Painting Excavators

[Deeretime]

I am looking at painting a couple of my excavators and possibly a loader.

Our shop is huge with floor heat and well equipt, I have alot of experience with painting gravel trailers, lowboys ect but nothing intricate.

I have a big sand blaster, airlless painter and tons of time

I want to know if i should bother blasting the tin and steel that has fadded paint on them or just paint over them. Is there better paint than the factory stuff out there,and if there is anything i should do or beware of

Feel free to post some picks of things you painted or had painted and let me know your opinions

 

[Lee-online]

I know nothing about painting but i do see the work done by the paint shop we use. They can make a machine look brand new.

They sand blast to bare metal on the outside where you notice the paint job. They grind and fill the scratches in the counterweight and they mask all the chrome and the rubber hoses on the boom and stick.

We do small touch ups and use a random orbital sander to scuff up the paint and if it was in decent shape before then it looks really good after paint.

 

[bill5362]

Deeretime, what we have found that works for faded, and scratched paint we use a DA sander feather in all scratches and sand the rest of the surface (I use this rule of thumb for equipment, trailers I almost always blast). We blast somethings, the main gauge I use to blast or not is time, and if the paint is peeling or not. If the paint still has good adhesion to the primer and metal then I move on. I use epoxy primer on everything, then topcoat with a good paint with a high uv protection. Hope this helps with your decision.

 

[heavylift]

I think all counterweights should be painted a rust color, then clear coat. Any other color is a waste of paint.

one shop sands theirs, another blast... I guess it's the amount of time and material one wants to put into a machine...

but for crying out loud fix that junk seat...
we had a loader that went in for a paint overhaul. thousand of dollars later and PRETTY.. it still had the junk seat, wouldn't adjust, wobbled in a 360 degree rotation... you pretty much bounce around the cab all day..

 

[Deeretime]

Awesome advice guys!
I always take all iron through the shop and fix all of the little stuff like new seat covers and lights and if need be rebuild or replace.
our last set of trailers i used a Endura paint and it has teflon in it i belive, its great in the sun and realy does great against rock chips and abuse so i am gonna phone cloverdale and see if i can get them to mix up some deere colours.
It will all be primerd and painted and i hate painted hoses so i will either take them off or cover them.

here is a pick of my trailers after i painted the jeep and the booster the trailer paint was 2 years old and it does kinda look mis mached

My baby 06 350D with 8300hrs on it and i only painted the counter weight, the box liner works the best to keep small scraches off, but the old 160lc looks like it should be in a scrap yard and i think thats gonna be the machine that i practice on first

 

[sandnsnow]

That lowboy is bad a$$. What brand and year. I've been looking for one like that for a while.

 

[Deeretime]

it is all kinda mis mached but its a 93 gerrys booster and a 95aspen breed and a 80's gerry's jeep that i just converted to full air ride!

Pm me if you are interested because i am looking for a 65 ton or bigger trailer and i would sell it all at once if you need

 

[watglen]

Our shop is huge with floor heat and well equipt, I have alot of experience with painting gravel trailers, lowboys ect but nothing intricate.

I have a big sand blaster, airlless painter and tons of time

You lucky @%#$$$^#%$!

:notworthy:drinkup

 

[nickbowers]

just put some diesel in a spray bottle and cover the machines, it makes the paint come up like new. I didnt beleive it until i tried it either, you just spray it on and let it dry itself dont rub it

 

[jimrr]

diesel on the paint? is that why the paint looks so good around the fill spout????
the cav emblem is good there 'lee online' .

 

[watglen]

Diesel, aka a dealer paint job.

 

[sandnsnow]

Diesel, aka a dealer paint job.

Bahhhhh good one!!!

 

[nickbowers]

Diesel, aka a dealer paint job.

yep thats it, but it does last. We also do it on our own machines and it will last for months

 

[Deereman]

My baby 06 350D with 8300hrs on it and i only painted the counter weight, the box liner works the best to keep small scraches off, but the old 160lc looks like it should be in a scrap yard and i think thats gonna be the machine that i practice on first

Deeretime, 8300 hours on an 06 didn't take long!! If thats still the way she looks she looks damn good

 

[orville]

I just painted the boom and dipper stick of a piece of scrap iron. I posted that on the Old Iron forum (scrap Iron) I removed all four of the Hydraulic cylinders and the steel tubeing from the boom. You just can't do a good job with all that stuff on the machine. Then you have a lot of hardware to paint also. As for sand blasting, that sand gets into everything. Your call on that. I heard of a guy that sand blasted a hoe years ago and that sand got into his pins and bushings. Now I am hearing of sealed pins so maybe that is not a problem today. I am in the little league compared to you guys. You guys are the heavy hitters and probalby have stuff like I have in your kids sand box. Here is a couple of pictures of how I painted the cylinders and hardware and the steel tubeing. No big shop here, not even a shade tree.

 

[Deeretime]

LOL Boys I grew up with verry humble beginnings and i know how fortunate i am to have a heated shop with alot of the tools to make this stuff work.
but eventualy all of those cold -40 days outside fixing the iron are few and far between but everyone has to start some where

 

[brian falcone]

paint

we painted 3 cat excavators in ourv geated shop during the winter. most important thing is to clean it well. we power washed it 4 times then steamed it real good. sanded the sheet metal and primed the bare spots then shot 3 coats of cat yellow. they came out good. i painted my 65 international t-340 out side at my house. used valspar implement paint with hardener from tractor supply stores. i like this paint a lot better than cat paint. again clean .clean.clean...cant stress it enough. ill try to post a pic of the loader. brian

 

[brian falcone]

pic

 

[Deeretime]

Wow brian that international looks better than new! my dad has a hd4 traxcavator that he wants to paint this winter aswell