Bullwinkle123
Platinum Member
I'm a new tractor owner. Things are going great, the tractor and attachments are 6 kinds of awesome.
Now that I have it, despite thinking everything to death prior to purchase, I'll just throw things on here that I didn't think of and am realizing after the fact.
Anyway, hoping this might be useful for some of you considering your purchase. I'm sure others have many stories here.
One thing I didn't have to buy, the mosquito netting for my hat, which I use all the time out here in bug country. Since I don't have a cab, well, the may flies were very thick on my face netting today while I was tractoring around. Thank heavens for the net.
Now that I have it, despite thinking everything to death prior to purchase, I'll just throw things on here that I didn't think of and am realizing after the fact.
- I have all these forest trails I want to clear, and the brush hog is nice on them. Only ... the last logger left a bunch of big and too-tall stumps for me drive over. Oops! Changes how I must approach the problem.
- I have a Kubota branded grease gun. What I didn't consider, the grease fitting is impossible to get on/off the zerks. The Lock-N-Lube is a life saver.
- All my socket sets and 10" adjustable (or other) wrenches which have stood me in good stead for all my small project and home ownership chores are mostly useless on the tractor. They're not big enough! The nuts/bolts tend to _start_ at 1" width on all the big stuff you need to periodically check. My old sockets look like toy sockets by comparison. Even my 10" adjustable wrenches, which which I always thought of as big, are just useless on the new equipment. More $$ to amazon and home depot.
- Neved had the need for a torque wrench. They're not cheap, and I'm not even looking at wrenches necessary for maintaining rotary cutter blades.
- My garage lighting is so DIM. I need a flashlight to see anything on the tractor. So ... time for some new lighting.
- The ladder I inherited with the house to reach the 11' ceilings and basically never use, er, there's a reason I got it for free. It's a death trap. Queue new ladder so I can reach those ceilings to fix the lighting situation.
- Dang, gonna need to spend a lot of time making wheeled pallets if I want to store my attachments in the garage. Every attachment is just a wee bit different in its pallet needs. Hope you've been collecting casters.
- Don't forget that new diesel gas can. American Eagle, 5 gallon, $39. And a funnel!
- That's a lot of zerks at very low height, often I have to look up at them from under the tractor. Queue the harbor freight very short wheeled stool, definitely worth it (if it lasts).
- That 14' 3/8" HF chain for towing stuff out of the woods is way too short. How long will I last without a proper winch?
- Where am I supposed to carry stuff when the bucket isn't on the tractor (since the grapple is my favorite thing). Problem waiting to be solved, no doubt with much money.
- I cannot imaging storing my implements on uneven ground, level cement floor is your friend. Affects new building decisions, potentially.
- I knew I'd need the ROPS for my hilly land, and I knew my garage wouldn't fit it. And I haven't forgotten, yet, to let the ROPs down when putting in the garage. Doing that every day though is gonna get old. Hey, look, I probably don't need that transom over the garage door, right? Of course that means a new door, and some work reinstalling the garage door opener.
Anyway, hoping this might be useful for some of you considering your purchase. I'm sure others have many stories here.
One thing I didn't have to buy, the mosquito netting for my hat, which I use all the time out here in bug country. Since I don't have a cab, well, the may flies were very thick on my face netting today while I was tractoring around. Thank heavens for the net.