red -n- rusty !

[wheelie 2]

after seeing countless wheel horses in red n rusty condition, im thinking they did not use good primer or any primer at all on them before they painted them at the factory, i been doing paint and body work for years, and rarely have i saw rust come through paint like i have seen on wheel horses....of course how many owners waxed and maintained the paint like they would on their cars... maybe a few , wonder how they held up ?

[312Hydro 474]

From what other members have told me ,you are correct. The factory didn't use primer on my 312H.

[wheelie 2]

looked that way to me,my 520h and my others have rust just waiting under the paint, never saw rust hatch through paint like this before, sand blast or walnut shell blast then epoxy primer is the way to go for anyone restoring their horse ! :)

[MarkPalmer 81]

I have noticed that the paint seems thin compared to other tractors. There are non-rusted frame areas on the 867 I'm working on where the paint can be scratched down to metal with just my fingernail. On Cubs and Deeres I've worked on from the same era, the paint was either sprayed heavier, or in more coats. The latter two makes still rust, but where the paint looks good, its solid and won't scratch off.

-Mark-

[Fun Engineer 859]

I agree. I'm waiting for Kelly to add to this after work. He's a painter and would have good insite into this.

[Kelly 1,033]

Well I'm not a painter by trade I did paint professionally years ago, now I'm just a body tech and frame tech, but I still paint at home, WH never primed their tractors, they electrostatically applied the paint for years, the newer tractor about the time of the black hoods I believe they powder coated them, the paint it tough as nails but peels and rust under the paint very easy, that is why you see 300, 400 and 500 series tractors with big scabs of paint and deep rust pits under the scabs, on that body style, and the paint comes off in sheets on them, I have a few of the bath tub dump carts the early ones the paint just faded and got thin letting surface rust form over the whole thing, the newer tub cart guessing 80's by the decals the paint is very shiny but is peeling in big sheets and has bad rust pits in the metal under it, so no WH never put good paint on any tractor in my opinion, and yes I use auto primer and paint for the nice tractors, but I can say Rust oleum spray paint is better than factory paint, I have a small utility trailer I painted with it, near 20 years ago over rust that I just wire wheeled, it still looks good but for the scrapes and fading.

[SNYFIX 13]

They, as well as other manufacturers had problems because they could no longer use the chemicals to strip the shipping oil off of the parts as they had been able to do so. So when they were painted the oil was still there and the paint couldn't adhere properly. Also perhaps they were using more recycled metal as well which already had rust in it when new. '80's Jeeps had this problem as well.

[wheelie 2]

is there a red powdercoat color close to wh red ???