i am a custom painter and classic car restorer by trade and no paint company will warranty anything over a soda blasted surface anymore. its a big no no. it was the greatest thing to do a few years ago now half of the big resto shops across the country are out of business from failures.

Jim, me being one that knows little about painting/restoration what do you think is the best process to clean up old tractors for a quality paint job?

MarkV

 

[AceDeuce]

One word... Spinners

 

[RobertN]

Look over on Antique Tractors - Yesterday's Tractors : Antique Tractor Headquarters

It is the old tractor equivilant to TBN. Lots os info on stripping tractors, degreasing, sandblasting, cleaning, paint ect. As well as rebuilding.

That Kuboata should be fun to repaint. Old though... Now the Farmall-A I used to have was old, a 1941.

I still think of a restoration as not only painting, but new rings, valves, clutch, tractor torn apart all over the garage and shed

 

[dfkrug]

Just marking the beginning of what im sure will be a long job - restoring this 1978 Kubota M4500DT

Wow, 48 PTO hp....that's a beast.

It's hard to think of any Kubota as an old tractor, but that one is almost
the very first of the M series. I have never seen one. Sounds like a fun
project.

 

[HatchetFF]

Thanks for all the kind words, good tips, and great links!

- I agree with the sentiment of leaving it as is and just restoring the mechanics of it cause old iron just looks great with it's character worn with pride, but this beast will be living under a pole barn with a roof and no sides so i'm thinking new paint should stave off some of the oxidation.

bota jim - please give me the long boring details, as I am a details oriented person, and was definetly thinking about soda blasting...

I will certainly update as progress occurs and once I get into this thing, the questions will certainly come flying.

oh, and yes the M5500DT is the same manual, the operators manuals I have are for pretty much all of the M series - 78/79 era.

when I bought the tractor it was sold as having 27** hours, but its only a 4 digit meter, so it could be 992,7** for all I know.

achers - thats a cleean resto man, I hope mine looks half as good when I'm done!

also, I am looking for about a 6' bushhog to attach to it if anyone knows of one on the cheap.

 

[bota jim]

well soda blasting leaves an invisible film behind on the metal that tough to get off and you dont know when you have it off or not. the only way to get it off is to wash with water, scotchbrite, then sand the panel with 80 girt and hope you didn't mis a spot. if you take a sodablasted piece of metal and leave it outsidefor 3 months it wont rust. that will tell you right there that the metal is coated with something. when you go to epoxy prime the metal the primer is not really bonded to it, its bonded to the film causing the paint to release down the road. its like giving bare metal a coat of wax before you paint. now there are many cars out there that have been blasted and are fine BUT they were prepped correctly after the blasting. imo the risk is way too great not to mention once you have it blasted and clean you need to take water to the metal which is going to flash rust it then you have to sand it again so what is the point to begin with. best way is still to media blast with another product NOT SAND as that will kill you but black beauty, green lighting or one of the other medias out there. i use black beauty here. its cheap, cuts great and is 1000 times more safe than silica sand. blast media does get into everything but a couple minutes spent with an air hose will take care of it, then you are ready for your epoxy primer.

 

[BotaBX24er]

HatchetFF, that is a beast of a tractor. Why would you need to repaint? Looks great!!!

TBN is great! I had no clue what soda blasting was, but I've been learning quite a bit from this site.

Have fun with the restoration!

 

[Cat_Driver]

Let me tell you something about that beauty you want to restore. See this picture, I just pulled this out of the weeds and trees that I had to cut away to even sit in the seat. The trees grew right up through the cab and in and around the dash and gears.

I filled up the tires, put in a battery and she started right up after sitting for over 20 years.

It even had the original diesel and she started right up. After me and the guys stopped laughing I checked the fluids and put in 5 fresh gallons of fuel and then plowed a field for the next 8 hours. Went back on her today and plowed another five hours.

I may break down and change the oil and filters but for now she's running like a fine Swiss watch and pulls like a Mac Truck. I won't let her know you guys think she's an antique.

 

[HatchetFF]

That is an AWESOME story man, I am so glad to hear from a fellow owner of an M4500, especially one that was rescued from the fields of time!

I have yet to do anything to mine - new jobs, new responsibilities, and alot of schooling have kept me from it lately.

I will say there is one thing that I would like to address - the power steering leaks. any experience with that?

you guys think she's an antique.

pshaw, these things havent even been broken in yet!!