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The mixture is key. I have a mile-long and hilly gravel drive. Put down some 1.5 & 2 inch stone - thin layer. Then an inch or two of half inch stuff, then what we call crusher run - a mixture of small gravel and dust. It has held up quite well now for over 20 years. I tend it with a box...

I have a 2021 Subaru Forester Touring and am delighted with it. I had a 2015 Outback before that was totaled by a careless guy in a truck, but immediately bought the Forester. I live at the end of a curvy, hilly mile-long gravel driveway and found most other car models simply can't take the...

I trim along some fences and my driveway by strapping an old heavy push string trimmer to the side of my FEL, firing it up and simply driving slowly letting the trimmer do the work. It handles hitting wires, rocks and such pretty well. I wouldn't do it in my yard, but it works in the field.

I bought my first tractor, JD 2030 25 years ago, but from a JD mechanic I knew. He swore it was in great condition. And it was. I traded it in in 2012 because I wanted a smaller tractor my wife could drive - and went new on a JD CUT so I wouldn't have to worry about repairs for a while. And...

I find that common sense is the best guide. I have operated a CUT 3038 for 11 years now mowing and doing other work. When I get to a hill that makes me uncomfortable, I slow way down and lower my FEL to just off the ground. I want my COG as low as possible. Sometimes, as I proceed, I just...

I have a 2012 3038e with almost 900 hours - much of it working in forest land and bush hogging. I have never experienced any problems with running over brush, stumps etc. with the undercarriage. Indeed, the tractor has never been in the shop for anything other than oil changes etc.

I haven't read all the pages of comments on this thread, but I haven't seen one factor in evaluating solar that I am considering. I am out in a very rural area and, at almost 80, may well need whole-house backup power for medical reasons in the next few years. A number of my relatives moved in...

I live in a rural area and sometimes items are not available locally. I check local first, then Amazon, then check as many other sources as possible before ordering. About half the time Amazon is cheaper - and almost always faster. Speed is an issue on equipment related things because I want...

I used to have Verizon but switched to Beam fixed wireless for speed and then to T-Mobile 5G Unlimited. I am in a very rural location and Verizon was never very fast here - about 20 mbps or so. And, as I recall, if I used more than a few hundred gigs it would slow. Service was unlimited - but...

I built my garden years ago by filling in a flat area on a hill near the house - so there are uphill slopes on three sides. I then planted Jerusalem artichokes (Sunchokes) on the hills and it grew beautifully with no fertilizer and only water overflow from the garden. So I have essentially a...

I've had tractors pop a hydraulic line before, you just go get a new one. But, in 2012 I bought a smaller 3038 as a retirement unit. It's got 800 hours on it now, and no issues... Except every few years it seems to loosen one of the hydraulic line fittings and I get fluid everywhere. Never...

I'm just about 60 miles N of you. Got 120 acres, mostly forest, and a parcel shaped like a mallet or something - almost all the land in a square with a pigtail extending a mile through the woods from the highway for access. We built a weekend place on it first while I was still working, then...

I have a mile-long driveway through a forest and a yard bordered by forest on three sides. For the abundant big stuff I use the (relatively) inexpensive Brush Crusher grapple and take it to a burn pile. For smaller stuff, I use grandchildren.

I bought an old Howse C360 Finish Mower for about junk value a few years ago. It had been sitting under a tree for about 15 years I think. But it didn't look rusty. I greased it up, changed the oil in the gearbox, replaced a few tires that had dry-rotted, and actually used it for a full...

Had a 2015 Outback for years - loved it - but it was t-boned by a careless driver and totalled. I switched to a 2021 Forester Touring. We generally loved Subaru because of the snow performance and ground clearance - we live at the end of a mile-long gravel drive through a forest. We went with...

I was blessed to grow up on a family farm, land my family had farmed since the early 1800s. My father had a moderate-sized Herford brood herd operation - with a small flock of sheep (to clean up pastures after the cattle) and a few hogs (for garbage disposal and to take advantage of a large...

You are too far away for a visit, but the new Virginia Distillery (Virginia Distillery Co.: Home) has several outstanding bourbons. They aren't cheap, but they are some of the best I've had in years. Good deep, rich flavor. I have liked Wild Turkey 101 for years, and they are still pretty...

Ordered a Bluetti power station and got a delivery date through FedEx. That date came and went. When I ran the tracking it said the shipment had reached the local distribution center but was held up for weather conditions. It was an overcast but dry and calm day. No cold or ice or anything...

Been warned I'll need a knee replacements within a few years. So I'm exercising and prepping a bit already. My wife prepared before having both knees done at the same time and she bounced back quickly - following PT & doctor's orders. She played softball a year later. Unfortunately her...

JD 3038e with 2.5 inch Bora aluminum spacers. Very pleased with the results. The reduction in the pucker factor on slopes is palatable. After years of operating classic old JD utility tractors, moving to a CUT was a real learning experience. There is a substantial difference in stability...

Lots of neighbors have farms and tractors. But friends...? I'm long-time retired and most of my friends are as well. Can't think of one that has a tractor.

Two folks I know went in for a study and were not prescribed a CPAP machine. Both had sleep problems unrelated to apnea. There are other sleep issues for many. I don't see the CPAP machines as any part of a scam or racket. Apnea is a measurable and provable condition that does have several...

Good suggestions. I'll play with it this weekend. I even thought of deliberately winding a wire around it to force it in, but decided not.

I've used a CPAP and BIPAP for 20 years. It made a huge difference when I started and made me feel more rested and energetic than I had for 30 years. I am a steady user and have actually been unable to sleep for any length of time without it. A Medicare screw-up forced me to get a new sleep...

My 2012 3038e appears to have a solid flat disk as the outermost seal on the rear axle. It has loosened and seems to expose an inner seal. There is no leaking of hydraulic fluid or anything. The part appears to be a single flat washer-like piece with no threads anywhere and, I guess, should...

Love all the suggestions of a cab as a bee preventative. I work my tractor in fields and forest. Trees would take off any cab within hours. Cabs are simply not practical for many folks - and they are an added expense. I have hit bees while cutting... So far I've never been stung since I was...

I have a compact 38 hp JD. Tires are filled and equipped with FEL & BB. I am clearing an overgrown field for a driveway - giant shrubs and trees to 6+ in diameter. The job would take a pro with heavy equipment a half day to a day. I have worked it for a few hours most days for a week or so...

There is a almost free tool that is helpful for pulling trees a bit too large to push over - an old truck tire rim. I push over smaller trees with a toothbar - sometimes after cutting their roots with the toothbar. But I can do pretty well pulling up slightly larger trees with a chain over a...

I bought a new JD tractor because quality there is important - and because I have an excellent dealer close by. But my implements may be different. I have a decent rotary cutter and box blade - although bought used - because I use them a lot. My finish mower, blade, grapple, etc. were bought...

Very fond of my electric cooperative. My total rate - energy, distribution, taxes, etc. - varies from 10 cents to 13.5 cents per kwh over the year. My home is all-electric, a large ranch with a geothermal heat pump and lots of windows - and an annualized bill below $150 a month. Given the...

I hate spending money but wanted to get a finishing mower for the 4+ acres along and beside the beginning of my long driveway - former pasture. A rotary cutter works, but the area looks rough and I wanted a better look. Finally found an old Howse 5 foot finish mower for $300. It had flat...

I have always had real trouble hooking up the 3 pt. The Pat's has helped but only a little. The real issue is that I am blind in one eye and have limited peripheral vision. I simply cannot see to back up aligning the two lift points. Pat's helps, but I still have problems. There is really...

Got a Stihl Farm Boss in the shop, but use a small EGO battery saw for abundant small jobs. Have a mile long driveway through a forest and big limbs are a constant issue. The little battery power handles them perfectly. Got it as a return from Amazon two years ago and it works perfectly -...

My cooperative has an outstanding reliability record. I am out for an hour or so every few years - but no big deal. I have a small generator I use around the farm that I use to power some lights and appliances - and a wood stove for heat. (I do have the required switch to allow the generator...

I am no HVAC expert, never have been. But when I needed HVAC for my new house, I went to my local utility energy conservation experts, the experts at the local electric cooperative, and some folks with HVAC maintenance experience. I talked to different dealers and researched the heck out of...

Now 78 and aging in place. I still can do almost everything I could at 60, just slower. And I sometimes now look at a project and decide the effort is not worth the time. I love to overhaul equipment, but find my patience is now limited, so I don't look at things that will take a lot of time...

These kinds of questions always draw a wide range of answers - that are arguably all quite good. However, conditions and location are far more of a factor and really dictate response. I live in the mountains of Virginia where we do get snow, but only a couple of feet in a typical year, and the...

The truth has no defense against a fool determined to believe a lie. - Mark Twain God is not a symbol of goodness: goodness is a symbol of God. - G. K. Chesterton

I have a pretty good dealer, but hauling the tractor there and back was just too much work or too expensive. I've done all the maintenance myself. I've had no repair issues with the tractor I bought in 2012, but did have a few with the older and bigger won I had previously - a 1978 65 HP JD...

Got a big ranch house, a geothermal heat pump and an electric bill of about $150 a month on the annual budget plan. The heat pump cost to put in but has paid for itself. And we keep the house at 72 in the winter and about the same in the summer. Electric rate was about 12 cents per kwh I think...

I've had a ratchet rake on my FEL most of the time for years. I have about 90 acres of brushy woodland and the RR is perfect for pushing out brush and piling it up. That's why I bought it. But I then discovered that it was perfect for minor maintenance of my mile-long gravel driveway. It...

Not the first time this sort of thing has happened. I bought a Nissan F10 sporty car in 1980 when I came into some month and sold it two years later for $4,000 more than I paid for it - I needed cash for a house down payment. Inflation can be very targeted, but rarely lasts all that long. I...

I tend to go used for my work truck. It's going to be in the woods, on the farm and really used. Dents are common and I don't like that first dent in a new truck. I've done well buying used pickups from utility company auctions. Used to be they were bare bones, high mileage but well...

Struggled with weak cell coverage for years, and had to use DSL at speeds of under 5 mbps. Email was about it. When Verizon three up some new towers 5 miles away - but over a big hill - upgraded to good cell and put in a Mofi to pull down the Internet - the speed jumped to 10 mbps but the cost...

I have been a member of Prime for years and have found it very useful. Living in the country near a very small city affords me little access to parts and items not available at TSC or a hardware store. (I ordered a weird part for a 1998 Cub Cadet drive shaft and got it in 3 days.) It's also...

1999 F-150. Dented farm truck but runs well. I'll be passing it to my heirs.

I do less ax work in my late 70s, but I always picked up axes at auctions. You could find some golden old double-bit axes and some fine splitting and general axes and hatchets for very little. They frequently came without handles, but I've had were of the old school and have given years of...

Bear in mind that while a resistive electric heater is 100 percent efficient (actually between 95 and 99 percent in the real world), a heat pump produces up to three times the energy it consumes because it transfers rather than creates heat. You may use a small heater to warm up a specific...

Also have a pair. I did change out the top link. But it is easier to hitch things up for someone blind in one eye. I have little peripheral vision and these things help. I did not get the bar because I can use wood pieces to distance the hooks, but rarely bother.

Was looking for gear oil today. Tractor Supply had none of any weight range. But the local farmers co-op had it - as I expected - and I bought a few extra against whatever shortage is pending.

I live in a hilly part of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley a full mile off the highway. I have wired phone and tried DSL for several years 15 or more years ago. Never got more than minimal service - a few mbps down. Problem was the connections. A long wire from the highway, underground, had five...

I learned early. Just a few days after getting my new JD 3 series I was working a dirt pile in the woods on a shallow slope. I turned it off to move some limbs and, a few minutes later, stood to realize it was moving backward and gaining speed - even on a really slight incline. Fortunately it...

I have 120 acres in the mountains of Virginia, and a driveway that curls a full mile through that property. I know slopes. A lot of the advise you are getting is good - but all of it must be tempered by what you actually need to do and how much you have to spend. I started in 2000 with a 65 hp...

I had my CUT tires filled when I bought it, and have never been sorry. It adds some useful weight for any operation. I have ag tires, but little work on lawns, so they are perfect. I carry a box blade on the back all the time because it is invaluable for smoothing my mile long gravel drive...

I'm out in a rural area. My 3038e is the smallest tractor around - but find for an old retired guy. Several neighbors have tractors in the 40 to 60 hp range with two farmers having 3 to 5 tractors each - up to 120 hp. I have a deal with one that I'll plow my driveway if snow is under 18...

I have an old 16 gauge shotgun for when I have time to grab it, and a 9mm semi otherwise. Police chief friend of my told me a shotgun is best for home defense because it is easy to aim and it makes such a huge noise that it stuns your target even if you miss the first shot. He said he's worked...

Many of you don't know how lucky you are to have speeds like 50 mbps and up. Many of us out in the boondocks have no alternative to wireless - and speeds of 25 on a good day... Or DSL speeds of 5 to 10. I'm a mile off the road so cable is no option. Wireless from ATT or Verizon gives me from...

I need the lights for my 3038e only occasionally - usually for plowing snow at night. I have to get ahead of a heavy snow because my CUT with bucket and blade can't easily do more than 6 inches at a time... Long gravel drive - one full mile through a forest. So I mounted lights on a board and...

My 1998 Cub Cadet 3185 had made a lot of racket with the primary drive shaft earlier, but it finally broke apparently as I was heading to the shop. I'm going to try to repair. I know I have to pull the engine out - but the tractor is in such good shape it'd be a crime not to repair it. Anyone...

My Husqvarna YTH20K46 riding lawn tractor has a pretty basic front wheel structure. The spindle simply runs through the tire rim with a clip on the end of the spindle. My problem is that something is worn badly so that the wheel wobbles a lot on the spindle and the tractor can't be steered...

A neighbor just gave me a 1998 or 99 Cub Cadet HDS 3185 to get it out of his storage building. It's got about 400 hours on it and has been sitting in his enclosed shed for about 3 years. He said it stopped running and a CC mechanic told him it needed some part attached to the transmission. I...

For no discernible reason, the icon links across the top of the TractorByNet pages (HOMEPAGE, TODAY'S POSTS, etc.) frequently fail to work in my MS Explorer 11 browser. When I'm in forum pages, those icon links are not even recognized as links by my browser. All other links on the page - and...

Found this going through some old photos of an acquaintance who immigrated to the US in 1947. This is a relative of hers about 1940 in Bavaria. Best I can tell it's a JD A, probably late 1930s.

Well that was fun. The new JD CUT did better in the snow than my old JD monster with 2WD, but it clearly has its limits. I can see a set of tractor chains before next winter. I did plow the road out and back, but only took about 8 to 10 inches off the top. More than that on the hills would...

I already posted about my stupidity in not noticing loose wheel bolts on my JD CUT rear wheel. Almost lost it. But one bolt came out with enough motion to mash up some of the threads in the hub. I bought some new bolts, but can't get a bolt in this hole. I hear advice from some who say I...

I know... I know... The JD manual says to check the wheel bolts for the first 100 hours. But the focus of the manual and a lot of comments here seems to be on the front wheels. I did that. Today a rear wheel almost fell off. One bolt is holding it. Really embarrassing. And the tractor is...

I grew up on an old Shenandoah Valley farm with a large red brick barn, the largest I've seen around here. It was built about 1900 using a lot of the bricks recycled from an older, large carriage house built 60 years before that. Love the old barn... Hand-hewn heart of pine beams, a giant hay...

The left lift link on my JD 3038e broke this afternoon - at a time when I was doing FEL work and had nothing on the hitch. The lift link is the bar from the hydraulic arm down to the draft link, the bar that is a third of the 3-pt hitch. I was busy and didn't notice the break I guess, and...

Got a new JD 3038E with FEL - just 20 hours. Noticed that when running and not using FEL, the bucket rotates down a mite and needs to be pulled back. When using FEL with dirt, it also seems to rotate a little ... like it's weak. Works when I need it tho. I had an old 2030 before and its FEL...

My photos, old and new. Tractors look pretty good, but I've aged.

The fellow who delivered my new JD 3038E with ag tires indicated I could flip the front tires side-for-side to gain width and stability. He said he had done it easily on his 32E. The manual seems to call this the "wide setting" and allows if for uses other than FEL. Since I frequently use my...

I'm trading in my good ole 1974 JD 2030 for a compact tractor. I've looked at other makes, but decided to stick with JD for a host of reasons - dealer relationship among them. I'm looking at a 3038E vs 3320. I like the 3320 for its weight, although it has less HP. And it's substantially...

I grew up on a farm with two John Deere oldies, plus a Ford and a MF. Now retired on a part of the old family farm, I have used a JD 2030 for 11 years, but am trading it in on a JD 3038E because it'll do what I need and is a lot easier to get on and off. Besides, I want to go for a while...