FIT's lye gravy worked with a twist

Good deal ! I'm glad you not only got your tractor clean, but you improved on the recipe as well ! Down here in Florida, because it's generally sunny and pretty warm, I had to keep misting it with a lye-water filled garden sprayer. It works very well on the original JD paint. Newer acylic enamels are quite a bit tougher.

Did you have a chance to try a pressure washer on it ? That worked really well for me.

Frank-in-Tallahassee
70D // 855

Lye is the common name for Sodium Hydroxide, NaOH. We call it lye just as we call Sodium Bicarbonate, Baking Soda, or Sodium Carbonate, Washing Soda.

Lye is a strong base. If you felt the need to neutralize it, you would use a lot of weak acid, like vinegar (acetic acid). I don't see the need to neutralize it, just rinse afterward with plenty of water. The test for this would be to catch some of the rinse water and check the pH (if significantly over say 8.0 or so you still have some base on the machine). It rinses off very well, and comes off even faster if you spray a little soap on the area being cleaned as the soap bubbles help wash it away.

You won't have any problems at all if you just rinse it off thoroughly.

As far as lye types, you can get NaOH in aqueous form (already dissolved in water...expensive !), flake form or crystal form. If you use a lot of it, you can buy it in 100# cans of flakes, but I buy it in 1# cans at the supermarket for about $3.00 ea. Red Devil is a fairly well known brand. You can also find it at most good hardware stores.

Frank-in-Tallahassee
70D // 855

I use it all the time to clean the oil spots off the concrete, and I haven't ever seen it cause any problem with the surface. It's pretty benign stuff once you dilute it.

F-I-T

As far as the painting goes, I did it myself with acrylic enamel. It is definately more expensive than JD paint, but I wanted something that would not get dull too quickly in the horrific sun we get down here. I painted some parts of my 855 (hood, side shields, etc.) using JD paint and hardener about four years ago, and that paint is very dull now. I just finished putting some of the acrylic enamel on the 855 hood, then clear coated it for UV protection. The 855 is probably my next painting project.

I'm certainly not a pro painter, and this has been a great learning experience for me. Since I had the tractor in so many pieces, I painted those pieces one part or assembly at a time, so that when they were together, I wouldn't have any unpainted area that I could not reach with the gun. I had an older cheap gun, and a newer HVLP, as well as a small trim gun for the project. I don't know that I will ever get the hang of the HVLP.

I primed every surface with a good quality (read expensive !) epoxy primer. I think a good primner for bare metal areas is one of the keys to get good adhesion and long paint life. I also used a high-build primer on the sheet metal so that I could sand and blend out minor pits. Some folks say that the high-build can shrink, and I didn't use too much of it so we'll have to see. I still had to wet sand a few miscues, bugs and runs. Then I ran the tractor, fixed a few leaks, washed it thoroughly, then applied a finish coat. I did rough it up and clear coated the finish to protect it from the sun. I like the look of the clear. Time will tell if I made a wise choice there.

If you can get your hands on a small compressor and a low end gun, you can do a respectable job on the cast parts of the tractor. Your idea of finding someone to do the tin work will work fine, too. JD paint is very easy to work with, but understand that it may dull before other auto type coatings. Thinned paint with hardener can be applied with a good bristle brush, too, and it will look fine. You can cover a lot of cast iron that way, but a gun is just so much faster.

You have to right idea in that cleaning is the key !

Frank-in-Tallahassee
70D // 855

Good luck