Gord Baker
Gold Member
Sounds like a great idea with the WD 40. Anyone else getting bombarded with ads on this and other sites?
My used equipment and vehicles always bring top dollar too... It's too expensive to let it rot
There is a huge middle ground between neglecting a piece of equipment and obsessing over it. I fall into that middle ground...I take care of it, perform maintenance at regular intervals but don't worry if it gets a little dirty or the paint fades. I bought it to do work, not to be some trailer queen show vehicle.So I'm compulsive about this in a limited way only because I grew up pretty poor and have worked hard to get what I have. I'm proud of it and am probably paid handsomely per hour in extra $$ at sale time for not much extra effort.
1st priority: work with tractorA thought occurred to me today when I was applying a DIY "Ceramic coat" to my car this morning, now I'm curious if any of y'all do any kind of paint protection on your tractors?
For those with older tractors and you don't see a need, I fully understand & no need to reply; But for those with newer tractors that feel there is an advantage to protect paint, make it easier to wash off the dirt and grime every few weeks, what have you done and does it make routine cleaning any easier?
In my case, I did a full detail on one of our cars using many steps and got to thinking that maybe I should try to do something to the paint on my Kioti that's coming up on 2 yrs old ... Couldn't care less about shine and such, but does it help with wash downs? If my tractor is super dirty, I'll hit it with a car foam cannon and then just pressure wash it, always gets most of the dirt and grime off.
In my car's case, 2nd owner with over 52K miles, drive it weekly and not a "garage queen" paint job by any means, so it was a full wash, iron decontamination, clay bar, then get out the buffer to do swirl remover and apply a polish, then prep the surface with Isopropyl alcohol and apply 2 coats of Meguiars M888 "beyond ceramic" coating, way more than I'd do for the tractor, lol
While I'd never go to that level of paint correction on my tractor, I do wonder if a good wash / decon / ceramic coat would be worthwhile to keep the paint looking decent on a 2 yr old tractor and making washes easier / faster for years to come? Keep paint from fading just a little while longer? Or, will applying something like a "ceramic coat" just get beat to hell and wear off too quickly (considering grease, oil, etc) to make a difference in the long run?
Pics below of the car detail, and I certainly wouldn't need such a finish on the tractor, but if a ceramic coat helps preserve the paint, I might consider spending some time applying it to the tractor as I have lots of product left over....
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Constructive thoughts / comments? (and yes, I'm well aware it's a tractor, it is & will continue to be beat up), but simply curious if others have applied any type of protection and seen a noticeable long-wearing difference when washing off the day's or week's grime, prevent fading, etc??
Thanks all & best regards,
Greg
If you have enough time on your hands to wax or creosote your tractor, I'm pretty sure you don't really need a tractor. I get the idea of washing it off from time to time, but anything beyond that is down right disturbing.
If you have enough time on your hands to wax or creosote your tractor, I'm pretty sure you don't really need a tractor.
But how much would you have gotten for it if it had been in "used but not abused" condition? Probably not a lot different.I'll really upset you now when I tell that because I take care of not only the mechanical aspects of my tractors, but the appearance as well, I got $47k for a tractor I paid $50k for nearly 10 years ago, with thousands of hours on it.
So, I got to use a nice air conditioned 100hp tractor for 10 years at a cost to me of $25 a month.
But how much would you have gotten for it if it had been in "used but not abused" condition? Probably not a lot different.
When I sold my JD750 with ~1000 hr to get my present tractor I got almost the same price I'd paid for it. Good condition, but no one was going to think it had just been driven off a showroom floor.
Tractors hold their value.