Today I used my sand blaster for the first time. Yesterday I removed the battery box and broke off two bolts in the process. Since I had some 3/8-16 bolts, I cut off the ends of two and made replacement bolts. Getting the old bolts out was a challenge so I used a 3/8 drill bit to enlarge the holes so The bolts would move freely through the riser blocks and not get stuck again.
As soon as I started sand blasting I realized a full face mask was necessary as well as a breathing mask. A NIOSH 95 mask works just fine for this fine sand. The full face mask protected my face, and I placed my glasses at a safe distance so they did not get scratched. The sand blaster works pretty well. Perhaps with aluminum oxide instead of fine sand, the rust would have come off faster. Still, I got it done. I even brushed the rust from the platform and back of the tractor then painted it red.
Once the parts were blasted, I wiped off the dust, primed with a rust inhibitor (except inside the battery box where I forgot to do that) and painted with the high quality Tractor Supply rattle can IH Red. One of the pictures shows the lever of the Touch Control. The rest of the Touch Control parts are not going to be sand blasted because I do not want to risk getting fine sand into the orifices and wear the hydraulic parts. I will use a steel brush and maybe a brush on a rotary tool to remove rust then prime and paint.
www.TMtractor.com is a great place to do business for Cub parts! The site is well designed with easy movement between sections and lots of good pictures. They even have pictures showing where some parts go on the tractor. The best surprise was the speed with which my order was processed and in the mail on its way to me. You order on line and they send an invoice via email. Once I paid for the products they sent me an email stating payment received AND the package was in the mail. I will definitely buy from them again!
Tractor Boy