Power washing

[Pawnshop]

Is there anything IN or ON my M35A2 that I should NOT blast with a power washer? My truck has a layer of Central Texas limestone dust all over her, inside and out, and I have access to a power washer, so I thought I would give her a bath. I think I can controll the outlet PSI so I won't go at it full bore but is there anything that can not get wet inside the cab? How about under the hood? I realize that these trucks can pretty much be submerged and come out OK but can they take a presurized stream everywhere? I will be using clean water, might use a little soap under the hood. This sounds like a stupid question to me, but I don't mind sounding stupid if it keeps me from DOING something stupid!

 

[randyscycle]

In my experience with most vehicles, no water in the exhaust or intake, is pretty much a no brainer.

Stay off of any electrical connections waterproof or not with high pressure, other than a quick blast over in normal washing.A shot of WD40 or the like on the electricals isn't a bad idea to drive away any moisture.

Inside, don't blast under the dash where the internals and electrical connections are, and stay away from direct pressure on the electrical switches. Inside a garden hose will probably suffice.

Afterward, a good drying out with air pressure, or a strong fan couldn't hurt, then hit all the grease fittings again just to drive out any residual water.

I've washed a lot of vehicles this way and had no real problems because of it as long as I let them dry throughly after the fact.

 

[Pawnshop]

That is pretty much what I suspected, I may just use the hose on the dash just to be safe, THANKS!

 

[randyscycle]

For most stuff, unless its really heavy mud, or dried on mud, or thick grease, I just use a shot of Castrol SuperClean and a garden hose. It usually cleans everything up pretty well.

A good stiff brush and soap will get off most trail dust and grime.

 

[yellobronc]

 

[roger-wilco-66]

I'd be careful around the knuckle boots, expecially those with the zippers and when they are older or are of a certain bad quality (a strong power blast can easily rip a lightly deteriorated rubber boot apart).
I also refrain from blasting the tool box directly, because that can the drench tools and spare parts in there and that does no good.

 

[Pawnshop]

Pics of what, my dirty truck?? Or my power washer?

 

[Pawnshop]

I'd be careful around the knuckle boots, expecially those with the zippers and when they are older or are of a certain bad quality (a strong power blast can easily rip a lightly deteriorated rubber boot apart).
I also refrain from blasting the tool box directly, because that can the drench tools and spare parts in there and that does no good.

Especialy MY boots, they are on the short list-o-things to R&R!

My tool box is empty at the moment (the Army or GL was "kind" enough to make sure I didn't have ANYTHING extra onboard to keep track of) except for lots of dirt, I will be sure to keep that in mind after I fill it, I can certainly see myself drenching my tools and having everything turn to a clump of rust.

 

[doghead]

They other day I was pressure washing something and I accidentally passed the wand across my hand. I immediately felt the familiar "paper cut" feeling on the side of my finger. It had cut me open like a knife! I had the wand set to have a narrow fine stream. This was with a cheap 1750 psi washer. Be careful when playing with water! I think I'll wear leather gloves and saftey glasses from now on when using it.

 

[cattlerepairman]

a strong power blast can easily rip a lightly deteriorated rubber boot apart).

Murphy says: "If it breaks, it needed fixing anyways!"

 

[joesco]

I did a very light power washing (adjustable nozzle) on the inside of my deuce (shorty) and then took my gas leaf blower and it dried out the interior in about 10 minutes.

 

[coyotegray]

As part of prepping our equipment to be shipped back from Bahrain after Desert Storm, me and another guy were responsible for cleaning all the sand out of our trucks, hummers and other equipment. We use a fire hose to flush everything out. Under the dash and everywhere....

C.g.

 

[Pawnshop]

Just for the photo crowd, some shots of my "dirty girl"

 

[roger-wilco-66]

They other day I was pressure washing something and I accidentally passed the wand across my hand. I immediately felt the familiar "paper cut" feeling on the side of my finger. It had cut me open like a knife! I had the wand set to have a narrow fine stream. This was with a cheap 1750 psi washer. Be careful when playing with water! I think I'll wear leather gloves and saftey glasses from now on when using it.

You're lucky that nothing worse happened, one easily can develop a hefty blood poisoning when a foreign liquid is injected into tissue (and probably ruptures blood vessels) with high pressure!

A friend of mine pressure washed his car once and ripped a nice junk of rubber out of the tire - we figured that the rubber had a small cut before, and the water jet happily dug in there and did it's work. Don't know if this is an issue with the deuce tires, but I'd be careful with these too. Better safe than sorry.

 

[roger-wilco-66]

Pawnshop, do you know that these black plastic things on those structural menbers on the back of your cab are there for? Never saw this before.

 

[doghead]

Those black plastic things are to store the roof support rods(soft top) in when the top is removed.

 

[Flea]

FWIW, I've had good success with a combination of regular and foaming degreaser and a garden hose in getting really nasty parts of the truck clean. Believe it or not, but I can actually climb under the truck and touch just about anything without getting black fingers!

 

[Pawnshop]

What doghead said, they are clean and not crumbly because I recently replaced them, likely that is why you didn't recognise them (they were not ugly