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Paint removal

grandpa Love

grandpa Love

Well-known Member
Got this '49 cub with lots of missing paint and places with 3-4 layers. My wife wants it glossy purple. All the layers need to go. Any tips? It has good straight metal but paint is splotchy and uneven. Tried this stripper. Not great. Any tips?
cvphoto53096.jpg


cvphoto53097.jpg
 
Many of the strippers only take 1 layer at a time. Just keep applying it and if you have a high pressure washer it may blast a lot of it off.
 
Make your own stripper with lye and water and cornstarch for thickening. Be sure to be careful when mixing. Can be wild and make plenty of heat. Don't mix in a plastic container. Use eye protection and gloves. Used to use this method when stripping furniture. Would be a lot cheaper when considering the size of your project.
 


I have never had any luck with strippers. I like a big twisted wire cup wheel in my grinder and for rusty areas on the cast iron I go to a flap wheel. respirator a must with the flap wheel.
 
As mentioned, oven cleaner and a pressure washer will do a good bit of paint removal. Spray it on, let it soak, spray it pon let it soak, spray it on let it soak then hit it with a pressure washer. Our local Ace Hardware has some spray on paint remover that works pretty well, but needs time and a couple of applications. You will have to hit some of it with a wire wheel though no matter what you use.
 
What John M and others said about oven cleaner. Do it on a foggy, damp day. It will act longer before drying, and you can spray the extra dirty and greasy spots multiple times before pressure washing.
 
I've tried stripper once and made more of a mess than what I started with. Wire cup brush for rusty areas, palm sander to smooth finish, and neeedle
scaler ( the cat's meow for uneven surfaces ) for cast works best. Paint prep is some of the hardest work and drudgery in a restore to me, but it is what
shows in a picture and when someone has a look see.
 
Lye a bucket of water and some corn starch to thicken it works best but it is not the safest stuff to mess with. It is strong enough you should not use it on aluminum because it will eat the aluminum away.

Oven cleaner is a lot safer and does a ok job of removing the paint.
 
Stripping paint has always been difficult but now big brother has banned the sale of remover containing methylene chloride. That is the only real chemical effective for stripping paint. With the new remover as bad as it is I think it would be less elbow grease to sand the paint off the tin as best you can with an orbital sander and sand blast what you can't get with the sander.
 
Take the metal off and then sand blast it and the paint will be gone and bare metal showing. That is how I us to do it back when I was still painting tractors
 
Glossy purple makes me think of grape jelly.

Grape jelly makes me think of biscuits.

Biscuits make me think of your wife.


Oh... forgot the question, taking paint off of metal reminds me of elbow grease, scrapers, wire brushes, oven cleaner, sand paper, power washers, and maybe even a propane torch for some spots.
 
Formulated without Methylene Chloride should read product no longer works - no methylene chloride. Most got returned to auto body supply for money back.
 
I got a can of John Deere paint and decal remover years ago. That stuff took the paint off of anything. Don't know if it has changed over the years.
 
Probably should water the tractor first so that exhaust pipe will perk back up! :lol:

Okay, I'm not very familiar with this type of tractor, but the exhaust definitely caught my eye. Is that typical on this machine?
 
(quoted from post at 14:41:28 08/13/20) Probably should water the tractor first so that exhaust pipe will perk back up! :lol:

Okay, I'm not very familiar with this type of tractor, but the exhaust definitely caught my eye. Is that typical on this machine?
Click to expand...

No
Looks like a harley pipe.
 
Kevin, when I was a kid, I pulled a New Idea manure spreader that tended to spread in all 4 directions.
Anytime wet chicken manure out of our long layer houses hit the tractor hood, the paint came right off.
I don't recommend trying it on Grandma's tractor though.LOL
Richard
 
(quoted from post at 06:43:50 08/13/20) PS. Lye is also getting harder to find thanks to the meth heads.
Click to expand...


John, most oven cleaners as well as many other heavy duty cleaners such as CIP milk-line cleaner have the same active ingredient as lye.
 
Like others have said, lye and cornstarch works, as will oven cleaner. If you get oven cleaner, buy the original, nasty stuff. Some of the 'friendly' versions are so mild they don't work well.

And, get some cheap painter's plastic drop sheets. put the lye or oven cleaner on and cover as tightly as possible with the plastic. That keeps it as wet as possible for as long as possible. Pressure wash. Repeat as needed.
 
Dollar tree oven cleaner and a good pressure washer. Spray, wait, wash. repeat as needed. If it don't come off, you can paint over it.

If you are set on stripping it, go to a body shop supply store and get aircraft stripper. Don't get it on you. Over time, it will even eat up the can it comes in. I usually get a gallon can.
 
only way to go is strip the tractor down and go rent a compressor and sand blaster as you will never got the old paint off in tight places around bolts then prime and paint and it will look just like new again BTDT
 
If all else fails, get a bunch of tom cats to pee on it. That cat urine will take the paint off anything. Even aluminum coating of your fancy vehicle hubcaps.
 
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