What did you do on or to your LS Tractor today?

   / What did you do on or to your LS Tractor today? #2,351  
This is a new concept for me. I have never heard of these things before. What is it exactly?

This is what I assume (without googling things): It burns wood to heat water that is pumped into the home for radiators to heat the house? Or its used to heat water in place of a hot water heater?

:unsure::unsure::unsure::unsure:

Avenger,

They seem like a great idea however there aren’t any that are currently ‘legal’ in our state. Have to be EPA certified and then be on the WA approved list-weren’t any last time I checked.
 
   / What did you do on or to your LS Tractor today? #2,352  
Avenger,

They seem like a great idea however there aren’t any that are currently ‘legal’ in our state. Have to be EPA certified and then be on the WA approved list-weren’t any last time I checked.
Thats probably why I have never heard of them. They are more than rare here because the government gets in the way. Typical.

I just thought they were neat and unusual. Thanks for the info!
 
   / What did you do on or to your LS Tractor today? #2,353  
Thats probably why I have never heard of them. They are more than rare here because the government gets in the way. Typical.

I just thought they were neat and unusual. Thanks for the info!

I was really interested in them after we saw a house nearby that had one ( apparently installed before all the west side regulations were either written ( or enforced)).

Still think they are a terrific idea ( particularly when you’ve 30 acres of potential fuel available!)
 
   / What did you do on or to your LS Tractor today? #2,354  
They are VERY common in my neck of the woods (Northern, Northern NY), as this is a very rural area. Only a few of the larger "towns" (e.g., population of 10,000) have access to natural gas. Our electricity rates are sky high too (pushing $0.20/kW-Hr). This is also a brutally cold environment. So, you're only options for heating are propane, fuel oil, or wood. I would guestimate that at least 50% of the people in this area that don't have access to natural gas, which is the vast majority, use wood.

When I first moved up here, I thought it was bizarre that individuals would heat with wood (I grew up in Washington). But then I saw the price difference. (I should also mention, wood is plentiful here).

While I have a reasonable amount of wood I can harvest on my land, it actually isn't worth the effort, when you factor in the time and cost. I heat my house from November - mid April (almost 6 months) using wood. It also heats all of my hot water for showering, etc. I burn about 20 face cord/year, and am paying $75/face cord delivered (after paying $63/face cord for the previous 10 years). Nevertheless, that means my total heating bill is about $1,500 for 6 months of heating. If I were to heat my house with heating oil, it would run me ~$800/month.

My wood-fired boiler is in my garage, which is nice. It is piped into my heating oil system, so if the temperature drops below a set point (e.g., I'm away for a couple of days) the heating-oil system kicks in.
 
   / What did you do on or to your LS Tractor today? #2,355  
Neighbor texted me Saturday afternoon, asking for my wire rope (I have a 1/2" x 200' wire rope). Typically when a neighbor asks for this, they are either stuck or falling a tree and need to pull it some. I said to come and get it. He showed up and told me he got his tractor stuck in the creek and needs to pull it out. He was going to use his pickup. I offered my help in my tractor.

When I arrived, I found his JD 4044 down in the creek. See the photo. I didn't take anymore than that, since he was embarrassed already and taking photos probably wouldn't have helped with that.

I asked him what he was doing (thinking) trying to cross the creek. He said he was "trying to take a scoop of dirt from the far bank and slid in." :unsure::unsure:

He had a rotary mower deck on the JD quick hitch. We had to remove it before we caused any more damage to it. The hitch was bent all the way up and the PTO shaft was half buried in the bank. I was able to disconnect the implement from the quick hitch with minimal effort. It practically popped off. But the PTO shaft was not coming off. I wrapped a chain around the mower and pulled it back, separating the two halves of the shaft. With the mower out of the way, removing the rest was easy enough. Just buried.

I attempted to lift the back of the tractor up a bit, by using a chain and my FEL. But his tires are also loaded and I didn't have any rear ballast. This wasnt happening. The only way that I could see to get this tractor out was to drive around the creek onto my other neighbors property, come down that very steep hill (called the ski slope, see in the background of the photo) and attempt to pull him forward. Took me a bit of time, pucker factor of 7 going down that hill, but I got there. Hooked up the cable with a few loops, and pulled him right out of there. Honestly, didn't even feel it.

I got home and told my wife that I've done my good deed for the month, and I'm counting that as Novembers good deed. :giggle:
My neighbors need to stop getting themselves into trouble.
20221029_151257.jpg
 
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   / What did you do on or to your LS Tractor today? #2,356  
Neighbor texted me Saturday afternoon, asking for my wire rope...

It's nice to have good neighbors. Even looking from a distance I would NOT have driven into that ditch with a mower on the back.
 
   / What did you do on or to your LS Tractor today? #2,357  
Attempted to drain water from fuel filter today, this was the first time I ever attempted this with my LS with 245 hours. Directions say loosen the plug well I did that and nothing came out so I unscrewed the plug until it came off then some fuel came out and I screwed the plug back in, turned key to on position and pumped the primer about 30 times, it didn’t seem to be doing much but when I started the tractor it started normal and seems to run just like normal. Do you think maybe I messed something up thats going to cause trouble next time need to use the tractor ?

All the trouble Avenger reported having last week with his filter froze up in the extreme cold weather is what motivated me to attempt to drain mine, it has never given me any trouble.
 
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   / What did you do on or to your LS Tractor today? #2,358  
Was worried that possibly messed up draining water from the filter last week but I used the tractor for a couple hours today plowing snow and some other work and it started and ran perfect as usual.
 
   / What did you do on or to your LS Tractor today? #2,359  
If the tractor starts and runs, you did it just fine! Almost any small amount of air in the system and your tractor will die. That screw (plug), was that at the top of the filter? If so, thats the air bleed. Simply loosen it, pump the crap out of that dinky little hand pump until you see fuel come out, close the valve. These tractors are actually really simple to bleed. If you're referring to the bottom plug, the one on the bottom of the filter, you should only need to loosen it for fuel to come out. Hopefully its only fuel and not water, but if water comes out, this is what that plug is for. If no fuel comes out.... 😳

We had older equipment on the farm growing up. No working fuel gauges. The best way to tell how much fuel you had was to open the cap and look in! I ran those tractors out of fuel a few times growing up. The first time it happened, grandpa did the reprime while I watched. The second time, he supervised me. Crack the lines as they enter the injectors one at a time, turn the engine over several times until you see fuel come out. Tighten it and go to the next. Keep doing this utnil the tractor starts. When you run the battery dead, better have jumper cables and the pickup nearby. If you burn up the starter... 🤬

Good times indeed. But @Cycledude Sounds like you did everything correctly. Good job!! 👍
 
   / What did you do on or to your LS Tractor today? #2,360  
If the tractor starts and runs, you did it just fine! Almost any small amount of air in the system and your tractor will die. That screw (plug), was that at the top of the filter? If so, thats the air bleed. Simply loosen it, pump the crap out of that dinky little hand pump until you see fuel come out, close the valve. These tractors are actually really simple to bleed. If you're referring to the bottom plug, the one on the bottom of the filter, you should only need to loosen it for fuel to come out. Hopefully its only fuel and not water, but if water comes out, this is what that plug is for. If no fuel comes out.... 😳

We had older equipment on the farm growing up. No working fuel gauges. The best way to tell how much fuel you had was to open the cap and look in! I ran those tractors out of fuel a few times growing up. The first time it happened, grandpa did the reprime while I watched. The second time, he supervised me. Crack the lines as they enter the injectors one at a time, turn the engine over several times until you see fuel come out. Tighten it and go to the next. Keep doing this utnil the tractor starts. When you run the battery dead, better have jumper cables and the pickup nearby. If you burn up the starter... 🤬

Good times indeed. But @Cycledude Sounds like you did everything correctly. Good job!! 👍
Thanks Avenger for the encouragement. My filter assembly looks exactly like the one pictured in the XR4140 XR4145 XR4150 XR4155 owners manual on page 5-8 . the drain plug is on the bottom of the filter.
According to the maintenance chart the fuel filter is supposed to be checked at 50 hours and 500 hours, I only monkeyed with mine now for the first time at 235 hours because of the trouble you reported having with yours freezing up in the extreme cold last week.
 
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