First post! Anyone Detail Farm Equipment?

**roberthathaway7** · 01-08-2013, 12:59 PM

Hello! First post! This looks like an amazing forum. I've been on a few other types of forums for other topics, and this is what the internet is for, sharing info and helping each other! Can't beat a good, friendly forum. Now on to my question...

I own a lawn/landscape business, and am always scheming for some off-season work ideas. Right now I cut firewood: good hard work, lots of fun, not much money. One day I hope to be able to streamline that activity, run it as lean and productively as possible and notch it back just enough so I can relieve some stress running the chainsaw, and sell enough premium wood so that I can afford to give the soft wood away through food banks and such around here. I hate waste, and I see soft maples chopped down and ditchline wood dozed down/piled and burnt too much with too many people in need of heat that can't afford it.

If you want to cut to the chase, start reading here:

Sorry, I'm bad about getting off on bunny trails, I need my own little emoticon for that. What I am looking at now is detailing farm equipment. I used to detail vehicles here and there, and did a pretty respectible job for a guy with a waterhose, a shop-vac, and a bucket of goodies. That was a few years back, but my uncle called me the other day to "clean" the tractors because he's about to have an auction in Feb to liquidate the farm equipment since he's retiring. So I said yes.

He had a guy with a hot water high pressure system who cleans heavy equipment for a living come in and clean the outside. That's a whole other thing that I wouldn't have a chance at without a huge investment. BUT- I started on these tractors, and couldn't stop. He walked up the the first one I did and was sort of blown away. I don't mess around. I'm sure that there are people out there that do a lot better job than I did, but he was expecting me to just kick out the mud and clean the windows apparently. "I guess this is gonna cost me huh?" "It might" "Well, that's fine, do the rest just like it".

Then I got to thinking... I wonder if I could do this a little in the winter? Does anyone out there detail farm equipment? I would have a lot of questions about the best way to go about it, from business model, to how to's. I would fore-go the powerwashing and contract it out to a buddy of mine who contracts large-equipment cleaning, but do the outside final wash/wax and detail out the inside. It's a beast with all the dust and mud, but I'm not afraid of it.

I know the markets are going to be different everywhere. We still have a lot of little farms around here who wouldn't hire this sort of thing out every year, but there are some big farms that like to look good who would, and my biggest expectation is to work on equipment that is about to be sold. Most farmers probably trust their farm hands to knock the dust off and kick the mud out, but when it comes to selling a $20,000-$200,000 item, sometimes they would probably be willing to pony up the cash. And farmers talk, boy do they talk. Do one good job this year, get two next year, get 4 the next.

Any thoughts on any of this? Sorry about the long read!

**BobbyG** · 01-08-2013, 01:13 PM

To Autogeek Online Robert!

You'll probably have a few lawnmower detailed replies but farm or heavy equipment isn't discussed all that often. After reading your post I can see why it would make sense especially if one were looking to sell a piece of equipment....

Good luck and welcome!

**jgibson2980** · 01-08-2013, 02:58 PM

I cleaned a peice of heavy machinery yesterday . Will not the whole machine . A gasket had blown out and the needed to fix it . But before they started they needed all of the grwace that had oozed out cleaned up . So u took a putty knife and scaped up the big clumbs of grease. Then applied heavy duty decreaser to ut sparyed it with my pw and then repeated several times . Took about an hr .I didn't have anything scheduled for this day of work so ir worked out fine . But I don't thunk ill venture into do anything like this again lol . What a mess of mud and dirt .

Sent from my SPH-L710 using AG Online

**roberthathaway7** · 01-08-2013, 08:04 PM

Thanks Bobby, and yes it's nasty no doubt. My friend has a crew and does it all day with mine equipment and tractor trailers... God bless his soul

Originally Posted by jgibson2980

I cleaned a peice of heavy machinery yesterday . Will not the whole machine . A gasket had blown out and the needed to fix it . But before they started they needed all of the grwace that had oozed out cleaned up . So u took a putty knife and scaped up the big clumbs of grease. Then applied heavy duty decreaser to ut sparyed it with my pw and then repeated several times . Took about an hr .I didn't have anything scheduled for this day of work so ir worked out fine . But I don't thunk ill venture into do anything like this again lol . What a mess of mud and dirt .

Sent from my SPH-L710 using AG Online

**TrKent** · 01-08-2013, 08:19 PM

Never uploaded these to flickr but here's the fb album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=c2a5841317

**roberthathaway7** · 01-08-2013, 11:49 PM

Originally Posted by TrKent

Never uploaded these to flickr but here's the fb album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=c2a5841317

Nice! Whoever is driving that needs to be sure to put a little suncreen under their chin!

What product/method did you use for the plastic resoration? It looks great.

**Andr3wilson** · 01-08-2013, 11:55 PM

Well I am not sure for certain. But I got a feeling this guy would know a thing or two about farm work

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...in-cullen.html

Send him a PM, great guy

**BillE** · 01-09-2013, 08:21 AM

Trying to word this correctly as to not sound like a knew-it-all or smart a**.

Living in a pretty large AG area, I must say I've never seen a 'detailed' farm anything. Cleaned up, yes, but a real deal detail...no.

I have seen some old(er) tractors, combines, etc that are used for parades, static displays and the like that ARE fully detailed. But again, these puppies haven't seen a field in ages.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, "Are you sure of a market in detailing farm equipment."

Bill

**TrKent** · 01-09-2013, 08:45 AM

Originally Posted by roberthathaway7

Nice! Whoever is driving that needs to be sure to put a little suncreen under their chin!

What product/method did you use for the plastic resoration? It looks great.

Haha thanks. I guess it's not technically 'restoration' It's Wolfgang Exterior Trim Sealant. Living on a 1/8th mile gravel driveway, it lasted over 6 months on my truck. Very durable and hydrophobic.

Transmitted from the Dream Detail studio.

**vet** · 01-09-2013, 08:51 AM

Welcome!

Back in the 60s, I put a coat of wax on dad's new John Deere 4020, just the hood and fenders, but it looked good for quite a while.

Is there a market for equipment details? I would say, in certain areas, most likely, if costs can be kept reasonable. Restored/parade tractors for sure, but people who spend over 100 grand for a piece of equipment might want to invest a bit to protect it. However, farmers a notoriously tight-fisted (at least around here).

The way I figure, it's worth a try, if you don't have to spend a lot to get started. You might want to decline manure spreaders, unless they're brand-new, LOL!