rangerfredbob
Veteran Member
With a small weak loader on my tractor the bucket is handy, but it's cheesy and smily (bent bottom, haven't gotten to fixing that) and if I had to guess it holds about a wheelbarrows worth of gravel at around 40" wide and doesn't lean back very far (bad geometry and level lift linkages with loose holes) so I do use it a lot, but it's not heavy duty enough and the valves leak so it doesn't hold so it is limiting. My 3 point on the other hand holds and can lift 2000lb... I frequent auctions and before the covids you could get cheap attachments here and there so I have an assortment... I have a dirt scoop, box blade, pallet forks, 5' brush hog, 5' finish mower, 6' disc (needs attention before I use it), sickle bar mower (needs work still), spring tooth harrow (drag), chain harrow, 5 tooth ripper (too much for my tractor, but I can get a few inches down without issue) and probably more I'm forgetting. My most used are the brush hog and lately the loader but I've had around 60 yards of gravel delivered in the last few months... the box scraper is handy at times but I'm limited by traction for that guy, same with the ripper. In a couple years I hope to disc my whole place and flatten things out more with harrows and probably with gauge wheels added to the scraper.
I also happened upon a better loader for like $150 at an auction so at some point I'll make that fit once I get my shop done, it doesn't have level lift so the bucket travel should be better, and it's tractor width and has a flat blade! That'll be a serious fabrication project making a proper loader frame that ties the loader to the whole tractor instead of just to the transmission to front end, it'll be nice being solid instead of the mess of a loader that came with the tractor...
I also happened upon a better loader for like $150 at an auction so at some point I'll make that fit once I get my shop done, it doesn't have level lift so the bucket travel should be better, and it's tractor width and has a flat blade! That'll be a serious fabrication project making a proper loader frame that ties the loader to the whole tractor instead of just to the transmission to front end, it'll be nice being solid instead of the mess of a loader that came with the tractor...