Some tips I use on my Fatboy might apply to the tractor.
Get an old paintbrush and cut the bristles down to stiffen them up some, put a piece of duct tape around the metal clamp to prevent marring, use this and simple green for stubburn areas and areas that are hard to access. Keep in mind dish soap removes all wax from painted surfaces, also simple green will etch aluminum over time, so rinse well. As for drying I have always used a leaf blower immediately after rinsing. Its cut down on the towels and really does a good job of removing excess water from hard to reach areas. If your going to detail your rig start with dish soap to strip wax, use maguires polish next as this is a harder more durable finish than wax. The more coats of polish the deeper the finish, then after buffing the polish to a high luster with clean all cotton (polyester scrathes) rags or sheeps wool cloths (Those Mitts at walmart). Apply Maguires yellow wax, the yellow wax does not leave white build up in the crevices like some of the cheaper waxes do. ensure you always flip to a clean portion of the rag during the final buffing, and then for the final touch, right before the final, final buff apply a very light mist of fine water spray to the painted surface and buff. This will evenly disperse the emmulants for a showtime finish. One other point to note is try not to move in a circular pattern when washing, buffing etc. move back and forth in one direction. This will prevent swhirls that raise their ugly heads when the sun refracts off the paint, it will be less noticable moving in one direction, preferable parrelel to the ground. Hope this helps, its all I know in somewhat of a brief surmise. oh you'll need these when done /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
[p]
97 Fatboy 3 national shows, 2 first place wins, seen in the april 2004 issue of hot bike magizine.