OP
MChalkley
Elite Member
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2000
- Messages
- 3,198
- Location
- Eastern Virginia
- Tractor
- EarthForce EF-5 mini-TLB (2001)
Re: Lights
GlueGuy - Well, all of the enhancements I've made to the EF-5's lights have been to keep some fool idiot from ramming me when I'm working on or around the highway. That's the major concern I have, because I do a lot of that.
The EF-5 came with one pair of 55w worklights on the front of the canopy, plus a pair of 65w H4 "road lights" (headlights) about 2 feet lower, but still quite a bit higher and more useful than the ones on my L4310 were, since the loader implement doesn't block them, and they're a lot brighter, of course. The EF-5 also came with 4 55w worklights facing rearward. So, obviously, I didn't need to add any white lights... (In fact, I remember a friend of mine who went to Folcomer's in Baltimore to see the EarthForce machines for the first time saying "Well, you're not going to have to put any worklights on it - it's already got one more than your Kubota has.")
When I had the Kubota, I found the lighting woefully inadequate for working in low light conditions, with the headlight problems mentioned above and none at all on the rear. So, I put 2 55w trapezoidal-beam worklights on the front of the canopy and 2 traps and 1 flood on the back.
You were probably wondering if I was ever going to get around to answering your question, weren't you? /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif Well, with the Kubota, after I put the lights on it, I found that I did a lot of stuff at night. In the summer, it was cooler to do it then. Plus, with my weird hours sometimes, it was just a lot more convenient. Sometimes, too, I just need a little "tractor time" to get my head back on straight (relatively speaking, of course - it's never on but so straight /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif) and if the only time you can get is at night, so be it. So it's a relief to have them, sometimes, from that standpoint. Then there's other situations, too: For example, a couple winters ago, I was working on a big project that was about 4 hours from home, and a big snowstorm was coming up. I worked until about 11 o'clock that night to finish up so I could be home by the time the snow got bad - I don't like pulling a trailer that outweighs my truck by 2-3 times in the snow.
So, yes, I use the lights quite a bit, but I think I benefit almost as much from knowing they're there if I needed them. Sort of a grown-up tractor-addict version of a security blanket. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif
GlueGuy - Well, all of the enhancements I've made to the EF-5's lights have been to keep some fool idiot from ramming me when I'm working on or around the highway. That's the major concern I have, because I do a lot of that.
The EF-5 came with one pair of 55w worklights on the front of the canopy, plus a pair of 65w H4 "road lights" (headlights) about 2 feet lower, but still quite a bit higher and more useful than the ones on my L4310 were, since the loader implement doesn't block them, and they're a lot brighter, of course. The EF-5 also came with 4 55w worklights facing rearward. So, obviously, I didn't need to add any white lights... (In fact, I remember a friend of mine who went to Folcomer's in Baltimore to see the EarthForce machines for the first time saying "Well, you're not going to have to put any worklights on it - it's already got one more than your Kubota has.")
When I had the Kubota, I found the lighting woefully inadequate for working in low light conditions, with the headlight problems mentioned above and none at all on the rear. So, I put 2 55w trapezoidal-beam worklights on the front of the canopy and 2 traps and 1 flood on the back.
You were probably wondering if I was ever going to get around to answering your question, weren't you? /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif Well, with the Kubota, after I put the lights on it, I found that I did a lot of stuff at night. In the summer, it was cooler to do it then. Plus, with my weird hours sometimes, it was just a lot more convenient. Sometimes, too, I just need a little "tractor time" to get my head back on straight (relatively speaking, of course - it's never on but so straight /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif) and if the only time you can get is at night, so be it. So it's a relief to have them, sometimes, from that standpoint. Then there's other situations, too: For example, a couple winters ago, I was working on a big project that was about 4 hours from home, and a big snowstorm was coming up. I worked until about 11 o'clock that night to finish up so I could be home by the time the snow got bad - I don't like pulling a trailer that outweighs my truck by 2-3 times in the snow.
So, yes, I use the lights quite a bit, but I think I benefit almost as much from knowing they're there if I needed them. Sort of a grown-up tractor-addict version of a security blanket. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif
