Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I have a 10 year old single stage snowblower that's undergoing a full restoration this winter. I got the snowblower bucket disassembled from the chassis and engine. The bucket has been completely stripped down to bare metal. I want good adhesion and abrasion resistance and I'm willing to put in the time and money to get the best paint job that I can do myself without sending out.

What do you guys recommend for primer and paint? Any preparation techniques in addition to stripping down to bare metal and roughing up the surface?

aa335 wrote:
It's all done? Can we get pics?

BTW, this is mine that I'm currently working on: http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=154484   It's all stripped and needs a bit more grinding. I may have to weld in a piece at the bottom of the bucket, not sure until I grind away all the rust. If there's no perforations, I'll use epoxy to re-level the area instead. It's not in a stress or wear area, it just has to be smooth.  This is a 20+ year old 48" single stage, the auger gets spun at 900 RPM by a 21HP engine.

Bill_H wrote:
Bill,   Can you give some more details on your use of epoxy to "level" the area. My ST8-24 is still very solid, but has some serious pitting on the inside of the chute & auger housing. I'm considering my options to smooth them out as much as possible. Has anyone ever used bondo successfully in these areas?

Cheers

Bill_H wrote:
It's put back together ready to blow snow.  It's looking good now.  However, there are various other details that the perfectionist in me just have to do before I'm satisfied.  I'm ordering some decals and various hardware pieces such as new wheels, washers, and clips to bring it up 100% functional as new. 

I'm thinking about lining the inside of the discharge chute with teflon sheets but debating whether I should drill holes and rivet it in place.  I want it to be as close to original and not butchered up.  There are adhesive backed sheets but not sure if that will remain sticky in the cold weather.  Maybe I'll just repaint inside the chute and clear coat.  I will wet sand and respray the clearcoat yearly to replenish the worn clearcoat layer.

Probably wet sand the red plastic cover too, put on another coat of red paint, and then seal it with clearcoat.  I got both kinds of clearcoat, the satin and gloss.  Not sure which one to go with.

I'll post pictures when I'm all done.  Stay tuned.

GtWtNorth wrote:
I don't know about Bondo. I'm sure it would work but would it scratch off too easily?

I have a some fiberglass supplies I purchased for an auto body job left over and if I don't use it I'll probably end up tossing it. I discovered from some I spilled on the garage floor that the epoxy is incredibly hard and clings very well - it's still there. So I'm going to mix some up and smooth it on then sand it down. Sort of like expensive Bondo :D Time will tell how well it wears, I'm pretty sure it will be good enough. My original plan was to fill in with weld, but that'll take forever.

I would leave the plastic alone....u need the right flex agents in the paint in order for it to stay well on the cover.

But do wetsand in between coats on metal just to keep the paint ~flat~.

I've been eyenalling things here and there before making my master parts list.
As much as I love mailorder...I hate paying $7 minimum to get a $3 part so I prefer to order all my parts in one shot.
.

Too late, the paint is already on the plastics.  I've used Krylon Fusion paint for plastics.  They didn't say anything about flex agents being present in the paint, but only that's made to bond to plastics.  We'll see how well it holds up.  If it flakes off, I'll just sand it back down to plastic and sand it smooth to a polish shine.  The plastic has red colorant in it so with a good buff, it will probably look pretty good.

Borat lined his chute and posted about it (below). I looked around for slippery liners (eastern Mass) but could not find any. Wire brushing, sanding and painting chutes with gloss Rustoleum makes a decent surface. That seems to help but with nasty wet conditions there was still buildup especially on the old shorter chutes that have a sharp leaning angle as opposed to the taller chutes where the angle is much more gradual. Sprays like WD-40 seem to get ripped off very quickly so not very helpful. Borat: I have no snow sticking anywhere. Even wet snow doesn't stick enough to cause any effect on the efficiency of the machine. If it's real sticky, it will stick a bit to the side of the intake housing and maybe a bit will adhere to the gear case but that's about it. Never get enough of a build up to make a difference. As mentioned, the chute is lined with a piece of Krazy Karpet or whatever it's called now. That stuff is very durable. It's on it's third season now and looks like it has lots of life left in it yet. It's showing a bit of scuffing but that's to be expected with all the gravel and sand thats mixed in with the end of driveway deposit. It's a bit of work to make and install, but hey, if it lasts ten years or more and saves damage to the chute, it's worth it.

I look forward to your writeup. Curious what did you end up replacing.....
And yes, I have to have matching OEM paint for the chute as well....

I just joined the GX160 club myself today.
Aside from missing one front cover bolt, def. needs a overhaul on scraper, paddles and belt, I think I just may spring for new wheels and cotter pins..

The housing is not that beat, and would just benefit from a coat or two of fresh paint.
I think I'll just taking the basic necessities and deal with the overhaul another day....
It's probably just a extra 1/2 hour to remove the auger and probably easier swapping out the paddles which would allow me to spray.....both the sides and onside the bucket.

Thanks for all your help.  Please note that I have started a new topic on this subject with a few pictures added.   Please follow this link:

Honda HS621 Refesh