Urethane, Base / Clear? or......? jd4020

I just read back through the posts a bit to get some education. Trouble is I don't have much time here and gotta go to work. So I will ask. I have a jd 4020. I also have a 93 jd 790 compact.

The 790 looks like it is more on the blue side of green where 68 4020 looks like it is on the yellow side of green. What is best way to find the right green for each machine?

I have painted base clear before. Is was 15 years ago now. I also have done no clear coat paints. I am leaning towards the non clear coat on the 4020. I painted my old 76 dodge van in a non clear coat 16 years ago and it still looks good today and it has been outside every day of its life. (Think it was a 1994 corvette factory color) Trouble is I cant remember what I painted it with.

I have some mid temp 8022s reducer left over that I remember I used frequently. Friend had a body shop and let me use and combine leftover colors....for alum boats and trucks and etc. My van still looks great. An 87 honda accord base / clear...I have some chromacoat base and some stuff called BCD 5531 base reducer uc8900 urethane clear and ucat5 urethane catalyst. However after 10 years this stuff is not looking as good as the non clear coat van.

I base / clear coated an 87 honda crotch rocket and it still looks great...dupont paint but again cant remember what it was.

So the point of all this is what paint should I use on the 4020? Not looking for show room. It is a working tractor. But the base coat clear coat on other 4020s I have seen just doesnt look right and often rather silly if the body work isn't perfect. My body work will be pretty good. Good enough for a base clear but not really interested in the overly glossy look. Want hard, durable paint. Most everything will be sandblasted and mp170 primered. There is an area at the dual remoted where hydro fluid is a problem but it loks like that can be cleaned up pretty well with something called dx330.

Now I will be painting outside. And in the days of the friends shop...he never ever wore even a respirator and drank heavy. I wore a respirator but it apparently wasn't a match for hardners. I had very little contact. I did not paint more than 5 projects. But it sounds like that is about all it takes to do a guy in nowdays. In those days positive airflow wasn't an issue.

Sorry for the long post but any tips, advice and mostly paint product to use will be greatly appreciated.

John

The 8022S is a DuPont Centari (acrylic enamel) reducer. If you recall using that reducer on your van, then the paint was very likely Centari. That's a top notch acrylic enamel (single stage). If you are completely satisfied with that, then go ahead and use it. If you do, I recommend using it with the ultra performance pak field mix. There are now three different field mixes for Centari; a standard non-iso, unhardened mix called Ultra 1K pak acrylic enamel, a conventional hardened acrylic enamel using 793S hardener (iso) and the Utra Performance Pak (iso) classed as an acrylic urethane.

I'll agree with CNKS about the PPG OMNI MTK acrylic urethane. I think it provides the best performance for the buck in a single stage paint, even being less costly than Centari. But you can't go wrong with the Centari either. It's very easy to apply, covers excellent, plus it will go over the MP170 epoxy fine, even though it is in a different product line from a different manufacturer.

As far as the exact shade goes, I can't help because I am not familiar with the JD colors or the available codes. The best I can advise is to purchase small quantities of several promising codes and verify your preference before spending much. For some PPG codes, see here. For some DuPont codes, see here.

Unless you are using a metallic color, I see no compelling reason to go with a two stage base/clear system unless you want to. Since you have experience spraying both systems, it's your personal preference which you use. PPG OMNI makes a companion basecoat for two stage systems in the same colors as the MTK. Chromabase is the premium basecoat in DuPont. For something in DuPont, but more in line with the cost of the OMNI products, look into DuPont's NASON line. They have both single and two stage products in that line.

As CNKS indicates, respiratory safety dictates supplied-air equipment when using hardeners containing isocyanates - even when painting outside. Some disagree with that. But it's their responsibility for a personal decision to ignore the fine print from the manufacturers and regulatory safety agencies. I've been personally affected by isos twice in the distant past w/o supplied-air and decided that there would never be a third time. And there hasn't been in about 30 years of using hardeners w/supplied-air on DIY projects, mostly outside.

Rod

One more thing...What are the chances that the Centari on the van had hardner in it. It would have been 15 years ago. I know it took a while to cure...probably greater than 60 days and during that time it was a bit soft...mared by brush easily but it has become very hard.

As long as you follow the manufacturer's specific written instructions for mixing and application, you should have no problem at all with such a slow dry as you indicate - with any paint. Now if you try and use an acrylic urethane color w/o adding the hardener, then yes, you are in for a very long drying process. But that's caused by not following the instructions since the use of a hardener in acrylic urethane is not optional like it is for most acrylic or alkyd enamels. The only other possibility that I can think of for an excessive dry time is a product defect - e.g. an improper mix at the jobber. That's unlikely but possible.

That all being said, I don't know of any way you can determine for sure if your van was painted with Centari or if it was, if a hardener was used in it.

I also think you will find painting a tractor is significantly different than painting a car or van. With a tractor there is far more out-of-position painting with areas difficult to access properly - for example, the undercarriage areas. Furthermore, assuming one wants complete coverage, it's much more time consuming as there are a multitude of components whose backside is inaccessible without complete disassembly and painting of individual parts. Anyone can "just throw paint" at a fully assembled tractor and it will look good at some distance. But a reasonably close inspection will reveal a lack of coverage that would be embarrasing to a lot and totally unacceptable to many. I'd much rather paint a car or a van. That's a lot faster and much easier, absent major rust-through repair.

Rod

I found my old can used on the van. It was centari. Also, Soft was meant in a relative way. It was by no means soft to the touch...more in effect it took a while to cure out to the really hard stage. That is all that I seem to remember. I recall driving past a hedge at a graduation and the hedge left some tails on the paint....probably 25 days after painting. Now I am able to drive that thing almost through thorns and it wont show a mark.

As far as the difficulty in painting a tractor, you make a good point. Painted radiator hoses and belts and alternators and starters and etc do look poor. The angles will be tricky...and I dont want to pour the paint on a tractor. So I have quite a bit of disassembly. But....trying to have a mirror car hood finish uniformly over an entire large surface I personally had difficulty with.

The info on the pak systems also appreciated...I can mull that over a bit before I decide as well. I know for sure it wont be a 2 step.

Thanks again to Rod and CKNS