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I have a FEL bucket with a straight edge, and I use it to clear snow (my driveway has a big cul-de-sac with walls and I have to carry snow out through a narrow neck). But when I finally got it paved with asphalt a few years ago, I worried about the steel edge damaging it, so I bought a bolt-on...

In another forum people were talking about people who work on roofs professionally as if they all wear roped harnesses and helmets and keep a minimum of 3 body parts in contact with the roof at all times. But I don't think I have EVER seen that. The roofers and repair people that I've watched on...

I have a wooden equipment ramp on my barn to make up a couple feet between the elevated floor level and outdoor ground level. It used to land in dirt and sink into it, but I paved and so now it lands on asphalt and sticks up. I trimmed the bottom of the ramp, tapering the support timbers as far...

For general purpose use, which I think includes moving large objects (maybe with snatch blocks in the mix) and pulling trees over, I like braided polyester arborist's rope. It has the right mix of properties, in the rope world of compromises. What kind of (non wire) rope do you use? While on...

We have been toying with the idea of getting a travel trailer. If we did, the best place to store it would be in our back woods, which are fenced in. There's driveway and gate and space between trees sufficient to drive multiple cars back there and turn them around. But I doubt I could get a...

The world seems to default to WD40 for all spray lubricant applications. But I don't think it was even supposed to be a lubricant, it was supposed to displace water (I read that they were trying Water Displacer formulas and the 40th trial worked really well, hence WD40). I'm going back to LPS1...

My old County Line auger's drive shaft is missing the safety cover, and I'm not so sure about the bearings as it went many years without greasing. If I wanted to replace it, what information would I need? I'm guessing the tractor end of it is pretty standard, at least for Cat 1, right? The...

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...

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...

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...

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’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...

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"...

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 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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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!

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...

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...

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...

I often only want to spread 50 to 100 lbs of salt, and the most I've ever spread was 200 lbs. My driveway is 250' long and not very wide. The 3 pt spreaders I've seen look like they'd actually be a little difficult for doing this, as they're designed for several times more salt and look like...

Which brands have more metal, and which brands have more plastic? This question is inspired by the "What Did I Purchase?" thread. I like metal. Many of the plastic parts in tractors, especially newer ones, I'm picturing just a few years down the road, cracked and broken. It's one of the several...

Been meaning to post a build thread about the bay I sectioned off out in the barn to keep my tractor in. It's totally enclosed, paved floor, and lots of LED lights. I have an overhead chain hoist on an I-beam trolley, a fuel caddy, a concrete-filled ballast box, a few attachments hanging in...

Seems like it'd be easier to put chains on tires if they were separate segments, and each one anchored to points on the rim. You'd only have to adjust one at a time, not try to shift everything around on the tire with part of it pinned down. Are there any like this?

Thinking about tractors and balancing, and the way front axles are usually pivoted to let the wheels follow the ground so the tractor itself is really on 3 points for the purpose of balance and tipping. And it occurred to me to wonder how are telehandlers suspended? I've only seen photos, and...

Getting things on order for winter and specifying steel hex bolts for attaching my urethane bucket edge. Last year I bought fine thread stainless -- big mistake -- they went together fine and lasted the winter easily, but one seized up during removal and created a couple hours hard labor for me...

I was thinking of getting one of those plunger cans, to make it more convenient and spill proof to get some solvent on a rag or paper towel. But what degreaser to use? I find myself using toluene pretty often, or Goof-Off (which I think has a lot of toluene in it). But I'll sometimes use 91%...

Browsing the product line sold at my friendly nearby dealer, I notice that different models are in subgroups of about three that are exactly the same in every specification except horsepower. For example there are 92, 100 and 112 horsepower versions, whose weights and dimensions and engine...

I just removed the urethane lip on my bucket edge, which was held on by 5 half inch stainless bolts. One of these went from spinning freely to absolutely welded together as I unthreaded the nut, and had to be cut. How do I prevent this? They were fine thread nuts and bolts, which I now read is...

What does it mean that skid mount attachments are sometimes advertised as "to fit John Deere" or "to fit Kubota" or other brands? I'm hoping skid mount is skid mount, and I can buy any skid mount attachment and expect it to fit (New Holland in my case, but it shouldn't matter). Sometimes...

Hi all, I hope this isn't too much of a tangent from tractors, but -- I just ordered a $180 Wen bandsaw for my shop and want to get some blades, and wondered what you would recommend. My usage is a light variety of work with aluminum, steel, plastic, and wood. Typically I'd be cutting out small...

Just did my 50 hour first maintenance on a new tractor (New Holland WM25 with manual gearbox). This tractor has a common sump for the transmission oil and the hydraulic fluid, so it's just one fluid. Maintenance schedule calls for the suction filter on the transmission/hydraulic oil to be...

I bought Aquiline MPC chains to help with snow removal especially considering I get ice buildup on my driveway. This was with a gravel driveway. But then I got the unexpected opportunity to pave the driveway in asphalt, so I now have beautiful 6 month old asphalt. I think I would probably have...

When I first insert the key and turn it to on, there's an immediate rapid ticking sound coming from near the fuel filter. I'm guessing that's a fuel pump? And the glow plugs start heating in preparation for starting. But is it OK to leave the tractor in this state for a few minutes, so I can...

Enough with the lifting and pouring 2 gallon cans through a big funnel. I need something easier on my back. I have a 7.4 gallon tank whose fill port is chest high, above the 3 pt. I think a hand-crank pump on a small tank would be perfectly convenient and reasonable, except for one question...

I just got to wondering -- are there any three point hitches that can be driven downward, as opposed to just allowed to fall? Using my ripper and my auger, I often wish I could force them down. In the case of the auger I'll hang weight on the boom sometimes. Positive downward force would be a...

I'm looking for some kind of guides for the bottom of a smallish loader bucket blade to keep it from digging into the gravel of my driveway when removing snow. I haven't tried the new loader yet for this -- it hasn't snowed yet. Any suggested sources? or other suggestions? Thank you!

There's a gas station with diesel 1.6 miles from the house and it's a beautiful clear day, great visibility, not a busy traffic time. So I decided to give roading a try. It felt very unnerving and I would up turning around just up the road. The biggest surprise was that I can't go up a hill in...

I think I need chains this winter for safety's sake, but I'm almost afraid to ask. Just spent hours looking at threads here on the subject and it seems very complicated and potentially expensive. The only goal is to handle ice and hard packed snow while clearing my driveway, part of which is...

Just installed a fiberglass canopy on my NH tractor. It went well and I'm happy -- but still there are some directions I wish were included, which I'm posting here in case they're useful to somebody else. The dealer who sold me my tractor 4 months ago just sold me this canopy for it. It's made...

I just bought a canopy yesterday afternoon, from the dealer who sold me my NH tractor 3 months ago. It's sturdy and nice, but not NH brand. It's supposed to bolt onto the ROPS with U bolts. But I'm looking at mounting it, and it obviously can't fit the ROPS because on one side there is a bracket...

I have a pole barn with roof trusses and want to attach an I beam up to the bottoms of the trusses to run my hoist and trolley across the trusses (that is, I beam perpendicular to trusses and parallel with roof ridge). The purpose is to make it easy to lift and move 3 point and skidder mount...

I bought an adapter plate that mounts on the skidder FEL and accepts 3 point implements. For instance, I could put my 3 pt landscape rake on the FEL and rake in front of me while backing up. Trouble is, even though the specifications say it is for Cat 1, the holes are sized for Cat 2. They are...

I bought a perfectly nice little 1 ton chain hoist from HF for only $59 and am very pleased with it. The plan is to use it in the barn to help changing implements. I used it on a 340 lb weight yesterday and could hardly believe how easy and precise it was. But the hand chain is quite long. It...

I'm thinking of getting one. Main goal is staying dry while moving snow around during the storm. But I also have a very bad neck and want multiple mirrors, and I imagine a FOPS would give a nice variety of good mounting points. There is a FOPS available from my tractor maker (NH) that is...

My new tractor has an electric clutch for the PTO. This seems a little weird to me, for running an auger (which is the only attachment I have that is driven). I wouldn't have chosen this feature, though the whole machine is nice. On the old machine, you hit the clutch pedal to stop the auger...

There are a number of references around, including threads here, that explain that breakout force or rollback force is the maximum force a loader can exert at the lip of the bucket by curling with it against the ground, as opposed to the smaller lifting force exerted by the loader arms with the...

In looking around for a ballast box I'm discovering at least 2 mysterious difficulties: 1) Ballast boxes that are "for" a particular brand of tractor. What's the difference between third party boxes for John Deere and boxes for Kubota, when your tractor isn't either of these? They make it sound...

Here are a few features on my new tractor that I haven't found in the manual. I'm not sure what they're for, or else have other questions. Can anybody help? It's a New Holland Workmaster 25, manual transmission with loader. I'm posting a picture of each item. 1) Small bracket welded onto the...

I was just looking yesterday at how to reach the oil fill on my new tractor, which has a loader (I've never had one with a loader before). It is quite a reach to get in there, as the loader arm is in the way and the side of the raised hood is fairly low too. How do you get in there? Maybe I can...

I just got this tractor and overall I love it, wonderful machine. But I don't like how much exhaust I'm breathing, as it has a low front exhaust. I'm thinking of modifying it to a vertical stack. I've looked around for a kit for this particular tractor or for examples of other people's mods...

How do you manage attachments when they're not on the tractor? Especially, how do you move them around and get them in a convenient position to connect them? I have an auger that is way too heavy to move by myself. I have a cable suspending it from my barn roof trusses, and I only have to back...