Wire Wheel or Sand Blast

I am wanting to restore my Cub. I was thinking of sand blasting, but everyone I have talked to tells me to use a wire wheel. What kind of wheel should I use? That sounds like it would take alot longer. If you think I should sand blast what kind of media do you recommend?

Thanks
Jeff

I would sandblast all the sheet metal, use a chemical stripper and power washer for the chassi (spelling?), and a benchtop wire wheel for the little items. You will have to use a wire wheel on a drill to finish the chassi.

Go to archives on "Tractor Restoration", hundreds of past discussions about pro and cons. I had a small sandblaster that held about 5 gallons of media and used it to sandblast 3 tractors. It can be time consuming. Moisture in my system was a huge problem. It was such a problem that I actually left the drain on the water separator open slightly to continue draining off water. I used a small carbide tip for my system. If you sandblast, you need to get as cheap as possible media, but it can't be too large or your tip plugs up. If you have a way to reclaim the media, that would be a big savings.

Sandblasting is by far more effective at cleaning up an old tractor, but you should never sandblast "assemblies" that you don't intend to disassemble. (engines, transmissions, or anything that has bearings, oil, etc in it.) Sand will get in places you can't imagine, despite your best attempts at sealing them off.
I've been restoring tractors for 27 yrs, doing "empty main case" restorations. Sandblasting is the easiest and most effective method I've found to clean up parts, but care must be exercised to clean out all of the sand after blasting. I use a wire wheel to clean up assemblies that I am not going to take apart, (if I'm doing repair work, not restoration work.) Use your best judgement, but remember that incorrectly used, sandblasting sand can cause you major headaches down the road.
Also, use caution when sandblasting. There are health hazards associated with inhaling some of the media used. A respirator should be used if not doing "cabinet blasting."

Even IF cabinet blasting, some of the cheaper cabinets will leak very fine material. Wear a good mask.

for wire wheels, see of you have a tool truck, either matco or snap on and pick up some expoxy encased wire wheels. the coating keeps the wires from bending and the cut a lot better. also, if you have a local body shop supplier grab some 3m stripper wheels and an arbor. they look like a black waffle and really do a good job.

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Go for it. Only 45 minutes to clean and paint. You could have your Cub "restored" by tonight.

If you're not careful you can seriously warp the sheet metal with a sand blaster.

Even if you're careful, sand will get into every seal and gasket on the tractor, so IMHO sand blasting is only for when you completely tear the tractor down.

You're not going to sand blast an entire tractor with a typical shop compressor and one of those cheap blaster kits from Harbor Freight. You'll die of old age, because you can only blast for a few seconds before you have to stop and let the compressor catch up.

I am addicted to those twisted wire cup brushes for a 4-1/2" angle grinder for this kind of stuff. These easily take rust and loose paint off, and feather out the leftover paint. I've done a complete tractor, a plow, and a loader so far. It takes far less time than you think.

I take my sheet metal, wheels and such to a metal fab shop and they have the cabinets and such to blast them. They even shoot a coat of primer for a few dollars more. They train new workers with them sometimes.
The rest I use oven cleaner, or other cleaner. I do not blast anything such as a gear cases or engines at all.
Just my 2 cents.

I use a 4" grinder with a knotted wire brush and a needle scaler for everything but sheetmetal and wheels. Wheels I remove and have sandblasted.Sheetmatal, I use a Dual-Action orbital sander.

I have warped sheet metal with my small 90 psi blaster. I would never even consider hiring it done. Post a few days ago on the Red Power forum. I believe it was a 5088 or similar. He told the guy to use some other media (don't remember which), blaster decided it was too slow and used sand, ruined every panel.

The Dutchman over on the Case forum does soda blasting. I don't think that would warp your sheet metal like sand. Hal

First best step, whether you plan on tearing it completely down or not is to go rent a hot pressure washer, one with the diesel-fired burner. They're not cheap machines to buy, and they don't rent cheap so line up anything else you've got, and if the neighbors want to share the cost, have them bring some of their stuff over, too. It will strip anything away for the crud and oily, greasy chaff that accumulates in all the nooks and crannies and will take away any paint that ever thought of being loose. That'll give you a good head start.

From there it's your choice. All the advice of keeping any blastin medium well away from something with a moving part, unless you plan to open it up and clean it thorughly is well worth heeding.

Also, sand should be your last choice of a blasting medium. OF all the stuff it is the most dangerous for the amount of free silica it puts into the air. It takes specialized equipment and great care in its use to blast with sand.

I've used Black Beauty (basicaly processed slag) but for fast cutting, it's hard to beat glass bead, or a glass bead/alluminum mix.

Whatever it is the warnings about getting too aggressive with blasting on sheet metal are wicked good advice, too. Maybe for a little touch-up, but the wire wheel is the way to go at that stuff.

I use a 4" knoted wire wheel. But every thing I can get in to my electrolsis bath goes in first. It is amaizing how easy it is.

chassis

Good discussion here on ways on various approaches to prepping various metal components. I am just getting starting on the bodywork/paint prep on my WD9 and would like some input on what is a good choice of sandblaster to use in my shop. I would like to use this for parts that I am planning on disassembling from the tractor (wheels, sheetmetal, covers, etc). I have a 60 gallon - 5HP single stage compressor. A blast cabinet will be too small for some of the parts that I intend to clean up (e.g. rear wheels) so I would need a nozzle type blaster. Does anyone have any recommendations on where to look and an appropriate size gun for this setup? Thanks!