You and your tractors first defeat?????

[Bill in VA]

Mine was today. I was trying to work on a slab of layered shale sticking up through the road bed about 6 ft square where it pokes thru. Try as I might the M59 could only break off chips. I could not get it to peel off sections at all.

Finally, after about a half hour of trying to find an edge, a fracture, a lip, anything that would let me get into it I just had to sit back and stare at it for awhile. Not worth damaging the tractor, not worth the frustration, and it is not worth getting my Fruit of the Looms into a twist when there is another road section that needs work probably more so than that one.

But It made me wonder what was the first thing others ran into when their new tractor got stymied? Any takers?

Meanwhile I will figure out another way to *!##*! that **!#**! rock.

Bill

 

[davatk]

Mine was today. I was trying to work on a slab of layered shale sticking up through the road bed about 6 ft square where it pokes thru. Try as I might the M59 could only break off chips. I could not get it to peel off sections at all.

Finally, after about a half hour of trying to find an edge, a fracture, a lip, anything that would let me get into it I just had to sit back and stare at it for awhile. Not worth damaging the tractor, not worth the frustration, and it is not worth getting my Fruit of the Looms into a twist when there is another road section that needs work probably more so than that one.

But It made me wonder what was the first thing others ran into when their new tractor got stymied? Any takers?

Meanwhile I will figure out another way to *!##*! that **!#**! rock.

Bill

Well, mine wasn't shale, mine was a big old Flint rock. Got one of them out with the bucket easily but the other one - well wouldn't even budge. Having only about 15 hours on my tractor at the time, I quickly decided I didn't want to add the "curved lip feature" to my new bucket, so the rock remains.

 

[Baby Grand]

I'll bite. It's a bit humilliating just thinking about it, so I usually don't.

First day on my first ever tractor. The Plant Manager asked me if I could remove a circle of yucca plants with a weedy looking 2" hickory sapling growing out of the center.

My first thought - pluck that sapling out with the FEL. Hitched a chain around the bucket and only managed to lift the rear wheels off the ground. My first lesson in the importance of proper ballasting for the job, but I wasn't taking notes at the time.

Not willing to have my new beast outdone by a weed tree I turned around and hitched the chain to the drawbar and proceded to dig two very deep ruts in the drought savaged lawn with my sharp, new R1s. About this time the Plant Manager was wailing at me to "Stop!", which I did, although reluctantly - she probably saved my life.

Went to the toolshed and brought back a shovel. Dug down around the taproot about 18" - it didn't get any smaller. Thinking that it must go clear to China, I snipped it with loppers, threw a rock on top, filled the hole and tried to forget about the whole shameful episode.

-Jim

 

[Bartcephus]

Baby Grand....

I know what you mean.... I know what you mean..... LOL :laughing:

 

[Mike Costello]

You gotta laugh at this one: Kubota L4400 vs 3" dia 4' high tree in my lawn--and the tree won! The tree had died and my wife was bugging me to remove it anyway because she never liked it. So I dutifully hooked up and lifted the loader--and the tree didn't so much as groan! Grabbed a shovel and started digging--only to break the shovel. Switched to a pick, and after 4 or 5 swings out the tree comes. Not much of a root system, so go figure. The Kubota did an admirable job hauling the little bugger and my broken shovel to the trash!

 

[DiezNutz]

A very old, and very large maple tree stump. Really, 3 trees in one... where the trunks joined at the top of the stump was over 3' in diameter.

I spent a lot of time with the BH digging around it ripping/chopping roots. Thought I got most of them, but I couldn't get at all the ones under the root plate. Would not budge. Gave up before I broke my tractor and/or my truck, got my neighbor to come over with a Yanmar excavator that's 4X the size of my BH.

He couldn't budge it either! After he spent another 3+ hours ripping and tearing on it, finally twisted it loose. But even the excavator still couldn't lift it out of the hole, he had to spin it up out of there a little at time. Then I didn't feel as inadequate.

We estimated the big ball of hatefulness at 5000#s, give or take. Left a crater 16 ft across and up to 4 ft deep. 2nd pic shows the ball upside down, so I could work it over.

Later, I was able to break it down with the BH to just the 6' root plate, which I could flip over and push away with the FEL.

I'd dug out a quite a few other good-sized stumps, so I was bound to not let this one get the best of me, but you have to know when to say when.

P.S. - the shovel is 5' long, and the ball was 7-8' across.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Where do I start?

One of the memorables was a footing for stairs by the house. We removed those stairs and footing stayed for few years. Finally I decided to dig it out, it looked like somebody used one bag of quickcrete and I was sure it will go easy.

Yeah, right. I have dirt scoop only, the poor man's FEL, and after digging around the footing for 20 minutes and unearthing a nice ledge, I decided that's enough and tried to flip it out with the scoop. No way, it did not move a fraction. I dug some more and than some more and still nothing. Finally I made a deal with Jakob - he is 12 - to dig around it deeper for 5 bucks payable when it is out.

It was one of the better deals I made in my life, since that concrete sucker was 2+ feet deep and only the 3 inches were visible when we started. Jakob was digging away for quite few days and finally it was loose enough to give it one more shot. In the mean time I found out that I am able to bend a digging bar with my bare hands against that piece

I took the scoop out of the frame and chained the footing to the frame - trick I learned when pulling logs from woods - and with 4 ballast weights in the front and some tractor front reaching for the sky I pulled it out. Jakob got 5 bucks and a trip to local icecream place as a bonus

 

[Travelover]

.................It was one of the better deals I made in my life, since that concrete sucker was 2+ feet deep and only the 3 inches were visible when we started. Jakob was digging away for quite few days and finally it was loose enough to give it one more shot. In the mean time I found out that I am able to bend a digging bar with my bare hands against that piece...........................

You taught Jacob a valuable lifetime lesson. Never bid on an open ended job.

 

[CharlieR]

I found a "small" steel pipe sticking up from the lawn so I thought it was a good project for my new-to-me 23 year old Kubota with a brand spanking new fixed draw bar (not on the 3pt hitch).
I could not find a used bar nor did I know the dimensions so I actually ordered a new one from Kubota!
I wrapped a chain around the pipe and hooked it to the bar for what appeared to be a fairly straight pull.
I eased into the pull with the hydro on low - nothing happened.
So I got impatient (did the wrong thing) and jerked it almost stalling the tractor.
It moved about 6" horizontally but did not come out of the ground.
When I disconnected the chain I discovered that my little 'bota bent the new bar (2" x 1"):ashamed:
The pipe is still in the lawn but cut shorter with a hacksaw.

 

[Thomas]

Lady belly hung 2/3 of her SUV on top 4' snow bank,bucket snow front end of SUV made path for pulling..no luck,clear snow rear of SUV pull no luck..spinning w/chains also snow heavy at the time..even try rolling bucket slowly chain hook not enough psi.