Farmall Cub

Hello all,
I am located in CT and was wondering if you could give me a ball park figure on the cost for a sand/sandblast/paint job. I have a 1953 cub with original paint and would like to have it redone this winter.

Thanks!

Don't know what the cost would be to have someone do it for you. BUTTTTTTTT if they do anw sand blasting be very carefull what you blast. The sand will get in places you don't want it to go. Even when you tape up everything. I would use paint remover and wire wheel on most of it.

It won't be cheap, that's for sure. You're looking at anywhere from $700 to $1500 depending on how much work you expect them to do. The more you do yourself the less it will cost.

If you can strip the tractor down yourself, so all they have to do is some bodywork and paint, it will cost you much much less. Obviously the sky's the limit if $$$ is no object.

The difficult part is finding someone to do it. There aren't many professional tractor restorers out there, and most of them only advertise by word of mouth. Shipping a tractor a long ways to be restored is big $$$ too, so it behooves you to find someone local even if they do charge a little more.

What you would be best served doing is finding your local tractor clubs, local tractor shows... If there's a pro looking for work, they'll be there.

Also look into local autobody shops... Maybe the local vocational education department.

Cecil can do it. You may want to do it yourself a little at a time with rattle cans once you find out what the cost is. People have had entire tractors soda blasted, which eliminated the grit risk. You can even leave the headlights on. It does not clean up rust, though but does a great job on paint. A pro told me it takes 400 hours to paint a tractor to show standards. I am painting another one now, little by little. It is a lot of work.

I have more hours than I care to count in getting a Cub ready to restore. If you are using your tractor for farming maybe just painting the tank, fenders and wheels might be all you want to do. Or leave it in it's work clothes...I did a search on Colgan Farm cuz I was curious about it. You guys have an awesome farm and will "like" it on Facebook. Hope you have a great summer farming. I kind of like the Cub the way you have it. Wipe it down with WD40 and it will look good in it's work clothes...that is what I do with my two workers...the one I am restoring will be used hard too but I don't expect it to remain mint remain perfect...not possible.

The cost for it is lots of time and money with no clear estimate on that with all the unknowns. Probably in the range Matt mentioned if you had it done, but leaking seals and other stuff should be taken care of before you paint. During the off season see if you can find an ag student looking for a project and pay for his supplies. I had a son of a friend who went to Bristol Aggie restore my plows and grader blade for his senior project and all I paid for was paint. I obviously bought him something cool for his efforts that he couldn't afford as a present for his work...

If you want a restoration quality paint job then this requires a tear down the the bare chassy. Thats a lot of small parts to prep and paint. Sand blasting is a no no unless your blasting individual parts. Best is aircraft stripper and a good preasure washer. Then a wire wheel. Body work is anther problem. Getting everything to fit properly requires partial reassembly after body work. Then tear down again. Time wise it can be 25 to 45 hours or more depending on body work needed. Now with that said it does not pay to use junk paint. Good paint and primers will cost around 400 - 500 bucks. plus hardener and thinners.Could cost more! Also I wouldnt think of doing a restoration paint job unless all the mechanicals are gone over. If you dont you will have problems. Doing repairs after paint is not the way to go.