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I’ve been getting that scrolling message on my 4044R but the soot level is just 48 percent, lower than where the regen usually kicks in. This message is new for me. Does this tell me that a regen is about to happen regardless of the soot level? My concern is that our winter temperatures are so...

I was using my mini-ex to flatten out the ruts in my neighbor’s driveway left behind by mud season when the engine stumbled and - before I could coax it off the traveled drive - it died. I cycled the key and got the clicking sound of an air-bound fuel pump. Looked under the hood and saw one...

My Husky GTH2248 with the two cylinder Kawasaki engine just started surging at mid to full throttle…but only when the mower is not engaged. The moment I engage the mower deck the RPMs increase and it runs perfectly. Disengage the mower and the surging returns Any ideas? Pete

Found it about an hour away, lightly used then stored for four years in an aircraft hangar. Knives sharp as new, hardly any scratches in the paint. $2000. A real beast! Images show the chute open for easy access to the blades. Looking forward to years of use

Silly question. Is there any reason a large frame tractor like my John Deere 4044R which is 80 across shouldn稚 use a tiller narrower than it can handle? Our garden uses beds 48 wide with walkways between each row. Straddling each row while tilling the good soil (with tires on the walkway) would...

22 years ago we bought our first Kubota, a B1750 with FEL and a belly mower. It did a fine job mowing our 10 acre field, was maneuverable enough to get up close to the pond, garden and trees...and my wife used the bucket for moving mulch and other light stuff. Then we got into sheep and needed...

Elderly gent bought it for snow removal, then decided winters in Vermont were too cold so he became a snowbird. Hence the low hours. Tractor, factory cab, loader, R4 tires, no rear remotes. The owner was not into maintenance so had it serviced annually by a dealer. $25k. Obviously I'll have to...

I've had five Kubotas and two years ago switched to Deere because I wanted a cab for our harsh Vermont winters and the layout of the 4044R was much better than the equivalent Kubota. Within a month the paint started peeling off the bucket in 4-6" long strips even though at that point the only...

Near my house I have two trees that have to come down; both are the diameter of a telephone pole and about twenty feet off the ground they wrap halfway around each other so the crowns are intertwined. One is a dead Eastern White Pine that is not yet showing signs of rot, and the other is a...

The battery in my Kubota KX-121-3S mini-ex failed. I can't complain as it's lasted ten years, but even right off the charger it simply can't hold any juice. The only markings on it are Yuasa 80D26R. Nothing about CCA. It is not a sealed unit, and I've kept the cells topped with distilled water...

you hear their three children taunting your sheep then watch them jerk spasmodically and scream bloody murder as they make contact with the electric fencing. City Mom is keeping a very close watch on the Little Darlings now.

My only neighbor, who just had her first child and thinks anything little is beautiful, had a raccoon give birth to a litter in a hollow maple just over the property line on her side. She thinks they're cute and shows them off to all who come to visit her new baby. The problem is I've never had...

Blessings Be Upon Thee, Little One | Travels With Barley With great sadness I report the passing of my sidecar adventure companion.

Sold the tractor and sent the manual with the owner so he could read up while I did the 150hr service. Can't remember how to reset the service interval. Help?

After much agonizing and a considerable amount of seat time in both, I chose the John Deere 4044R with cab over the Kubota L4060HSTC. The tractors were equals in most ways, and at first I was pretty certain I would be getting my fifth Kubota because the dual speed lever was just so darned useful...

I've been agonizing between the Kubota L4060HSTC and the JD 4044R cabbed. I've had four Kubotas and all have been flawless, trouble free units. But on close examination the Deere has some very clever and well engineered design features, and the rear end looks substantially beefier. Removing the...

If last winter's extended cold and excessive snow wasn't enough to convince me to trade my L3240HST on a cabbed tractor, the deer flies this spring and summer have been particularly voracious! A cabbed tractor with heat and AC is in my future. I found a used L3560HSTC with 165 hours an LA805 FEL...

I've installed unfinished hardwood before in large rooms, but now have one small bedroom (10x12) left to do. The flooring is 2 1/4 x 3/4 maple select unfinished; I don't like pre-finished because the micro-bevels show all the dirt that my three dogs track into the house. The problem is the...

My only experience with blowers was PTO-driven unit on a BCS walk behind. It blew like a son of a gun, but the sheer pins broke if it picked up a rock half the size of a pack of smokes. That really got old, and I sold the unit to someone who had a paved driveway. I've been plowing with the rear...

My niece, a slim 23 y/o blonde and third generation Marine, was recently discharged after serving for four years. Before starting college she flew to Europe to spend three weeks traveling solo. In Amsterdam she lost almost everything to a pickpocket. Went to the embassy and got her passport...

Years ago I had an old L3010 and ran chains on all four corners. Never ever had an issue with it, but when I traded it in the dealer told me that was a no-no that put too much stress on the front end. Three tractors later I'm getting kind of tired of the front end slipping around on ice making...

This past summer I traded in my woefully not up to the task B3030 for the L3240. I absolutely love this new tractor, arguably even more than the L4610HST I had before the little B. But I have one problem with it. I outweigh my bride by about 80#. To not bottom out the suspension seat on bumps I...

I've studied the threads on installing culverts, but none appear to have the same challenges I face. I have a 10 foot long 24 inch diameter culvert that is (a) a tad too small to handle the seasonal volume of water that flows in the stream, and (b) too short to permit a sufficient amount of fill...

Guys - looking at the specs tells me I ought to be using a 72 inch wide rear blade on this new tractor of mine...but since the primary task will be snow removal and it would be awfully nice to be able to stand off from the ditches a bit, I was considering an 84 incher. I'm sure it would handle...

The dealer had to order the HD round back bucket and they never did find a hydraulic angle rear blade I like, but finally we have a delivery date: tomorrow! The B3030 is all gussied up with belly mower and logging winch in place. I'll probably end up putting the rear blade in the bucket, but...

Part 2 of my disappointment at trading down from an L4630 to a B3030 (in the Kubota Owning sub-forum) I went to look at an L4260 and an L3240 today, both within my reach price wise. The 4260 was simply too large to fit into my garage, and I couldn't look at the fuel filler without thinking I'd...

My wife never liked the larger tractor, and had hit the house, carport, garage and several trees with it. In a moment of weakness I agreed to downsize from the tractor of my dreams to the much smaller B3030. Within a week she had managed to take out the carport supports again. I'm sure the B3030...

My mini-ex is five years old now, has never been on pavement and only occasionally clawed its way over sharp stone ledges. As excavators go, this one has had a pretty easy life. But I have one deep gash in the righthand tread maybe 4 inches long, and the inside of the treads are showing a bit of...

One of the pins holding the replaceable tooth on my digging bucket sheered off, and the tooth was lost in a stream. I picked up a replacement today, but after soaking in PB Blaster for several hours am still unable to get the remains of the old pin out. I've been using a quarter inch punch on...

Ugh! I took this afternoon off to replace a failed 50 year old sump pump in the basement before spring thaw floods it. Of course the old pump was two wires no ground, and everything these days is grounded. So I installed a GFCI outlet and ran nomex all the way back to the circuit breaker box...

My golden retriever, Barley, lost 3" of his tail while riding next to me on the RTV bench seat. I was not wearing the seat belt, and as near as I can figure when we hit a bump the bench seat came up a bit and slammed back down on the little guy's tail, snapping the tail bones. Blood all over the...

The dealer delivered the new tail lights (the old were broken). I didn't really need them but went ahead and installed them anyway. Also the hour meter hadn't budged since I bought it. Had good power to the back of the unit, so the dealer gave me a new unit. I was worried that it had been broken...

I've searched and found a few reviews from satisfied users, but the Warn 2500# winch Kubota recommends seems a bit underpowered to me. A little background. I live on 155 acres of mostly steep hardwood forested hillside in Vermont. We get a lot of snow, and when it goes it leaves behind a lot of...

One of the tasks I thought the RTV would be good at -- and a lot faster than the tractor -- is snow removal on my driveway and the rental property up the hill. My dealer, whose opinions I have come to value, says they suck at snow plowing and that I'd surely be disappointed. I can see that it...

It's the 2007 worksite rig I mentioned in another thread. The bed is a bit dinged, but everything works and the price was right. I only had time to drive it around the meadow and over the dirt bike course I created for the neighbor kids. After the handshake the dealer added a block heater and...

I thought about getting a new RTV but given all the firewood hauling etc I do it would quickly get beat up. Soooo...my local dealer (who has always treated me right) has an '07 worksite model with 268 hours on the clock. The bed is a bit banged up and the seat back is ripped on top, but it...

I replaced the LCD display on my mini-ex due to damage, and ever since I have to thumb thru the diagnostics before the fuel level, water temp, and hour meter will display. That screen used to be my default. Any idea how to restore that screen to my default setting? Pete

Does that give my neighbor the right to use and maintain that strip of land? My part time neighbor (vacation home) cut down 40 sugar maples that were on his side by a foot, but which had always been the "fence" between our properties. Now my dogs can see hikers way down the hill and of course...

My wife and I rescue and rehabilitate abused golden retrievers. To help us with this work we have four of our own, our core pack. Today we lost our matriarch, Tuppence the Wonderbitch. She was only ten, but had been diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma a few days ago. We've been through this before...

Downsizing from an L4630HST since the heavy work that remains on my acreage can easily be done with the 3030 and my mini-excavator. My wife loves it. I have mixed feelings. It's so incredibly tiny, like a tractor only smaller! But that has some benefits as well. It will fit into the sheep stalls...

I've always had tractors with foldable ROPS and my only protection from the elements was the clothing I wore. But I've got to admit there are times (winter at 20 below, bug season when swarms of skeeters or black flies torment me, steady soaking rain that eventually finds its way to my nether...

Years ago I started out with a BCS 2-wheeled walk behind, then moved up to a Kubota B1750, then an L3010, then an L4630 which has been an awesome piece of machinery. But over the years I've managed to accomplish most of the big land sculpting projects on my plate, and the 4630 has been overkill...

I ran out of my stash of engine oil filters bearing the old part number, and the new filter which I >thought< was correct looks a little wider on the mating surface. My nearest dealer is closed till Tuesday. Could one of you with an L4330 or L4630 (same filter) tell me what the new part number...

As a few wet snowflakes fall this afternoon I need to consider putting the Kubota KX121-3S up for the winter since tracked vehicles don't do particularly well on snow and ice covered hillsides. We'll see temps in the minus 30 range. It's a canopy model, so I'll tarp it, should probably pull the...

Just a dumb question. I have two Kubotas. The first is an L4630HST. The owner's manual says the oil should be changed every fifty hours and that's what I do. But I also own a KX121-3S mini excavator. That owner's manual says the oil should be changed every two hundred-fifty hours. Why the...

I know there are several bikers among us, and it is those folks whose advice I need. I want a bike in the 650cc and up range. Broad range, I know. Initially I was thinking a daily commuter that gets good mileage, and because I live on a dirt road in rural Vermont I was thinking along the lines...

Like most properties in this area, I have a pond. It's about 80 feet in diameter and about 8 feet deep. The berm is packed earth/clay, and the pond was built about 50 years ago so it's very stable. But the overflow is thru a 12 inch culvert placed so close to the ground's surface that every...

I need something small, light and hand-portable that I can carry in the forest to jump start 1 inch water lines in early spring (blast out the critters and crud that partially plug them), and would allow me to take suction from my ponds to either water the area around it or hose off the muck...

After much research and at least a dozen test drives of all the different brands in our area, I bought a gently used Kubota KX121-3S Saturday. Delivery should be sometime this coming week. I was actually looking for a smaller mini-excavator, something my Chevy 2500HD could easily haul. But the...

In my quest for a mini-excavator I came up with several good deals on the Kubota KX71-3, but the machine is just simply too small for my needs. The KX121-3S is big, really big when it comes to maneuvering between hardwood trees in my forest, but the specs are awesome. The KX91-3S seemed like the...

I was all set to go with the Kubota KX91-3S mini excavator. The KX71 is too small. The KX121 is too wide (though the power is awesome!). But the 91 with a hydraulic thumb was just about right. It would help me harvest firewood (pick up logs to waist height, slice and dice with the chainsaw, move...

A two year old Kubota U35 mini-excavator with 650 hours on it just came up for sale locally. It appears to be in decent shape except for a dent on the left side and some pretty worn looking tracks. Both are shown in the photo. The tracks really surprised me because I've seen excavators with 1500...

Okay, so I understand that zero tail swing equipment is inherently more tippy than conventional, which is why the ZTS machines are wider and generally heavier. The width and weight is supposed to compensate for the tippiness. But just how effective are those mods? In looking at the lifting...

The blizzard of '07 that hit northern Vermont on Valentine's Day, though nothing like the lake effect snow in Oswego, NY, left us 34" in a 24 hour period. Our winters aren't known for that sort of storm. Typically we get a series of storms that leave up to 6" and it accumulates over a few weeks...

I live in New England where the weather is often pretty ugly, so on the face of it the decision seems like a no brainer. For reasons of comfort as well as protecting my investment from the elements it seems like a cab is the way to go. I didn't get the cab model on my L4630 for a couple of...

I put this in Attachments because the question pertains to both mini excavators and backhoes. A Kubota mini-ex I'm checking out has 1800# more bucket breakout force than a Volvo EC35. But the Volvo has 1600# more dipper arm breakout force than the Kubota. In thinking about the math it occurs to...

Both quality machines but not exactly apples to apples. I had hoped to test the Kubota KX91-3, but my dealer didn't have the smaller machine. Volvo 37.0HP at 7470#, arm force 4923, bucket breakout 6564 Kubota 42.2HP at 9063#, arm force 3947, bucket breakout 8754 Aside from that, the specs for...

My local dealer has a demo Bobcat 430 mini excavator with thumb at a pretty good price. It's one of their zero house swing models. Not just zero tail swing, but for 320 degrees of rotation the entire house rotates within the width of the tracks. In looking at the unit it looks like they did that...

Mini excavators, that is... Looking for a ME in the 7000# range for general landscaping, clearing silt from ditches, maintaining logging roads, clearing stumps and downed trees, etc. Considering these babies are made for construction it will have a relatively easy life with me. I used a Kubota...

In a moment of fury at seeing my L4630 covered by roosting chickens I heaved a rock in their general direction. It took an unlucky bounce and broke the clear plastic cover over my instrument panel. Can't have water get into those electronics, so ordered a replacement. The problem is I can't see...

Tadcaster (up front) and Tuppence the Wonderbitch (in back) heartily approve of our new quad. Pete

Picked it up last night and just had time to ride around the meadow before it got dark and cold. Thanks to the heated handgrips my hands were the only warm part of my body. So I parked it and spent the night going over the manual. Today I rode up one of the trails in my woods and used the winch...

What's the advantage of getting a roller fairlead for an ATV winch versus the non-rolling type? Pete

I was able to rent a rec model RTV with a dump bed and ATV tires, which were the essentials if this vehicle was going to be any use on my land. I have 155 acres on a forested hillside in northern Vermont, of which about half is accessible via my Honda Foreman 400 ATV. I rented the RTV to see if...

It'll be a battle royal when I tell my wife I'm getting one, but an RTV really is the ideal replacement for our aging Honda Foreman. The RTV will be used for different things depending on the season. This time of year till the snow sticks it'll be mostly for hauling firewood out of the forest...

First of all, it comes down to those three because the local dealers I trust sell them. Other makes might be fine, but the dealers in my area have really bad reputations and I refuse to go there. Next, my needs: I have 155 acres of hardwood forest and heat with wood. I get enough blowdowns that...

Not at all sure what they're called, but the other day I saw a JD with a 4ft square steel box on the 3PH. The sides were about 15" high, and the pivot point was well forward of center so when the latch was tripped the box flopped down into the dump position. My local dealers have no idea what...

I bought my 3PH DR Chipper two years ago on the free six month trial program. It worked pretty well, so I ended up keeping it. When I traded up to an L4630 from my L3010 I was chagrined to find that the PTO shaft was way too short to use the chipper on the new tractor. Today I called their...

Portions of my driveway, including a section directly in front of one of my garage bays, have a lot of clay in the soil so this time of year, as the snow retreats and the ground dries out, those areas turn to absolute boot-sucking muck! If I bring in a couple loads of sand and spread it over...

I have a 2002 Chevy regular cab longbed 4x4 pickup that I'm pretty happy with. Sure, it would be nice to have power windows so I can give the dogs air without pulling over. But that eight foot bed is really nice when it comes to bringing home loads of hay for the sheep, hauling firewood, etc...

For the second time now I've developed a wicked cough after handling multiple bales of 6 month old hay that leaves a cloud of dust in the air when moved. Is that just a nuisance dust, or is it something biologically active like mold spores..? Pete

Are all snatch blocks at a rated capacity the same, or are some junk and to be avoided for safety reasons? Scenario: There are some trees at the higher elevations of my property I'd like to harvest for firewood. Because of interconnecting crowns I prefer to make a shallow backcut, then use the...

I'm looking for a new splitter to handle 10-12 cords of hardwood per year. Having had a cheap MTD/Cub Cadet splitter that really didn't stand up to that sort of work, I want a beefy unit this time. I checked out Wallenstein, Timberwolf, and American MSR splitters, all in the ballpark of $2100...

Going thru my stuff I found the manual to the backhoe I just traded in. If anyone could use it send me a PM. No charge. Pete

Nice sunny day today and I still need a few trees for next winter's wood supply, so I fired up ol' Tetters and drove up the old logging road. There was still about 18" of wet, heavy snow on top of ice and mud, so I backed up and used the angled rear blade to shove it to one side. Figured if I...

Way back when there was a thread called, (I think) The Ag Tire Elimination Rule. It was, IMO, the best discussion of the pros and cons of the various tread types. I can't find it on a search (wrong parameters?) but if it's still out there, I think we ought to make it a sticky. Lord knows we get...

WAAAAAH! The new L4630HST is once again encrusted with ice after a windy night. The block heater is plugged in, the chains are on as is the rear blade. But with so much going on I've not had time to put more than a couple of hours on the clock! WAAAAAH! Pete

Next weekend I need to drive from Waterbury, Vermont to Mexico, New York (just north of Syracuse). Looks like the weather is going to be mid thirties with showers all the way there and back. I've gone the southern way before, Burlington VT to Albany NY then over to Syracuse on the Thruway, but...

I find the operator presence sensor in the seat a PITA on my L4630HST. Since I live on a hill, there is always a slight bit of roll when I dismount, so no matter how perfectly I think I'm positioned to hook up another implement I end up rolling the wrong direction (so the telescopic links are no...

My new L4630 with the LA853 loader is great, but that LONG metal bar of a level indicator is constantly in the way of my garage, breezeway, and low branches. Does anybody find it useful? Looks like a couple of circlips holding it in place...and for me it's only a matter of time before it ends...

Yeah, yeah, I know. Pics will come after I get settled in. But my L4630HST arrived at lunchtime today with the Farmi 501 on the 3PH and the rear blade in the bucket. First impressions: it really doesn't seem that much larger than Clementine till I park it in a confined space like the garage...it...

I just had to drop by the dealer this afternoon to visit my new tractor. He has his Aggies on now, brand spanking new as is the LA853 loader, HD bucket with triple hooks and the Farmi 501 winch. My first thought, having driven Clementine (my L3010HST) for five years, was that Tetters is simply...

I spent all day digging out the contents of my storage shed out in the meadow that collapsed under the weight of the snow. Rescued most everything and transferred it to the garage or the hay storage shed. But a cross member came down right on the operator station of my Woods backhoe, the one I'm...

Spent days pouring over stats and capacity charts, crawling over and under both the new L4330 and the L4630 with 215 hours on the clock. Drove my wife crazy! But finally signed on the L4630HST. The fellow who traded it on a larger geared tractor took his loader with him, so this one will have a...

I couldn't believe this woman thought her husband would find any humor in this, but today I was at my Kubota dealer discussing options when a woman came over to the parts department to buy a plastic toy Kubota and a tractor key. Her plan was to wrap the key and present it at Christmas with a...

I've used a Farmi 351P logging winch on my L3010 for years to bring home logs for firewood. Pretty impressive little unit, but at times I felt I could use a bit more pull...which, of course meant a tractor larger than the one I have. But now that I'm trading up to an L4x30, I'll have loads of...

It occurred to me that since I won't be able to use the backhoe till July when the ground dries out, and since my friend down the road has offered to let me use his Kubota mini-excavator a couple times each year, that I ought to hold on the BH90 for now. So instead, I've locked in the price with...

Can't remember who gave those alternatives to the traditional R1 and R4 options a try, but think at least three of our tractors are wearing them. For those of you who have had a chance to put them thru their paces, how about an objective evaluation? TIA, Pete

My local dealer has both. If both are configured identically, the L4630HST with 230 hours on the clock comes in $1300 less than the brand new L4330. Advantage L4330: Brand spanking new. Virginal. Disadvantage L4330: A tad less power. Expense of the 50 hour service = $500. Advantage L4630...

I'll soon be replacing my 1999 Kubota L3010 hydro with a 2005 L4630. The Woods 7500 on my 3010 was a workhorse, but greatly reduced my ground clearance and stuck out so far behind the tractor that I often bottomed out when traversing uneven terrain. I'm going to get a backhoe with the new...

It's looking fairly certain that I'll be trading up from my L3010 to either an L4330 or L4630 soon. It'll be a hydrostat, as I live on a very steep hill and like the convenience of the HST. Besides, that's the only tranny my bride will use. But I have some questions First, I can't live without...

While down at the local Kubota dealer to pick up filters for my L3010HST I took an L4630 for a test ride. Huge mistake! The smoothness and power of that machine just blew my socks off! Worse, the owner noticed the look on my face and casually mentioned that my tractor and Woods 7500 BH in trade...

On my L3010 there is an L-bracket bolted to the bottom of the rear axle. A dog ear sticks aft from that bracket, and that's where the 3PH stabilizer bolts up. Well, the dog ear snapped off so the right side of the 3PH lift arm is free to move around. Not good! Is this something that can be...

For backup heat we have a kerosene-fired Monitor heater in the dining room. It doesn't heat the house, but does manage to keep pipes from freezing in bitterly cold weather if we happen to be out long enough for the woodstove to go out. There are a pair of 275 gallon tanks in the basement, with...

Mrs Boondox came home from the hospital this afternoon. She's drifting between wakefulness and sleep, bouncing from pain pill to pain pill, though the good times are beginning to outweigh the bad. There is a cat asleep on her tummy acting as a heating pad, and every few minutes Tuppence or...

Woohoo! Tamara has been in ICU since her emergency surgery on Sunday. She appeared to be making minimal progress until this afternoon, when she was weaned off the morphine drip and urged to explore her surroundings. As the drug-induced stupor wore off she actually got up and walked slowly up and...

tbnfam-ML-764484-ML- Family & Friends is a more appropriate place for this (Hazmat)

The lovely Mrs Boondox just came out of surgery for a ruptured appendix. She's doing okay, in a lot of pain but out of danger. But we're looking at 5 days in the hospital, and 30 days of very limited lifting. No carrying hay for the sheep. No carrying water buckets for the sheep or chickens...

Yesterday on the porch, while drawing a bead on that pesky red squirrel that had bothered Tetley so much -- and which I swore to him I'd get in his name -- I stepped on a bee and was stung on the bottom of my foot. Jeez, that hurt! (Got the squirrel, though) This morning my foot and ankle is...

This morning the best loved dog on the planet passed away during surgery. I was present when the surgeon discovered Tetley's cancer had spread from his spleen to his liver. Faced with the prospect of having him in failing health for the next couple of weeks before losing him, I made the...

Just got back from the vet with some horrible news. Tetley, my gun dog, my wonderfully gentle dog, my rehabilitator of terribly abused animals, has a very aggressive form of cancer on his spleen. The prognosis is hopeless. Two to four months with surgery, and 8-12 months with. But no matter what...

An Indiana farm wife called the local phone company to report her telephone failed to ring when her friends called - and that on the few occasions when it did ring, her pet dog always moaned right before The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or...

The chickens are my wife's thing. I hate their little poops all over the place. Sheep and dogs are my favorites. But part of being a husband is I need to take care of all the little disgusting things that gross her out. She had a broody hen that had been sitting on a clutch of eggs for a few...

For years, we've had a small wooden bridge over a creek on our property. Okay, actually it was a heavy wooden door laid over the creek. At the crossing, which is just upstream of a five foot drop, 200-300# boulders were stacked without mortar as a way of keeping the stream from nibbling away at...

Thanks for all the advice last month, guys. I took a couple of days off last week and finally tackled the job. Day one was pretty much devoted to siphoning the springhouse down to the point where I could hop in and begin chipping out the remains of the old rotted outflow pipe. Obviously our...

Back in the old days when I was young and too poor to afford a tractor, I did everything by hand. Setting fenceposts, digging trenches, transplanting trees, moving stone, etc. I was a lot thinner in those days, and didn't find myself gasping for air so often. I tried the diet thing, the weight...

For generations we've had a small stone and hemlock dam across a small stream above our pond. A 2 inch water line supplied fresh water flowing into the pond and kept things fresh. But last autumn we had a microburst that dropped 7.5 inches of rain on us in a little more than two hours. The...

I'm getting ready to change the gear oil in the front axle of my Kubota L3010HST, so I looked up the specs in the manual. To my surprise, the manual stated I could use either 80W-90 or Super UDT. What are the advantages of using Super UDT? Has anybody done that? TIA, Pete

Oh crud! I have a cracked fitting on the intake end of my water manifold in the basement, so went up to the springhouse to close the old ball valve so the basement won't flood when I pull the line off the fitting. Found the springhouse, but the valve was DOA! Here's the picture: We have a...

A couple of days ago I removed the lift arms and mounted the Woods 7500 subframe backhoe receiver on my L3010HST so I could start collecting last winter's harvest of boulders from my pastures. I made the connections to the pair of remotes on Clementine's rear, but after raising the hoe on the...

I have a three-bay garage: one bay for the Kubota, one for the Mini, and the last for livestock supplies and such. They are the four panel type that follows a track, not the solid door type that tips out. The garage door opener on the center door will no longer open the door. The light comes...

I picked up Nugget on Wednesday at Keeler in Latham, NY and now that I'm forced to come back to work would like to share my impressions so far. Dealer impressions: Keeler struck me as rather impersonal at first, but now that I've seen it through and got to know my MA and the staff I'd describe...

Well, it was bound to happen the moment I realized that my bride's idea of a "fun old truck hobby" meant she got to drive it and I got to work on it endlessly...but we could spend no money on it. So it was a hobby doomed from the beginning. Still, it was hard driving that '57 onto the new...

Of the five pregnant Icelandic ewes we had this year, so far three have dropped twins and one dropped a single. Just came in from the last set of twins. I can't think of many things that move me more, after a harsh winter, than seeing a lamb come into the world and within fifteen minutes take...

Tamara and I have been considering changing our plate when the Mini comes in. Currently we have FO PAW, which would work for the Mini. Some other options are: MINIAC, BO PEEP, POPCORN (it's yellow), KERNEL (same logic), MINIMAL, TIDBIT, and GR8JAVA (because I work at a gourmet coffee roaster)...

After checking with the consensus of this band of tractor drivers, I started looking at all the various Mini configurations and still had some questions. So this past weekend I jumped in the Subaru with Tuppence the Wonder Dog and made the three hour journey to our nearest Mini dealer in Latham...

Now that we have a truck to haul hay, shavings, manure etc we find we don't really use all that cargo space in the back of our Subaru Outback...so we've been looking for something that gets good mileage. And frankly, at this point in our life together, Tamara and I want something fun to drive...

Okay, I've changed the filters and UDT fluid in the past with no problem, but the strainer was a different story. Last time I found it really difficult to access the strainer, and it was such a tight fit I remember worrying that I might break the metal hydraulic line. Is there a trick to freeing...

I noticed a burned out headlight this morning in my Subaru. Made a mental note to pick up a bulb during this morning's trip to the Big City of Burlington. On the way, I stopped at the post office to pick up my mail. A local cop pointed out that I had a light out. I thanked him and mentioned it...

After reading on TBN how some of you are beginning to plant your gardens and mow, typical springtime activities, I looked outside and realized it was sunny and warm (okay, 33F which is normal for Vermont this time of year), and dared think I was ready for spring. Today, five degrees with 40...

A couple of days ago Tamara injured her back while shoveling sheep poop and hay out of their shelter. The shelter is actually a low shed attached to the back of the garage, and there is no easy way to clean it out; it's a squat, lift, twist and dump sort of thing. Ergonomic nightmare as I...

Well, my tired eyes finally reached the point where I could not push my old 17" CRT back on the desk far enough to be able to read TBN threads. So with my birthday coming up my lovely bride got me a 19" Samsung LCD monitor! Only an inch thick, so the screen is just the right distance from my...

Many heartfelt thanks for all your support! Fiddy went in for surgery this morning and came home this afternoon. The vet removed two lipomas located deep beneath the chest muscles (which is why the mass felt so firm) and a large cyst as well. He's camped out in the kitchen where it's cool and...

I've heard the new optical smoke detectors were much better than the old ion chamber type, but can't find any info online. Anybody have any personal experience or suggest any webpages that have info on them? TIA, Pete

Glenfiddich (Fiddy), our most perfect golden retriever (the white masked 9 year old asleep in the chair in the recently posted photo of my six companions) had a noticable lump on his right ribs this week when I checked him. Based on my admittedly dated medical experience it had me worried...

It's getting a lot harder to find a place to relax at our house! Pete

My wife and I go to this every year to pick up a year's supply of Stanadyne fuel stabilizer and to ooh and aah at all the gadgets and ideas. Some interesting observations: Hand tools seem to be making a big comeback at least here in Vermont. There was a booth selling hand-made scythes that...

I recently saw an Earth First! bumper sticker on the back of a logging truck. It seemed really out of place till I got closer at a stop sign and saw the smaller print beneath: "We'll log the other planets later!" Pete

Some of you may remember the short life of little Oliver, the golden pup with multiple heart defects who joined us too briefly before passing away at the age of four months. We so desperately wanted him to be a troublesome dog, the sort you have trouble bonding to, but he was a sweetie from day...

Well, the good news is that I waited till the end of the day before swapping out the planer knives with a new set. I managed to get a lot done before then: rewired a lighting circuit, replaced a shoddy drywall section with a much better piece, and cleaned the entire shop. And I did manage to...

Similar to deer processing, but a couple of questions. (1) Considering how hard a ram's head is between the eyes, does the .22 LR still work at stunning them or does it just get them riled up? (2) The fleece isn't supposed to contact the meat; is there a trick to that? (3) Since our high this...

I've always wondered how accurate the pollen forecast is. I just checked our local weather. 12 degrees and sunny. The entire county is foot deep in snow, with a layer of ice on top of that. Yet our pollen count is "High." Go figure! Pete

Okay, call me a wimp! But after plowing last winter on an open tractor at thirty below zero I decided the activity would be much more enjoyable inside a heated cab, maybe with the company of a dog or two. So here's my new Curtis plow on the Chevy! Pete

Well, our part of the Green Mountains peaked on Columbus Day as far as foliage goes. A few windy, rainy days since then have stripped 3/4 of the leaves off the trees, so walks in the forest feel like trips to El Dorado with all the jewel-colored leaves on the ground. In the next week or so...

For those of you driving the new style Chevy Silverado pickups, you know they have the cushiest, most car-like ride of the full sized trucks. This is not necessarily a good thing if you use your truck for serious hauling, plowing snow, etc. So since I need new shocks anyway...any good or bad...

Back in the days when we had only chickens, we pounded a single six foot grounding rod behind the coop and ran a single 165 foot length of electrified poultry netting. Now, with sheep, we often run as many as five lengths of electrified sheep netting and the voltage has dropped from 6000V to...

Guys, I have a hydraulic ram on my rear blade so I can use the remotes to change the angle of the blade. It's been troublefree for the three years I've had it. Last time I mounted the blade, however, I got no joy out of the hydraulics. I know there's pressure back there, as the backhoe had no...

Our tenants moved out of our rental cottage last week...and ran right over the fifty year old leach field! Thought for sure we were going to have to hire the repairs out, but Clementine and her trusty backhoe handled the job with nary a problem! Wow, if I'd known it was that easy I would have...

In looking for a snowplow for my Chevy truck one of the fundamental choices to make is whether to go with the traditional blade that trips forward when it hits an obstruction...or to go with the newfangled trip edge where the blade stays upright but the bottom six inches trips back to go over...

I have two small engines (mower and log splitter) that have no oil drain plugs. For the mower I simply turn it upside down and let the dirty oil drain out the dipstick tube, but the splitter weighs a bit so that approach is impractical. The splitter manual refers to a suction device, but I can't...

Well, after less than a year I traded my trusty little Dodge Dakota for a full-sized half-ton pickup. The Dakota couldn't handle a plow, and after the bitter cold of last winter I wasn't looking forward to spending hours immobile on the Kubota at minus 30 this winter. Found an '02 Chevy work...

The runoff from my upper meadow runs down the side of our dirt road, picking up a significant amount of sediment in heavy rain, then passes under the road via an 18" culvert before emptying in a neighbor's level field. Because the field is level, all the sediment is dropped right there at the...

At times like this I'm really glad we live on the side of a hill! The runoff rocketed down the drainage ditches so fast it took out much of the road, and the culverts at the bottom are pretty well silted up, but no permanent damage. The basement is flooding, but so far nothing the sump pump...

Sir Oliver, our adorable little golden with multiple heart defects, passed away peacefully this morning at four months of age. We'll bury him in the family graveyard this afternoon among the flowers he loved to eat. Pete

I have a pond a bit uphill from my house. Maybe 1/3 acre and 8 feet deep. It's there as a source of emergency water should we ever have a fire on the homestead, and also a bit of R&R for the Wife, dogs and myself. But last year we started noticing little leaches, so the Wife's screams pretty...

I recently received the following email ostensibly from PayPay: </font><font color="blueclass=small">( We recently reviewed your account, and suspect that your PayPal account may have been accessed by an unauthorized third party. Protecting the security of your account and of the PayPal...

Got a call from Country Home Products this morning telling me the 3ph chippers had finally come in and would I like one? Drove to Vergennes, dodging some HUGE thunderstorms along the way, and after poking around their showroom I paid for the chipper and a little slip of a girl wrestled a 200#...

Guys -- During the redesign of my shop I moved my big 60 gallon compressor into the garage...temporarily. Only now that it's out there I've decided to keep it there for use on the tractor and trucks. The problem is the garage slab is badly cracked, and in some areas heaved up a couple of...

Has anybody else tried these while operating a tractor? My first experience with them was really weird! The roar of the engine was muted, but there were dozens of little squeaks and rattles I'd never heard before, and the mower had this strange pulsating harmonic quality. Plus the background...

The Specs page has been under construction for a while now, and http://www.tractorbynet.com/tractors/under25.htm gets me nothing but error: page not found messages. Trying to find specs for small, trailerable SCUTs for a friend, and not having much luck. Given the vehicle he drives, adding the...

Oliver is a 14 week old golden retriever pup with terrible genetics, a product of a backyard breeder where profit is king. Bad hips, an abbreviated soft palate giving him a snuffling sound and making him prone to upper respiratory problems, and both a severe murmer and mitral valve prolapse that...

Okay, what's the trick? I gave this a couple of tries on poor Weasley the wannabe ram this past weekend, but had to keep cutting them off because one side or the other would sneak back to safety when I released the band! The idea is to castrate the little fella, not turn him into a one nut...

My wife thinks I'm loony for doing it, but every spring when the weather finally begins warming up I give Clementine a thorough bath and armed with a bale of rags clean up all the old winter grease. (In the warm months I clean as I go, but in winter my gloves tend to stick to the cold metal so I...

I had the strangest thing happen to me this morning while harvesting trees for firewood. I was dropping a sugar maple with a wicked lean, using the farmi winch to make sure it went the right way. As I made the first cut, there was a huge gush of water where in past experience only wood chips...

Wow, the delivery doesn't get any easier! Woke up this morning, caffeinated my bride, and walked outside to find two wobbly little lambs standing next to Guinness, our last (formerly) pregnant ewe! That was the easy part. The difficult part is that both lambs have imprinted on one teat. So one...

Marmalade was born today at 10:30am. Perfect timing, but a difficult delivery with the rear feet presenting first. Things went pretty well till the hips came out and mom stopped pushing. A couple of seconds later baby started kicking which made the poor ewe freak out! She ran around in circles...

My fuel shutoff valve upstream of the fuel filter doesn't work, so in order to change the filter without making a holy mess I need to clamp off the incoming fuel line. Question: Is that the one coming into the filter housing from the top? TIA, Pete

I should prefix this missive by stating categorically that we’re still married, the Wife and me. But it’s been tough, and we’re down to only four bottles of champagne. My latest tribulations began with the onset of mud season. Wife, while not a neat freak, prefers her arable land outside. With...

Sunday afternoon, while puttering in my shop, I noticed my bride running toward our livestock while chambering several rounds into her 12ga. The way she was waving that shotgun around I was sure my truck and tractor were in mortal peril, but she reached the end of the garage, dropped to one knee...

I'm replacing my 1.5HP contractors saw with a cabinet saw. I work exclusively with hardwood: black cherry, red oak, and rock maple up to 8/4. My little saw is hopelessly outclassed by maple that thick. But will 3 horses be enough? Should I go for 5 HP? Pete

For years I've used a 1.5hp Jet contractor's saw with an Exacta fence and Forrest WWII blade. Really happy with it for softwood, or for hardwoods of 3/4 inch or less. But most of my wood is rock maple of 6/4 - 8/4 thickness, and that little motor has a really hard time with it. So I'm thinking...

Got the sheetrock hung, the wiring completed, the power tools back, the lighting all set, and am beginning to build shelving and cabinets to hold all the stuff. The only problem so far is with my Delta 15" planer. I have to fire up the woodstove and let the planer warm up for several hours...

Wow; it's a work of art! Thanks for offering these, Muhammad! T-shirt weather is about another four months away, but I can hardly wait! Pete

The shop rebuild is just about done at last! Thanks to a heat wave (it hit 19 above zero today!) we were able to get the siding finished except for some small pieces that need to be shaped creatively so they fit under the eaves, in awkward corners, etc. The windows are in, the door is set, the...

I was working on the wiring in my revised shop night before last around 6pm when the dogs alerted on an intruder. The temp was minus 5 and the wind was howling at about 30mph. I poked my head outside to see what the dogs were upset about and found a young man leaning against the house with his...

Besides being too small, my woodshop has suffered over the years from assaults by red squirrels (since deceased) and a couple of minor collisions with Clementine during the new tractor owner learning curve. Thought the stone fireplace would have to be dismantled one stone at a time, but figured...

Snow plowing\'s not the problem! It's getting all that stuff off the roof! Spent several hours yesterday on my various rooftops with snow shovel in hand. We had about 2 feet of powder which had been compressed by a heat wave (in the low 30s) and some freezing rain into about ten inches of wet...

Nor\'easter This nor'easter was supposed to miss us here in northern Vermont. We were supposed to catch just the fringes and get 4-8" of snow. But there's two feet out there and it's still coming down! If this is the fringe of the storm, what are you folks in the middle of it getting for...

I needed an oil filter for my Kubota yesterday so I drove to my not so local Kubota dealer. My wife, since she knew the dealer was near some decent antique shops, came with me. We wasted most of the afternoon, and with both darkness and increasing snowfall coming our way, we drove home. By the...

Tapping the collective wisdom of TBN again. In the middle of winter, regular maintenance of the tractor or car and truck can be downright painful! I back it into the garage, don as many layers as is humanly possible, but with metal so cold my bare hands freeze to it there is a huge temptation...

We only got 18" of snow, but the winds were running 40-50MPH all night long and the drifts are incredible! The worse one was right in front of the garage -- a wall of snow that was higher than the garage doors! Poor Clementine was in the carport which gave her no shelter at all from the...

Went in for a checkup today, 40# less than the last time I saw the doc and 7" off my waistline. I feel great, have more stamina, and have only 10 more pounds to go before hitting my target weight. BUT my cholesterol has gone from 187 to 330+ He actually recommended the South Beach Diet as...

Just said goodbye to a GREAT bunch of folks after a thoroughly enjoyable evening. To Garry and Jenni, Ed and Holly, Dave, Al and Sue, and Derek and Laurie...thanks! Our old house hasn't seen that much excitement since the living room caught fire years ago! It was fun to chat around the bonfire...

View of the house from the west, along with garage and part of the meadow. Today's storm has blown virtually all the leaves off the trees, but the sheep are still enjoying good graze. Sure hope for decent weather on Friday when our TBN friends arrive! Pete

Took this yesterday on a pass over our land. View is down the valley (can't see my place).

Now have to contend with FIVE golden retrievers all vying for attention! As mentioned in the Visiting Vermont thread, we were trying to get the dogs away from a puppy mill in the southern part of the state. The dastardly owner took off with all his unspayed females to start over again somewhere...

A while back there was talk of some members visiting my part of Vermont. I offered my grill and thought it was all set. But then senility set in and I forgot who was coming, when they were coming, where they were staying (Smugglers' Notch?) and all the other critical stuff. If you're coming...

I need to put something in the bed of this new Dodge, but am getting conflicting advice. The drop-in type is cheaper and provides plenty of protection from dents, but folks complain that it abrades the paint, is slick, and water/rust collect underneath it. The spray-in type doubles the cost, but...

After lots of research and test driving of both compact and full-sized trucks, we narrowed it down to the S-10 and the Dodge Dakota. My wife was simply too intimidated by the big trucks and after reviewing our needs decided a compact would do. So we took the Chevy on a yet another test...

I need a small truck for hauling hay, composted sheep crap, and the occasional tractor implement (note the pertinence to TBN). It must be a 4x4. Not interested in a full-sized guzzler. Not impressed by the Frontier or the Ranger. Like the Dakota, but the dealer is a LOSER so Dodge is out. Was...

It\'s great to be back at work! After this past weekend, I am completely exhausted and delighted to be back at work where I can sit still for a while! Saturday night my wife and I slipped out to slaughter 50 chickens while they slept. Less stressful for the birds that way as they never know...

Got the footers in. Frostwalls being poured tomorrow and the slab next week. The original 50 year old frostwalls are coated with asphalt. I'll address the drainage issues, but also want to seal the new frost walls. It occurs to me there might have been a better substance than asphalt developed...

Where\'s Steve Carver??? Steve used to be a regular event on TBN, and I enjoyed his advice column. Haven't seen him or his ads for quite some time. Did he retire? Pete

I've got the Big Dig finished and managed to get it four feet deep EXCEPT near the driveway, where it matters most. There is a large section of granite ledge sticking so far up that the top of it will be just four inches below the level of the finished floor. It's big and solid and stable; it...

Well, I finished digging out all the sand that had washed into the drainage ditches alongside the road. Nice sand. No silty stuff. I figured the town could pay me in sand for all my work saving their road after the torrential rains we had Thursday, so there's a pile of sand the size of a minivan...

Tamara and I went to an auction Saturday in the little town of North Hyde Park, Vermont. She had been after a wood cookstove for several years, and this auction was selling two of them. One was huge, a gargantuan thing, but the other was a perfectly sized (for our house) Kalamazoo stove missing...

I took a few days off to install electric poultry mesh fencing and to make a portable sheep shelter. My wife insisted on helping, though generally she complains so much about being used as a clamp that I've purchased more than enough clamps over the years to hold pretty much anything I might...

Didn't get to the meadow in time to find/remove this year's crop of stones before the grass grew up to hide them. The poor LandPride FDR2572 mower found several of them and I couldn't believe the damage! The baffles are virtually gone, and one of the beefy blade spindles is cracked clear thru...

Our 165 year old home was wired in the 1950s with 70 amp service. After a fire we replaced the old coke bottle fuses with a modern circuit breaker box, but still have some concerns about the anemic power. My wife complains that the air cleaner and reading lights in the house vary in...

Okay, here's the problem. I have a 15x19' shop, a sizable portion of which is taken up by a stone fireplace with a woodstove insert so the place is useable in the winter months. So everything is on wheels, and some of the machinery must be physically removed and stored in the garage in order to...

I forgot who it was that suggested this mower, but THANKS! Having run over my old Husqvarna with the Kubota in the middle of growing/mowing season, I had to find a replacement fast. The new Toro is 10x the mower the old one was, and that Personal Pace variable speed thing is a dream on hills or...

Here's my version Pete

Signs of winter\'s end Here's a pic of my 55 Dodge parts truck. When the ice pillar behind it melts completely, spring will be here. Already it's eight feet shorter than it was a week ago! Only a foot and a half of snow left in the meadow! Yippeee! Pete

I was plowing out from under the latest snowstorm. Only got about six inches, but at 30 degrees it was by far the wettest, heaviest snow we've had in several years. The first two passes down the road went okay, but for the last pass I have to back down the hill with the blade angled all the way...

I've settled on a two-stage compressor rated at 175psi and able to deliver at least 14cfm at 90psi. But now that I'm in the shopping mode, what's the difference between a $1200 Quincy or Puma, a $1000 Ingersoll-Rand, and an $800 extreme duty Campbell-Hausfeld? The specs are really close between...

Why does the photo of Molson I use on CBN not fit here? I've shrunk it down and lowered the resolution so much it's not even recognizable as a dog and still the file is too big..? Pete

Split this off from the COLD! thread in Related Topics as there was some interest in my use of PEX to replumb my 160 year old house. Here's a shot of my homemade hot water manifold. I used individual runs of PEX to every fixture in the house, with each controlled by a ball valve. Pete

Now and then you meet someone so filled with wonder at the way you live that it just renews the joy you feel at living in the country. Yesterday it was moderately cold on our hill -- about 3 degrees but sunny and clear. Two thirty something women from NYC walked past the house having stumbled...

I've heard the 25gr 17 cal has a limited range and a LOT of stopping power where varmints are concerned. One local hunter swears it's the best coyote round available. Since we're getting more and more inquisitive coyotes checking out our sheep and chickens I thought it might be time for another...