New Tractor

[frdtrukman]

Hey Guys,

I take delivery of my new TC35DA on Saturday. I am very excited about it. I would like to thank everyone on TBN for all the input on getting the unit for a retired Ford employee. My father-in-law is the "actual owner". The rest of the vital statistics are FEL, Rhino mower and tooth bar (on order).

I have a question. Since the father-in-law is the actual owner, what's the best way to get it insured for theft. It will be in a barn 200 miles from my house.

Again, thanks for all the input. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue"> Since the father-in-law is the actual owner, what's the best way to get it insured for theft. It will be in a barn 200 miles from my house. </font>
Typically, unless a tractor is used commercially, your homeowner's insurance covers the tractor. In this situation, I would definately have your FIL, as the owner of the tractor, call his insurance agent, explain the situation and ask if the tractor is covered. If it's not, ask how it can be.

 

[frdtrukman]

Thanks, Mike! I'll call him tomorrow first thing.

 

[Snakebit]

Hey FordTruckMan,

You weren't kidding. You really were taking delivery soon! Congrats.

As for insurance, since you are in the same area (county) as I am I will tell you what I think. A little over 5 years ago I bought my first tractor and my bank suggested I get in touch with the Texas Farm Bureau. (Angleton office, Brazoria County) The insurance cost about 60.00 a year for tractor/implements. Once I qualified to "join" the bureau, I found that I could save money on all kinds of insurance I already had. Home owners, auto, life, builders risk (while building my home) etc. I have been really happy with rates. I watched homeowners rates climb here in Texas over the last few years and mine have stayed flat!

If you do call, ask for Tracy Hester and tell him that crazy Manvel Cowboy suggested it. He's a good guy.

 

[JayC]

Congrats on the new machine! How about a few pics when it arrives? /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[frdtrukman]

Thanks guys,

Yes, they delivered the tractor Saturday morning @ 8:10am. Man, what a rush. As soon as they left I started trying to push some trees down. You see my property is in the Texas Hill Country. We have an over abundence of Ashe-Juniper, what people commonly call cedar. It is thick on part of our place. Well, the verdict, it really wouldn't push them over like I had hoped. However, I successfully moved some pretty good sized rocks with it. That is after I kind of got the hang of it. I pushed a few of them several hundred feet before I could get them in the bucket. Once in there it was like Ta Dah!! Very cool. My wife even did some mowing as well.

Thanks for all the advice. I'll send pictures as soon as I figure out how to get the size of the files down.

 

[JayC]

I'd be leary about trying to push trees over. I've heard stories of how people broke their machines in half trying to push over trees. Also, falling objects could be a danger, too. I would keep an eye on the root ball as well when it starts to tip over so you don't tip up.

I'm not sure what image edior you are using, but in the one I use, I can resize the image as well as save it with different image qualities. Also, when saving an image make sure that it is a JPG (or JPEG (same thing)). The image has to be under 100k for it to work. Or you can use the new Photo section of TBN. You can have images up to 500k in size with a max limit of 5MB.

 

[jinman]

James, if you use your bucket to undercut the roots on the side you are pushing from, you can push down much larger cedars. I've pushed and cut several that were 6" to 8" in diameter and 12' to 15' tall. Once you get them started, you've won most of the battle. If you chip or shred them, they sure make nice mulch.

This last Sunday I pushed over some old dead willow trees. Like JayC said, you have to be very, very cautious with those because it's so easy to end up with the whole tree or pieces of it on top of you and your tractor. If I can't reach up 2/3 the height of a dead tree, I cut it down first. Live cedars, postoaks, and blackjack oaks go over pretty easy too depending on the kind of soil they are growing in and the amount of moisture in the soil.

Frankly, our trees in many areas of Texas are wimps compared to the trees in other parts of the country. We can get away with lots that other folks can't. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[frdtrukman]

Hey Jim,

Thanks for the input from up there in Wise Co.. I'm working down here in the old Cowtown myself. I will try that the next time I'm in Blanco. I have been chain sawing and chipping. I have a Brush Bandit and have quite a few major league piles. However, at some point I decided to burn some otherwise, I'll never get through.

I had a neighbor with a skid steer over to knock down some. However, in the space of about 100 sf there are probably 100 of those buggers. As you know, they are a lot bigger laying down than standing up and getting them into a form that you can chip is a lot of work. I have some major league piles ready for a nice rainy day.

Thanks for your input!

James

 

[frdtrukman]

Here's a photo of the new tractor. I hope this works!!