Wheel Barrel & Shovel are retired

[TripleR]

Notice I said digging the full width of the blade is ok, where the damage comes in is trying to point dig with a corner of the bucket. I dont care how good you are or how careful you are, digging with the corner like when digging out a stump or large rock is going to get you in trouble with warped frame and you dont fix those, you replace the whole thing or live with it being low on one side which then makes digging hard to impossible as the low side digs in more which contributes to more warpage.

Oh, I understand Gary and don't disagree; some people just make a blanket statement they are designed only to move loose material, may even be in the manual. I have to admit to digging with the corner and things which you correctly advise against. I do so "carefully", but accept the inherent risks and will have no one to blame if/when something breaks.

For serious digging though, we rent the proper equipment and save our tractors.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Oh, I understand Gary and don't disagree; some people just make a blanket statement they are designed only to move loose material, may even be in the manual. I have to admit to digging with the corner and things which you correctly advise against. I do so "carefully", but accept the inherent risks and will have no one to blame if/when something breaks.

For serious digging though, we rent the proper equipment and save our tractors.

You are 100% correct. I used my old Yanmar pushing trees, digging rocks and stumps with it and warped the frame on it. I managed to straighten it a bit by putting blocks under the low side and pushing the high side down with my LS until the rear tires came off the ground but didnt get it all out. Amazing how it can warp easily but not straighten back hardly at all. Now that I have bent up a few things, I bought a TLB to use for digging. It sure beats tearing up the FEL on my other tractor. I am amazed at how much I can lift with the little B26 and although it isnt too strong in the hydraulics, it gets the job done on stumps, rocks etc. I just finished digging trenches to install 8 additional sprinkler heads in my system and will do a little digging for my B-I-L this afternoon to do the same thing. Nothing like having the right equipment for the job.
In the OP case, he said he had alot of clippings and chips from lawn work. The FEL would be perfect to push those into a composting area. They will be very good topsoil after a few years of rotting.

 

[roostersmasher]

The fella next door has the nice set of forks and he showed me how he digs with them. Now, I am talking about planting a shallow shrub or a small tree. He points them in at a slight angle and pops the ground loose and then works his way down, slight dig, pop slight dig pop. POOF, before you know it you got a nice size hole for planting/trans-planting a shrub/tree.

WOW, what a great morning out there. I got a huge amount of work done. My wife got some photos, I will upload when she emails them to me. Went over into the back area of the propery and moved a good amount of dirt around. Then graded it. Popped a couple small stumps. More or less practicing. Moved some of the medium sized logs. They are about 15 to 20 feet long and 24 inches thick. Took it nice and easy and more or less rolled them with the loader. Transplanted four burning bushes. Had to more or less wrestle them into the loader so they were sitting properly Did this during the heat of the day. Taking a water break and you can bet you sweet &*^% I will be back out there in about an hour working this machine. Luv'in it.

Rooster

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Congratulations on the new tractor! They sure are back savers! :thumbsup:

One small note: It's spelled "Kubota" not "Kabota".

 

[pat32rf]

Digging in rocky soil, backblading around rocks, popping small maple trees, changing rear tires by hooking one corner of the bucket are ALL hard on equipment. I just had to re-enforce the bottom of the bucket on my JD 4300 as it was slightly bent inwards and had a two inch crack in one spot after only 4500 hours of "abuse". My loader arms are still level and "tight" on the mounts.
I firmly believe that it is not so much WHAT you do, but how FAST you do it. If you take it slow and easy, and think about your moves, you can do a lot without damaging equipment. Sooner or later things WILL wear out if they are dragged over enough stones or rocks, but it should take thousands of hours (plus there might be a few small mods you can make to prolong their life....)

 

[k0ua]

I have done all of those bad things in spades on the last 2 Kubota's and they held up. Oh you might mention the crack in the bucket weld on the L3400 bucket I repaired the other day, but I don't think it was welded correctly in the first place, judging by looking at the other side. I don't know if the crack developed while the bucket was still on the Kubota, or I did it with the new bigger heavier meaner Kioti.. either way, it is fixed now. Don't get me wrong I don't intentionally try to break things, and try to take care of my machinery, but I do use it to the max. I used my B7500 like a rented mule, for those of you in Rio Linda, that means really hard, bordering on abuse. It was a too small tractor for all the things I wanted to do with it, but I went ahead and did them anyway. I have dug up more rocks and stumps than I can count, with the corner of the bucket. I have backdraged for hours, I have pushed over a bunch of trees. "hello my name is james and I am a tractor abuser" Is there a 12 step program?. Anyway what I am saying is I know there are limits, but you can get away with a lot, if you don't push it that last little bit..

James K0UA

 

[techwrtr2]

My tractor is my wheelbarrow. And is how I hauled the remains of 10 stumps today (ground up) to a pile for later use. Much of what I do could be done by hand... my tractors are a force multiplier and allow me to do projects alone that otherwise would require other people to help if I want them done quickly.

 

[alchemysa]

WOW, what a great morning out there. I got a huge amount of work done.

Rooster

A tractor is a huge advance over a wheelbarrow and spade but if you put a grapple or 4in1 bucket on that tractor you'll make another quantum leap. Sounds like with all that rubbish around the place you could use one or the other. They are a real back saver too. (Personally I'm a 4in1 fan.)

 

[techwrtr2]

A tractor is a huge advance over a wheelbarrow and spade but if you put a grapple or 4in1 bucket on that tractor you'll make another quantum leap. Sounds like with all that rubbish around the place you could use one or the other. They are a real back saver too. (Personally I'm a 4in1 fan.)

Had a 4in1 on our crawler. Was an incredibly useful thing to have. Only drawback I see to putting one on a CUT is weight, the 4in1 buckets I've seen would absorb most of my tractor's lift capacity.

 

[jenkinsph]

Rooster,
You sound like a guy who will really appreciate haveing the new tractor so I am glad you have one now. Good luck with it and take care of it.