Bostonrats -- that is a funny story -- LOL! It could be worse;
ever hear the joke that ends with "two dogs f???????"
I have a co-worker that does fab work. He doesn't work for free,
but is reasonable. Last year, I traded tractor work (box-blade
leveling of some dirt) for fab of my box blade tailwheel. I should
have had him do the tailwheel first -- would have made my part of the
job easier.
As for tractor work, I only have a 1 acre property, but we just bought it 2 years ago, so I've actually had quite a bit of opportunity to use it. It may be small, but if worked within its capability, a lot can be done with it (as you know). We put up a pole bar, which required excavating back into a slight hill, so we put up a retaining wall, so I had a bit of ground leveling, and backfill to do. We put of 350' of split rail fence, so I got a 3pt post hole digger for that. I didn't do as much snow removal as hoped for (total of less than a foot this year, normal is usually 3-4' with at least one of two > 10" snows). I didn't even put the snow blower on it, just used the back blade, as the deepest one was 4". Now, I'm working on next years firewood, so it has been a big help with firewood.
I was able to make a relatively neat pile with the help of the FEL (the logs range from 8 - 18" in dia, and the pile is 6' high -- I wouldn't through them up there by hand). Next step, is I'll be making wood cribs out of pallets like the ones that I saw on another thread on here. I'm getting a pin-on pallet fork setup that replaces the bucket so that I can load the wood right from the splitter onto the cribs, and then drive 'em around back to where they're going to be left to season. Then, after they season, I can drive them to where the covered storage is, and then ultimately load one crib at a time, as needed onto the back deck, near the door. This will save a lot of re-handling of individual pieces. The wood cribs are only going to be 4' X 2' X 3 1/2' high, to keep the weight within the 680lb capability of the Woods DuAl 145 loader that I have.
I'm also going to add hydraulic remotes and a hydraulic top link soon. That will help with adjusting the tailwheel, and also to provide tilt function for the carryall. Then, I might be able to use the carryall to move the cribs instead of the FEL, thus putting the load on the much-larger rear tires (to reduce wear and tear on the lawn), and make it easier to maneuver the cribs into position. I'm not sure the 3pt on the
B7100 has enough oomph with green wood. It might work for the seasoned wood.
So, with the purchase of the forks, and the parts for the remotes, the power steering will have to wait until next year. I'll definitely keep this thread bookmarked, as I'll probably do the same as you have.
As for girls around here? I haven't really noticed that they are that many more, or better quality than anywhere else. The "girls" in my life are my lovely wife (who puts up well with my tool "problem", my four year old daughter, and my trusty 8 year old black lab).
How 'bout you, what do you use your tractor for?
Hi Jas!
Yup, I'm in the Boston area, too bad, I'd do your for free. It's a fun project. The name come from when I worked at a Boston radio station (WBCN) that had rats out back. We got USDA smoke cartridges from Agway, Victor traps, poison, ammonia in pump up sprayers, and more. "Rat Patrol" was so effective that I pushed them back past the hotel next door. The local nickname for them was "Kenmore Kitties" since we were next to Kenmore Square & Fenway Park.
But back to tractors, you really need a pal in the area that can do "fab". I honestly took only 90 mins here and I had a few delays. If you have the hydraulics figured out the fab is easy.
As to hydraulic loss, it should be minimal when not steering. You can either use a priority valve or see how KubotaNH makes out with it in series. The guy we got ours from says it will bypass 3.5 gal per min. The issue is without a priority valve you will share the 3 GPM for the FEL and steering and the one that has least resistance will work before the other will. We kinda feel that you don't steer and lift/tilt at the same time too often and might get by with a series circuit. I don't think you need too much GPM for the steering to be honest, the tube from the actuator valve to the cyl is tiny.
All I can say for sure is that if you do it and it works, you will be out of your mind happy.
Best to you and all the hot babes in PA. (I've been there, what's going on with all the good looking girls??)
What's going on in PA? What do you use your tractor for?
