My DK45HST and me

[DK35vince]

DK35Vince -- Your JD 850 is a big machine, are you in the clearing 'n digging business?,

I think JD uses the model # 850 in differant types of equipment.
The 850 I have is a 26HP compact utility tractor w/72" belly mower.
Here are a couple pictures of my JD 850 beside my DK 35.

 

[RexB]

You're right i was thinking of the other one. That's a nice pair of tractors you have and spread of property. Good PA dirt there, this here is half rocks.

 

[DK35vince]

You're right i was thinking of the other one.

That 850 would put some dimples in my yard..

That's a nice pair of tractors you have and spread of property.

Thanks Rex.
Heres a picture of my front yard.

 

[PA hayseed]

That 850 would put some dimples in my yard..


Thanks Rex.
Heres a picture of my front yard.

Hey, looks like you found some fairly flat land in the hills too. Your not too far from me - relatively speaking.

Bout an hour plus or so. after looking at the pic of your tractors, is that old stripping cuts behind your property?

 

[rd_macgregor]

I wanted to add a comment about the scraper box riding up onto the rear tire.
Shortly after I got my DK45S in 2006, I was mowing an old field, chopping down the saplings. As I rounded a turn at the end of the field the mower rode up onto the LR tire. Let me tell you it is exciting to look back and see those blades coming closer and closer to the tire...and your face!!
Theoretically, it should not be possible for this to happen when everything is installed properly. After some discussion with my dealer, we deduced (or is that theorized?) that a sapling stub must have hooked the bale pin on the left lift arm allowing it to slip off the shaft (is a fluke occurrence like this just too unlikely??). I have replaced both these pins with bolts, just in case.
Warrantee covered the various bent parts, though I have some dinged lugs on the tire. Its a great way to get the heart rate up, I must say!
BOB

 

[PA hayseed]

I wanted to add a comment about the scraper box riding up onto the rear tire.
Shortly after I got my DK45S in 2006, I was mowing an old field, chopping down the saplings. As I rounded a turn at the end of the field the mower rode up onto the LR tire. Let me tell you it is exciting to look back and see those blades coming closer and closer to the tire...and your face!!
Theoretically, it should not be possible for this to happen when everything is installed properly. After some discussion with my dealer, we deduced (or is that theorized?) that a sapling stub must have hooked the bale pin on the left lift arm allowing it to slip off the shaft (is a fluke occurrence like this just too unlikely??). I have replaced both these pins with bolts, just in case.
Warrantee covered the various bent parts, though I have some dinged lugs on the tire. Its a great way to get the heart rate up, I must say!
BOB

Another thing I have noticed is that if you use the slotted pin holes in the arms, you get almost too much play. I liked a little play in the arms for my finish mower, as it helped to stop some of the scalping, but I don't use the slots anymore for the box blade. My friend and I played for awhile seeing how much swing would be generated by pushing hard on it at full lift, and after seeing that, I decided it was no longer worth it for the box blade or rear blade. I still use it for the mower, which hardly ever gets raised up. I use the fixed holes in the arms for the box blade and rear blade now. Not sure what I am goingto do with the post hole digger yet. The trial period for that will be in about a month or two.

 

[PA hayseed]

Well, after 9+ weeks, not including the prep time and topsoil removal, I have my house moved further back on my property with an addition and a new basement.

I had a big problem with this stump. It doesn't look that big in these pictures, but it took my tractor and a skidsteer to push it out of the hole and further back onto the property. The skidsteer pushed it straight, and I came in on an angle to help spin it. Between the two of us, and about an hour, we managed to move it about 100feet or so. At least its out of the way. The scariest time came when we went to flip it over, the skidsteer stalled as we wer at the tipping point. It started picking my whole tractor up off the ground (to be read all four wheels, tractor (filled rears) and a weighted down BB). Luckily he got his bucket going again, or I probably wouldn't be here now. After about 2-3 days of picking at the root base with the tooth bar to get the compacted shale and clay out of the stump, I was able to move it solo to the now old foundation hole, and punched it in there. The bracket you see is bent too badly to use again, it was on a 10000 pound line when I went to pull the actual tree across the field.

 

[PA hayseed]

Here is a pic of what a house looks like with no basement, on steel ibeams, 9'4" in the air, sitting on cribbing (blocks of wood).

A couple of pics - of course it rained endlessly after the house was moved. I had trouble getting my tractor to move through the muck. Yes, I wish I had a spare set of ags now, but the industrials were good until now. I had old slab pieces of concrete that I couldn't drag into the old foundation hole for a whole lot of reasons, so I learned to scoop them and balance them on top of the bucket to move them. I spent about 2-3 days diggin out the old foundation stone, and stacking it in a pile. I never thought I would be tired of being on my tractor, but after about 4 weeks of being on it almost night and day, I wish I owned a bulldozer and a bid backhoe.

The guys that moved my house were great guys, came in under budget, and had an awsome backhoe. They "improved" it alot, so it picked up 30+ foot long steel ibeams that were about 2' high. Very impressive.

 

[PA hayseed]

I think it was REX who asked if I was putting in a pool, well, mother nature tried to put one in for me after the block walls were about halfway up.

I just showed a picture of some of the gravel I moved with the DK45. Here you can see three triaxle loads of 2b limestone, approximately 70TON. I had to order another triaxle load for the concrete in the basement.

 

[PA hayseed]

This is actually my favorite picture. No more old foundation hole. I can't describe to you in words that I am willing to type how long this took to do. It wasn't just pushing dirt into the hole, it was all the lifts of shale, dirt, clay, concrete slabs, etc that had to be packed and repacked before the next lift. Not to mention the fact that I learned the hard way that it is best to build a ramp in and out of the hole before you begin, and to maintain the ramp. You only have to get stuck in a hole once to learn that lesson. It is also best when backfilling a hole like this, that will have a driveway overtop of it, to put the hardest material (concrete and shale) in the hole first, then flats of clay and shale, then any loose fill like dirt/gravel. If you don't, you will get "soft" spots that have to be redug and refilled. I think some people refer to this as hydraulic pumping. Once again, all the rain didn't help. Thank god we got a hot spell for a week, and that help let things pack back down.