Protecting frame/body from dirt, gravel, gunk, etc.

stevenfilenko · Feb 20, 2019

Quick question for many of you toolcat owners, I just picked up a used 2007 5600 D series. Knowing anything I would but that wouldnt cost me half my years wages I knew it would need some work potentially. Had the unit delivered and noticed the frame had 4-5" of dirt/gravel/grime in places. The floors in the cab were in pretty bad shape so I decided to pull the cab to have the floors repaired nicely, and would allow me to sandblast any and all rust and re-primer and then apply an udercoating to make sure I dont allow it to continue to rust. There are also several access panels I removed on the bottom of the frame and seeing ton of dirt there as well. My question is has anyone else ran into this, or is this just an example of a machine that never ever got washed in its lifetime, and regular washes will remove most dirt. Also I noticed with the cab sitting on the frame, just below the seats when looking under the cab there is space between bottom of cab and frame allowing alot of dirt to fly at the engine on the passengers side and AC condenser/fan and fuel tank under drivers side. I was wondering if any of you have fitted any kind of splash/mud guards as I see this would help prevent alot of dirt getting in those places. I live on acreage and alot of the work I will be doing will also be in mud, so hoping to find a way to not let it get this bad again. I have it all cleaned out now but thinking about preventing it from happening again, cause I wont be pulling that cab again.

Am I worrying about the dirt too much and the additional rust it brings, and regular washes will take care of that or is this an issue others have seen.

Steven

Jabonee · Feb 21, 2019

Chances are the unit came from Canada. I see a lot of toolcats hear in the US that started life in the north. Very popular there for salt and snow removal. Also been seeing a few units making there way from TX after all the flooding last year. Did you buy your 5600 from a dealer? Can you post the SN#?

stevenfilenko · Feb 21, 2019

Serial # AOW111328, you know I looked at multiple machines, and saw that many from the east, north east that were used for snow removal/salt spreading had pretty bad rust. This machine doesnt have all that much rust on body/frame besides the bottom of the cab in the corners. Just weird the amount of dirt. I probably removed 2 or so 5gal buckets of dirt from off the frame, and the stuff that fell out when I removed the access panels below the frame body.

Another weird thing is the main frame body is a single box, but halfway through(kinda directly under the cab) there are 2 segments that are blocked off in the frame, I can feel and see a good inch or so of dirt but no idea how it may have gotten in or how to remove.

Guessing whoever had this must have been running through alot of deep mud/dirt

ruffdog · Feb 22, 2019

The unit I bought also had dirt/gravel caught it many of the chassis pockets. I spent a day with a hose and paint stir stick washing all I could out onto the driveway. You could spray a rust retardant like Fluid Film to slow future rust and it also makes it so it rinses out better.

stevenfilenko · Feb 23, 2019

ruffdog said:
The unit I bought also had dirt/gravel caught it many of the chassis pockets. I spent a day with a hose and paint stir stick washing all I could out onto the driveway. You could spray a rust retardant like Fluid Film to slow future rust and it also makes it so it rinses out better.

Yeah I bought some military grade stuff I found online will try it. That痴 what I知 thinking gotta take a pressure washer to it. Am thinking I値l install some sort of rubber flaps from cab down to frame to close off those opening between cab and frame where gunk from front wheels can fly into