Re: FELs arn\'t worth the risk!
My first tractor was a geared Cub 154 Loboy with a MMM and front blade. Blade and MMM couldn't be mounted at the same time. This unit was bought when we first built our house in '89, and it was all I figured I really needed. Main drawback was the amount of time and effort to swap MMM and blade. At that time, our 300' driveway wasn't paved, and it needed attention after any heavy rain. The blade wasn't the best tool for smoothing out the driveway, but it was handy for snow removal (chains definitely required with the 2WD machine. This is when I made the "driveway fixer" from a couple pieces of I-beam. This worked very well, and eliminated the need to swap MMM and blade except for Spring and Fall. Since the Cub had no 3PH, there was no easy way to lift the "driveway fixer", except manual labor.
Next tractor was the Ford 1210 (diesel 4WD Hydro w/ 3PH). Still have this one, but am planning on selling it. I had been frequenting used tractor lots looking for an older (small) farm tractor, and just stumbled into this one. At the time, 4WD wasn't something I needed as long as I had tire chains but I bought it anyway. The 3PH was the one thing I really wanted, so I could swap mower and blade without the hassle. The 3PH also made it a lot nicer to use the "driveway fixer" with a homemade lift boom. The addition of 3PH, hydro and 4WD with this tractor immediately became recognized as "necessities".
This Spring, after shopping around, decided on a B 7500 HST, FEL, another 3PH finish mower. To tell you the truth, although I thought a FEL would be nice to have, never really thought I'd get much use out of one. Turns out it was like many tools I got over the years - once I had access to one, it's hard to imagine NOT having one. I made a toothbar, and it has been quite useful too. In the last few weeks, I:
Refurbished our sand volleyball court (cleaned it up, and added 14 tons of new sand).
Stuffed the fencerow with a couple large branches that fell in storms (with the teeth, was able to pick up / drag / push the big limbs without even getting off the tractor.
Unloaded a bush hog from a trailer with no help other than the tractor.
Smoothed out damaged grass area along the road (State snowplow did it in)
Removed a fairly large tree that had gone Tango Uniform with just a few sawcuts. Again, the toothbar was a great help. Only had to chain and drag one piece of the tree.
Dug a large hole down to about 4' depth between the creek and the driveway to displace critters threatening to undermine the blacktop. Will backfill with mixture of dirt and old pieces of fencing and chicken wire (good suggestion by #2 Son) to make it harder for critters to get back to mining operations.
Will be spreading a tri-axle load of mulch in the near future.
I really like the rear-mount scraper for snow removal, but am looking forward to being able to deal with the occasional big snow with the FEL.
The FEL is on/off in a matter of 2 minutes, so it comes off when I'm not using it. It's quicker to put the loader on than to dig the wheelbarrow out of the shed. Don't know how I survived without one all these years. A couple years ago, my usage could have been listed as 99% finish mowing and 2% snow removal.......................chim