Search results

Like Dave says. In fact, I bought what I am sure is the exact same ballast box that Dave shows in his photo (every little detail matches). I had some big chunks of steel left over from an industrial machine build (and these things were huge, rectangles cut from 3" thick plate). I lowered them...

You can run that round bar through a hole near the middle of a cross drawbar, and attach it to your top link. Both drawbar and top link end will be rotated 90 degrees to make this work.

I cut a through slot into the cap of a big soda bottle, and put it back on the bottle. Razor blades and box cutter blades just fit through the slot.

They do, that's kind of the problem. They don't necessarily hold onto it forever.

I have a fuel caddy tank with rotary hand pump, that I don't move around (it's on wheels but I think it'd be too heavy for me to move safely). I bought it from TSC, after one I bought on Amazon arrived badly dented and unusable. It was amazing how similar the photos and descriptions of these...

Ah! This is the clue I didn't think of! Thanks

I'm with you, pal. 65 here, and just had more neck fusion surgery, plus lower back surgery years ago. I plan on using this spine for years to come, so it isn't lifting any more implements or attachments, ever. I park my tractor in a paved bay in the pole barn, and I have an ibeam-trolley-chain...

I've looked over a couple different towed implements (a wagon and a tedder) that have a single hydraulic line running up to the hitch. What is the story with that? Are they doing some action with a gravity return, like lifting or tilting the implement? Can they operate on a tractor that has...

How do you know wall thickness? Can you get at it to measure it for all the pieces?

I do this to a slighter degree, driving maybe 2' or 3' up the pile while raising and dumping. Since it violates the idea that you shouldn't drive on uneven ground with the FEL high, it feels sketchy, so I only do it to this smaller degree. My strategic vision is to gradually do this further and...

When I got my tractor it was brand new from the dealer with filled rears. Manual said 25 for the rears, but I measured 8. This was on a low pressure gage I bought from TSC. I forget what the gage range is, maybe 30. I never got the sense that they were bulging or soft. The fronts are very much...

Yesterday the neck brace officially came off and I can drive again, which is a huge relief because I actually can't walk to any businesses other than a couple convenience stores. And drive I did! But I discovered a mountain of leaves under and around my car, such that the exhaust system is...

Any chance you could post a picture? Our grandson is going to help us with leaves today and I sure wish I had a giant bucket for moving the piles accumulated in our parking area. I got my neck worked on again and I'm not allowed to lift over 10 lbs, which severely limits what I can do, but I...

One thing I learned from this post is that diesel fumes are not ignited by the sparks in a vacuum cleaner's brushes. This isn't surprising, but for me at least it also wouldn't have been surprising if they were ignited. Whoa, wait, it would have been very surprising, if I'd been anywhere near...

I like the idea of doors opposite so equipment and breezes can travel through. It's a pain if a door faces uphill. A door pointing gently downhill is no problem. I have a high fence enclosing the back half of my lot, with my house on the fence (front and back doors open to outside and inside...

They make big vinyl heavy duty bags for gluing assemblies while using a vacuum pump to get a loading of 15 psi. I'd like to have one of these. I did laminate 3 sheets of plywood maybe 24X36", with the middle one oriented 90 degrees differently, to create a heavy "deck" for a 3PT platform lift...

I keep thinking it would be easy to make a plywood insert that fit into the standard bucket but was much longer in the forward and the forward+upward directions. Every fall we wind up with huge piles of leaves to pull out of cul-de-sacs, and I bet the biggest don't weigh more than maybe 200 lbs.

Boy, some of your pictures sure look familiar. I do a whole lot of hiking in and around White Clay Creek State Park and also Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area. Also some in ChesLen, Stroud, Brandywine Creek State Park, Ridley Creek State Park, Goat Hill, Chrome Barren, and other areas...

I agree with that. If a lining material in the combustion chamber acts as thermal insulation, that should improve thermal efficiency. It's a question of how much, and what else gets sacrificed to do it. Ceramics have thermal conductivities in the neighborhood of 1 W/(m K). The heat transfer...

I've augured big holes, suspended the post in the hole with room below, and poured concrete to slightly above grade with a rounded top surface, with great results. Mine are now almost 40 years old and look fine. It matters how you are attaching to the posts. If you are using prefabbed panels...

Well this is a bit of a head scratcher. Most significant I think is their claim that the dimples create turbulence, which allows the combustion air to burn hotter closer to the metal. I understand that to mean that the turbulence is lowering the heat transfer coefficient between the air and the...

Yes, this might have been my best option had I wanted to upgrade a little. A box blade with only one lowered ripper is still faster than the ripper plus the FEL, because you wind up with a little pile on every pass. And I did come at least somewhat close to that upgrade.

Oh, I would expect it to alter the outcome a very great deal! I would absolutely have preferred a heavier machine. I mean, I'm a normal tractor admirer, bigger is better. But, then, tuppence is tuppence, right? And I'm just small change. I had a 4 hp riding mower when I was little, the blade...

Having started this thread, I guess I'm about where I was in the first place. I thought it possible that there was some binary distinction, like FELs have to be "dig rated" or "pile rated" and I just didn't know where to look. But it's about like I was figuring when I did a big project this past...

Central Tractor was a chain pretty much like Tractor Supply, and they merged to become the present Tractor Supply in 1999.

Yes, I second this. I have one from Central Tractor, and the name has worn off in the 30 years I've had it -- I don't know if it's County Line or what, but it looks like what TSC sells today. It has drilled at least 200 holes in my awful soil made of bank gravel plus clay. My 9" auger bit is...

One problem with shaving off a high crown is your pile of snow winds up being a pile of snow and gravel, and leaves a mess to be scooped up after it melts (depending where you can put your pile).

I kind of think "front end loader" means an implement on the front end for picking up and moving loads, from a pile. I fear my little CUT bucket (with a straight edge) isn't meant for cutting into the earth, and if I try to do that, I should go easy, because I'm pushing it out of its intended...

Yes to this, they're like snagging a little branch under the lip and dragging it through the snow.

I have 3 of the Edge Tamers and also a FallLine Polyurethane Bucket Edge. Both seem well made and seem to do a good job. I bought the Edge Tamers first, when my driveway was not paved. They keep the edge from digging into the earth. I've used 3 at a time. This can be a good idea if your...

I keep noticing tire tools at each of the local Tractor Supply store. Somebody's buying them, and I doubt dealers get their tools at TSC.

I've read that being hot is what most ages a battery, and also that starting an engine while cold is the toughest test of the battery. On a hot summer day, the engine will start easily, but the battery has been aging rapidly. On a cold winter day, the battery may fail to start the engine...

I probably use about 70 or 80 gallons a year. I bought a 35 gallon tank with hand crank pump through TSC and like it very much. I also have three Eagle 5 g Safety Cans, and a carrier basket to plug into the trailer receiver on my car, big enough to hold all three cans. Making two trips with the...

I got that little oak out this morning. I'd cut it off a few feet up and was working it back and forth with my cable hanging from a FEL adapter plate. I poured a bucket of warm water, with a little soap in it, into the hole while working it around, reasoning that this would break up the adhesion...

Yes, I second this motion. A trailer on the 3pt can, for example when going downhill, cause the 3pt to rise up. The 3pt has no downforce on most tractors. You could go unstable with a trailer crowding behind you hitched 2 or 3 feet above ground level. A real draw bar (not one of those 3pt cross...

Not sure I follow. What wheel? Are you rolling just a wheel, by itself, over to the stump, putting the chain on top of it, running the chain approximately horizontally to the drawbar, and using that wheel kind of like a gin pole? Or are you wrapping the chain around a wheel on the tractor to...

That is very nice. Based on the stuff faintly visible in the background, I'd say you're pretty well equipped to build things like that.

I spent maybe half an hour trying to pull an oak a bit under 3" with my 25 hp 2500 base weight tractor, using cable grips on an adapter on the FEL. I'm wrapping a few turns of 5/16" cable around the trunk at least two feet above ground level, having already cut the tree above this level. I was...

My New Holland WM25 manual includes this step while operating the geared transmission to start the tractor in motion (their bolding): 2) Move the hand throttle lever (2) forward until the engine speed is above 1500 RPM. They don't elaborate on why. There's also a note about not lugging the...

Lotta energy stored when a farm jack lifts something heavy way high up. We might picture a giant mouse trap. "The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese." Hey, sure sorry about your thumb. Those things happen, and there's no sure way to avoid all of them.

I can imagine that PTSD and a recent barn fire might be quite a chore to manage together. It doesn't help me any when circumstances happen to intersect badly with the things I deal with! But it does sound like the way you're doing things lately is a big improvement.

So sorry. This is a good reminder to the rest of us to do something like take a zillion photos from multiple angles to help us remember if we need to. I find that when I start trying to remember, and start writing a list, the list helps me think of additional things. Also, we humans are...

Another idea for the remote latching mechanism: use a double ended hydraulic cylinder to push the latches open or closed, and use a small hydraulic pump (or motor) with a crank on the shaft to power the cylinder. Crank one way to latch and the other way to unlatch. You'd load this little system...

Another thought on being able to unlatch and latch without leaving the seat -- it's not as if the latch requires much mechanical work to actuate. There's no need for an electric motor or a hydraulic cylinder, and all the extra complication those things introduce. A simple crank, or levers, or...

I bought my SSQA pallet forks with 48" tines from "Titan Attachments" on Amazon, and I'm completely happy. I wouldn't hesitate to order another item this way. The only advice I can think of that I wish I had done is this: if you're going to buy pallet forks, get some pallet forks before you do...

I'm sure that's fine. Gear box oils are generally not very fussy choices, as long as they are thick enough, and you have satisfied that requirement perfectly. In fact, it strikes me as just a bit... fastidious... yes, fastidious of them to call out a lower viscosity grade, once they've already...

I think most of us are talking about "crushed stone", not "gravel". "Gravel" is a natural product, little stones that have been formed by water and abrasion and whatnot. It is dug up at gravel pits, and washed and sorted. Locally, much of the soil is gravel, rounded stones that are creamy...

Well, that's me, at least the first time....

Lifting and curling forward is exactly what you'd do to drop the implement if it's not pinned.

I hear you -- and I'm an actual physicist. I think there's a lot we could do to our ROPS without measurably changing the safety they provide. For example, what's one teeny little 3/32" hole for fishing a lamp wire up there going to hurt? But the thing is, there's kind of a sacred cow involved...

I think there is. I know English sizes better so I'll use those as my example. 1/4" bolts take 7/16" wrenches, 5/16" bolts take 1/2" wrenches, 3/8" bolts take 9/16" wrenches, and so on. However, there are exceptions. In my experience fastener makers refer to "large pattern" and "small pattern"...

Took down a second small oak, but a bit bigger than the one about 7 posts earlier, around the upper limit of what I will try to take down myself. It went faster. Aim was good, at most 10 degrees from where I wanted it to fall (it didn't look difficult and I didn't put a rope on it as I always do...

I think the NH CUTs have two different loader arm shapes that would affect this. The Workmaster 25 CUT has arms that have straight segments and an angle in the middle, whereas the Boomer ones have curved arms. My Workmaster arms with the angles can interfere with this line of sight, but I just...

We will see! I just ordered one. It does look more straightforward to mount than the three I have used so far (though for two of my three I needed some side to side adjustability that this one does not appear to provide). For the ones I have used so far, which might have been truck mirrors now...

I've been wondering about putting a mirror just under the front of my canopy. It'd need to be close to horizontal. I have used nice convex golf cart rear view mirrors before, though at this location a few feet away from my eyes the convexity would need to be very slight. Anybody done something...

Glad the trip went great! For future reference: I like the approach of weighing the force on the tow vehicle. But most of us don't have a suitable scale. If you just want to find the COG, you could do this using the springs of your tow vehicle as a scale. With the tractor out, measure the...

Are you saying the battery is seven years old? Or the loose nut behind the wheel is seven years old?

The more I ponder it, the more I think clamp on forks should get ruled out for a reason I haven't seen yet here: With clamp on forks, if you accidentally catch something sturdy enough on the end that you didn't mean to and you can't see it, you're at risk of bending your bucket even if...

I just got rid of an oak. It's always been in the way, and this year it died. I chainsawed it off about 5' off the ground, where it was about 5 inches in diameter -- I have plans for that lever! Then I dug around some of the roots on the surface and cut them with a reciprocating saw (I buy nice...

I have what I think is the same as the TSC, though it was Central Tractor back when I bought it (I believe Central Tractor was bought by TSC and absorbed). It has been fine for roots. As to weld quality consistency, well, no promises, but you can look at one all you want before you buy it...

Did the kids close your descent speed adjuster valve?

Having spent yesterday with a backpack blower loosening all my fillings, I am right there with you. The rub is, they're certainly expensive. And they seem to want a lot of horsepower, though even my small 25 hp tractor has more of it than the stinky two stroke on my back.

Right, I got that, but what type of fire will I be trying to control? In other words, in a barn with a tractor in it, what is likely to go wrong? Electrical fires, it seems to me, rapidly become some other kind of fire. Electrical equipment is typically not flammable, and it only combusts...

What kind of fire extinguishers should I buy? "ABC" powder?

Wow. Just, wow. If this isn't a study in the human condition, I don't know what is. This has me trying to remember every detail of how the barn is wired, and whether I cut any corners anywhere. And, on second thought, wondering how many of the rest of us are likewise trying to remember.

I like angling it up in front. Like you say, rain won't mostly drain forward that way. An added plus is that you can tell whether a branch will hit it, just go slow and if it clears at first it clears all the way.

Isn't that a bit dicey? You're adding weight by hand, beyond what would make the system go into relief using the lift or curl functions? It can't relieve itself if the cylinder is just getting loaded externally and doesn't get the chance to move itself. Keep loading it further and further that...

Inspired by a thread in "Build It Yourself" called "A cautionary tale about fiber board bench tops." I have my tractor happily stored in one bay of my barn (a wooden pole barn 3/4 of which is partitioned off and enclosed with wooden stickbuilt walls). There's a 35 gallon diesel hand-pumped...

Bad ideas. They would become your rear wheels, when they engage, and they have ZERO tread.

Dang. Didn't think of that. You're good!

Oh, come on, what fun is that? For me, it's a tossup between bucket and pallet forks as the most used. Least used would be my 3PT platform lift, which I think I have not mounted for 3 years now, and the poor thing's sitting out in the woods. But once upon a time I used it at least twice a week.

My New Holland Workmaster 25 uses a common reservoir for all hydraulic fluid plus transmission and differential. The fill port is in back near the right lift arm.

Same here, for parts of a B6200. Bought the cans from the dealer, and the result passed for new.

I bought one of those clip things you see on pet leashes, with a hook at each end and spring loaded plungers that close the hooks. One end I clipped through a hole near the edge of the PTO cover. The other end I clipped through the box end of a combination wrench sized for the jam nut. It was...

I talked in another thread here about getting air into the cylinders because of the way I left the machine after use, and fixing it by parking differently. Could it be that?

I prefer the type I used to have, which had turnbuckles. There wasn't chain involved, but I guess they would have worked just the same if there had been. Now I have the tubular ones, which seem to be sold as some kind of premium advantage, but I don't like them as much. For most implements I...

I've thought about doing this. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that forks are made of hardened steel, and thought it might be hard to do this. But I don't know why they'd be made of hardened steel, as the softest steels still seem plenty hard for this application. Is drilling a hole in a...

I have the ones S854 pictured, and I like 'em just fine. Since you asked, I'd go with the lighter duty ones, or some other lower cost option rated for more than your tractor. Tuppence is tuppence.

Beautiful! How do you keep the small field rough, and not reverting to forest? Occasional high mowing? It's always been a daydream of mine to have a few fields kept rough, with different kinds of plants, which I would mow yearly at different seasons.

I put removable rods in my pallet fork frame so that I can lift it, backwards, with the bucket. Thus the forks point toward the tractor and hide under the bucket when the tractor is parked in the barn. It adds very little to the overall length. To use the bucket I just set the forks down and...

Nope. The plug had maybe 1/4" of threads still outside the block. I noticed maybe 4 or 5 threads were actually spray painted like the block. The hole penetrated right into a rough cast surface of the block, no boss or spot facing or counterbore at all. The bottom of the hole seemed to open out...

Just finished my first coolant change on this tractor, which I bought new. This included removing the drain plug from the engine block. Wow! It sure was tight! There's an assembly kind of in the way so I had to use a universal joint on the 14 mm socket. First I tried my 1/4" ratchet drive...

I actually happened to ask this question here in another thread some time back, and a few people knew of specific tractors that did.

This tractor has had an easy life, and has less than 100 hours on it. It even lives indoors. Do you think it's likely the loader valve needs replacement? I was figuring that the bucket drifting over several days is something a "good" hydraulic system might allow, and not much evidence that...

More on the draft control. When the lever gets set for a higher position than the implement is currently at, it will rise, at a speed you can't control except that it's proportional to engine speed. When the lever gets set for a lower position, it will fall, and you can adjust that speed...

It occurred to me to suggest that you probably don't want to road it there. But, hey, if you wanted to hear a noisy dipstick, you'd probably just pull your own out of the engine and drag it against the fan blades. So I kept quiet. Congratulations on having your machine proper again!

And what'd it sound like?

I’ve never done a coolant change on something with an overflow reservoir before, and now realize I don’t know how. The manual says “Engine cooling system - Drain fluid“ every 2 years. In addition to draining the radiator itself, do I also need to drain the overflow reservoir? I’m guessing so...

Yeah. Ms. SmallChange backed the car into a tree and now we're waiting on new rear body parts. Trouble is, it was near the first of the year, and still no word. So what do I do, throw the dented parts a 1st birthday party in a few weeks, or what?

Do studs do anything noticeable to asphalt driveways? I've heard chains do. I might consider studding my R4s to reduce possible pucker events on ice.

I just sprayed Fluid Film on the surfaces the paint has worn off of, and did a fresh grease job, and went around trying to tighten the wheel bolts (I was probably only applying around 50-70 foot pounds and didn't bother using a torque wrench, but would have brought the torque wrench out to check...

Others have already said similar things, but just to add a data point: I think my NH WM25 is about the size of your machine. It has filled rears. But without something heavy on the rear, it handles funny with the loader full of dirt. The rears slip on dry pavement when I try to start moving in...

I don't know, but have wondered about noisy tractor transmissions whether they use straight spur gears rather than gears with helical teeth. Straight gears whine. Older cars used to do this, but newer ones have helical gears that are much quieter. Your comments about going downhill make sense...

Grumpycat's right. Coming from the same place doesn't mean equally good. We can cook a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner in our kitchen, or we can reheat slop in it. There's something kind of sad about a manufacturer turning out junk because the people reselling it want it that way to get to the...

There is plenty of extra room above and to the sides of the battery. The only dimension that was a problem is the front-to-back dimension, and it's only a problem for the bottom couple inches on the centerline. Toward the rear of the battery compartment there's a small steel angle welded on (and...

I have Erie insurance for car and home, bundled together. I got some kind of extra rider on the tractor so it doesn't have its own separate deductible if, for example, a tree falls over the barn and destroys barn and tractor both. It seemed quite reasonable in price. Then when I called to ask...

Wow. That is shabby. I think it's debatable how much fuel they should put in the tank, and don't expect to get something for nothing. But delivering it practically empty is like slamming a door in the customer's face. Especially if it's your first tractor and you're just working things out! You...

It worked! Parked with the cylinders loaded with a little tension last night, and it's still tight as a drum. I can't feel any softness at all. I can't tell by looking whether they drifted any, as the tension was slight enough that I could only see movement when I tightened them by paying...

New battery. Added fuel. Hosed it off. Did experiment trying to eliminate floppy bucket cylinders.

The battery in it was the original. I bought the tractor new. Since there weren't any size numbers that either of us could find on the old battery, I couldn't do an internet search. Note that it was considerably smaller than the Group 34 specified in the manual. I've just been running a bit...

First time replacing battery on this machine. Manual says "Group 34". That doesn't even come close to fitting. Spent a long time with the auto parts store clerk pulling out batteries and measuring their thickness at the bottom and finally gambled on a smaller Group 24 battery that appeared 1/8"...

"hold the lever for a few seconds after it stops moving" -- you mean, drive it into relief and keep it there several seconds? It's only upon startup, if I work it enough to get the floppiness out. But it takes more than curling all the way. I worked on this during a recent usage by putting the...

I think air leakage is possible because: 1) Air leaks much more easily than liquid 2) The oil seals around the rod are designed to hold pressure in only one direction 3) There can be weeks for air to leak on a parked machine, but usually much less than a minute for oil during use

It worked for my computer as posted. Yikes! Guess this is one of those situations rubber treads just wouldn't cut it...

I just got Fluid Film spray cans from Amazon and look forward to trying it, maybe tomorrow. Some people complained about the smell. I sprayed some into a plastic bag and took a whiff (no I'm not "huffing sheep" recreationally). It's an odd distinctive smell but I didn't mind it at all. Actually...

Seems like the bucket motion valve would need a float position to do this on the bucket cylinders, no?

Thank you! THIS is the direction I was trying to get to! To clarify, I didn't say so before, but I thought of the bucket curling up while parked as a clue, not a problem itself. I don't care if it does that, but it's a clue that the reason I have so much sloppy operation is air seeping in. I'm...

My FEL always seems loose and floppy, and if I move things around a lot with the tractor leaning forwards and also backwards, it all tightens up. But soon it's back the same way. I'm wondering if the problem is that the bucket cylinders generally wind up loaded in compression when I park...

I bought two BIG convex golf cart mirrors, and mounted them up under my canopy. They are butted up against each other and aligned to act like one big mirror (except there's a "seam" in the middle of the view). I look up at about a 45 degree angle to see them. I then mounted a third mirror of...

I got tired of the crummy combination squares from Lowes or Home Depot, pitched the last one into the trash, and bought a nice hardened cast steel one from Starrett. It's so nicely made, works so smoothly, and has such nice fit. Tools like this sometimes acquire a light oil or grease film just...

Just curious about hay spears. My pallet forks also have three sockets to accept individual hay spears. I don't have any hay to spear. However, when I see the spears for sale, I always wonder, is there some use I could make of this? I know, I know. Jousting. But I don't have anybody to joust...

Wait, do HST tractors require you to keep pushing on that rocker pedal? (I've never driven one.)

Perhaps jaxs will agree with me that, actually, the very worst that can happen is not even trying. I have to acknowledge my first tractor here. I was about 10 years old and my father bought me a tractor -- actually a riding mower with a 4 hp vertical shaft engine, a F-N-R transmission, a loose...

A platform lift is a very useful item. For a while, I liked mine so much I kept it on the machine by default. Pallet forks can be pretty useful, too. More so on a FEL, which would open up a whole new dimension for you. But even on the 3PT it could come in handy.

Ain't it the truth? My joints do not bend as far as they once did. But I'll be satisfied as long as I don't acquire any new places that bend.

My problem is that we run a bit of a cat rescue, with the back half of the property fenced in and a flap door in the back of the house for them. I love the little guys! But they do spray, and cat urine is amazingly corrosive. I thought my last tractor looked fit to lose its wheels, the way they...

If you like, post the name of the dealer here, and we can all give him what-for. Then you can print it out and give it to him. It might change his ways! Especially if he then delivers a filling to you by way of making up for it....

Yep, that's exactly what I did. I have now 35 years of experience handling her input and reactions, and I don't doubt for a moment that if I involved her before making the purchase, it would have been a world of trouble. Besides, it's not like it did her any harm -- the money's separate, I paid...

Don't remember about the fuel, but it did come with a New Holland baseball cap. This came in handy after the sale but before the delivery. I told Ms. SmallChange that I bought a new hat and wanted to show it to her. It helped us ease into the topic a bit less painfully.

Can't you stand next to the rear tire and reach over the fender to the existing 3PT control? Maybe I'm mistaken, but your tires look smaller than mine, and it's easy on my tractor -- and I'm a bit shorter than average.

I regret I have no idea what became of it. Sure wish I still had it.

They sure did. My father had set something up with them. He had a small mechanical engineering company that specialized in pneumatic and hydraulic controls, especially valves. He was a subcontractor to NASA. But he got me something direct with NASA, not as his employee. I don't know the exact...

I have one from Amazon too. I am not sure the brand or details, but it looks like the one Buckeye Guy links to. I made up a heavy wall 2" square tube 6' long, with a mule hook on the far end, to go into the receiver as a boom pole, and this thing also serves me as a beam between tall jack...

I worked briefly for NASA in 1963 doing this for critical assemblies that went onto the tower next to the rocket to keep the tanks topped off until the moment of launch. They told me it was called "torque painting" and they used specially formulated paints that had an odd mix of many obscure...

Just wanted to say, these things arrived a little while back (have been busy), and I'm really impressed. They're heavy and look extremely strong. They also look well made, all the parts clean and precise, the castings nice and smooth, the fit excellent. I think the price is extremely fair...

My dedicated pallet forks have been so much more useful than I assumed, so much so that I'm a big cheerleader for them. My most recent usage has been picking 800 lb pallet loads of bagged crushed stone out of my station wagon and holding them over the work site so I can place the bags as needed...

Just curious about that -- why does hanging on chains direct ricochets down? If it's because the impact swings the target, doesn't that swing start long after the bullet has bounced off? In terms of the brief times involved, I mean.

No doubt. Horizontal exhausts pretty much leave the hood untouched. My old Kubota had vertical exhaust that came off the exhaust manifold, passed through the side of the engine housing, and curved upward. There was a little panel in the side of the engine housing between the exhaust and its top...

This pipe is going to hit a low branch first, but it's not quite as high as the canopy. I can see the top of the pipe while operating. In fact, I might put a wire on the top, like a curb feeler, to test whether the canopy will fit. I hope that the pipe, which is ordinary Walker brand exhaust...

When I got my new New Holland WM25, most things were way better than the old used Kubota B6200. But one thing that wasn't was the exhaust, which was low and forward so I'm often driving through my smoke. I don't get why this is supposed to be ok -- and anyhow I have chronic bronchitis and can't...

Here is the ballast box improvement I mentioned a little while ago. It's a common and less expensive standard ballast box, but I filled it with big steel scraps, regular concrete mix, self leveling concrete, and "Flex Seal" pourable rubber, in that order. I kept it shimmed up and level for these...

Don't they need to know the use if they're going to support the warranty? I mean, if you're buying it to teach yourself arc welding, they probably wouldn't want to issue a guarantee on that.

How much research do you have to do to get a proper replacement? For example, my NH WM25 manual specifies the battery is "660 cca BCI Group 34", and at Interstate's web site there are six different products offered for Group 34 (they're different grades and prices and different CCA values)...

I think I bought the same box you did. I put a couple pieces of 3" steel plate and some old chains and such into it, and poured concrete into the whole thing. The last concrete pour was the self-leveling stuff (which is really great!) after I'd carefully leveled the box. Then I poured a bit of...

Yeah. That's really more of a steamout.

This has been a great and inspiring thread. I wanted to share the notes I made about it and also some answers. I was drilling "low carbon, also known as mild steel" bars I just bought from McMaster-Carr, whom I've never found selling something different than what they claim, not in 40 years of...

This is great information, thank you everybody!! So, those charts show the best rpm if you are using best bits and want the fastest production times? In other words, they show how fast you can go without things going wrong, ideally? And there's no penalty for going slow, other than it taking...

I have 1/2" and 3/8" mild (low carbon) steel plates I'm joining with a pattern of 5/16-18 bolts, and am drilling 11/32" through holes for these bolts. The first three holes went OK, but halfway through the fourth one, the drill started overheating and smoking, and stopped progressing. It was now...

Yeah, actually, I know this one.

It might be a cornice hook. That would explain the ring. Look at the first photo here: https://gbca.com/hard-hat-chat/gbca-safety-toolbox-talk-suspended-scaffolds-components/

How do you tell what grade it is, if it's crappy looking at a garage sale? Is there something stamped into the links, or what?

The hay idea is a good one, as there is plenty of haying around here. There were plenty of these made of round stock there, in addition to flat stock. Some had a mass produced look to them, and there were some that seemed identical and some that were different in minor ways, so I think it must...

I guess that would explain all the blood....

This thing weighs maybe 40 lbs! Who would make a decorative piece out of 1/2" steel? Besides, he had a bunch of them, some constructed like this, and some constructed out of I'd guess 3/4" steel rod. They were all pretty nearly the same shape and size. It sure looks like they were for something.

What is this hook intended for? I bought it from a junk and curiosity dealer in Oxford PA who had a bunch of them. It's steel, and seems fabricated from half inch by two inch steel bent the hard way, except I can't tell how they formed the eye. Except for a little bit in the eye, I don't see any...

I see what you mean. Well, at $33, this homeowner could take a chance. On the other hand, it'd be easy enough to use a chain slip hook with its wide rounded cross section to take the eye, or maybe get a ridiculously large diameter quick link to use with them.

Wait, wait, maybe I just found what you are all talking about: https://www.westechrigging.com/wire-rope-cat-choker-038x06.html

I always have a cable choker or two made up for pulling up tree roots while landscaping. But I don't think I selected the right cable (wire rope) or maybe the right termination. For one thing, where the cable pulls through the end eye, it frays into tiny swords designed to give me tetanus. For...

THANK YOU EVERYBODY, I have a solution! I didn't know about the red hooks, and didn't recognize them as a functional type of slip hook ("choker" they called it). I ordered a pair of those, and one 14' G70 chain having grab hooks on the ends, all at Amazon from stock. I'm going to cut that chain...

I want to find a smaller log chain, 5/16" G70, with a slip hook on one end and a grab hook on the other, and no spring clip on the slip hook. I can't find it though. Amazon has it in 14', perfect, except there's a spring clip. I've been pinched and poked enough times already, no more spring...

Yet.

Heck yeah. This really made me wish I had a press.

Absolutely! The trouble was, I didn't have anything else as sturdy as the tractor to anchor it....

I did bend it back, which wasn't hard at all. But I was worried about where it'd bend, given that going the other way there's no fulcrum over which it bends. I cut a piece of 4x4 to wedge between the point of the bend, and the cross bar of the loader. It worked pretty well, the lever mostly...

I can do that, but bending it in this direction will try to bend the pivot bolt and the hinge. Any suggestions on creating a point behind it to bend it against, like the top of the mount must have been in front of it in the first place? Glad to hear this isn't a unique screwup....

One of my quick attach latch levers is now bent. It looks like I operated the machine with the lever open and sticking straight up, and then caught it against something, driving it against the top of the implement and bending it over that edge. The lever is a zig zag, and the bend is near the...

I see I'm not the first to ask about this statement. But I'd like to know why, too. The situation I do this is during snow removal, when the snow has the pavement somewhat slippery but not like glare ice. The 4WD is very helpful in getting it to move especially against a load, and seems...

I was going to ask the same thing! The brand is New Holland, you can see the end of "Holland" on one. I *think* the one with forks plus clamp is an "orchard tractor", very compact and powerful. It'd be nice. Not sure though, not sure the model number.

Wow -- well, this is all fascinating! Thanks for a nice little education here!!

This is just curiosity, but I've always wondered. It seems like farm fields always get worked with plows, but home gardens get worked with rototillers. What's the difference? Aren't both trying to achieve the same goal? Thanks!

More details emerging: "The tractor was pulling a trailer carrying 12 people down a farm road, near the 1100 block of Furnace Road. It was on its way to a recreational area." https://patch.com/pennsylvania/across-pa/death-mother-3-children-pa-tractor-was-accidental-police (though this seems to...

There is for me. Sorry, but I always hated beets. If I thought about beets while eating dessert, I think I'd have to stop. Not that I believe I could tell the difference by tasting!

Yes, but, even if you lay it on its side, the valve isn't right on a sidewall. It's somewhat toward the hub. If there's a will, there's a way, yes -- I'd mount the tire on the rim submerged in a swimming pool....

The names of the dead were released: Katie Ann Stoltzfus, Mary Etta Stoltzfus, Naomi Rose Stoltzfus, Caleb Emmanuel Fisher. Those are all very Pennsylvania Dutch names. I don't want to say Amish necessarily, could have been Mennonite or one of the kinds of Brethren. More important is that it...

No argument there, but: how could you do that anyway? You can't get the valve at the top of the bubble of air inside to let it out, can you?

From reading various similar accounts, I'm not sure "rollover" is how we would describe the accident happening. If the accident started because the tractor left the roadway and started down the embankment, for whatever reason, it's bound to start rolling over, but that might not have been how it...

"YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) – One adult and three children have died after a farm tractor rollover crash in York County, according to Pennsylvania State Police (PSP). According to PSP, a 36-year-old adult female and 11 children were riding in an open flatbed trailer being pulled by a tractor when...

"According to PSP, a 36-year-old adult female and 11 children were riding in an open flatbed trailer being pulled by a tractor when the driver lost control and left the roadway. The trailer flipped and rolled down an embankment, throwing all of the passengers out of the trailer. The adult...

It sure would help if this were easier to get exactly right. A terrible tractor accident just happened not far away, where I hike sometimes, 4 dead, 8 injured. Sounds like mostly children. Lost control and went down embankment -- don't know if rolling was cause, but must have been involved at...

I know the spot, have hiked there several times. It's got some steep slopes; going down an embankment could be terrible there.

"When the front end of the tractor lifts, the rear drawbar of the tractor will lower. This is a function of tractor geometry. The higher the front end rises, the lower the rear drawbar is driven. As the drawbar lowers, the "angle of pull" and the leverage the load has to tip a tractor rearward...

Perhaps the most helpful thing would be to always pull difficult loads with the drawbar. Meaning, the official fixed drawbar, that sticks out of a receiver and has holes for various hitches. Not a "cross drawbar" on the arms. Drawbars are designed to make flipping backwards practically...

I'm a degreed professional physicist with 41 years experience, and used to tutor physics students in free body diagrams among other things. I think your free body diagram is drawn wrong. I think you're imagining the wheels blocked in place somehow and the tractor free to pivot at the axle, in...

There's nothing special about pulling a load from below the rear axle to prevent it flipping backwards, and this does not make the load push the front down harder. The lower the load is pulled from, the better. If the load is pulled from exactly ground level it does not provide up ward or...

This was years ago with a little Honda push mower, but it's my most recent one. I hit one of those stiff wire gardening stakes, about 1/8" solid steel, with a 2" horizontal circle at the top, all painted dark green. My sunshine and delight Ms. SmallChange left it in the grass, which barely hid...

A box blade would have been way better for this job, but I don't have one! And I did consider getting one just for this, but couldn't convince myself it was a good move, considering the cost. If I ever do another job that could use a box blade, I'll regret that.

Wow - for some reason this never occurred to me!

I did a bunch more work on this project today. I guess I thought the high 90s made for nice working conditions or something. Anyway, what you say is about where I am lately, mostly. Or occasionally I'll lift the wheels but make the angle more gradual.

My little FEL has a bucket that, I suppose, was designed more for loading materials from a pile, not for digging. Is there generally a difference between backhoe loaders for construction, and loaders on the fronts of farm tractors? Like, teeth and heavier construction on the construction...

That's certainly safer, but also less effective. FWIW the Messics video shows him lifting his wheels at least some of the time. I do have float, and use it when it's effective enough.

He shows about a 45 or 50 degree angle from vertical for the bottom of the bucket, using the edge (not the heel). But he also says this doesn't mean you can never use it angled steeply, just to usually do it more shallow, even if it takes extra passes. He does explain that the cylinders are...

Is that 15 from horizontal or 15 from vertical? I'm guessing horizontal.

I'm dragging our soil, hard bank gravel and clay. It's hard to work with, but I only have maybe 3 to 5 inches piled up at the most. The bucket doesn't dig in much, maybe half an inch? This is with probably 30 to 40 degrees away from vertical. Dragging with the heel doesn't move much of this...

I did a lot of back dragging today, smoothing up a site for a new greenhouse. But I'm always cautious because the cylinders are so extended in dump direction, and would be prone to buckling. HOW conservative, though? Getting the bottom of the bucket vertical and dragging in a moderate gear with...

More about this story: "Flush with cash from his success in tractors and air conditioners, and following an argument with Enzo Ferrari about a faulty clutch in his 250GT, Ferruccio Lamborghini decided to start building his own luxury cars." From the Wikipedia entry on Lamborghini

Reminds me of a story. A race car company was having trouble with clutches and looking to buy more durable clutches from a different manufacturer. One of the manufacturers who approached them was a tractor manufacturer. The race car company just laughed at them. This angered the tractor...

Especially elbow grease.

I dunno. I get expensive grease all over the place too.

I thought about this. My storage area didn't lend itself too easily to this idea, so I wasn't quick to go this route. For one thing, with the fork tines pointing away from the tractor, I can't fit in there and still get around the tractor to work on it, so I was pointing the tines down to park...

Clearly, you aren't running a cat rescue. It rains brine here.

It's been kind of a pain keeping my tractor plus bucket plus pallet forks in the barn where they're protected. How do I fit it all? Which one do I leave on the tractor? How much going back and forth does it take to swap attachments? How hard is it to shift things around to make them accessible...

There was another thread here about how to tell if enough grease got in there. Some people said the grease would come out mostly at just one spot. And that's understandable -- once the grease has found the easiest path out, why would it also take other paths? I remember somebody posted that, if...

Those small antique jumping jack tampers are fun but scary to watch. I can never figure out if it's the jaw or the toes they're supposed to destroy.

Your boom pole looks like mine, right down to the labels and the details like where the welds are and how the pieces are cut. I think mine came from Tractor Supply Co., or possibly Central Tractor (before they merged).

Just a point of curiosity: I've heard that, about getting oil above the piston and then cranking and bending or breaking something, especially bending a rod. What I'm curious about is how a starting motor creates enough torque to bend a rod. I mean, the rod's straight, a casting with a ribbed...

I bought the factory labeled grease from my New Holland dealer, because I wanted everything to be "just right". Last time I bought it, the labeling had changed but it was still their "official" grease. It hasn't dripped any oil. I didn't expect it to be cheapest, but maybe all things considered...

Yeah, the ones I have seen look more or less like this one. You have to dump/curl to get the whole thing to contact the ground, and there's no adjusting angle of attack. I'd like to make one that pivots to follow the ground, and lets me use dump/curl to adjust the angle of attack simultaneously...

I've been thinking about a land plane for attaching to the loader. It'd look like Venetian blinds or Jalousie windows. There would be multiple blades pivoted together so they would stay mutually parallel. The dump/curl loader motion would change the angle so you could control how aggressive it...

What the others have said. In addition, in my soil, which is hard clay cementing together round river bank gravel, I will often start holes with my largest masonry bit. I can also work in cycles, drilling a hole further until I can't penetrate any more, then filling it with water and letting it...

You mean the one at the bottom of that hill on Route 273? Yes it is. Or, there's still a restaurant/bar of some sort there. But it has changed names a few times, and I guess that means it's been bought and sold again and again. I thought its best name was "Impressions from a Rooftop", because my...