Re: Adjustable Thumb/Your Health
I've met two people with that type of arrangement, both said they regret not putting the money towards a full hydraulic thumb. If your use was VERY infrequent you may be happy, but getting off the tractor to unhook or hook the thing is a drag.
There's of course a big cost benefit to getting on and off the tractor, but a lot of small tractor owners can't really justify the economics of owning a tractor anyway. I could have probably paid someone 1/3 of my tractor expenses to do everything I've done. They would have done it in a week while I sat in a lawn chair and gained 20 pounds!
Life's too short. I'm just tired of risking my back so have opted for a hydraulic thumb and a hydraulic grapple for the front. I didn't go the 4-1 bucket route as I also need the grapple to work with my removable front forks as well as either the bucket rake or the toothbar for picking up mondo brush piles and empty car bodies. I also wanted to be able to remove the extra stuff to keep the lift ability of the tractor. Couple of more weeks and it will be at the top of the builder's project list.
But even the non-hydraulic thumb will allow you to avoid the fun of picking up stuff with the backhoe bucket! I usually endup digging a hole so I can put the bucket under the item. Am looking forward to ending that procedure /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.
Oh, and an off-topic subject, related to the above "life is short" comment... If you're under 40 you can disregard.
Historically when you got to 50 one of the things your doctor would do (hopefully) is do a PSA test when you have blood drawn. (Measures something to do with the prostrate) It isn't something they normally do on a blood screening. Current thoughts are moving that to age 45. A friend (49) had this done as part of another check. The doctor immediately had two other tests run, as a result of that he went in for cancer surgery right away. Everything's OK so far, but it sure shows that it needs to be done. Probably a lot better for a blood test to determine a problem then wait for pain from the cancer which usually doesn't happen until it's well along the way to spreading.
Sorry for the soapbox guys, if you're like me you only go to the doctor when you are bleeding and/or unconscious. There' s that old saying, don't be embarassed.....to death. Most guys don't like thinking about their "bottom end". We all worry about our tractor oil for the tractor's bottom end, but don't worry about our own. They have some new procedures for prostrate and colon cancer checks. Think about it...
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