3520 arrived...first impressions.

tuolumne · Mar 3, 2008

JDPN said:
Great looking setup. Can you explain the wood gasification system you have?

You will find a host of information at hearth.com in the "boiler room." I plan to continue posting progress information there. My system is an EKO-40 gasification boiler, which has an upper primary combustion chamber, and a secondary lower combustion chamber. A nozzle injects the wood offgas into this lower chamber where it is reburned at 2400 degrees F. These units are quite efficient and produce little exhaust when going all out. For that reason, I am using a large water buffer to store the heat. I have two 500 gallon propane tanks that will be part of the system water to store the extra energy from a burn. Our house has around 65,000 btu/hr heat loss at 15 below zero. In theory, really cold days will require several boiler firings, normal winter days (20's) require a single hard burn, spring/fall require a burn every day or every few days, and in the summer I will burn once every 7-10 days to heat the domestic hot water. The years will show how well all these calculations play out. We are very excited to have no fossil fuel in the new home...except the tractor of course

tuolumne · Mar 3, 2008

I thought a photo could better demonstrate the turning radius of the 3000 series. There was a bit of fresh snow on the ground this morning so I did a quick turn.

Here is a picture of the grapple at work. It still never ceases to amaze me what a machine can do....to just grab a bunch of logs that I counldn't even budge with a pole.

I don't think I've posted any photos of the snowplow. A loader plow is very useful for pushing piles back, allowing a high reach to knock the top off first.

For those wondering about rear blades versus snow plows, this photo illustrates one difference. The right side was done going up the driveway with the rear blade, and the left was done coming back down with the snow plow. You can see that the blade digs down a bit more.

rkylane · Mar 4, 2008

Where did you get your tire chains ? I also have a 3520 but was wondering about clearance with chains on the rear tires. They look pretty tight between the R4s & the fender.

tuolumne · Mar 5, 2008

rkylane said:
Where did you get your tire chains ? I also have a 3520 but was wondering about clearance with chains on the rear tires. They look pretty tight between the R4s & the fender.

I bought them through my dealer in VT....I believe they are the ones distributed by icechains.com. I have the larger R4 tires, and clearance is OK. The smaller tires would have a lot of room. I need to zip tie the loose ends back to keep them from flailing the fenders, but you would need to do that anyway. There is about 3" between the fender and the ice studs, just enough to get my arm in when putting them on. I've only used these in snow...I wonder what will happen when I use these in mud? Clumps may bump....I don't know yet. They are suprisingly smooth for road travel with all the contact area. In top gear I'll get a bit of a "buzz" but no jolting like other chains I've used. Still, the 1/2 mile or so I've gone to help a neighbor is as far as I would want to go.

ddaacc · Mar 6, 2008

Tuolumne,
I am really enjoying your pictures. The new place looks great, doing it yourself too.
I am enjoying my year old 3320, have the same fork lift, a Patu dc-40 (Finnish) chipper, MX-5, belly mower and 300 cx with the HD bucket & JD tooth bar. The CX loader is amazing, really the whole machine has been just great.Do get a tooth bar for the dirt work if you have not already. I have the R3's, fluid loaded, and the rear weight box filled with concrete. I got the double link chains from that online place, but yours do look smoother on the road, and maybe no side slip. Do you have front chains? This year, though, you northerners have had all the snow and I have not even have to put them on. Agreed loading the tires is a must. I now wish I got the turbo, but only when using the chipper or MX cutter. That said, it really does very well with those attachmments too. I got all the hydraulics for the hoe, but it was too pricy at the time. Having rented a 10000 lb class IHI before, and that was amazing, I wasn't too sure the 48 would just be a toy. Is it worth the dollars?

I was interested you were an SE in Hartford, I am an SE in New haven. Perhaps we met not wearing the "green". What are you doing up there in God's country now?
Keep the pics and stories coming- great fun to read up on a winter night.

Dave

mjncad · Mar 7, 2008

"Originally Posted by tuolumne
One thing that has been annoying is the operator presence switch. I often stand to align an implement or see the bucket better and the silly thing cuts out the machine. This seems less safe to lose power at a critical moment. Has anyone disabled theirs?"

I was a bad boy an disconnected the lawyer switch...err...occupant sensor switch and placed a jumper across the wires using two 1/4" male quick connects and a piece of 18 Gauge wire. Now the engine doesn't cut out with the PTO active if I stand up to get a better view; because as far as the tractor is concerned, someone is always sitting in it now. What I did with the jumper is similar to what I did to my L130 lawn tractor's lawyer switch. See my lawn tractor gallery accessible via the link in my signature for more information. I may put a switch in that allows me to use the lawyer switch when mowing, and disable it when I need to have the PTO running while I tweak my sprayer's settings.

tuolumne · Mar 8, 2008

Dave, I was with Macchi for 6 years. We moved to VT to support a small offspring of our church. When the house building slows down I am opening up shop for SE in VT, but things are very slow in our area. I have a VT license now, but will probably find most of my work in CT still. The last job I did in New Haven was Pfizers clinical research center. I don't miss CT traffic! The 448 is not a toy at all. I spent a lot of time on full size TLBs as a kid, and large excavators as well. This is a powerful little hoe, and doesn't make too much of a mess with an 18" bucket. I trenched nearly 450' of 48" deep utility trench in a short day. It works out to about a foot per minute in typcial new england till. Lomac in East Windsor had a used 448 last time I looked...it might be gone now, as that is a rare find.

Nuru · Mar 9, 2008

tuolumne said:
I thought a photo could better demonstrate the turning radius of the 3000 series. There was a bit of fresh snow on the ground this morning so I did a quick turn.
View attachment 97177
Here is a picture of the grapple at work. It still never ceases to amaze me what a machine can do....to just grab a bunch of logs that I counldn't even budge with a pole.
View attachment 97178
I don't think I've posted any photos of the snowplow. A loader plow is very useful for pushing piles back, allowing a high reach to knock the top off first.
View attachment 97179
For those wondering about rear blades versus snow plows, this photo illustrates one difference. The right side was done going up the driveway with the rear blade, and the left was done coming back down with the snow plow. You can see that the blade digs down a bit more.
View attachment 97180

Yeah i got the same set-up on the front as you do, i am still learning how to position it correctly so that it does not gouge my road.

tuolumne · Apr 18, 2008

I've been putting the pallet forks to work again as I moved my woodworking equipment into the new house as well as some lumber. Here is the kitchen/dining floor.

Here is are the kitchen cabinets

Use your imagination, I've a bit of work to do yet.

I am sure glad for the tractor in those more frustrating moments of getting stuck. I've pulled plenty of people out of our driveway from a semi with a 53' box (empty) to boom trucks to compact cars, but this is the first time I had to pull myself out! I got off the edge of the driveway when backing down with the trailer, and well, it's springtime in Vermont.

I just put the van in neutral and ran back and forth to adjust the steering every few feet. I have guessed at the loader capacity a few times, but unloading some sheetrock a few days ago made for an easy calculation. I took 34 sheets of 1/2" 4x8 off a flatbed which was atop some 12's and 14's. I got it up a few inches but no more. That's 1870 lbs plus the weight of the forks to a bit over 6'. Does anyone know how much the forks weight...42" fixed? I would guess around 3-400 lbs. I had the rear blade turned around which puts it out about 4' and loaded tires, but the rear end was as light as I've felt it on this machine. I'm sure the backhoe, weightbox or chipper would have kept things firmer. I went straight back, but any slight turn of the wheel and the opposite side would start to lift...plus one for the creeper gears. Once the load was down near the ground things were more stable. Why? It would seem that the lever arm is a bit greater when the load is low. Anyway, that was the last load of drywall and I'm getting close to wrapping that up. They wouldn't bring it on a boom truck, only a 4x4 flatbed...yup, it's springtime in Vermont.