sand blast or wire wheel

I wire wheel everything that I can with two different levels of wheels. The course wheel for the bad stuff and the finer wheel for easy stuff. Then I go to the sandblast booth that I built and do the hard to reach stuff. The more I get done before sandblasting, the better. The booth is hot and needless to say... pretty nasty.

I use one of those scuffing pad attachment for the angle grinder, it works very good and doesn't deform the metal any.

I bought one of those air-powered needle scalers ..it works great for getting into tight places and thick paint.  Gotta wear eye & ear protection when using !

I'm gonna agree with Fred.  I don't see how you can keep the  blast material from getting everywhere, so looks like a dismantle is in order.

Had a guy that blasted his  tractor and then painted it. After all the seals started leaking and he ask me about fixing some leaks ,he says do not mess up the paint where you have to take it apart I laughed at him,he did not think it was funny,he did not use any primer you could roll the paint off right in to a ball.I would not work on it.

I wire wheel. That doesn't mean I like it. LOL

i have mostly did the wire wheel on everything.  Sandblast only small stuff.  Gives you lots of quality time with your hardware.

I mostly use the 4" angle grinder with cup wheel and last year I got an electric die grinder with small wire wheel that is the berries for tight spots.

Use good mask.  Using electrolysis to get the tough stuff and complex items then wire wheel really works good on moderate size parts.


Edited by Rick of HopeIN - 21 Sep 2010 at 5:07pm

Im with stan whatever it takes. Ive used a tooth brush before.

Charlie175 wrote: I use one of those scuffing pad attachment for the angle grinder, it works very good and doesn't deform the metal any.

 A guy at work told that to me today I am going to try them this weakend. Thanks for all the posts and info guys. Just for the book (because I dont want to get shot) I have never sandblasted a tractor complete for my own use anyway. At work I sandblasted a grader and two loaders all complete. Spent more time taping and cuting 1/4 plywood for the windows. My first project with glass was on the grader I just used cardboard and said to myself thats good I will just becalful when blasting well I took a window out, and it was the grader I ran at the time. Got new glass and lesson leaned.  Eric

  I don't think we have restored ANY tractors without sandblasting.  do any mechanical first, replace gaskets/seals that leak, scrape dried grease, remove sheetmetal, tape plug protect as needed,pressure wash if needed, remove wheels  Never blast directly at seals or any openings.  Takes less than 4hrs for carcass about 3 for rest of parts, when done the surface is sanitary for primer.   Thought   all tractors look the same after sandblasting!!!

I'm close to making this decision on my G. Plan is to roll the chassis outside with the engine on her, take off the wheels (which are finsihed), cover all openings with duct tape, pressure wash, then sand blast carefully. No disrespect, Fred, but I have seen Alan Dilg's finsihed products and lean toward his method. At the same time, I make a pretty big target and figure you won't miss me with the first round ;>). Bob@allisdowneast

Remember the old adage.  What doesn't kill us, usually succeeds on the second attempt. 

 I have a few tractors that i wire wheeled years ago. and they looked good for some time. But now the paint isn't sticking to them very well anymore. Now i snadblast everything. I figure if im going to restore a tractor i will do it right the first time. I completly dissasmble it sandblast and paint everything in peices.I let the paint dry for about a week and then reassemble with new gaskets and seals and usually all new bearings. I restored a ZB Moline like this 10 years ago and it still looks as good now as it did when i restored it