so there's the answer if wheels are dull,I would have your helper get working on the wheels right away and you take care of the rest at 480 that's a realistic profitable number only for 8 hrs.If you have to finish up the next morning then your profit just diminished.
Need help giving a quote on a Peterbilt
- Thread starter Zee19
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willyray18
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- Jul 6, 2013
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Polishing would be the better of the two if dull. If you have any truck washes near you, call and ask them how much they charge to polish wheels & tanks. It will give you an idea if you want to do 18 wheelers more often. Honestly, I would take an 18 wheeler over a suv/truck/van in terms of washing and vacuuming.
willyray18
Member
- Jul 6, 2013
- 51
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How much per hour are you paying your employee? I paid my friend $15. He use to work at a local hand car wash business and had the experience cleaning up tractors that came in handy.
cardaddy
New member
- Nov 20, 2012
- 3,937
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Oh trust me THEY ARE Alcoa aluminum 99.99% of the time. Not clear coated, polished. Ran those puppies for 18 years, know them WELL.
:whs::dblthumb2:
I know a guy here in town that was getting his big 60 ton rotator ready for a show. He asked me what I used on my trucks (way back when) as I always took 1st place in rollback division EVERYWHERE we went.
Based on our conversation, he went out and bought a new rotary with a cotton buffing pad, and a TON of jewelers rouge sticks. Now he had not 2, but FOUR 150 gallon tanks on his rotator, plus all four axles had Alcoas on them. He spent THREE DAYS polishing aluminum!
You want to save TONS of time getting the entire undercarriage totally clean?
Get several gallons of hydrofluoric acid-based aluminum brightener.
DO NOT USE IT FULL STRENGTH!!!!
You can, in certain, HIDDEN PLACES use it full strength, but I'd be EXTREMELY careful. It'll etch paint AND GLASS. It'll severely dull aluminum as well. Put it in a plastic pump sprayer (or a stainless steel one), and dilute it.
You can dilute it from 1:1 up to 3 parts water to 1 part acid for cleaning the frame. Spray it on a dry frame, inside and outside the rails, DO NOT let it dry, then go back and rinse, rinse, rinse and RINSE. I'd suggest rinsing the first and second time with a pressure washer. Then go with a hose and get maximum water on the surface.
COVER ALL TANKS, POLISHED STAINLESS AND WHEELS!!!!
While it can be dangerous, it is a fantastic frame cleaner.
DO NOT GET DOWN WIND!
Use some sort of respirator for lung protection. (It will reach inside your lungs, grab the very bottom, then pull it inside out whilst twisting and jerking till you think you'll hoc up a kidney! What it will do for you though is make the frame so clean it'll look like you went over it with a toothbrush inside and out.
All that aside... any acid based wheel cleaner will likely be hydrofluoric. It just makes more sense to buy it straight, by the gallon, then dilute it to your needs. You can also add APC to your pump sprayer and make one heck of a nice 'home brew'. Just be VERY careful with fumes.
You can use it on wheels and bare aluminum, but you'll want to dilute it more like 20:1 AT LEAST.
These days I much prefer non-acid wheel cleaner on all wheels. Although... I've cleaned Alcoa wheels, lots and lots of them without any damage with my 'home brew'. The key there is a safe dilution, and wetting the wheels first, as well as KEEPING them wet if you are working with an acid based cleaner.
willyray18
Member
- Jul 6, 2013
- 51
- 0
Thanks for the info,I've been working with acid in my 24 years of doing this,but never mixed apc with acid.The sticks and wheels I get from flyin j truck stop here in south fla.Ive only done one rig ever there always on the move and if there neglected owners won't pay what your worth most of the time.Oh trust me THEY ARE Alcoa aluminum 99.99% of the time. Not clear coated, polished. Ran those puppies for 18 years, know them WELL.
:whs::dblthumb2:
I know a guy here in town that was getting his big 60 ton rotator ready for a show. He asked me what I used on my trucks (way back when) as I always took 1st place in rollback division EVERYWHERE we went.
Based on our conversation, he went out and bought a new rotary with a cotton buffing pad, and a TON of jewelers rouge sticks. Now he had not 2, but FOUR 150 gallon tanks on his rotator, plus all four axles had Alcoas on them. He spent THREE DAYS polishing aluminum!
You want to save TONS of time getting the entire undercarriage totally clean?
Get several gallons of hydrofluoric acid-based aluminum brightener.
DO NOT USE IT FULL STRENGTH!!!!You can, in certain, HIDDEN PLACES use it full strength, but I'd be EXTREMELY careful. It'll etch paint AND GLASS. It'll severely dull aluminum as well.
Put it in a plastic pump sprayer (or a stainless steel one), and dilute it.
You can dilute it from 1:1 up to 3 parts water to 1 part acid for cleaning the frame. Spray it on a dry frame, inside and outside the rails, DO NOT let it dry, then go back and rinse, rinse, rinse and RINSE. I'd suggest rinsing the first and second time with a pressure washer. Then go with a hose and get maximum water on the surface.
COVER ALL TANKS, POLISHED STAINLESS AND WHEELS!!!!
While it can be dangerous, it is a fantastic frame cleaner.
DO NOT GET DOWN WIND!Use some sort of respirator for lung protection. (It will reach inside your lungs, grab the very bottom, then pull it inside out whilst twisting and jerking till you think you'll hoc up a kidney!
What it will do for you though is make the frame so clean it'll look like you went over it with a toothbrush inside and out.
All that aside... any acid based wheel cleaner will likely be hydrofluoric. It just makes more sense to buy it straight, by the gallon, then dilute it to your needs. You can also add APC to your pump sprayer and make one heck of a nice 'home brew'. Just be VERY careful with fumes.
You can use it on wheels and bare aluminum, but you'll want to dilute it more like 20:1 AT LEAST.
These days I much prefer non-acid wheel cleaner on all wheels. Although... I've cleaned Alcoa wheels, lots and lots of them without any damage with my 'home brew'. The key there is a safe dilution, and wetting the wheels first, as well as KEEPING them wet if you are working with an acid based cleaner.
Flyin j charges 75 for just the tractor,I don't get involved with messing around with them.
- Thread starter
- #29
So does everybody agree we're looking at 8 hours best case scenario? As far as equipment goes I have a porter cable 7424 dual action polisher. What kind of pads does everyone suggest? SHould I just go with a simple mothers chrome cleaner type product? Is there a protectant I should coat the metal with?
Ok.... There are slot of variables that could save you or cost you time, that we still need answers too.
1. The wheels are going to be aluminum.... There are companies that chrome them, but because of the $$$ only show trucks usually do it. That leaves you with two options. Uncoated bare aluminum that you can polish or a coated wheel called a "Durabrite". It's a polished wheel with a coating. Ask the owner, he should know what he has. There is usually s sticker on the wheel saying if it is Durabrite or not. If you do not know what it is....DO NOT try to polish a spot on the rim to find out. You will scratch or go thru the coating and then the only way to fix it is to strip the coating off the wheel and polish it. Then you will have to do the rest of them because it will look different. If it is Durabrite.... All you can do is soap and water wash... Maybe throw some wax on them that has no cleaners. But that's it. If it's bare aluminum , then you can polish it. But be sure of your partners ability. A crappy polish job looks worse that just having a clean, dull rim. Also.... Ask your customer on what kind of shine they expect on the aluminum ( there is no chrome on a Pete, just stainless and aluminum) . This is a big sticking point.... They might be expecting a close to show quality shine... And if ur friend can't deliver it.... U might be arguing over price in the end.
1. The wheels are going to be aluminum.... There are companies that chrome them, but because of the $$$ only show trucks usually do it. That leaves you with two options. Uncoated bare aluminum that you can polish or a coated wheel called a "Durabrite". It's a polished wheel with a coating. Ask the owner, he should know what he has. There is usually s sticker on the wheel saying if it is Durabrite or not. If you do not know what it is....DO NOT try to polish a spot on the rim to find out. You will scratch or go thru the coating and then the only way to fix it is to strip the coating off the wheel and polish it. Then you will have to do the rest of them because it will look different. If it is Durabrite.... All you can do is soap and water wash... Maybe throw some wax on them that has no cleaners. But that's it. If it's bare aluminum , then you can polish it. But be sure of your partners ability. A crappy polish job looks worse that just having a clean, dull rim. Also.... Ask your customer on what kind of shine they expect on the aluminum ( there is no chrome on a Pete, just stainless and aluminum) . This is a big sticking point.... They might be expecting a close to show quality shine... And if ur friend can't deliver it.... U might be arguing over price in the end.
Above is a pic of what I drive everyday and what I use as my business card.Thats the quality of work my customers expect. I can do an entire daycab.... Wash/ wax, full interior, and all the aluminum ( 6 wheels, headlights, grille shell, air tanks, battery box, emissions cover, fuel tanks, deck plates) and stainless in about 12 hours by myself ( maybe 14 depending on condition of aluminum.... Does it just need cut/color or does it need to be sanded first) and charge ( low end) $675...