How hard are you on your tractor?

[smfcpacfp]

Given the cost of these rigs, why push them to the limit? In my own case I take a little more and push it less hard.

The cost in time and money of a breakdown are much more than taking your time and not pushing the tractor to the limit.

 

[john_bud]

I was doing some logging yesterday with my l3400 hst and was pretty hard on it, skidding logs I deffinatley pushed it to the max, on several occasions ramming forward to get the twitch moving. On a few occasions something would fetch up and tractor would buck etc. Didnt think much of it cause its a tractor but now I am thinking probably not a good idea and after seeing the thread on the bevel gear damage I am feeling rather sheepish. I am used to farm tractors that you can beat the snot out of and seem to never break....

Logging is tough on equipment. But, your method sounds like more abuse than use. The ramming forward stuff is really hard on equipment and is generally what people were doing just before the expensive "Snap!" sound is heard.

Very similar to the last thing you hear before a teenager gets hurt, "Hey! watch this!" I do know some people that flipped tractors up wheelie style by ramming forward and the object not moving. It's a shorts filling experience.

If you need help getting a log started, make sure you have some weight on the tractor. Filled tires, good mud chains on the wheels, fill the FEL bucket with dirt, then ease into it. If it still won't go, roll the log onto a roller log to reduce friction.

 

[SCDolphin]

Redbug needs to step up to the plate and tell on himself for sll of his tractor fopa's

HA HA

 

[AndyinIowa]

Given the cost of these rigs, why push them to the limit? In my own case I take a little more and push it less hard.

The cost in time and money of a breakdown are much more than taking your time and not pushing the tractor to the limit.[/QUOT


I think its all a matter of personality. Some people are happy with 4% interest in their retirement account, while others want 15%. Some want to use their equipment as gently as possible, and others want to use the equipment to its limits.

I also have a photography business, and people literally freak out seeing what I put my equipment through. The difference, however, is that I know my equipment's limits, and I operate the equipment at these limits when necessary. I also get shots that few others can get.

Great example: Two weeks ago we had a small tornado hit us. Our neighbor, who is a WWII vet, had a tree blown down across their drive. His wife is on oxygen and needs air conditioning. Power was out, and they couldn't get to town to a hotel.

Neighbors descended on the tree with saws, and I used the BX2350. There was plenty of 4 wheel hopping on the gravel drive, yanking and jerking and rear tires in the air. I was at one with the tractor, using every trick and ounce of energy the tractor could muster for 20 minutes.

In the end, the tractor was filthy, rims plugged up with gravel and clay, plenty of new scrapes and scratches on loader and hood. Some people would consider that abusive, but I buy high quality equipment for this very reason. Sometimes you need equipment to be able to give 110%.

Some people take pride in the equipment, and that's great for them. Whether its my outdoor equipment or camera equipment, I take pride in what I create or accomplish WITH the equipment. The tractor is only a means to complete a task or project. When I'm done, people compliment the results, not the tractor. (When's the last time you had a great dinner at a restaurant, and asked the chef to come out so you could compliment his pots and pans???)

When I die, I don't want people to say I look nice in the coffin. I want people to say 'holy crap! he looks like he's dead!' When i'm done with the tractor, it will look, feel, and operate like a machine that has had its guts run out while doing a crazy pile of projects!!



IowaAndy

 

[Modn]

(When's the last time you had a great dinner at a restaurant, and asked the chef to come out so you could compliment his pots and pans???)


Good comparision!!!

 

[Danno1]

.

Last time I asked the chef to come out he had a cleaver in his hand!!!

.

 

[Dieselmh]

I maintain it to the best of my abilities. I keep it lubed, I keep it serviced, and I make sure that it's gets all the maintenance it needs. Other than that, I beat on it like it owes my money. I refuse to have a piece of equipment that I have to baby. If it won't do what I need it to do, it's useless to me and will get replaced. I'm about to replace a Howse rough cutter for that exact reason. So far, my 3400 has been great, and has handled all the abuse with a smile.

 

[crashz]

I have access to big loaders, dozers and excavators, so beating up the little JD is just foolish to me. I'm also a big fan of timely maintenance, even though this machine has not seen much until recently. But the one abuse that it has sustained, is that it has not spent more than a few nights indoors. That poor machine has been outside the better part of 20 years now. The paint is rusty and faded and with that ugly old cab, it really looks like ****.

But it runs so darn good and mows better than anything I've ever used.

 

[WBWI]

My current project is to redistribute 61 tons of #2 fractured limestone to fill in along the side of my new driveway. Since there is no way I'm moving that much by hand, the tractor has been assigned the chore. I've moved about 20 tons so far and the tractor has been great. We'll see how it holds up on the next 40 tons

 

[have_blue]

I mildly abused my last 2 tractors at times. I never intended to. In fact, I tried my best to baby them. You spend hundreds of hours babying them, only to blow it when a cantankerous job comes up. All that babying wasted!

My 3rd tractor, an L4400, has been babied for 30 hours. Then my wife used it to mow while the brake was still set. I couldn't get mad at her, because it's so easy to do. I think I'll rig up a buzzer that warns you the brake is set. Other than that, no abuses yet, but I'm sure a gnarly job will come up that simply MUST get done.