Spent the Weekend on my New L3400 HST

[Goog]

My first tractor and I spent alot of time on it this weekend. Mostly back filling and spreading 10 yds of 5/8 gravel. It is not as easy as it looks to make a large area level but I think I am getting the hang of it. Tractor seems very smooth. The hydro was great because I mostly was going forward and backward. Loader seems pretty east to operate for a newbie. Still trying to judge bucket level and position. I managed to hit my new shop three times with the bucket. Oh Well. I don't have another Kubota to compare with but it sure seems like a nice tractor for the money. Can't wait to try out my chipper, post hole auger and box scraper. Brian

 

[ToJo]

I have found that a box blade is great for moving gravel along a roadway and smoothing it out. Once you get it fairly smooth (sometimes, the more you do to it the worse it will get), use a crosstie at about a 30 degree angle and go up and down the road with it. This will put the finishing touch to your work.

 

[schole]

New tractor AND new shop -- I'm jealous! I am finding more and more great things about my 3 week old L3400DT -- I was too cheap to pay for the HST. Sure is a well made machine.

Tell us about your chipper: diameter of limbs, rate, hardiness, brand, etc.

How did you build your shop? Pole shed, metal building, timber-frame, stick framed, gravel floor, poured floor, ceiling height, heated.....???

Shawn

 

[Goog]

Well I don't have 4 kids but I do have a wife that works and helps with my toys. I actually have 2 shops. One for cars and one for the tractor, truck and hay/alfalfa. The car one is 32'x52' with 10' walls and stick built. The new one is 24'x36' with 10' walls and also stick built. The car one is about 8 yrs old and and the new one is not quite completed. The scary part is that the new smaller cost almost exactly the same as the larger one. Mostly in materials. I am kind of picky. No OSB. Real plywood T1-11 siding and 5/8 real plywood in the roof. Both have full concrete floors. Old one is sheet rocked and heated. New one will be insulated and sheet rocked but no heat. I don't want to sound like a rich guy because I am not. In fact I work for a city and my wife works for the state. We just save up for things. If you are into cars I have a 32 Ford Five Window Coupe and 2 65 Mercury Comet Cyclones. That is why the car shop is heated. I did finance the new tractor. The chipper is a Bear Cat and is supposed to take up to 5'' limbs. I only ran a couple limbs thru it but it ate a 4'' like it was nothing. I love the tractor so far and look forward to this weekend. Brian

 

[schole]

Yup. Sounds like a shop done right. I, on the other had, will likely be trying to balance some nearly squared up Scots pines on Sono/concrete tubes to make a pole-turned-sort-of-timber-framish structure. Any thoughts on trusses -- ordered or made yourselft -- vs. rafters? Your shop sounds like what I'd like to eventually make when my woodworking shop matures out of my garage.

Thanks for the chipper info...I must check it out more...better news than I thought.

Have fun!!

Shawn