oosik
Epic Contributor
Thirty eight years out here in the sticks - two tractors. A brand new Ford 1700 4WD for 27 years and now the new Kubota M6040 - brand new in 2009. Both came with the rear tires loaded. The Ford had CaCl - it became a real, REAL PITA. That salt solution ate valve cores like a kid in a candy store. I don't think that Rim Guard was even around when I got the Ford in 1982. The Kubota came with 1550# of Rim Guard loaded in the rear tires.
I've never experienced a tractor with unloaded rear tires. I know - for my use - it would not only be very limiting but dangerous. I used the bucket on the Ford and now the grapple on the Kubota to lift & move very heavy objects. LARGE rocks and sections of my ancient Ponderosa pine.
The Rim Guard in the Kubota rear tires plus the 1100# Rhino rear blade - thankfully - keep me pretty well grounded.
Just yesterday morning I finally got around to felling a pine that died due to Pine Bark beetle. I don't know how many have seen a tree in this condition. It is dead - all needles are tan - the entire tree, top to bottom, looks like its been shot with a shot gun loaded with double 00 buckshot. The bark, that still remains, looks rusty in color and half has been blasted off by shots from the shotgun. The tree - top to bottom - is perforated by hundreds of holes - 1/8" to 1/4" in diameter. Where the beetle larva have emerged. Not a pretty sight.
I took the tree and all limbs to my landfill and burned the entire tree. I will lose as many as four trees per year to Pine Bark beetle. Thankfully, it doesn't happen every year. This is the first tree lost in the last six years.
Whatever - the weight of the Rim Guard and rear blade kept me well grounded as I lifted and transported this tree.
I've never experienced a tractor with unloaded rear tires. I know - for my use - it would not only be very limiting but dangerous. I used the bucket on the Ford and now the grapple on the Kubota to lift & move very heavy objects. LARGE rocks and sections of my ancient Ponderosa pine.
The Rim Guard in the Kubota rear tires plus the 1100# Rhino rear blade - thankfully - keep me pretty well grounded.
Just yesterday morning I finally got around to felling a pine that died due to Pine Bark beetle. I don't know how many have seen a tree in this condition. It is dead - all needles are tan - the entire tree, top to bottom, looks like its been shot with a shot gun loaded with double 00 buckshot. The bark, that still remains, looks rusty in color and half has been blasted off by shots from the shotgun. The tree - top to bottom - is perforated by hundreds of holes - 1/8" to 1/4" in diameter. Where the beetle larva have emerged. Not a pretty sight.
I took the tree and all limbs to my landfill and burned the entire tree. I will lose as many as four trees per year to Pine Bark beetle. Thankfully, it doesn't happen every year. This is the first tree lost in the last six years.
Whatever - the weight of the Rim Guard and rear blade kept me well grounded as I lifted and transported this tree.
