tractor painting tips

I plan on prepping it. I am curious if anyone has used the Cat paint over old paint without a primer, and if they were happy with the results.

For $30 a gallon, cats paint is ok stuff. I repainted a D5 and a Grader with it last summer, and they were both just quicky powerwash real good and paint repaints as they are old working machines. So far im pretty happy with the results. If ya really want them to look good, id suggest maybe spending a little time making sure all the grease is off and do some extra prep work to the sheet metal parts like the hood and fuel tank seat etc. One rule to always remember when painting something...the paint will only stick as well as whatever is underneath it sticks.

I'm painting my D2 right now, have done 2 coats on the engine using the Cat paint and looks great I think and I haven't used a spray gun since High School in 1973, and even then it was only for 5 minutes. The Cat paint costs about $US50 a gallon here in Australia and is made to Cats specs by a company called Wattyl here in Oz. It does not need a primer, and they say it can be painted over lightly rusted surfaces safely, my 2 Ton was painted using this exact paint 20 years ago (in a grey colour) and it still looks good.
They say painting is 90% preparation, 10% application, it's true.
Mike

I'm painting my D2 right now, have done 2 coats on the engine using the Cat paint and looks great I think and I haven't used a spray gun since High School in 1973, and even then it was only for 5 minutes. The Cat paint costs about $US50 a gallon here in Australia and is made to Cats specs by a company called Wattyl here in Oz. It does not need a primer, and they say it can be painted over lightly rusted surfaces safely, my 2 Ton was painted using this exact paint 20 years ago (in a grey colour) and it still looks good.
They say painting is 90% preparation, 10% application, it's true.
Mike

When I completely repainted my D4 7U about 8 years ago, I used Caterpillar Hiway Yellow which Cat charged me a little more for than what they charge for their modern Cat Yellow. It was money well spent as it is a very durable and the correct color paint for my Cat. 😉 My paint still looks great and where it is worn trough, the metal shines. Through my continued use, the worn through paint will never get rusty. I did plenty of prep like degreasing, sanding, and I used a replacement hood. In the attachment you can see my old dented hood. I did use a primer/sealer and I have not had any paint problems yet. It took from three to four coats of yellow paint for complete hiding. It seems like I used between five to six gallons over all. I had used a high pressure/low volume paint gun, but to save paint, the next time I will use my low pressure/high volume gun.

Your D4 looks great.

Did you guys use the standard Cat paint or the paint that you add hardner to?

I could have added hardner to the Cat paint, but I don't recall if I did. The hardner makes the paint set up faster and it also gives it a more scratch, and chip proof resistance. When I use a hardner, I always use a fresh air mask that has an air supply hose attached. A tip is: if you use a primer sealer over your prepared surface, you will have a higher gloss paint in the end. You paint flows better for a high gloss when a primer/sealer is used.

I recently painted my D8 15a and i took a needle scaler all over it to get all the loose paint up and then a wire wheel on a grinder. then deans the cat dealer here sold diamond vogel paint and i bought straight from diamond vogel for under 30 bucks a gallon if i recall and was some really great stuff and covered excelent on the metal and where their was still paint left and blended really good.

I recently painted my D8 15a and i took a needle scaler all over it to get all the loose paint up and then a wire wheel on a grinder. then deans the cat dealer here sold diamond vogel paint and i bought straight from diamond vogel for under 30 bucks a gallon if i recall and was some really great stuff and covered excelent on the metal and where their was still paint left and blended really good.