Painting a cub 184 lo-boy

Hi. I am working on restoring a cub 184 lo-boy. This is my first major rebuilt project that I have done. I have never painted any tractors before so I was wondering if someone could give me tips for painting like what to use, whether or not I need hardener, what conditions I should paint in, etc. Thanks for any advice! -Henry

What quality paint do you wish to use? There are enamels which are more similar to house paint or there is automotive paint. Of course the automotive paint would last longer but is more expensive. Also it is less forgiving for mistakes. The most important part of painting a tractor is to get it very clean. Unlike painting a car a tractor is usually caked up with grease. The slightest trace of grease left on the tractor will cause the new paint to peal off. A power washer and purple power will do most of it but the stubborn spots you may have to use oven cleaner.

Of course the cleaner environment you can paint one the better but how many of us have such a place. I've painted both the tractors I have and two cars outdoors. Just have to wait for a day when there is little or no wind.

As far as hardener, they make a mild one for enamels which is pretty safe to use. I would stay away from an automotive urethane which uses an isocyanate hardener which can really hurt your health if you don't use an air supplied respirator. It's a type respirator you put a pump someplace where the air is clean and it pumps air to the mask so you don't breathe any of the paint. The hardener will pass right through a conventional paint respirator.

Thanks for the advice! I would like to use a paint that will last a while and is good quality. How much is automotive paint? Also where can I get some of the purple stuff? Thanks! -Henry

Take a couple of hours and read through the paint forum. There is a lot of info/answered to your questions already posted. You will find that most folks generally agree on tow of isn't and quality and cost. There is always an outlier, but those should be easy to spot. Basically you will need to consider the following:

Painting one tractor or many over time?
Little prep to massive prep
$400 to $5000
Worker to trailer queen
Perfect storage to outdoor storage
Perfectly safe to hazardous material

From there and the info in the paint forum you should get a pretty good idea of where you want to be.

With more details, we can fine tune answers and recommendations. Above all, have fun and know you can always fix/redo what you don't like, and there will be plenty of that.

Thanks! I will red through some forums.

Automotive paint is about 50% higher than an oil based enamel. Then the primer is more expensive too. I use Advantage 325 primer. It works like primers used to. There is no recoat window and it sands easily. Then you might use MAE acrylic enamel. It's a single stage paint which doesn't have to be clear coated. If though you wish a clear coat you might use MBC base coat and use a urethane clear coat. The MBC sprays the color on completely flat and when you get the color on clear coat it.

The Purple Power is available at a lot of places however I wouldn't recommend getting it at Walmart. The Purple Power there seems to be watered down quite a bit. I normally get it at Tractor Supply. Any farm and ranch store should carry it.

Don't waste your money putting automotive paint over a five hour prep. Don't waste your time on an expensive prep if you are going to use cheap enamel. Nason paint is an economy automotive 2K line

Awesome! Thanks I will look at that. Do you know where a
good place is to get that?

Nason is a paint you need an air supplied respirator to spray it. I painted a tractor outside with it with a regular respirator and held my breath when I was down wind of the paint. When I was done I coughed for six months.

(quoted from post at 15:44:37 09/25/22) Nason is a paint you need an air supplied respirator to spray it. I painted a tractor outside with it with a regular respirator and held my breath when I was down wind of the paint. When I was done I coughed for six months.

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I took appropriate precautions.

I have been using Rustoleum white, clean metal primer and Rustoleum equipment paint. It will last many years unless you leave the tractor out in the weather a lot. The equipment paint is a little more than the regular paint but not that expensive. I think the last I bought was around $15 or $16 a quart. The big thing is to clean the surfaces to be painted of all grease, oil and dirt, and loose paint. Wire brush, wheel, sand, sand blast, solvent, whatever you method you use you want a clean surface for the new paint.