Tractor 1, House 0

[Boondox]

Should've seen it coming. The ground always rises as it freezes, afterall. But over the warmer months I'd become so used to driving under the breezeway between the house and my shop while plowing the driveway I had gotten out of the habit of checking clearance. So while backing in mid-range as fast as Clementine would go, the ROPS hit the trim and tore off a huge (five foot) chunk of 1" spruce. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

I was hoping the wife wouldn't notice, but she came running out screaming that the entire house shook! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif After surveying the damage (all cosmetic, thank goodness!), she shook her head and asked me not to park my tractor inside the house. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

On the plus side, I now have plenty of clearance under the breezeway!

Pete

 

[MChalkley]

Pete - At least she tell you you couldn't park in the house anymore. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif I'm glad it wasn't more serious, though.

 

[Thomas]

You forgot to mention what you were thinking also said out loud /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif before your wife appear. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[MChalkley]

I hadn't thought about it before, but I guess there are some advantages to having a tractor that you can't even think about putting in the garage. If I put the EF-5 in the garage, it would take out about a third of the second floor...

 

[Boondox]

That's right, Mark -- rub it in!

Pete

 

[Boondox]

Oh, I forgot the most important part! There's not even a scratch on Clementine! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Pete

 

[MChalkley]

What can I say, Pete? /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif When you're outnumbered a bazillion to 1, you need all the press you can get... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Thomas]

Mark,
Your kinda in a different class..sorta heavy equipment. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
Don't know to many folks whole park there heavy equipment in the basement level or 2 car garage.
Kinda like putting 7 pounds of grain in a 5 pound sack. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

Have you figure out the going rate an hour for doing work for others yet.

Happy New Years!!

 

[MChalkley]

Thomas - Well, it is kinda heavy, I'll grant you that. But, it's really not much larger than my L4310 was, at all. In fact, from a distance, in some ways it looks smaller. Once you get up close and see all that 1/2" and 3/4" plate, of course, it's a different story.

As for an hourly rate, I doubt it'll go many places for less than $90/hr, unless it's for free. Of course, I don't tell them that - they accept a job price or I don't do it. Folks around here have a heart attack when they hear a figure of more than $30/hr for anything. I seriously believe you could tell most of the folks around here that you were going to bring in 6 Cat D9s to clear their lot, and charge them $100/hr for the whole works, and they'd go hire some joker with half of a 50 year old jury-rigged backhoe for $25/hr. And congratulate themselves on their bargaining ability. Of course, they would complain when it took the guy two weeks to do it, but they'd still feel good inside because he only made $25/hr the whole time. Never mind the fact that it cost them 5 times what it would have to get somebody with some decent equipment. Around here, if you have a new piece of equipment or a new pickup, they're sure you must be ripping people off and they don't want to be your next victim. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Reminds me of one James Herriot's lines in one of his "All Creatures Great and Small" books. In rural Yorkshire, England, there was nothing you could say about a man worse than "He had nought when he came here." The implication being, of course, that he made his money by taking it away from the locals. Like the saying goes "The biggest difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits."

 

[Richard]

Mark,

Just a thougt for you on your signature. As I have Brutus /w3tcompact/icons/king.gif (whose name I'll share with you & yours if you desire) If I were smart enough to make one, I thought it would be clever to have Brutus holding 3 tractors up high in the bucket..sort of like your cup. One of each major color, somehow gently suggesting that one Brutus can hoist 3 of it's cousins. Given that I'm not bright enought to create that and you probably are, just a thought for you.

Ps...EF can be "BJ" if you wish?? Brutus Junior?? /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[MChalkley]

Richard - I'm not graphics artist, either - I'm a plagiarist.

Out of curiosity, what are the FEL lift and breakout ratings on your JCB? And what about the backhoe bucket?

We still haven't come up with a name yet. The holdup is that it has to be sanctioned by my wife, as well - which makes it difficult to come up with something fitting, as you can imagine... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Richard]

Well I'll be...I did some research with JCB because of your queston..so thank you for asking. I don't know what some of this means in the "real world", so I'll just post what I see in the brochure they faxed me

Brutus: (Aka, JCB 1550-B)

Perkins 236 cu inch 80 gross HP turbocharged, 77 net at 1,300 rpm..torque 228 ft/lb gross, net is 218

Backhoe: 15 1/2 digging depth w/2 foot bucket (that is what the "1550" stands for in model #

Digging force (all numbers in pounds)

Dipper Cylinder 7,136

Bucket cylinder:
"speed" 9,592
"power" 11,076
I have no clue as to difference there.

Max lifting Capacity Boom at full reach w/24" 2,477
Max lifting Capacity Dipper w/24" 4,940

Swing torque: 21,000 lb. ft

Loader:
Bucket hinge pin @ full height 10 feet 10 inches
Lift Capacity to full height 6,250
Breakout force:
Bucket 11,250
Loader arms 8,761

Machine weight 15,790
Hydraulic pump 28.8 gpm
Cylinders:
Boom 4 3/8 inches
Dipper 4
Bucket 3 1/2
Stabilizers 4
Swing 4
Loader arm 3 1/4
Loader bucket 2 3/4

Loader times:
Raise time to full height 3.7 sec
Dump 1.8 sec
powerdown 2.4
return to dig time 3.0
rollback 1.4

Backhoe cycle times
Boom lift cylinder:
Extend 5.0 sec
retract 5.0 sec

Dipper crowd:
extend 2.8 sec
retract 5.0 sec

Bucket dig cylinder:
extend 1.8 sec
retreact 2.2

Swing cylinder 90 degrees: 1.4 sec


I have been enlightened, and I suppose this will give you a good idea of what Brutus is/was capable of...out of the box. Today with 2,100 hours on it...I presume they might be a millisecond slower maybe??

Richard

 

[Mike_Dumond]

<font color=blue>We still haven't come up with a name yet. </font color=blue>

I thought "Enterprise" was a pretty good name. But, then again, "Agamemnon" was the name of an Earth Force battle crusier on Babylon 5.

Just my .02.

 

[MChalkley]

Richard - That clinches it - my EF-5 doesn't qualify to have the name "Brutus Jr.", much less "Brutus". /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Brutus is a monster!

Thanks for the detailed specs - they're a good reference point.

 

[jinman]

Uhh...Richard....Uhh, you forgot the the belly mower specs. ...and what is the PTO rpm? /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[MChalkley]

jinman - It's a little known fact of history that JCB originally designed a belly mower for Richard's machine. They're not too proud of that episode, so they don't say much about it. After they built it, they couldn't move it over under the JCB, so they just drove the JCB over it to position it, which flattened the mower. It was at that point that they realized why no other full-size TLB's came with belly mowers, either. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Richard]

Ya'll just way to clever for this city boy!.

Markc, back to the name thing...my father in law, his wife and my uncle in law (because of him over hearing FATHER in law..)

Refer to Brutus as : Bertha or sometimes Big Bertha depnding on who is talking...

I'll be HAPPY to relinguish the Bertha moniker to you...and possibly...Bertha & Brutus could play some day??

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Richard

 

[frank_f15]

what was going through your mind? when u were waiting for THE BOSS to come out to see what u did/w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif probably the same thing i was when i ACCIDENTLY mistook the hydo pedal for the brake and took a little chunk out of the siding on the house/w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif (well the damm thing was new to me) glad it wasn't more serious!!!!

 

[Boondox]

You know, the tractor tore thru that wood so effortlessly I was hoping she never noticed! No such luck!

Pete

 

[MarkV]

Pete,

I can feel your pain./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif When I got my rear blade I was so excited I put that thing on and I was ready to scrape the world. Now I figure every new implement should come with instructions but this one did not. If it had, I am sure I would have read the part that says, the blade is wider than your tractor stupid. I am still trying to convince my wife that it was not my fault, it was lack of instructions, which caused me to drag that blade down the side of my brand new van./w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

MarkV