You mentioned filing a 45 Gall drum with concrete and steel. I think that might be overkill and you will have too much weight on the back and will lose much traction on the front tires when the loader is empty. My guess is about 400-500 lbs of ballast on the hitch should be adequate. I think the 1200 hrs is not so bad. The local dealer was asking about $4500 for a
B7500 with 2100hrs a few years ago. That tractor looked rather rough but it worked and was sold.
I have to look for the picture of the one I want to wanna make a copy of but I was gonna make it 400 pounds.
that looks a little hairy. more so that 3rd picture! be careful! if you are a welder. then perhaps a couple pole holders on top side of bucket. that you could latch a couple good size metal poles into. when moving the fire wood. if you need to lift stuff that high. but even then. *cringes* a slight move and you could be dead.
if you are a DIY'er and seems like ya got descent knowledge to do maintance work. keep it.
on other hand. with all the logs and like you are dealing with. in a few years. you might consider looking at a TLB (tractor loader backhoe) the backhoe might make moving logs here and there easier. more so if backhoe had a thumb on it. though backhoe and thumb at times doubles the cost of the machine.
you might also consider a grabel to go with bucket, or remove bucket and go with some forks on the front. if you keep the logs long enough. it can make it easier to get the forks to slide up under a log.
i didn't see any work lights. front or rear. you might want to double check your alternator size, to see if it can handle 30watt hallogen work lights or 55 watt hollagen work lights. or if you need to go with LED work lights.
other misc things would be a tool box. and place to hold chains on the tractor. perhaps a spot to hold a couple 5 gallon buckets with tools in them.
*shrugs* above just kinda what i tend to see more folks do once they get inital tractor. regardless if used or new. and use what every they can find that works for them and majorty of there planned projects.
=======================
as far as tire pricing. it takes some calling if you start calling tire places up in phone book. same thing on internet. but if you keep trying and calling up to places 2 hours away from you. prices can change quickly. and that is including travel for me. it was actually cheaper to get someone almost 2.5 hours away. to come show up, pull old tires off, and put new ones on. plus i got a higher ply rating ((needed it to deal with thorn bushes, and other rough material i would more likely encounter)) and was still 200 bucks cheaper that most other places around me. and same manufacture tire.
also note there are a variety of tire manufacturers. your best bet to find tire places online would be try searching for "ag tires" or "r1 tire" or "r4 tire" and then once on agriculture / tractor tire website, look up turf tires for your machine.
also see about costs for adding a liquid into the rear tires. for extra rear ballast.
the tires i recently got it was only a few more bucks to get tubes bought and installed at same time. ya most likely not really worth it. but *shrugs* any extra rubber a blasted thorn has to go through to puncture hole in my tire is plus for me.
Thanks now I have to get a backhoe!!!
I dont need to lift it that high yet. I did that for the picture. I had picked up a millermatic 211 a few months ago and haven't had time to play with it yet. I had a bunch of ideas for the bucket but I like the idea of putting posts on it to stop logs from rolling back. I need some chain hooks a class three hitch. I was even thinking of fabing up a grapple. I think I need a bigger bucket! I saw a lot of good ideas on this website. I was also planing on changing the tires myself. I've always done my dirt bikes and quad tires myself and built up a nice collection of nice size tire irons. If not I have a harbor freight around the block from my house they have I think it was a 3 foot long tire iron. Do I need to use tubes with antifreeze?
