Storing your Tractor?

[Jstpssng]

^^^^
The ironic thing is that the very first time you told of doing this, I was cooking on my gas grill outside. I left the top up overnight to let it cool... the next morning there was a big mouse nest in it. That's never happened before, nor has it happened since. I don't have a garage, so leaving the hood up would be rather counter productive. Between the sun and rain in summer, and the sun and rain in winter, I prefer to leave the hood down to do what it was designed to do.

 

[oosik]

The mice will get into your gas grill - hood up or hood down - they won't care. If I had to leave the tractor outside - it would be hood down also. Most tractors are so very open in the hood area anyhow - probably doesn't make a whole lot of difference.

 

[Beaver Cove Deere]

I don't even like having my attachments out in the weather. I'd build a shed or get one of those metal enclosures.
There is zero need to heat the block if you are not going to run the machine. That nice warm block makes a great home for mice.

 

[YLee Kioti]

I come from a family farm where we kept our tractors in the tool shed. Previously they would sit outside without any tarp. You are better off not tarping them especially for how long urs would likely sit with a tarp on it. I have a pole barn where I store my three point attachments along with a bunch of other crap. Actually my neighbor is using it as well b/c they are building a new garage and pole barn. Anyway my tractor stays in the garage and my 2019 ram rebel sits outside. Its a **** nice truck but my tractor takes precedence over the truck.

LOL........last summer we went to shop around a local furniture store dreaming of the day our house would sell and we build on the property......nice couple owned the place...

got to chatting and he asked where we lived...started to give him a reference point with a neighbor he knew.......then he looked and said OH....!!! YOU'RE the guy with the nice looking trucks outside and the tractor in the barn....! yeah I know where you live........heh......:laughing:

Yeah.....Kioti is indoors and the F-2fiddy and 4 runner outside.........well bout 7 weeks from moving into the house so they will finally have shelter.......Do want my barn to be a shop so a pole barn for Y-lee may be in the future....

 

[Tinhack]

I don't even like having my attachments out in the weather. I'd build a shed or get one of those metal enclosures.

Oh sure--If you have a fist full of 1000 dollar bills and no more room in your pockets. The barn is my shop and the other six sheds are too small for implements. Most are filled with tool overflow from the barn. All of my tractors and implements sleep outdoors. The rattle snakes take care of the rats and mice.

 

[oosik]

Well - I don't have covered space for all my implements. So.. anything with moving parts is under cover. The remainder are on individual pallets out in the orchard.

 

[fried1765]

LOL........last summer we went to shop around a local furniture store dreaming of the day our house would sell and we build on the property......nice couple owned the place...

got to chatting and he asked where we lived...started to give him a reference point with a neighbor he knew.......then he looked and said OH....!!! YOU'RE the guy with the nice looking trucks outside and the tractor in the barn....! yeah I know where you live........heh......:laughing:

Yeah.....Kioti is indoors and the F-2fiddy and 4 runner outside.........well bout 7 weeks from moving into the house so they will finally have shelter.......Do want my barn to be a shop so a pole barn for Y-lee may be in the future....

Pole barns are wonderful things.
They should ALWAYS be built BIG !
I had mine built BIG, and then 8 years later built another, bigger one.

 

[Jstpssng]

Oh sure--If you have a fist full of 1000 dollar bills and no more room in your pockets. The barn is my shop and the other six sheds are too small for implements. Most are filled with tool overflow from the barn. All of my tractors and implements sleep outdoors. The rattle snakes take care of the rats and mice.

Spend a few thousand now, or even more later when your implements turn to junk. Nothing I have is undercover... and it shows.
I try to tarp before storms but the wind always blows them off. My 3 YO winch is already causing problems, the d騁ente has just enough rust so that I have to tie it off to pull the cable out. The Ford 101 plow which looked like new when I bought it 10 years ago is rusty and getting ugly. My Dearborne disc harrow shows that it's been setting outside all of it's life. My BH is tarped but still starting to show that it's outside.
Last night I took the cover off my snowsled and found that hornets had built a home in it.

Definitely find a way to keep things undercover.

 

[Carl_NH]

^^^^^
110% agree - 60 years ago on the farm, everything was under cover at night except the livestock 9 months of the year and the other 3 months of winter they slept in the barn.

Short story, 5 yrs ago neighbor buys riding mower, stores outside, uses every year for four years, covered with a tarp, then starts having starting issues, I fix, then deck/bearing issues, fix again all due to water/moisture stored outside and not cleaned. Fast forward last year he buys a new ZTR mower and stores it inside now. Another neighbor across the way bought a cheap John Deere Sabre 18 years ago and stored it inside, and just needed valve adjust, oil changes, a few batteries, and not much else.

 

[newbury]

I store my B7610 under a tarp that is supported by 1/2" PVC water pipe to form a tent and is partially supported by the ROPS and bucket.
Prior to this I've used the Shelter Logic brand of "tents".

 

[/pine]

If it's a gear drive tractor with a clutch...it is advised (see the manual) to disengage the clutch by depressing the pedal and using a block of wood under the floorboard to hold the pedal down...

My B series came with a notched block of wood for this purpose...if left too long the the clutch will seize to the flywheel...

 

[Johnkn]

Not to poach on the OPs thread, what about storing a new backhoe off the tractor, raised off the ground on blocks and covered with a tarp (but not all the way to the ground)? I don't have room for it in the shed. thanks!

 

[Carl_NH]

Not to poach on the OPs thread, what about storing a new backhoe off the tractor, raised off the ground on blocks and covered with a tarp (but not all the way to the ground)? I don't have room for it in the shed. thanks!

That’s what I did the first year when the barn was being built - two 4x4s and covered with a tarp

 

[coobie]

Pole barns are wonderful things.
They should ALWAYS be built BIG !
I had mine built BIG, and then 8 years later built another, bigger one.

I hear ya started out with one barn now have 3 barns.LOL..

 

[s219]

I'd either get a metal carport or build a simple open pole barn. Both are fairly inexpensive options in the grand scheme of things. I can whip up a small pole barn in a week by myself and the cost is minimal. Consider local snow/wind loads when deciding how beefy it needs to be. In some parts of the country you can get away with a pretty light structure.

 

[River19]

I'm in the same boat as the OP and live not too far away so dealing with the same weather.

While I am planning on my tractor purchase in the Spring, one of the primary uses will be blowing snow etc. and during the winter it will be under a tarp/draped car cover. the 4 other seasons (we have a 5th season in Northern New England.....mud season) it will be in the back shed. During the winter there is no way to store it in the shed with the blower on and then drive through the yard to the driveway.

Planning on having it staged next to the garage next to the horse trailer and travel trailer and a convenient plug for the block heater to be used only when I am planning on running it.

I don't see a temp covered carport thingy in my future......unless I find one that will fit and is easy to put up and take down every winter.

Plans are being made for a reasonable 16x12 pole barn for implements......