Road Salt....new tractor

[legrandice]

Am I getting soft with the shiny paint and new tractor?

I own apartments within a 30 minute drive of my house. In the winter when we have a lot of snow I took my old tractor to stack the piles left by the plow guys. Some of the parking lots are pretty tight and this makes a big difference in the tenants having room to park.

Now that I have the new tractor, I don't want to drive it around and get road salt on the tractor!!! To fit it in my trailer I have the bucket curled over on the tongue of the trailer. My vehicle throws a good amount of road spray onto the trailer.

My options are:
Suck it up and bring the tractor
use my 1332 ariens snow blower


Tractor: Mahindra Max 26hst
Trailer: 6x10 open
Tow vehicle: 2010 4 Runner
Distance: 15 miles no highway

Thoughts?

 

[kiotiken]

I never drive my tractor on the road in the winter because of the salt. I've even told my dealer he'd have to put off warranty work on it because he couldn't fix it in my yard and I wasn't having it floated to his shop until the roads were clean in the spring.

I also don't use mine to make money and I'm expecting it to last for the next 40 years.

 

[kevingweq]

Get a nice canvas Tarp made for your tractor (or find the proper size) Make it as easy as possible to cinch it tight and protect your baby , Heck of a lot cheaper than an enclosed trailer

 

[tractchores]

Hose it off after. Just make sure to park it somewhere that isn't way below freezing and empty the hose after. I do this with my tractor and trailer, my garage is not heated, but generally stays just above freezing so I haven't had big issues with ice.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I say just wash it as you would your trailer and tow vehicle.

Chris

 

[Sprinklerman]

Fluid film look it up online , Tractors dont stay new forever .

 

[ShowroomShine]

Oh good lord, wash it off. I'm as **** of a person as you've ever met (extreme OCD level, used to own a high end detailing company etc), and this wouldnt bother me. Wash it off, chamios it dry, wax all painted surfaces.

Done.

 

[tcreeley]

Salt will rust it- even without trying. Enclose the trailer or raise the sides high. It will pick up salt from the parking lots. Wash it off if you can. But it will rust.

 

[legrandice]

Thanks for the great responses! I think I will bring my snowblower to the apartment tomorrow. I will look into fluid film for later this winter. I don't have a heated space to store the tractor, and I don't really want to get it coated in salt this early in it's life. I am hoping this tractor will last a Loooonnnngggg time. Perhaps next year I will have a larger trailer that I can cover the tractor on!

 

[s219]

I'd be more worried about the safety of that trailer.

 

[oosik]

The DOH uses some type of liquid - dispensed from a tanker truck. Based upon what I see that it does to vehicles - I'm glad I don't have to drive the tractor or my other vehicles in areas where that stuff is used. The running boards on my son's pickup melted right off after 3 winters driving where they use that stuff. He lives in Spokane.

 

[tcreeley]

I used to never replace brakes and brakelines- never needed to. Now with the salt that goes on the road, they rust though, freeze, etc.- Every vehicle. - new calipers, re-surfacing - not to mention the pads.

 

[forgeblast]

I started using fluid film, i had to buy off ebay but I like how it went on and plan on using it as long as I own my truck.

 

[NewfieDan]

Have you looked into an attachment for the trailer. Some boat trailers have a shield that bolts to the tongue of the trailer. It protects the front of the boat from road grime and debris. Or something like a snowmobile trailer has. They have a hard nose to the trailer. This also protects the front of the snowmobile from road salt and and blowing snow.here are a couple links

http://http://www.trailer-rockguard.com

http://http://www.floeintl.com/aluminum-trailers/trailer-accessories/

 

[dstig1]

And nobody has posted the obvious? Direct the plow guys to plow the place correctly, or find ones that will? Seriously. You are paying them to plow it. They plow it right, or you find new. Why waste your time cleaning up after them? You live in a reasonably snowy area. If they aren't bright enough to plow it back a ways at the start of the season, and keep doing so, they probably don't deserve the business.

 

[legrandice]

And nobody has posted the obvious? Direct the plow guys to plow the place correctly, or find ones that will? Seriously. You are paying them to plow it. They plow it right, or you find new. Why waste your time cleaning up after them? You live in a reasonably snowy area. If they aren't bright enough to plow it back a ways at the start of the season, and keep doing so, they probably don't deserve the business.

The plow guys do a great job, the problem comes at the end of the storm when we need to move the cars and do another clean up and stack the snow. The plow guys would do this with their skid steer, but it's pretty expensive. I have been using my snowblower, but the tractor would be great to stack the snow.

 

[legrandice]

Have you looked into an attachment for the trailer. Some boat trailers have a shield that bolts to the tongue of the trailer. It protects the front of the boat from road grime and debris. Or something like a snowmobile trailer has. They have a hard nose to the trailer. This also protects the front of the snowmobile from road salt and and blowing snow.here are a couple links

http://http://www.trailer-rockguard.com

http://http://www.floeintl.com/aluminum-trailers/trailer-accessories/

One of these would work great! The problem now is I need to have the bucket curled over the front of the trailer. I am looking at a larger trailer, but it will be a year or so before I can get one.

 

[PILOON]

Something I tried,
So far so good.
I had a can or two of spray on 'gravel guard' that I applied to the underside of my fenders.
It repels gravel, protects from rust and deadens noise. Best is rust protection.
Also nothing sticks to it.

 

[Danny C]

The DOH uses some type of liquid - dispensed from a tanker truck. Based upon what I see that it does to vehicles - I'm glad I don't have to drive the tractor or my other vehicles in areas where that stuff is used. The running boards on my son's pickup melted right off after 3 winters driving where they use that stuff. He lives in Spokane.

I can't speak for WA, but a lot of highway departments are using Beet Juice like in RimGuard for de-icing highways. They dispense it from a tanker trailer as you describe. They also use a brine solution, but are using beet juice more because it's biodegradable and salt has been deemed a hazardous substance. They typicall do this just before a storm so snow doesn't stick to the road surface and turn to ice.

 

[Jd5203]

The salt isn't going to do very much as long as you take care of your equipment. I have three tractors that I run on the road during the winter feeding hay, usually on the road about ten hours a week with the tractors. Any day you get a warm day just go out and pressure wash it off. None of my tractors have any rust and our newest one is 2012 with the oldest being a 2005. It's just like your vehicle, if you don't spray it off, then it will rust, if you spray it off, it will last much longer. What you are proposing is not justifiable for as many times as you're going to be hauling it. Just drive it down the road and spray it off when you can.