4 letter and 3 letter description of a Massey GC1700 series.

[AxleHub]

Greetings. Had a little fun today with the GC1715.

1st to describe to the wife I use:
A. I did some "work" today with the tractor.

B. I used our new "tool" to accomplish it.

2nd to describe to select friends who will never admit it to the wife:

A. Using the tractor isn't work . . Its "fun"

B. He likes to "play" with that tool of his.

3rd And my favorite is 5 letters:
A. With the new GC tractor he does some work using his new tool but he looks like its fun even though it isn't play but there is alot to "learn" .

When I was learning how to drive skid steers both " track and wheel" I fully understood everything and anything I hit was going to damage my wallet because it was my building project. So in all cases to start, I'd do something that was beneficial but breakable. Sound dumb? Nope. Because if it didn't break it showed I was getting good enough to do expensive things. But if it wasn't breakable . . then there was no way to judge learning.

So today with my new front forks attached . . I spent some time taking old pallwts out of my truck (in a stack) and distributing them around the property to where I woukd use them tomorrow.

So where is the learning? Well I figured anyone can scoop them off the flat ground 1 at a time. But scooping them off a raised location . . at an angle . . . In a stack of 6 all at one time . . Off mt beloved pickup . . not so very easy.

And then go to an incline location and drop all to pick up 5 . . to move to the next incline location to drop all and pick up etc. . makes for very sensitive repetitive chancws to knock them over or break some etc.. Note none placed an a flat surface and all pallets were the very narrow height style so no slopping fork positioning would work.

Net result was "fun work" that felt like "play" but allowed me to use the new "tool" to accomplish something, damage almost nothing and "learn" a bunch

 

[Wagtail]

So today with my new front forks attached . . I spent some time taking old pallets out of my truck (in a stack) and distributing them around the property to where I would use them tomorrow.

Are you going to then stack them in an inverted 'V' formation? Randomly?!? And to what purpose?

We NEED to know this!

[Sincerely, the "Pallets In Field" Community]

 

[AxleHub]

Are you going to then stack them in an inverted 'V' formation? Randomly?!? And to what purpose?

We NEED to know this!

[Sincerely, the "Pallets In Field" Community]

Greetings Wagtail,

I knew it . . I should write a motivational book . . look I already have groupies.

Point is . . Learning comes from how it gets done. Lombardi was known by a quote . . "Football is a game of inches" . . . But the actual quote was "Football like Life is a game of inches . . Win the inches and you'll gain the yards and fields"

I learn by inches And "pallets in the field community", the pallets will be stacked high with landscape block and bricks by tomorrow's end Thanks for asking.

 

[Wagtail]

:laughing:

 

[AxleHub]

Someone is shy Lol. Lol

I was sent a pm from someone who read this thread and is a new user also. He wondered why the activity of moving empty pallets would be a good learning activity? Why was it important?

Well here is why: I delibertly made it difficult.

1. I used the very shallow pallets . . Not much more clearance than the fork bar heights . . so getting the forks flat is sensitive.

2. I moved them in stack formation so fork insertion was careful and not just "ramming the forks in and out" was not possible.

3. I did it on different inclines . . Side to side as well as back and forth. Tight fits and side to side inclines leaves no room extra.

4. Very precise placement requirements of the pallets.

5. Maybe the work acvomplished was slower than normal . . but imperitive that it did accomplish useful work.

The whole idea of learning is to learn sensitivity when tractors are not considered sensitive. These type of pallets are flimsy . . force or do something wrong and you can quickly see pallet damage. And the goal . . . buckets are easy but forks are hard because you have so much forward leverage and the slightest tilt at fulcrum is inch/inches at fork front in that 3+ foot extension.

Make the training hard . . make failure obvious . . but make damage not expensive. Inching movements and varied heights and inclines means if you can do it in minor work . . you can be used to doing delicate work with expensive items. In other words . . Respect the efgort but take the fear out if it.

My flaw to work on is still telling when the bucket or forks are actually perfectly level (perfectly parallel) to ground.

When I learn . . I don't need to know everything . . but what I do needs to be better than "acceptable" or "good" . . it needs to be very sensitive to distances (up close uses) and needs to be highly consistent.

How do others work on improving their tractor skills and techniques other than just using the tractor ? In case you didn't know . . everyone who reads doesn't post.

 

[Wagtail]

It's true in all things; practice makes perfect(ish).

For example, I volunteered me & my 4105 to help bring in last years hay from the people I buy from... no 'charge' (except for diesel) because it was 'tractor fun' and I wanted the experience. For the most part I was fetching the rounds & then loading them onto the flatbed lorry. By the end of a week I was whipping my tractor/FEL around like a pro!

Another time I was using my 4in1 bucket to shift dirt from a neighbour's pile (cleared for a shed pad). It was a pile higher than my tractor, but a thread here on TBN described how to go about it. Slow & steady, with lots of half buckets to begin with, before I'd mastered the skill.

We've all got to start sometime. Heck, we all had to learn how to hit a nail with a hammer at some point of our lives, eh?

 

[AxleHub]

It's true in all things; practice makes perfect(ish).

For example, I volunteered me & my 4105 to help bring in last years hay from the people I buy from... no 'charge' (except for diesel) because it was 'tractor fun' and I wanted the experience. For the most part I was fetching the rounds & then loading them onto the flatbed lorry. By the end of a week I was whipping my tractor/FEL around like a pro!

Another time I was using my 4in1 bucket to shift dirt from a neighbour's pile (cleared for a shed pad). It was a pile higher than my tractor, but a thread here on TBN described how to go about it. Slow & steady, with lots of half buckets to begin with, before I'd mastered the skill.

We've all got to start sometime. Heck, we all had to learn how to hit a nail with a hammer at some point of our lives, eh?

But preferably not hit our fingers lol.

A few weeks ago I offered to hrlp a neighbor widow who was a city residence. She had a guant tree cut down and cut into 2 foot log lengths. Her son wanted to take the wood for his fireplace and I offeted touse my tractor to help load hs trailer and move much if the wood to thw driveway where the trailer was.

Well it was another learning experience because the path to the backyard was between the garage and the house at an odf angle with flowers on both sides. And the backyard required lots of y turns due to small area and big wood. I had less than 5 foot clearance and couldn't go straight thru.

About 17 trips with 500 or more pounds in each bucket with 2 to 4 big diameter logs per bucket. Didn't hit a building or crush a flower but yikes it was "tight anf tense".

Fortunately the gc1715 can operate at less than fast rpm so I could creep thru on the way in and out of the tight spots.

 

[fxdb96]

Axlehub.. U ever see or think of making a bucket level indicator?

Someone is shy Lol. Lol

I was sent a pm from someone who read this thread and is a new user also. He wondered why the activity of moving empty pallets would be a good learning activity? Why was it important?

Well here is why: I delibertly made it difficult.

1. I used the very shallow pallets . . Not much more clearance than the fork bar heights . . so getting the forks flat is sensitive.

2. I moved them in stack formation so fork insertion was careful and not just "ramming the forks in and out" was not possible.

3. I did it on different inclines . . Side to side as well as back and forth. Tight fits and side to side inclines leaves no room extra.

4. Very precise placement requirements of the pallets.

5. Maybe the work acvomplished was slower than normal . . but imperitive that it did accomplish useful work.

The whole idea of learning is to learn sensitivity when tractors are not considered sensitive. These type of pallets are flimsy . . force or do something wrong and you can quickly see pallet damage. And the goal . . . buckets are easy but forks are hard because you have so much forward leverage and the slightest tilt at fulcrum is inch/inches at fork front in that 3+ foot extension.

Make the training hard . . make failure obvious . . but make damage not expensive. Inching movements and varied heights and inclines means if you can do it in minor work . . you can be used to doing delicate work with expensive items. In other words . . Respect the efgort but take the fear out if it.

My flaw to work on is still telling when the bucket or forks are actually perfectly level (perfectly parallel) to ground.

When I learn . . I don't need to know everything . . but what I do needs to be better than "acceptable" or "good" . . it needs to be very sensitive to distances (up close uses) and needs to be highly consistent.

How do others work on improving their tractor skills and techniques other than just using the tractor ? In case you didn't know . . everyone who reads doesn't post.

 

[4570Man]

Axlehub.. U ever see or think of making a bucket level indicator?

A bucket level indictor is pretty much worthless. If it showed level on the ground it would have been curled upwards at pickup bed heights. If it showed level at the top of the stack it would have been at a downward curl at the bottom of the stack.

 

[fxdb96]

You know ive never thought of that.... Ive only ever used it to getting level on the ground to scrape something.. That could be a thread by itself...

A bucket level indictor is pretty much worthless. If it showed level on the ground it would have been curled upwards at pickup bed heights. If it showed level at the top of the stack it would have been at a downward curl at the bottom of the stack.