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Having just found this forum, and reading back a fair ways I came across a post about detailing a semi tractor. And since there seemed to be a large lack of people who had done this type of work before I thought I would share my knowledge of the subject with you.If this isn't the right forum, could a mod kindly move it to the correct one for me.
Ok the wash.
You have your semi, and since its the nature of the beast, its probably very dirty. Its not at all uncommon to wash a truck once every 10,000 miles, its actually only 2 weeks of work for some drivers.
The first thing you will need is a pressure washer, with a water heater. I use a hotsee brand one myself, though there are others. Rent one if you don't have it, you need the heat it will save you more then its cost in time later on.
Next you need to get soap onto the trouble areas. You could use the dispenser that came with the pressure washer, it works ok, but here's my little secret that save a whole lot of product costs. Get one of those pump up air powered herbicide sprayers from a walmart and put soap into that. And spray it on the trouble areas.
Ok now that your spraying away, your main concern at this point will be the frame and the engine. Not the body of the truck, get the bugs and dirt off there, but the body will be mainly cleaned by a hand wash later.
Now at this point in time I can't stress how important it is the get rid of all the grease, oil, and sludge that are on the engine and frame. The DOT frequently inspects trucks, and frequently give out $1000 tickets from having oil leaks, and what not. And even brand new trucks right off the assembly line will have some oil blow by and oil 'sweat' that needs to be removed. And I hate to break it to you, but depending on the truck, and the customer, you might have to get on your back and crawl under the truck with the pressure washer.
A few help full things to watch out for in this area. First the bottom of the oil pan is always covered, so watch out for that. As well as on the drivers side, between the engine and the frame rail collects a lot of oil, to get this spot stand on the engine its self, and spray down. And the powersteering pump almost always leaks. Anything else depends on the trucks service life, which of course varies.
The back of the frame should be ok, aside from a couple areas that are common to all trucks. Around the 5th wheel plate always collect a surprisenly large amount of dirt, flush it with a garden hose. The diffs have a round vent on the top that leaks oil and needs to be washed. And just in front of the 5th wheel plate is always covered in grease that falls off the 5th. And as a last word, brakecleener is your friend for the really evil stuff, just rinse it off really fast.
Ok now its onto the actual washing of the body its self. Esentually treat it like a really big car when your dealing with it. The methode I use is to use a good quality wash mit to wash the hard to reach areas, and then a brush to do the rest. I split it into 4 sections, front back, and sides, and do one section at a time, then rinse. Since there is no way you can easily hand dry most of the truck, make an effort esentually flood the thing with water to remove all the soap.
A couple hints for washing the body here.
Remember they are 13'6" high so make sure you have a brush that can reach that high.
The elbow of the exhast stacks are very prone to rusting and oxidization, sometimes the only solution its to get scrubbing with an SOS pad. Evil yes, but nessasary at times as well.
When doing the wind shield (front) of the truck, the best way is to climb onto the engine and work from there. Most trucks have lots of room to stand up there and do your thing, save for Mac's which are a PITA. Also while standing up there you'll have an easier time washing the exhast stacks (if it has side stacks) and the area behind them then you would standing on the ground.
To clean out a big screen the easy way is to wash it with your brush first then spray it with the pressure washer.
If someone requests that you clean there air-to-air (intercooler) do not, ever use oven cleaner (I've seen this done more times then I can mention) there is a specialty product availible to do this with. As well, you'll have an easier time washing it if you stand on the inside of the hood with the hood open (just not on the grill)
Remember using a bug remover (or soaking with strong soap) then pressure washing is a much better idea then trying to scrub them off by hand.
Anyways, that would be enough typing for me this late at night. Even if they are big, they are not that hard to wash, and not that time consuming. I can do one solo now in about 1hr 15min, with about 1/2hr devoted to washing the frame and engine, some times less time is needed, some times more.
Ask away if you wish, I've been doing this for a while, so I have most of the answers, but I'm always learning.
Ok the wash.
You have your semi, and since its the nature of the beast, its probably very dirty. Its not at all uncommon to wash a truck once every 10,000 miles, its actually only 2 weeks of work for some drivers.
The first thing you will need is a pressure washer, with a water heater. I use a hotsee brand one myself, though there are others. Rent one if you don't have it, you need the heat it will save you more then its cost in time later on.
Next you need to get soap onto the trouble areas. You could use the dispenser that came with the pressure washer, it works ok, but here's my little secret that save a whole lot of product costs. Get one of those pump up air powered herbicide sprayers from a walmart and put soap into that. And spray it on the trouble areas.
Ok now that your spraying away, your main concern at this point will be the frame and the engine. Not the body of the truck, get the bugs and dirt off there, but the body will be mainly cleaned by a hand wash later.
Now at this point in time I can't stress how important it is the get rid of all the grease, oil, and sludge that are on the engine and frame. The DOT frequently inspects trucks, and frequently give out $1000 tickets from having oil leaks, and what not. And even brand new trucks right off the assembly line will have some oil blow by and oil 'sweat' that needs to be removed. And I hate to break it to you, but depending on the truck, and the customer, you might have to get on your back and crawl under the truck with the pressure washer.
A few help full things to watch out for in this area. First the bottom of the oil pan is always covered, so watch out for that. As well as on the drivers side, between the engine and the frame rail collects a lot of oil, to get this spot stand on the engine its self, and spray down. And the powersteering pump almost always leaks. Anything else depends on the trucks service life, which of course varies.
The back of the frame should be ok, aside from a couple areas that are common to all trucks. Around the 5th wheel plate always collect a surprisenly large amount of dirt, flush it with a garden hose. The diffs have a round vent on the top that leaks oil and needs to be washed. And just in front of the 5th wheel plate is always covered in grease that falls off the 5th. And as a last word, brakecleener is your friend for the really evil stuff, just rinse it off really fast.
Ok now its onto the actual washing of the body its self. Esentually treat it like a really big car when your dealing with it. The methode I use is to use a good quality wash mit to wash the hard to reach areas, and then a brush to do the rest. I split it into 4 sections, front back, and sides, and do one section at a time, then rinse. Since there is no way you can easily hand dry most of the truck, make an effort esentually flood the thing with water to remove all the soap.
A couple hints for washing the body here.
Remember they are 13'6" high so make sure you have a brush that can reach that high.
The elbow of the exhast stacks are very prone to rusting and oxidization, sometimes the only solution its to get scrubbing with an SOS pad. Evil yes, but nessasary at times as well.
When doing the wind shield (front) of the truck, the best way is to climb onto the engine and work from there. Most trucks have lots of room to stand up there and do your thing, save for Mac's which are a PITA. Also while standing up there you'll have an easier time washing the exhast stacks (if it has side stacks) and the area behind them then you would standing on the ground.
To clean out a big screen the easy way is to wash it with your brush first then spray it with the pressure washer.
If someone requests that you clean there air-to-air (intercooler) do not, ever use oven cleaner (I've seen this done more times then I can mention) there is a specialty product availible to do this with. As well, you'll have an easier time washing it if you stand on the inside of the hood with the hood open (just not on the grill)
Remember using a bug remover (or soaking with strong soap) then pressure washing is a much better idea then trying to scrub them off by hand.
Anyways, that would be enough typing for me this late at night. Even if they are big, they are not that hard to wash, and not that time consuming. I can do one solo now in about 1hr 15min, with about 1/2hr devoted to washing the frame and engine, some times less time is needed, some times more.
Ask away if you wish, I've been doing this for a while, so I have most of the answers, but I'm always learning.