tractor paint

[Joef]

well men...as the end of fishing season sneaks up on me, i'm already makin plans to kill the winter. This winter i'm resotring a 1971 GE Elec-trac riding lwan mower. thing was ahead of its time with a 15hp equivalent electric main motor, a 3 gear transaxle and a 42" cutting deck push off the front and powered with 3 independent elecric motors. My dad had one when i was a kid and thats what i used to cut his lawn (woudn[t take me fishin till the lawn was cut...made good on that threat once and it never happened again). The most useful item on that tractor is the headlights cause it was quiet enough to mow the lawn at 10pm without pissing off the neighbors.

Anyway - i got one from a guy on ebay...have rebuilt the deck motors and tore down the deck. After i get all the rust off im going to paint. The unit is an industrial yellow color (almost perfect match to the old CAT yellow). Is the rattle-can CAT yellow enamel durable enough for this? Or is there a tough(er) 2 part paint potion that will be much more durable?

Realize this is not boating related, but you guys seem to have had great answers to all my other goof-ball questions...and have led me to the exact right answer in all cases. (you may recall my Ipe deck project and my "transom-desk" project both were winter distractions from prior years and came out unbelievably good thanks in no small part to the help i got from you guys)

Thanks
Joe

[In Memory Walter K]

I think you'll want to do a bit more than that before painting. I'd suggest brushing Ospho on all the bare metal parts before spraying with a Rustoleum type paint. I'm sure others will chime in.

[Joef]

oh yeah walt...going to sand/blast/grind/fair/prime until i get good clean smooth metal...or in areas where there is significant rust (but still useable steel), i'll OSPHO then go from there. This project must last me about 3-4 months...so i have some time here.

[In Memory of Vicroy]

Joe - what kind of batteries does it run on?

UV

[Rawleigh]

Two part is definitely better, but you will need the right spray and safety equipment. PPG makes good tractor paint, as does Dupont. Federal yeoow is a nice fairly bright yellow that is pleasant to look at. IH painted their dozers and industrial equipment this color. BTW cool tractor, they really were ahead of their time!

[TailhookTom]

"this project must last me 3-4 months???" Is that a hope or a command? Are you planning on disappearing into a mancave every weekend until boating season is back upon you?

[Joef]

UV, the tractor runs on six 6-volt golf cart batteries. The main tractor motor runs on 36 volts. The 3 motors on the deck are also 36V. There is a small motor that lifts the mowing deck up and down for going over curbs, tree stumps etc which is 24 volts (i think) and finally the headlights are 12V automotive deals. The whole unit runs no louder than a group of 10 people drinkin beer on a deck of a boat and can mow 1.5 to 2 acres of grass before needing a charge. The charger is the old-school ferro-res. type and buzzes away for about 6-hours before the simple wind-up timer shuts it off...plugs into a plain old 120V outlet in the shed. Acreage drops to maybe 1 or less after 8 or 9 years of cycling on the batts.

I may make a few modern upgrades like modern digital chargers and LED headlights that can freeze local wildlife in their tracks. Will also put a real set of brakes on this thing...as i recall taking out several of Dad's nice little expensive cherry trees and one serious "divot" in the nieghbors camper as the factory brakes from GE truly sucked. As i expect to make my own kids "do their duty" before fishing, i don[t want them to have the same excuses i had for damaging things around the yard. Externally though, i'm gonna try to restore it to the way it rolled out of the factory in upstate NY.

Tom - as for timing...by "must last 3-4 months", yes - i'm just trying to keep myself busy between boating seasons. If i get bored, i start millin around the house...next thing i know my wife will make me watch boob-tube TV with her ...i really love my wife...but her taste in TV is horrible...so i gotta keep myself busy!

Rawleigh - i'll find the federal yellow paint...and make an offer to my buddy with the paint-booth. ...you know...a few swordfish steaks or striper fillets buys me a good bit of time with his tools!

[Buju]

Joe, you can one-up the ospho treatment for any remaining oxidized steel. Ospho is good in that it converts iron oxide into iron phosphate, but it stops there. Doesn;t really do anything to prevent further oxidation of the underlying steel.
Once you have ir all ground down to a sound surface, you can apply a coat of a penetrating epoxy preprimer.
The penetrating epoxy will creep into every open pore and form a deep reaching epoxy resin bond-coat.
It should then get an application of an epoxy primer (hi-build or barrier - depends on your needs) which will bond with the substrate via the preprimer, and form a totally encapsulating barrier, whereas in theory, no vapor or moisture should reach yer steel.
After that, topcoat with a multi-component urethane.
... any good automotive, aviation, or marine paint will do.

for the penetraing preprimer, Sherwin Williams Macropoxy 920... PPG has an equivilant. I bet that alcohol-thinned epoxy resin would also do it...

for epoxy primer, Awlgrip 545... Sherwin Williams Macropoxy 646.,, Interlux Intercote or Barriercote, etc.