After two 12 hour days in the seat of an old Massey 135 playing with a disk, box blade, home made drag and brush hog I am one tired and sunburned puppy. I did get about 1/2 acre leveled but not cleaned or finished and cut about 5 acres of 2 foot tall prairie grass. The tractor, disk and brush hog belongs to my neighbor and is in dire need of a trip to the shop.
The ground cable from the battery was broke so to start it he would open the hood and hold the wire to the frame while he hit the starter button. The PTO lever won't stay engaged so a piece of bailing wire holds the lever in place when you engage the PTO, same with the lever that raises the 3 point hitch arms. The 3PH arms seem to drift but that could be because the control lever flops around. Not complaining mind you because the price to use the tractor was right and I was even using his fuel. I did fix the battery cable for him.
Even with things not working quite right I managed to get what I felt was pretty good with the box blade. Managed to level about 1/2 acre well enough that it looks flat and if I can get rid of the grass clumps it's going to be about perfect.
Today I went to Atwood's and bought a landscape rake, don't own a tractor yet but by-golly I own a landscape rake. Am hoping I can figure out how to use it well enough to finish the grooming of my flying circle and clean up the drive a little.
Running the bush hog was an experience in patience, I could only cut in low gear, low range without the tall grass bogging down the engine and even then in the really thick stuff I had to do some fancy clutch work to keep it from stalling.
I have many thoughts and lessons learned but I now know that when I get ready to buy my own tractor it will be something with some horse power and a shifter that doesn't take an ordeal just to change from 1st to 2nd.
But all in all... Ya I had a good weekend and feel a pretty good sense of accomplishment.
The ground cable from the battery was broke so to start it he would open the hood and hold the wire to the frame while he hit the starter button. The PTO lever won't stay engaged so a piece of bailing wire holds the lever in place when you engage the PTO, same with the lever that raises the 3 point hitch arms. The 3PH arms seem to drift but that could be because the control lever flops around. Not complaining mind you because the price to use the tractor was right and I was even using his fuel. I did fix the battery cable for him.
Even with things not working quite right I managed to get what I felt was pretty good with the box blade. Managed to level about 1/2 acre well enough that it looks flat and if I can get rid of the grass clumps it's going to be about perfect.
Today I went to Atwood's and bought a landscape rake, don't own a tractor yet but by-golly I own a landscape rake. Am hoping I can figure out how to use it well enough to finish the grooming of my flying circle and clean up the drive a little.
Running the bush hog was an experience in patience, I could only cut in low gear, low range without the tall grass bogging down the engine and even then in the really thick stuff I had to do some fancy clutch work to keep it from stalling.
I have many thoughts and lessons learned but I now know that when I get ready to buy my own tractor it will be something with some horse power and a shifter that doesn't take an ordeal just to change from 1st to 2nd.
But all in all... Ya I had a good weekend and feel a pretty good sense of accomplishment.