My DK45HST and me

[PA hayseed]

Joel - I believe you are right. I have heard it on this site many times, but I guess I had to learn my lesson the hard way. I won't let anyone use it again. I figured he had experience, **** more than me, and he wouldn't have an issue. Apparently running that tractor and a skid steer are not the same things. He must not have ever used a 3pt hitch before.

Seeing as how I tend to be slightly thrifty with my money, I don't know if I will ever enjoy fixing anything on it. Heck, I complain when I put the new air filter on. If you were in the garage you would hear me swearing how the *** is this piece of **** worth $.

IXLR8 - What happened is that I had the scarifiers all the way up, so as to use the cutting edge only. The ground was pretty close, and I was going to drag the box blade around to take off the humps and bumps. Well, he hit the draft control instead of the position control, then I guess he must have put the position control all the way up too. The scarifier, and not the box blade itself, caught the tire when he took the tractor on the slope. The play in the 3pt arms caused the box blade to slide to the left side, then with the box blade being raised all the way to the top with the scarifiers being raised on the box itself, caused the scarifier to start ripping chunks out of the tire as he drove it. When I was driving it, I would raise and lower the position control as I saw the humps I wanted to take out. Due to the bumpiness of the ground, the boxblade (if left all the way down) would only follow the contour of the land for the most part. The ground had already been back bladed and packed, and rained on, so it was fairly hard, and using the scrifiers again would only have brought up all the rocks and garbage that had already been buried. I probably made this clear as mud to you.

In short, If I hadn't shortened up the telescoping rears (3 pt arms), it may have never happened. I didn't want too much play in it, as I was driving the tractor down the road.

 

[IXLR8]

I believe I can see through the mud... except I have no idea what the draft control is and how it differs from the position control. My little CK30 only has a position control, I think that is what it is called. Bottom line... I get the basic picture of what happened, BB too close, operator too inexperianced with that machine.

 

[DK35vince]

Seeing as how I tend to be slightly thrifty with my money, I don't know if I will ever enjoy fixing anything on it. Heck, I complain when I put the new air filter on.

For me it seems much cheaper to give my equipment anything they need and I always do ALL my own maintaince/repairs.
My pickup is a 1991 F-250 (gets used nearly every day), my JD 850 is a 1978, Wheel Horse is a 1979, and my Kawasaki Ninja is a 1986. All are still in very good condition and will last me many more years because if they need something they get it. Far cheaper for me to maintain them than to replace them.
My opinion..

 

[JoelD]

Same deal here, I purchase used and maintain. It's not for everyone though. Trying to talk the boss into a 1999 Suburban 2500. Tough sell with the 1993 K2500 pickup in the driveway. Will probably sell the deere dozer this summer though. With the Kioti not a whole lot more need for the dozer.

 

[RexB]

PA you're putting the '45 through hard work, looks GREAT so far. The toothbar has got to be more than handy.
You may as well put a pool in too while the ground is all nekkid. . .

 

[PA hayseed]

DK35 vince and Joel

I agree with you both, maintenance is important, I just don't enjoy it.

Rexb

Thanks.
The toothbar is definetly a required item, and the tractor has made some funny noises with all the digging. in reference to that other thing you suggested, please don't post that again. My wife would love it, and I would have one more thing to maintain, and pay for.

I could probably use that thing your standing by.

 

[RexB]

ROTFL Yea a 'dozer would be best for a big pool hole, and just imagine that the wife would keep a pool clean, replace the chemicals, skim the leaves off, clean the filters . . .

I think my 1966 l'il dozer "Pacman", named for how well it munched through the trees and cleared land, was my first equipment Love, not counting cars and trucks they don't plow. I was worried the l'il tractors didn't have enough arse to maintain the property, and have been Joyously Surprised to continue knocking over trees, clearing trails, and levelling land with it. Just takes longer is all. So I guess the Kioti is my second equipment love. And a heckuva lot handier for more jobs.

Now go knock something down with that beauty '45!
,
,
DK35Vince -- Your JD 850 is a big machine, are you in the clearing 'n digging business?
,

 

[PA hayseed]

ROTFL just imagine that the wife would keep a pool clean, replace the chemicals, skim the leaves off, clean the filters . . .
,

Spoken like a man who knows.


I haven't been doing much lately, cutting wet grass and some maintenance. The first two pics are some of the fresh cut grass. I hate the first cut of the year, due to the ground swelling/moving from winter, always fills the RFM with dirt then you have to dig it out.

The second batch of pictures is my wonderful fun project of fixing the jamb nut on my FEL lever. Well, the monkey at the factory must have jammed the boot inbetween the metal and the FEL control box, cause I couldn't get it free. I had to take the plastic housing off, but not off completely because the plastic handles for the 3pt and draft controls wouldn't let it slide off.

The FEL lever lock caused problems getting the boot up, the boot was wedged between the FEL lever housing and the metal bracket, and the plastic housing wouldn't come off. Next time this happens, it goes to the dealer fo fixing. I hat to bother the man with stupid stuff, but this wasn't a hard job, just a PITA job.

Hope one of the Kioti wizards here can enlighten me on an easier method. Why don't they loctite these things at the factory?

Oh, and I took a pic of the jamb nut as I was trying to pull the stuck boot up to tighten it. Let's just say it was pretty friggin hard to do with one hand while trying to take a pic with my phone. There is also a picture of the draft and position control levers for people who don't have them that wonder what we are talking about. Cell phone pics not the best, but I don't have to compress them prior to posting either.

 

[PA hayseed]

rest of pics - the second pic here is the culprit *jam nut

The last pic isn't great, but shows the draft and position control, as well as the fact that I did manage to reassemble it correctly.

 

[RexB]

Good pics, that cellphone does pretty good. There was an xclnt thread and pics about fixing that jamb/lock nut on the FEL lever, but my search did not find it. Luckily it hasn't happened to me yet, but I'll sure locktite that nut if I'm in there for another reason.

Been raining here too, its halted putting a sidewalk in. So I ought to clean up the shop, or office, or something.