Wash Your Tractor?

[Gatorboy]

I have a tractor that has 7900 hours on it, and the only washing it ever gets is from the rain coming down on it. It has never been washed with soap and water.

Perhaps the main reason, is it has never seen a hose. For all the work it has ever done, there has never been a water supply around.

 

[Bird]

I was like most of the other guys I guess. I frequently hosed my tractors off with a garden hose. They were kept inside my shop building (concrete floor) and it hard enough to keep the floor swept out without taking more dirt inside. So no way was I going to leave the tractor out in the weather overnight and no way it was going into that shop building muddy. And when I hosed it off, I also raised the hood and hosed off the engine, too. I was just careful to not get water in the air intake, and of course, didn't spray water on a hot engine. Actually the tractor got washed more frequently that the car or pickup. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[SacandagaBrad]

Sure I wash it! With only 30 hours I have already buried it to the axles twice in mud, at that point sometimes just a quick hose-down to remove the mud. I've even waxed it, but in the garage behind closed doors where the neighbors can't see me /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I also still wash my 25 year old Gravely and mower deck, sometimes with engine degreaser. I see caked on mud and grass clippings as moisture and heat blankets. On the air cooled Gravely, keeping it clean helps it run cooler. That's true of any motor.

They're tools of pride that took a lot of negotiating with the CFO, I need them to last as long as I do.

Brad

 

[riptides]

Hah!

Not only do I wash it, I put armor all on the tires. Yep, them things look brand spanking new.
I have not waxed it yet, perhaps in a day or two, it still beads
water.

Nothing like do a job with a clean machine.

-Mike Z.
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Dave___in___CT]

Hi...

Wash it as needed...
Wax once a year or 2... compounded once oor twice...
"Armoraul" the tires when waxed...

This definately helped re-selling the 17 year old Deere CUT at a good price... by looks and buyer knowing I cared enough to wax it...


Dave...

 

[5030]

Rimmer:

Henro is right, I did ask him why his tractor was so dirty. Besides, it had grease clumps all over it. Looked like a piece of old construction equipment......

I wash my 5030 about once a month and if it gets really muddy or dirty, right after I use it.

I keep my 5030 in my climate controlled machine shop so if it is muddy, the mud dries and gets on the shop floor which is a no-no.

I just happen to have a diesel fired hot water pressure washer so cleaning is no problem. I use commercial cleaning chemicals and hot wax just like the local car wash so I never wax my tractor or vehicles for that matter. I just hot wax everything and then towel it off.

One thing about pressure washing your tractor, especially with hot water and chemicals....I always grease the unit after I wash it. The hot pressure washing blows the grease out of the FEL so a greasing is in order.

If you pressure was an engine, diesel or gasoline, do it COLD. and cover the air intake. Engines don't like water inside them.

 

[cowboydoc]

We rarely, if ever, wash our tractors. We've got 40 year old tractors still going strong and never been washed. Still look in good shape. I've got a 30 year old 4430 with 10,000 hours and it's never seen a bath. It still looks pretty sharp.

 

[RoyJackson]

I use air pressure, then hose it down to get any debris, mud, grass clippings (raise the mower to get the underside of the deck), etc.

Haven't waxed it yet, but I think about that now and then. This tractor is pretty much garage kept, so no paint fading from the sun (considering it's 12 or 13 years old).

 

[Henro]

<font color="blue"> Henro is right, I did ask him why his tractor was so dirty. Besides, it had grease clumps all over it. Looked like a piece of old construction equipment...... </font>

Actually, I just realized that I do rinse my tractor a fair amount...but a soap and water wash is rare...Now it wasn't really that dirty, was it 5030? /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

5030 is right about the grease, I do sometimes take a rag and wipe off the grease...but I like to grease things pretty often...and guess I got this idea that the old grease providea a barrier to keep things from getting in where I don't want them... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Somehow I just can't bring my self to put the pressure washer wand too close to the places where grease belongs...just don't feel good about driving water in there... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[theonlybull]

my father uses dry wash-n-guard on our tractors when they come out for summer duty... course they are a 45, and 52, guess shining them up doesn't hurt them

 

[rmonio]

Wash AND Wax - plus I regularly take my leaf blower and get rid of the dust and other things that assemble on it after I've been out mowing, etc.

I also regularly touch up the paint - nothing like fresh Green and Black where it's supposed to be.

My farmer neighbors think I'm crazy, but I did get asked to drive in the annual parade this last year!

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

-Bob

 

[EastTexFrank]

I used to be totally **** retentive about washing and waxing cars and pick-ups but I think I'm better now. The 3 year old B2400 at the house still gets hosed down about 4/5 times a year and waxed once or twice. The tires always get washed off if they get muddy - don't want to be cleaning mud off the concrete floor but Armour All - I'm not quit that bad ... used to be, but not any more, well at least not on the tires. The 45 year old JD and 25 year old Massey at the farm? ... I guess if they made it this long without a wash and wax, they can make it a few years longer. See, I told you I was getting better.

 

[Magruder]

I wash my 790 regularly, and wax it as well. When I look at the equipment of the big farmers around here, the good ones keep their stuff cleaned and shiny during the winter. Big investment.

 

[P.K. Burke]

Funny you should bring up this subject at this time. I just washed and waxed my tractor yesterday. I usually hit it with a hose and wash mitt after cutting grass or hauling manure just to keep it running cool. The radiator gets really choked up with dry grass. I usually wax it before I put it up for most of the winter. No snow here to contend with so I don't usually use it a whole lot in the winter. Cleaning the tractor can't hurt and it makes it a whole lot easier to spot potential problems such as leaks or cracks or missing nuts and bolts. I took the advice of some one else on this forum and tried Scrubbing Bubbles on the engine and it worked pretty slick. Think resale, resale, resale. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[40Kchicks]

My equipment is used to clean out our poultry barns. That manure seems to rust things up like salt. I pressure washed my old 77’ ford 4100, unfortunately the previous owner didn’t. There were several places where the metal was getting pretty thin. This summer I got my new Kubota M9000 and it gets washed and lubed every clean out, so about every couple of months. Since I use the tractor hard for a couple of weeks and then it just sits for over a month it seems like the right thing to do.

My SSL also gets washed every couple of months but you would never know it. It gets used almost daily and with all the mud I have on our farm its gets dirty almost immediately.

The new equipment is just too expensive to not take care of it. If all you do is run your plow tractor a month or two in August and September just dust it off and go but my application is a little more corrosive than that.

Eric

 

[5030]

Richard:

I should probably add that all the haying equipment including the John Deere's get washed after every cut, along with a grease and inspection.

We are always in the mud here, even in the summer, during hay season. There is always a mud hole to run through. I don't particularly like turds coming off the tires and flying through the air. Not bad with a cab, but the Deere's are cab less and I don't need an incoming "scud" hitting me in the face or head!!

I would think that a little oil leak and our Deere's do leak a little , combined with 40 years of hay chaff would look like stalactites in a cave??

 

[5030]

Bill:

It was GREASY . Bet if you got some on the seat of your pants and sat on Kazuko's furniture, you'd be sleeping in your new shed.

One thing about having something greasy, water beads up real nice......looks like a "wax" job. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Rimmer]

Well, some real interesting reading here. I figured my question would bring a lot of discussion. Based on what I've learned from all the comments, I plan on keeping the BX23 reasonably clean. Actually, I never intended otherwise, but I really hadn't thought in terms of regular washing and waxing.

I like the idea of using the leaf blower that a couple of folks mentioned. I recently discovered that the leaf blower makes a great way to get the sawdust out of the workshop -- makes sense to use it on the tractor, too.

We have an annual "Youth Fair" here in the summer, and it includes an antique tractor display and parade. The fellow who's farming our ground has a restored JD "B" and an Oliver Row Crop 77, both in beautiful shape. (His father-in-law has about a bazillion restored Fords, mostly the red and gray kind!) He let me drive the Oliver in the parade this summer. I guess I should keep my new Kubota looking at least as nice as that old "77"!!!

/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[BIGUN]

When my previous tractor was new I would wash it after each mowing session to keep it looking clean and new. After about a year of doing this I discovered that I was doing more harm than good keeping it washed. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Washing your tractor regularly, especially with the hood up and around the hydro drive area can cause electrical problems, such as corroded wiring terminals, connectors and switches. It can also get water into bearings and bushings causing them to rust or bind up. Water can enter your mower gearbox through the vent. Another possible problem, although I haven’t personally experienced this, is causing a metal casing, such as a motor block or hydro housing to crack or distort from cold water contacting the hot metal if it isn’t allowed to cool first.
Since then I have used compressed air to blow the dust, grass and debris off my equipment after mowing. If it is wet weather and my tractor gets coated with wet grass and mud I will wash it taking care to keep water away from the trouble areas. Usually though it is just dry grass and dust and I only use the compressed air keeping the equipment dry. I really like using this 20” long air blow gun for this purpose.
Air Blow Gun
It also works great in place of sweeping the garage and sidewalks. I like using it instead of a vacuum for cleaning the inside of my truck. The inside of my truck stays relatively clean unlike some guy’s who work out of them getting them really dirty, so its not like I am blowing a cloud of dust and dirt around the inside of the truck. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
I never wax anything, not even my truck or car.

 

[falconry]

I occasionally was my backhoe at work. It's mostly important to blow out all the bark dust that settles in the engine and keeps the engine very hot during the summer. Since it's an older machine, there are leaks and it gets a little messy. Of course when I grease the machine I can NEVER not get grease on me and on the machines, globs of it. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif So, over time these pink grease globs become big ugly black globs, that and the leaks all over the machine make it look ugly so I wash it to actually see it's a case backhoe and not some other wierd machine. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif We just preasure wash, no soap or anything. Not worth it, it's gets durty instantly after driving 200 yards.

Blake
WA