.........and my backyard looks like a minefield from all of the "practicing" today.
This thing is a blast to play with. I've operated heavy equipment for a living before from Cat D9's to Trackhoes and this little machine is almost as much fun.
I've put about 2 hours on it today. I'm really happy with the backhoe which is the main thing that I bought it for. The action is very smooth (once I got used to it of course) and predictable. I had read that some people complained that you couldn't use all of the hydraulics at one time and I found this to be somewhat true too. If you try to use all three backhoe cylinders at the same time (boom lift, stick cylinder and bucket curl), then it definitely gets a little touchy and slow. But it's not too bad really and I'm sure as I use it more, I'll get better at keeping the pressures equal in all cylinders.
I have two complaints though;
1.) I wish the FEL control lever was longer/taller. It's a little uncomfortable as short as it is and when I'm sitting in the backhoe seat position, it's hard to reach to raise the front bucket (so that I can reposition and push the tractor forward with the backhoe)
2.) Moving the seat to/from the backhoe position is VERY cumbersome. I actually noticed the same thing on the Kubota and a couple of the foreign brands that I looked at too so I don't guess that this is really a brand specific issue. It sure seems like that someone could come up with a better design for this though.
Regardless of the two issues above, I still LOVE the tractor and I think that I made the right choice with the MF. The tractor is very comfortable and I love the nice quiet engine. My neighbor has an older Kubota (about 5 years old) and his is considerably louder than this one. Of course, I assume that the MF will get a little louder as it ages though.
It took me a loooong time to decide which one to get (look at my join date here ), but I think it was worth the wait.
A couple of pics of the new tractor are below, next to one of my "other" rides.
This thing is a blast to play with. I've operated heavy equipment for a living before from Cat D9's to Trackhoes and this little machine is almost as much fun.
I've put about 2 hours on it today. I'm really happy with the backhoe which is the main thing that I bought it for. The action is very smooth (once I got used to it of course) and predictable. I had read that some people complained that you couldn't use all of the hydraulics at one time and I found this to be somewhat true too. If you try to use all three backhoe cylinders at the same time (boom lift, stick cylinder and bucket curl), then it definitely gets a little touchy and slow. But it's not too bad really and I'm sure as I use it more, I'll get better at keeping the pressures equal in all cylinders.
I have two complaints though;
1.) I wish the FEL control lever was longer/taller. It's a little uncomfortable as short as it is and when I'm sitting in the backhoe seat position, it's hard to reach to raise the front bucket (so that I can reposition and push the tractor forward with the backhoe)
2.) Moving the seat to/from the backhoe position is VERY cumbersome. I actually noticed the same thing on the Kubota and a couple of the foreign brands that I looked at too so I don't guess that this is really a brand specific issue. It sure seems like that someone could come up with a better design for this though.
Regardless of the two issues above, I still LOVE the tractor and I think that I made the right choice with the MF. The tractor is very comfortable and I love the nice quiet engine. My neighbor has an older Kubota (about 5 years old) and his is considerably louder than this one. Of course, I assume that the MF will get a little louder as it ages though.
It took me a loooong time to decide which one to get (look at my join date here ), but I think it was worth the wait.
A couple of pics of the new tractor are below, next to one of my "other" rides.