Snow How do you all avoid rust forming on your tractors from road salt?

[PorkChopsMmm]

Awesome advice -- thanks guys!!! I heat with a wood boiler so I could use my ash -- although it sounds like it would create quite the mess if I tracked it into the house.

The tractor is coming tomorrow -- got the call today. Unfortunately it is coming on the truck and NOT wrapped. Bummer. Should I hose it down in my unheated garage after it gets here to remove any salt that may be on it? Use dish soap?

I am going to look for the 'Rust Check' product but it looks like something I will have to order so it won't be here for tomorrow.

 

[Sprinklerman]

Its a tractor , not a street rod ,or classic car . Use it for what needs to be done . Salt , hose it off when you can . I have been using backhoes, bobcats , and tractors in the snow and salt in Maryland for 30 years . It wont look new forever . As slow as a tractor moves pushing snow or using the loader you wont get much salt on it anyway . I have rust spots, scratches , dents on my equipment , they still do the job . Corrosion has not ever been a issue .

I have teased my boys ( ages 6 and 9 ) when they get a new toy to leave it in the box and dont play with it , in 20 years it may be worth something .

 

[oldtimer 66]

I live about one mile from a paved road. It is called a gravel road but that is questionable. In the summer they put down salt brine on the road to keep the dust down. Generally 4 to 6 times a year is what the township likes to do, as a standard protocol. It is some times a lot more frequent say when the township is working on a distant road and they are using your road to move materials, suspect gravel tri axle trucks other equipment etc. That is great for keeping the dust down but it eats away your vehicles. He is the scenario. You drive on the roads during the day, summer time. Your car still picks up some dust. The salt brine does not eliminate all of the dust. Your vehicle sets outside over night and the dew settles on you car and activates the salt brine. 24 hour a day chemical attack. The worst thing to do is to drive on the road right after it has been treated with the salt brine, but you got to get home. It coats your vehicle with little gobs of brine laden mud. In a very short period of time, only days, that mixture will start to eat away on your vehicle unless it is completely rinsed off. After a couple of days those little gobs come off really hard. Then in the winter time the main roads are salted and some type of liquid chloride is also used. So there you have 12 months of chemical attach on your vehicles. I remember my first new truck. a 1978 Chevy .5 ton 4 wheel drive short bed. In 5 years living and driving on the gravel/dirt roads with that new truck the rear wheel backing plates had holes rotted thru them. I needed to replace the backing plates, wheel cylinders because none of the hardware would break loose, lines and mounting bolts, the U-bolts, nuts and retaining plates for the rear springs. In my garage I keep a small supple of brake line fittings, a role of .19 and .25 brake line, a couple quarts of brake fluid, etc. My brother in-law still farms. He purchased a new chopper box, New Holland, back in the early nineties. A chopper box is only used for maybe at the very most 3 months out of the year but probably much less. This summer I had to replace the rear axle struts because they were almost completely gone/ rotted away. My 2010 825I Gator with 3900 miles is looking a little rugged underneath even though I keep it reasonable clean. Just a FYI on salt brine. Later.

 

[PorkChopsMmm]

Oldtimer -- that sounds horrible.

Tractor came today!! They tried to wrap it up after they got on the road, which is nice. Thanks for the help guys. I ordered some 'Rust Check' like product that will be here tomorrow.

 

[jimmysisson]

Lookin good! What's the storage behind the seat? How did the mower work on snow?
Probably won't happen when new, but a loader will come down some time, don't want anything (or one) you value under it.
Jim

 

[ovrszd]

Wax the snot out of it! I use Zip wash 'n' wax.
Another thing you should do is get some dielectric grease and liberally coat all of your electrical connections including the battery terminals.

That might work on Canada salt. Sure wouldn't work on Missouri Salt. The smooth painted surfaces are not the problem. And it's so darn hard to get the dried wax wiped off the chassis parts that is the real problem.

Most electrical connectors today are sealed. If so dielectric grease won't do much. But if your Kioti connectors are not sealed, then grease away.

 

[newbury]

Oldtimer -- that sounds horrible.

Tractor came today!! They tried to wrap it up after they got on the road, which is nice. Thanks for the help guys. I ordered some 'Rust Check' like product that will be here tomorrow.

Did you tell them they could leave the entire truckload with you?
And get that beauty in your profile or your sig!

 

[PorkChopsMmm]

The guy drove off a B series first -- if it would have had a mower deck I would have tried to do some horse trading.

jimmy -- the storage on the back of the seat is for manuals (I still need to put mine in there) and the mower deck will be coming off ASAP. I have the BXpanded armor to put on underneath it.

The tractor was parked only for a short time period with the bucket up. I needed to move some stuff around in the garage to get it to fit.

Box is on the seat to keep the barn cats off.

 

[the old grind]

Calcium and magnesium chlorides are quite hygroscopic, whereas NaCl (rock salt) is much less so. The former two are used in warehouses as well as on roads to keep dust down in warm weather. As OT66 suggests they're tough on gear year 'round, pulling moisture from the air and wicking into tiny spaces to wreak havoc. Summer heat speeds corrosive action of the dust reducers, and here in MI it's long been winter salt that's misguidedly blamed for what CaCl on dirt roads has done to our vehicles.

Rinse, rinse, rinse, and take advantage of a spring rain once in a while to do the work for you by parking outside. (how my cars/trucks get washed) btw, I knew a guy who regularly trigger-sprayed ArmorAll under the hoods of cars/trucks when home from the car wash, and while everything was still warm from the drive. Far better than that shiny clear stuff used to 'polish' up used cars under-hood, it lets dirt slough off with a quick, light rinse at the next wash. I wouldn't go nuts with a pressure washer, as water can be 'injected' into the wrong places without chlorides.

Other than environmental impact, I always thought AA could also work everywhere on tractors & implements. That I haven't tried it and reported is what usually happens when I promise something, and I'm still making up for lost time spraying FF on and under half a dozen vehicles.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

I don't drive my tractor on the road during the winter.

 

[andrec999]

My JD 2130 is 37 years old and does not have any rust on it, and the roads have a lot of calcium on them around here. My secret is there is always an oil leak somewhere ( hose connection or seal) and it takes care of the rustproofing. lol

 

[Scooby074]

Doing winter setup for highway plow gear (graders, loaders) they would receive a VERY liberal coat of fluid film on all internal areas that were reachable. Under hatches and covers particularly. Electrical cables and connectors and all. We'd use it from the bulk gallon containers and shoot it with a shutz gun. The exterior panels wern't covered with FF. When the equipment was returned in spring a thorough hot water pressure clean was standard. This removed most of the FF coating. Worked well and kept rust to a minimum. This was for gear that was on salted roads 24/7. Would I do it for my BX on my driveway at home? Probably not. Not that its expensive (the treatment is under $100/gal) but there is only minimal salt on my drive and my tractor never sees the highway. If I had a larger machine that was used for plowing as a business? Absolutely, FF is cheap insurance.

Rust check is a great product. But the red can is intended to be sprayed into cavities like when undercoating a car. Its a thin, penetrating, creeping oil (great for hinges and locks BTW). RC has a newer product that is called Coat and Protect that comes in a green can. Its thick and stays where its sprayed (minimum creep). Its a close equivalent to FF. IMHO it would be a better product for a tractor. Its neater and stays put.

One last product is called Krown. Its what I use on my personal vehicles. Its thick like FF too. Almost like really soft butter. It works extremely well. You can get it from just about any Mack/Volvo truck centre under a Mack PN and save a bunch over the Krown dealers prices.

This is the product in a 20L bucket. Enough to do a couple cars and still some left over for the tractor/ PN# M20LLR

 

[robt65]

WD - 40 with an extension piece of flexible tubing over the provided red stiff plastic tube makes covering an area hard to get or where metal pieces join a breeze. Once a month treatment does well.

robt65

Doing winter setup for highway plow gear (graders, loaders) they would receive a VERY liberal coat of fluid film on all internal areas that were reachable. Under hatches and covers particularly. Electrical cables and connectors and all. We'd use it from the bulk gallon containers and shoot it with a shutz gun. The exterior panels wern't covered with FF. When the equipment was returned in spring a thorough hot water pressure clean was standard. This removed most of the FF coating. Worked well and kept rust to a minimum. This was for gear that was on salted roads 24/7. Would I do it for my BX on my driveway at home? Probably not. Not that its expensive (the treatment is under $100/gal) but there is only minimal salt on my drive and my tractor never sees the highway. If I had a larger machine that was used for plowing as a business? Absolutely, FF is cheap insurance.

Rust check is a great product. But the red can is intended to be sprayed into cavities like when undercoating a car. Its a thin, penetrating, creeping oil (great for hinges and locks BTW). RC has a newer product that is called Coat and Protect that comes in a green can. Its thick and stays where its sprayed (minimum creep). Its a close equivalent to FF. IMHO it would be a better product for a tractor. Its neater and stays put.

One last product is called Krown. Its what I use on my personal vehicles. Its thick like FF too. Almost like really soft butter. It works extremely well. You can get it from just about any Mack/Volvo truck centre under a Mack PN and save a bunch over the Krown dealers prices.

This is the product in a 20L bucket. Enough to do a couple cars and still some left over for the tractor/ PN# M20LLR

 

[DGinVT]

Each spring the 4 working tractors get a good bath with the pressure washer and then a spray wax on the sides and underneath. Have not had a rust problem.

 

[PorkChopsMmm]

Good to know, guys. Thank you. You all are mentioning products I have never heard of before. Good stuff.

 

[the old grind]

Heh, I just ordered a 2-gal FF 'u/coating' kit ('NAS' formula) with the 'deluxe gun' and 32" flexible wand upgrades. Rattle cans of the stuff have been extensively tested and have won me over to this modern, user-friendly version of cosmoline (lanolin base), tho' Pam 'original' is still my pick for use on rusty implement rims ... that need aired-up again in mos now vs days. (non-dino oils are nicer to rubber)

My o'all take is that diligent application makes choice of product less critical, & tho' I have my faves I know enough to also try what others here have suggested. (btw, you guys ROCK!) tog

 

[McREBEL]

I am using this stuff to clean and protect. It is easy to use for the hard to get to places and doesn't leave a white haze on the plastic pieces. Just spray on and wipe off. I have only been using it a short time so can't say how it will prevent rust long term nor do I have to deal with salt.

FW1 Wash & Wax 17.50 oz. Aerosol Can

FW1 Wash & Wax 17.50 oz. Aerosol Can (Special Internet Price) [FW1] - $19.99 : FW1 Racing Formula, HIGH PERFORMANCE CLEANING WAX IN AN AEROSOL CAN

 

[Mace Canute]

I am using this stuff to clean and protect. It is easy to use for the hard to get to places and doesn't leave a white haze on the plastic pieces. Just spray on and wipe off. I have only been using it a short time so can't say how it will prevent rust long term nor do I have to deal with salt.

FW1 Wash & Wax 17.50 oz. Aerosol Can

FW1 Wash & Wax 17.50 oz. Aerosol Can (Special Internet Price) [FW1] - $19.99 : FW1 Racing Formula, HIGH PERFORMANCE CLEANING WAX IN AN AEROSOL CAN

I've one friend who swears by it for his 442 Oldsmobile that he absolutely pampers and I've heard a couple of other people who've used it claim it's great stuff. I picked up a couple of cans last fall and gave my Nissan Xtrail a good waxing and in a couple of weeks after a wash job I'll see how it stood up over winter while parked outside (no room in my garage :irked. I park the SUV over winter and only drive it in the nicest weather and never on gravel roads. :wink:

 

[peachhead]

Move to south GA, we don't even know what that stuff is.