Wasting your tractor Dollars...

Soundguy · Oct 4, 2004

Lets see.. I regret buying a gas powered trail mower when we bought out property initially. I though i was going to have to finish mow 3 ac on a fairly timely schedule. Turns out we built the house less than a year after we bought the land.. and then as soon as the fence was up.. grass eating animals started showing up... then the barn went up.

So far.. I've used that 700$ mower twice. Once on my property.. and once on a neighbors property.

for the tractor? I've pretty much used every implement I got.. most of them were bought with a task in mind.

Oh yeah.. i did buy a sod roller on impulse... have yet to use it.. but it was on sale.. and I guess i might use it one day?

Soundguy

Soundguy

avclay · Oct 4, 2004

I guess mine is the 72" mower (rear mount). I've grand ideas of how much grass I'll being mowing someday, but in reality its years off. The loaded tires also make the tractor the wrong tool for mowing in most places.
The upside is I'm using it as a bargaining chip to trade up..

Soundguy · Oct 4, 2004

( My biggest waste of money was my used 60" Woods back blade. Its really to light to be effective since I currently have no down pressure. )

Back blades aren't used for cutting thick dirt.. they are used for grading loose material.

Box blades are heavier and have sides for better cutting and dragging.

Box blads can be angled so that you don't need down pressure... the cutting edge is sucked into the ground.

In either case.. weights can be added to a back blade or a box blade.

keeney · Oct 4, 2004

Largest wasted money = Front-mount snow blower. For my driveway, even here in MN where we get plenty of snow, a front blade is much better for removing snow - quicker and it doesn't blow in my face. With less than two hours on it, I plan to sell the blower unit this fall.

Other minor waste = landscape rake. I did use it to help prepare our lawn, but after that was done, I thought it would be good for dragging lakeshore beach. Tines are too wide and it pulls too much sand with it. I plan to sell it also.

Best use of money = FEL.
2nd best use = $50 fork tines for self-built forks for FEL.

- Rick

hazmat · Oct 4, 2004

I'm with you Rob.

Occasionally I wish I had ponied up the bucks for a 30HP machine with 3 range tranny, suspension seat etc.

Don't get me wrong, the TC18 is a real workhorse, but there's always room for improvement.

My biggest regret was getting Industrial tires instead of turf. Last year I remedied that when my dealer made me an offer I couldn't refuse on a set of turf tires (50% of retail). Lawn is much happier...

fishman · Oct 4, 2004

I can honestly say that as far as tractors go, I have yet to think I wasted my money on any of my implements. Of course, so far I only have a FEL with tooth bar, box blade, post hole digger, and a beat up shredder. I think that studying and researching before buying (on TBN, where else? /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif) has prevented me from making any majorly bad decisions.

Now when you talk about non-tractor related purchases, the list is long indeed. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I could start with my wife's SUV, but I think I'll be quiet now.

eee · Oct 4, 2004

( Back blades aren't used for cutting thick dirt.. they are used for grading loose material. )

Hmmm,thats a new one to me, I have a JD 45 back blade with about 400 to 500lbs in a custom made( ballast) box on my blade and I have cut a lot of roads,landscaped banks etc,in red clay that had not been loosened in anyway prior to my using the back blade.

bczoom · Oct 4, 2004

roughcut,

By adding the ballast box, you've created the weight of a box blade and it can now dig in. Without that ballast, would it penetrate?

eee · Oct 4, 2004

Yes it would penetrate without the ballast but the ballast helps it to penetrate even more,I kid you not I have people seen the work I done and they thought I had a small dozer on the job. I have cut small roads on my farm and banked them and everything else,I have even dug some small stumps out. Where there is a will there is a way.

MadDog · Oct 4, 2004

I have yet to use my Woods rearblade, although I use the boxblade, FEL and backhoe frequently and all other tractor attachments from time to time.

I've been debating (with myself) getting a PHD to try to dig the post holes for my polebarn. Trouble is, I just used the FEL to excavate a smallish landscaping pond and I can't believe that the boulders that I pried out wouldn't stop any PHD cold. Of course, I could hope that there aren't as many boulders, or at least not as many large ones, at the barn site, but that's probably wishful thinking.

For example, this past weekend, I turned up one that was 1.5'x2'x3' I still don't quite believe that my FEL had sufficient breakout force to budge it!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

So I'm thinkin' that if I spend almost $1k on a beautiful Danuser PHD, it might turn out to be be a stupid purchase. Then, again, I could always sell it to someone who doesn't live over a glacial moraine. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif