What have you done with/to your GC Series 2300, 2400, 1700 Tractor TODAY

[Dmacleo]

I have been looking for a way to mount mirrors since I got mine. I don't remember if the FL1805 has that bar where you mounted the angle iron, but I don't recall seeing anything like that. I will need to look at it next time I get it out.

I have a 1725 and 1723 within few hundred feet of me, I'll try to get over to mone of them today to see if mirrors I bought will work.

 

[irvingj]

Oh, I love my LRB! (Little Red Beast)

Had a neighbor whose husband suddenly had to go in for surgery (via ER), the crew was coming in today to mount garage doors -- doors they've been waiting on since June-- and she asked if I could help "clean up" the snow around her house & garage.

Well, she'd had somebody come by and make a quick pass so she could get out to visit hubby in hospital 3 days ago, but that was it, with a couple feet of accumulated snow and a LOT of piles (they have an old Chevy plow truck hubby uses)....

Long story short, it was a mess, with 6'+ piles of plowed snow restricting access all over the place. Mailbox area buried. Large piles restricting view from driveway onto our dirt road. Driveway portion had probably been reduced in width by 3+ feet, quite a bit of accumulated/drifted snow up against the garage (doors blocked with plywood, temporarily). Walking paths narrowed to about 1-1/2 feet in width.

My LRB came to the rescue. Took about an hour and a half, but that thing just chewed through all the piles and cleaned up the area very well. Wife was amazed. (I think maybe a tractor/blower might be in their future.....)

Man I LOVE that little thing! (Of course, now my 5-gallon fuel can's empty....)

 

[Dmacleo]

<snip>
Man I LOVE that little thing! (Of course, now my 5-gallon fuel can's empty....)

yeah I always keep 10 gallons on hand at every go time and...truth be told I can use the electric pump on my #2 heating oil tank (I use salamander to heat one part of my shed and refuse to buy kero at stores) to make unit run if needed.
good job bud, helping neighbors always pays you back.
heck I have free eggs for life from 2 different famileis from free range chickens due to that. orange yolks rock LOL
damn molting this time of year though sucks.

 

[GeneV]

I just bought some big magnets to mount my mirrors. That way in the woods, they just move instead of break.
I am still looking as to where to mount tool holders, as anything outside the frame gets dinged by branches here and there.
Tool box is mounted to bottom of Fel arms and that works pretty well, usual amo box.
Trying to keep the trails wide enough to drive tractor through with flail, but not too wide as I want to keep the woodsy look.

The DYI My Way guy on Youtube who also posts here, he recently reviewed mirrors that mount with magnets, they were real nice. Didn't move, didn't vibrate with the tractor, I was impressed.

 

[Dmacleo]

I have been looking for a way to mount mirrors since I got mine. I don't remember if the FL1805 has that bar where you mounted the angle iron, but I don't recall seeing anything like that. I will need to look at it next time I get it out.

yeah just looked at 1723 and 1725m with this bucket, my method will not work.
you COULD weld 2 (I estimate 18") uprights on side of loader and mount mirrors. one benefit to that is mirrors don't stick out 12" like I had to do on mine due to loader control mounting.

 

[Dmacleo]

The DYI My Way guy on Youtube who also posts here, he recently reviewed mirrors that mount with magnets, they were real nice. Didn't move, didn't vibrate with the tractor, I was impressed.

I looked at them.
since fel itself vibrates theres no way mirror won't vibrate of course.
so had to make choice placing mirrors in way of danger or using magnets and place them where I lose rear view sight.
no correct answer, all depends on our needs.
when mowing fel is off so mirrors are off, when tilling fel/mirrors on and I do not get close to objects.
catch 22 maybe? no correct one size fits all answer.

 

[hube2]

yeah just looked at 1723 and 1723m with this bucket, my method will not work.
you COULD weld 2 (I estimate 18") uprights on side of loader and mount mirrors. one benefit to that is mirrors don't stick out 12" like I had to do on mine due to loader control mounting.

I just ordered a set of golf cart mirrors and some magnet mounts. I'll try to report back after I see if this attempt at mirrors works out.

 

[Dmacleo]

I just did a 4 120ft runs and 4 45 ft runs in 28-52" snow using mirrors.
worked well

 

[Dmacleo]

I just ordered a set of golf cart mirrors and some magnet mounts. I'll try to report back after I see if this attempt at mirrors works out.

I got a few neighbors (GC1723 loader only, GC1723TLB, and GC1725M TLB) that would be interested in your findings.
the MF1532 with the L100 loader getting same items I just did on my GC2400 DL100 bucket.

 

[Dmacleo]

used blower to create 200" path to the bosses 5ft landpride box scraper I'm storing here.
heavy wet snow over 3ft deep. went pretty fast.
hooked scraper up, went over road and driveways in reverse with bucket down (curled) and scarred up the ice covered road.
scraper down, bucket down, swing wildly left and right every few feet.
ice scarred up.
should keep some here little safer.

then drove about 1/8 mile up town road and did same thing on friends 1500ft driveway

 

[hube2]

I got a few neighbors (GC1723 loader only, GC1723TLB, and GC1725M TLB) that would be interested in your findings.
the MF1532 with the L100 loader getting same items I just did on my GC2400 DL100 bucket.

The main reason I did not look at magnet mounted mirrors it that there did not appear to be enough flat real-estate near the top of the FEL to put the magnets.

Someone else saying that mounted some with magnets made me do some more looking.

Anyway I started with a search for magnetic mounted mirrors and that led me to find forklift mirrors. Looking more into forklift mirrors soehow got me results for golf cart mirrors and I found these.

Amazon.com

These things are only about $10, I figured I didn't have much to loose and wasn't expecting much. I like these because of the flat mount and the mounting holes are easy to get to.

I then found the mounts

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HCLX1S6?ref=ppx_pt2_dt_b_prod_image

$17, more expensive than the mirrors, but figured that I could use them for something else if the mirrors did not work out.

Got them and put the on today. They give good visibility from what I could see sitting on the tractor in the shed. They seem to hold well. Next step will be to see how they stand up to the vibrating tractor. It's only 15F here today, I wasn't going to start it up just to test out the mirrors.

 

[Dmacleo]

gonna save links, thanks. right now my temps are (within 48 hrs) ranging from 50f to -2F, so would really like to see how these work in sub-zero.
buying iron for the 1532 in few days,the same mirrors I run already ordered, but those other 3 tractors I cannot blindly buy stuff for. yet every owners wants me to do something LOL

 

[hube2]

gonna save links, thanks. right now my temps are (within 48 hrs) ranging from 50f to -2F, so would really like to see how these work in sub-zero.
buying iron for the 1532 in few days,the same mirrors I run already ordered, but those other 3 tractors I cannot blindly buy stuff for. yet every owners wants me to do something LOL

Considering how cheap the mirrors are they seem pretty sturdy. They are made from polypropylene which is a fairly strong plastic, same stuff they may batteries cases of. As far as the magnets go, I got the stronger of the two options I found. I really had to put my weight into it to position them, I doubt they're gonna rattle off.

It's been a pretty light winter here and not a lot of snow in the forecast right now, no significant snow in the next 14 days and unseasonably warm. Might be a while before I run the tractor again, but I will let you know if I have any issue when I do.

 

[Dmacleo]

Considering how cheap the mirrors are they seem pretty sturdy. They are made from polypropylene which is a fairly strong plastic, same stuff they may batteries cases of. As far as the magnets go, I got the stronger of the two options I found. I really had to put my weight into it to position them, I doubt they're gonna rattle off.

It's been a pretty light winter here and not a lot of snow in the forecast right now, no significant snow in the next 14 days and unseasonably warm. Might be a while before I run the tractor again, but I will let you know if I have any issue when I do.

let me know if the smaller lens is concaved enough to give a good rear picture. one reason I bought the ones I did was due to large size.I have very good view of stuff even including how far off ground blower is. so if you can get that good a view this may work well for the other tractors I deal with.

 

[bucky2]

 

[Dmacleo]

what cab is that?

 

[bucky2]

what cab is that?

Berco 40" 700423-2 I had to modify the mounting brackets quite a bit, but it turned out ok. Made some brackets to move the led's on the rops to the front of the cab, but haven't put them on yet.

 

[hube2]

Link back to message with links and pictures of mirrors What have you done with/to your GC Series 2300, 2400, 1700 Tractor TODAY

Had to go our yesterday to move snow. Hasn't snowed here in a week or more by the wind decided to dump a 3' drift across my entire 150' driveway so I was able to see how the mirrors work.

I like them. The magnets did not move and the swivel adjustments on the mirrors did not move. They just stayed where I put them. Ran the tractor for 2 hours. Also not much vibration, at least not with the engine at 3K RPM for running the blower, you can see in the images that the view is not blurred from vibration. I did my best to give the mirror view from the seat. I was on the street when I took them.

 

[Dmacleo]

nice. I am gonna look into seeing if I can make these work with "taller" mirrors for the newer gc stuff I deal with to due using backhoes, tillers,box blades,rear scrapers, bush hogs. in colder weather if they stick I am happy.
the gc2400/dl100 and MF1532/L100 tractor/fel I deal with most often work well with what I did but....the others....not so much LOL

the mirrors I got I can see quite a bit more and where 2 of the people I deal with are in late 60s early 70s if I can give them the extra view that helps. if I can't I'll set this setup for them.

edit: mine are 7 wide x 12 tall (vs 5.5 wide and 7.1 tall) and sometimes that makes huge difference to us disabled people LOL example I can see few inches below my blower (and then tiller) bottom and up to well past my blinkers on ROPS

from pics you had to use 4 magnets correct? just getting ducks in a row on this end.

 

[hube2]

from pics you had to use 4 magnets correct? just getting ducks in a row on this end.

Yep, the ones I ordered come in a set of 4.

Still have to get used to them being there. Found myself turning around when I could have used the mirrors several times.

One thing they don't work for. Like I said I was moving 3' of drifted in snow. I could only take half a bite with the blower at a time. Stuff was like blowing cement and would actually cause the tractor to twist into the snow, nasty work, had to pull forward and get realigned at times. I ended up using the diff lock to keep me moving in a straight line. Still had to turn look back from time to time to make sure I was was lining up the snow edge with the middle of the blower.

I'm happy with the size and what I can see, which is a whole lot more than I could see last week without turning my head.