Re: EarthForce EF-5 usage report
Rat - <font color=blue>Doesn't that EF5 run a Kubota diesel?</font color=blue>
Darn straight it does... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif A 56hp turbo, in fact...
I anguished between the Peltor and the Ridgeline
Pro-Mag Dimension 2 (picture on <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.pro-ears.com/seriesmodel.html#top>this page</A>, second model from top) from Shooters Safety Products in PA. I selected the Pro-Ears model sight-unseen (or hearing-unheard, in this case) because: 1) They use Sound Compression technology instead of sound "clipping". They will amplify anything below 70db (from 0 to 8x in 4 levels), and reduce the level of anything above 72db. The net effect is that you can hear everything all the time, whereas clipping cuts everything off when a loud noise is present. 2) Independently adjustable volume, instead of a single volume adjustment 3) 5 year warranty, instead of 6 months 4) Howard Leight, a highly respected presence in the ear protection field, has licensed the Pro-Ears technology for use in their own headset. 5) 200 hour battery life instead of 50. 6) NRR of 26, instead of 24. So much for the theory. I should have them sometime next week, at which point I'll know how well they work in practice. An interesting sidelight is that the Dimension 2 has provision for radio input, so you can control its volume using the radio, and the volume of everything else with the volume control knobs on the headset. Sure would be cool for listening to a scanner at a NASCAR race...
I don't think my EF-500 is going to get Michelins until the tires on it wear out, but it'll have them eventually. Hey, I dug holes with the tires, so I need more traction, right? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
It sounds like that 1200-lb Gannon would be a great counter-weight. I know that having several thousand pounds of backhoe/sideshift mount on the tail will sure hold the EF-500's backside on the ground. I haven't been able to get the rear wheels off the ground yet...
So you know exactly the feeling on the resonance noise, I see. With the EF-500, at just the right engine speed, it'll just about clear your sinuses... It's mostly like drinking iced tea with the spoon still in the glass: If it hurts, don't do it. But sometimes I found that I just had to run the engine at that exact speed for a little and it got annoying really fast.
Reading about you getting a kick out of pushing dirt reminded me of something I noticed quite a bit on this last project. I mentioned this before, but I'm still surprised at the ability of the EF-500 to push dirt/gravel/whatever around. As with the pulling issue, I had expected this to be the weak link with the EF machine, since the tires are so small (compared to the monsters I had on the
L4310), only a little more hp (and a
lot more weight, excluding ballast), and no multi-range differential to multiply the torque (there is a 2-to-1 transfer case, and each weel does have 6-to-1 planetaries, but top speed still isn't much less than the
L4310 in high range), I'm just amazed that it'll push so much more material around than the
L4310 would. My ex-engineer Kubota-owning friend and neighbor isn't nearly so surprised as I am. He says the smaller diameter tires are able to get an enormously greater amount of torque to the ground. Something about a shorter moment-arm or something like that... Clearly, the EarthForce engineers ballanced things pretty well. Well enough to impress me, anyway.
Thanks for reading my musings - it's nice to know an orange "true believer" can enjoy reading about a silver, er, pink, machine, too. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
