A foolish mistake

[easygo]

Today as I was moving the snowbanks farther out to make room for more snow I did what I thought my tractor could not do. I lowered the front edge of the FEL close to the ground as I pushed the snow farther and to my horror and astonishment I ended up with a bunch of dirt and grass in the loader. I guess the cutting edge was a little too close to the ground. First of all, the dirt has been frozen solid here for several weeks and I have turf tires on the B7510. I never in my worst (wildest) dream thought that this little tractor would have the traction on snow to tear up the frozen ground. I am impressed with the tractor and also could kick myself for being such a fool. I'm always careful not to cause damage and now I will have this reminder waiting for me in the spring, when I find out the extent of my foolish mistake.
easygo
ps. it is fun to get a bunch of seat time though

 

[Taiser]

If that is your worst mistake you are lucky.

You're not the only one either. After the first snowfall my tractor made snowbanks are half dirt! Getting the loader at just the right angle is tricky. Too sharp and you dig the dirt, too high and you leave a few inches behind. I try to backblade as much as I can, resolves most of those problems.

 

[Tig]

I did a bit of that last year and I propbably will again this year. My wife likes to say to people "could you guess that we have a tractor?"

 

[smfcpacfp]

That was far from a foolish mistake.

 

[easygo]

I do use a 72" rear blade most of the time, but the snow banks are growing very large and I had to go at it with the FEL. In fact I always try to leave a few inches of snow and just drag the blade over the area when I'm done with the loader work. I guess I didn't do anything that can't be fixed, but I like to be very careful and this is one of those things I could have avoided.

Tig: It seems as tho wifes like to make fun of guys and their tractors. It is the same with me. My wife never fails to poke at me with a fun remarks.

 

[MikeD74T]

easygo, On another thread last night someone mentioned cutting a full length slot in a 3" pipe to cover the buckets cutting edge to prevent digging. I'm going to try it with 1 1/2" pipe on my toothbar. MikeD74T

 

[hangnail]

I trash my driveway, which is stone and has a slight grade. I also ruin the edges and the grass along the edge. I do some of it on on purpose so that the wife will see the mess, and i can get a real driveway soon, but mostly in my case it is almost unavoidable. and thats with a bx1500 that my neighbor owns, and I borrow when i get the chance.

 

[dangerdoc]

to my horror and astonishment I ended up with a bunch of dirt and grass in the loader.

I pulled up my water line.

Okay, I knew I was close but if I dug a little closer it would save me an hour with the shovel, then dooooooh!

My brother did the same thing with his power line, double dooooooh!

Did I forget to mention the time I almost ran into the house with the FEL?

A little yard in the snow is a whoops. Cover it with snow so the wife doesn't see and life is good.

 

[WayneB]

I would think anyone of us that has a FEL had a certain spot in the yard where we have dug into it.

Talk about mistakes, today I was blowing snow and backed into a towing chain. Things came to a sudden stop and the chain was caught under two of the blower fins going to the chute. (I had the chain in the bucket earlier and without thinking had emptied the bucket and went on to do clearing of the driveway and parking spaces).

Took me nearly an hour to get the chain free from the blower and as luck would have it the shear bolt did it's job and nothing else was damaged, just the pride.

 

[btolle]

Did I forget to mention the time I almost ran into the house with the FEL?

I DIDN'T almost run into the house with the toothbar. Oops!

 

[Toolguy]

It's grass. It will grow back. Probably what happened was the snow on the ground allowed the frost to come out and the loader had no problem with that soft dirt and sod. I had that problem with mine too until I put a real bucket level indicator on the loader. As an example, I can now push leaves and sticks into a pile on the lawn without taking any of the lawn with it. The bent peice of metal on the top of the bucket that is the factory "Level Indicator" is just too hard to use with any degree of accuracy. Here is a few pics of the bucket level indicator I made. I copied the basic idea from one I saw on a Woods loader. It is made from a piece of 3/8" plated rod. I have a heim joint at the bottom but, a 90* bend at the end of the rod with a hole for a cotter key would work just as well. At the top is a 5/16" "eye" I bought. I just wrapped black electrical tape on both sides of the gap that indicates where the bucket is level. The marks that are in a half-circle are from where the drill bit walked before I center punched the hole for the eye. Oop! It is simple to make and is no doubt the best mod I have ever done to improve the usefulness of the loader. With a little practice you can use the indicator to adjust the bucket to do exactly what you want it to do. Good luck.

 

[escavader]

I intentionally dig up the lawn with the plow truck and front end loader.How do you think i convinced the wife to let me buy materials for a cab ,and let me buy a snowblower for my KUBOTA?Cut down a few of her favorite lillacs with the FEL too.Play the game boys play the game
ALAN

 

[FullBucket]

Thanks for sharing a great idea Toolguy! Hope to use it myself.

 

[easygo]

Toolguy,

you are probably right about the snow insulating the ground and the frost came out. I was told the same thing by a friend. I didn't know that would happen. Live and learn...

You guys give me all these funny ideas about ripping and tearing up stuff.
I will certainly not tell my wife where I have been hangin' out.
easygo

 

[dangerdoc]

Toolguy,


You guys give me all these funny ideas about ripping and tearing up stuff.
I will certainly not tell my wife where I have been hangin' out.
easygo

The beautiful thing about staying married to a woman for along time is that they become much more forgiving of your screwups. Of course during that same time, you've learned to repair your screwups.

 

[Alan L.]

I did the same thing moving my sand pile. I got some very expensive white Florida sand for my white brick mortar and had quite a bit left, in the front yard. Beautiful stuff. However my new pile behind the house has some turf and dirt in it now. Too flat and you miss some sand, too angled and you gouge the ground.

 

[MikeD74T]

Funny how something like a FEL can erase all memory of what one might use a shovel for ??? MikeD74T

 

[Timber]

Wait till you dump a bucket of snow and have a piece of you driveway on top of the pile

 

[RonR]

I've had to shovel dig in dirt piles looking for the chain I forgot about in the bucket............................

ron