Adiredneck
Gold Member
Adi
How is your 3400 in the woods. I almost pulled the trigger on one but one thing kept knawing at me and the arrogance of the dealer pushed it over to a non purchase. If you bring your cut into the woods, how have the exposed tie rods held up. I was really concerned about bending them up real good in my woods and the deaker did little to reassure me of a feasible solution. At any rate I didn't purchase one then but the tractor is on my short list. You've got way more patience than me. A flat and a trailer stuck would have put me back in the house until the next day or when the karma was better.
I have some of the roughest terrain going. I basically own 135 acres in the side of a mountain. I grow rocks! Aside from clearing snow in the winter, the tractor spends most of its time in the woods skidding logs & towing my wood trailer.
I have yet to even scratch the paint on my tie rod ends. I don't baby my tractor (don't tell anyone, but I've only washed it once in 3 years), but I sure do make a point not to go bushwacking with it. I really haven't put much thought to caring for the tie rod ends. The axle is at least 4" in diameter, maybe as much as 5", so I'm scanning the terrain for anything that would hit the bottom of the axle first. The tie rods are a good 7-8" above the bottom of the axle! I usually go real slow & leave the FEL down if there is a question.