Have any implement purchase regrets?

[Weedaway]

My SIL was looking at my back blade over the weekend that I paid too much for and only used a couple times (it didn't work for cleaning a ditch, needed downforce or heavy weight attached)..

That's normal. My 6 foot "medium duty" blade won't do much on a compacted surface, but works awesome with 150 pounds of ballast.

 

[Bigfoot62]

Rhino SE7. ("Economy" 7' rotary cutter) It's probably a "medium" duty cutter. I let the dealer talk me into it. He had it left over from the previous season, and gave me a great deal on it. (about half price of a new Rhino TW 8', which is what I wanted. I think it was the second time I used it, that I folded up the tail wheel. That wasn't covered under warranty. Rhino said it was misuse and abuse. I ended up replacing the entire tail wheel assembly with a larger, heavy duty unit. That fixed the tail wheel problem, but the deck skirt is bent in a couple places.

Point is, I won't ever buy another implement that isn't HD. I've learned my lesson.

 

[CalG]

I bought a very nice 7 foot rear blade . It IS heavy duty. Tuff-Line IIRC.

Though it is handy for pushing back the snow drifts at the edge of the drive when swung over and tilted, it is just "too much" tool to be handi for work up near buildings etc.

Now our New England landscape has a lot to do with the limitations for this tool. Finding 7 feet of flat land to even park the blade takes some looking.

Still, I manage to scrape up all the fresh seeded lawn bordering the drive every year. I suppose keeping me occupied is a value of it's own.

A 6 foot HD blade would have been just fine. ;-)

 

[Bigpuddie]

Rhino SE7. ("Economy" 7' rotary cutter) It's probably a "medium" duty cutter. I let the dealer talk me into it. He had it left over from the previous season, and gave me a great deal on it. (about half price of a new Rhino TW 8', which is what I wanted. I think it was the second time I used it, that I folded up the tail wheel. That wasn't covered under warranty. Rhino said it was misuse and abuse. I ended up replacing the entire tail wheel assembly with a larger, heavy duty unit. That fixed the tail wheel problem, but the deck skirt is bent in a couple places.

Point is, I won't ever buy another implement that isn't HD. I've learned my lesson.

I bought a used (2 times) Rhino Turbo 96. Absolutely love it. Very heavily built.

 

[sixdogs]

Point is, I won't ever buy another implement that isn't HD. I've learned my lesson.

How very true. I see price point guys all the time trying to buy things at the absolute lowest price possible without considering the quality and durability of what it is they are buying. A cheap rock rake (landscape rake) or blade with no weight is worse than none at all. And on and on and on...

My favorite quote from high school was from John Browning. "A poor man can afford only the best".

 

[hawkeye08]

That's normal. My 6 foot "medium duty" blade won't do much on a compacted surface, but works awesome with 150 pounds of ballast.

Ditch is no longer dry to use it anyway. We had some very dry years and I had opportunity to "fix" the ditch that the seasonal stream runs in, but the blade did not do it, the middle buster helped, but the real fix (at least the part I actually got done), was to use FEL to dig it out. The parts that I was able to do this are fine... the other parts that needed work still need work..

 

[masseyrider]

I wasted about $1250 on a 7' box blade. I thought I'd use it to level some high spots and maintain my pathways. The teeth would cut into the compacted soil.
My regular blade does a better job.
The box blade tends to dig down too far or not enough and doesn't distribute the tailings well, needing constant adjustment.
The position control either digs in or rides over undulations depending on the tractors position. Draft control adjusts to load and still doesn't do a great job leveling, which I bought it for.
I used it a few times and gave up. A friend was interested (for a friendly price) but after trying it didn't want it either.

Over the last 20+ years the trend around here is for ever larger working farms. You never see used equipment from them and if you did it is way to big and worn to a thread.
The small acreages are mostly gone, except for the few hobby farms like my own, and so is the equipment.
If you want something you have to buy new.
The other big problem is replacement parts for the oldies.
Talking with the local dealer he told me that at one time he had 4-5 catalogues for parts. Now 2 and it's mostly from China. The small suppliers for older models are mostly gone.
This spring I wanted new shares for my Ford 2 furrow plough, $135 each and he said when he sold the last few in inventory that would be it. The foundary casting them was closing.

 

[masseyrider]

How very true. I see price point guys all the time trying to buy things at the absolute lowest price possible without considering the quality and durability of what it is they are buying. A cheap rock rake (landscape rake) or blade with no weight is worse than none at all. And on and on and on...

My favorite quote from high school was from John Browning. "A poor man can afford only the best".

As a kid (with my loyal Dino at my side) I remember going with my dad to the local equip. dealer.
He was buying a 3pth blade. He wanted the cheapie model.
The dealer wouldn't sell it to him.
What?
The dealer said he made more money fixing the cheapie when it got bent and broken than a one time sale of the heavy duty model.
50 years later I'm still using that blade. And believe me that thing has been through **** and back. From tree stumps, foundations to who knows what.
Just last year I flipped the original cutting edge.

 

[fried1765]

I bought a very nice 7 foot rear blade . It IS heavy duty. Tuff-Line IIRC.

Though it is handy for pushing back the snow drifts at the edge of the drive when swung over and tilted, it is just "too much" tool to be handi for work up near buildings etc.

Now our New England landscape has a lot to do with the limitations for this tool. Finding 7 feet of flat land to even park the blade takes some looking.

Still, I manage to scrape up all the fresh seeded lawn bordering the drive every year. I suppose keeping me occupied is a value of it's own.

A 6 foot HD blade would have been just fine. ;-)

I have a new 7' KK blade, that needs to be sold.
It is a nuisance to use, and the offset provision is a bad joke.
I have a 6' ETA "six way deluxe scraper blade" that is awesome.

 

[Rock Crawler]

Regret is a strong word. I'm not sure I regret it, but I would likely not repeat one purchase...

I bought a new Titan 60" box blade for $650 because I read that box blades are the bomb... the greatest thing ever...
I also got a $100 72" rear grader blade.

I played around with the box blade and found that to get much done you have to drop the teeth, this cuts lines, softens the soil and converts the trails to unusable mud.

So I played with the antique 72" rear blade. Have a person stand on it and it will cut into the trails great, leave a smooth finish and water still runs across without converting the surface of the earth to sloppy clay muck.

The box blade has been sat in the tree line with maybe a few hours time on it, and I likely will not use again for much aside from holding up a tarp.

That rusty hulking back blade.... that thing is the bomb!

I'm soul searching my backhoe purchase. I got the BH77 with my tractor thinking about how much I could use it. Heck, in 2 weekends I did everything I needed done with a backhoe for the year. At around $9,000, it may have actually been a bad fiscal decision. $600 of rental from M&R Power Equipment would have gotten me to the same dang place. I don't think I would buy another backhoe if I upgraded tractors. Yea, it is nice knowing that I have a backhoe stored in the shop at my beckoning call..... but at the same time it sucks knowing that I have a backhoe just being stored in the shop.

Again, regrets... that is a tough one. Lessons is a better description. I have some tractor implement lessons learned.