What have you done to your Branson today?

[LouNY]

Well a nice bit of work done to the Branson 8050 today she has her new rear shoes on to match the fronts from a few weeks ago. BKT Ridemax IT 696's all around now. Then the old Branson rears got put on the old IH 574 as they were much better then what was on her.

Old tires still on at 10:30 this morning, ----------------------new ones by about 11:30

side view of the new tires,----------------------------------a comparious of the fronts before they were mounted

Then it was time to start on the old IH574 breaking down one tire and puting a takeoff from the Branson on the old rim ended up fighting it for a while then ended up using a tube on that one. Fortunately I had a spare new tube. Then we mounted the other Branson rear on the new wheel outer section I had bought a year ago as I knew the old ones were in rough shape. I spent most of a day a few years ago welding up and repairing the one outer section that we used. Then started picking up about 1 PM just as the rain decided to start.

 

[ptsg]

I've heard somewhere that you're handy with metal - would love to see your take on a ripper!

I need to go over my stock and see what I have for that project. It's running pretty low, specially the thick stuff.

 

[LouNY]

Chains are back on the Branson for the winter;

Got lazier/smarter this year, I usually mount the chains on a flat section of my driveway. This year I did it on a sloped section. After I tied the rope to the latchs of the chains and hooked them to the tire treads. I could reach in and release the parking brake and let her roll 3-4 feet, stop go around back and spread the chains out on the tires, and repeat till the ends were up about lower chest height. Then pulled the center chains up and fastened them, then fastened the out chains. I did have to adjust them just a bit for the new tires.

 

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I re-fenced my land a couple years back, with the new fence more closely matching the borders of the property. Previous owner had put up chain link closer to the house, primarily to keep his dog in.

I had some chain link fence still to remove; today I removed a 105' section and can now access the area previously behind it with my tractor - there wasn't access previously because of a short steep hill in one part, and a bunch of trees in another blocking access.
View attachment 1988091

There's a lot of brush and smaller trees to deal with there but now I can do it the easy way - here with the A-frame to yank an oak out and avoid dealing with regrowth in the future:

There was also an old planter bed made with toxic creosote railroad ties (predates my tenure). I plucked them out with tongs hanging from the backhoe:

I'll use the still-decent ones in a non-planter spot for a small retaining wall.

Also grabbed this mini tree that didn't want to come out easily; apparently I've cut it down more than a few times...View attachment 1988092

 

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Ordered recently (11/24) - delivered yesterday.
6" bucket for my backhoe.
Much of my backhoe work involves either digging a trench for a water pipe, or fixing a water pipe already in the ground, and there's less mess to make with a narrower bucket.

Realized as I opened it though, with the new quick attach I've got for the backhoe, ideally I need a new pin that stays with the new bucket. (Yes I can swap a pin between the two buckets or the ripper but that's an easy step to skip with a new pin.)

Can I just use some 1" rod, cut to length? Or, where to order a fancy one? These pins are fixed with a bolt and not lubricated.

 

[ptsg]

Ordered recently (11/24) - delivered yesterday.
6" bucket for my backhoe.
Much of my backhoe work involves either digging a trench for a water pipe, or fixing a water pipe already in the ground, and there's less mess to make with a narrower bucket.

Realized as I opened it though, with the new quick attach I've got for the backhoe, ideally I need a new pin that stays with the new bucket. (Yes I can swap a pin between the two buckets or the ripper but that's an easy step to skip with a new pin.)

Can I just use some 1" rod, cut to length? Or, where to order a fancy one? These pins are fixed with a bolt and not lubricated.View attachment 2087530

Are you burying the pipes for the irrigation on your orchards?

 

[ning]

Are you burying the pipes for the irrigation on your orchards?

Various places around the land.

The orchard had pipes buried when I moved here, and somewhat regrettably when I redid the plumbing (old guy used thin walled pvc which unsurprisingly didn't hold up well over time) I did similar (with sched 40) though better routed; U think in further retrospect I would have many fewer stub-ups and run more surface water via poly pipe. Currently every tree has a ½" stub-up which a circle of poly with emitters attached; it works nicely but can also be a pain sometimes (mowing...).

My most immediate need for the trencher bracket is to run a gas line from where I'm going to have a propane tank to where I'll install a backup generator (which will be used to recharge solar batteries in the case of an extended power failure in the winter, when the solar doesn't function).

@ptsg any suggestions for what I should use for a bucket pin? Is a basic 1" solid rod sufficient?

 

[ptsg]

Various places around the land.

The orchard had pipes buried when I moved here, and somewhat regrettably when I redid the plumbing (old guy used thin walled pvc which unsurprisingly didn't hold up well over time) I did similar (with sched 40) though better routed; U think in further retrospect I would have many fewer stub-ups and run more surface water via poly pipe. Currently every tree has a ½" stub-up which a circle of poly with emitters attached; it works nicely but can also be a pain sometimes (mowing...).

My most immediate need for the trencher bracket is to run a gas line from where I'm going to have a propane tank to where I'll install a backup generator (which will be used to recharge solar batteries in the case of an extended power failure in the winter, when the solar doesn't function).

@ptsg any suggestions for what I should use for a bucket pin? Is a basic 1" solid rod sufficient?

All my orchards have 16 mm poly pipe buried, then a Tee fitting on each tree with a short piece of hose and the emitter right by the base of the tree. Best thing I ever did. Burying this pipe was the original intent of my backhoe, of course, it evolved into a lot more useful machine.

I can now till the orchards without having to worry about any pipes. The only thing I would change, was to move the short hose and emitter further away from the roots of the trees because I believe as the tree and roots grow, it might wrap around the hose and pinch it.

1" solid rod will be perfectly fine. Specially with the quick attach, since it a static application as the pin doesn't have to be a pivot point as well. By the way, a quick attach for the backhoe is awesome!! I built mine recently and it's a much pleasant experience to swap buckets. Heck, it even makes me want to make more attachments. A ripper is definitely in order.

This was the beginning of the olive tree orchard we did about about 2 years ago. A trench more or less straight about 60 cm deep, deep enough to not have an issues with the subsoiler, then we put those bamboo canes where the tree is going. We then placed the pipe with the T fittings and emitters. Put a layer of dirt on top of that so the trees wouldn't sit so deep and finally we put the trees in and covered everything.

I do have plans to extend this orchard out by 2 more rows, make it about 40 olive trees in total. Then I another section of the land, I'm planning on a new olive tree orchard with about 70 trees.

Hopefully I can make my own olive oil sometime in the future. Right now, olive oil is like liquid gold, crazy expensive.

 

[LouNY]

Ordered recently (11/24) - delivered yesterday.
6" bucket for my backhoe.
Much of my backhoe work involves either digging a trench for a water pipe, or fixing a water pipe already in the ground, and there's less mess to make with a narrower bucket.

Realized as I opened it though, with the new quick attach I've got for the backhoe, ideally I need a new pin that stays with the new bucket. (Yes I can swap a pin between the two buckets or the ripper but that's an easy step to skip with a new pin.)

Can I just use some 1" rod, cut to length? Or, where to order a fancy one? These pins are fixed with a bolt and not lubricated.View attachment 2087530

Good luck with that narrow bucket, in our sticky ground the narrow buckets don't clean out. They have to have enough width for the soil weight to buckle in the center and pull the edges in and out.

 

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Good luck with that narrow bucket, in our sticky ground the narrow buckets don't clean out. They have to have enough width for the soil weight to buckle in the center and pull the edges in and out.

This bucket isn't very deep even at the top, so I think it'll be better than most for that. Still, in winter-wet glop it could be iffy, but the primary purpose should still work - cut the ground, and 8+ months out of the year here the ground is dry enough that I doubt there will be sticking issues.

I'll update here with more experience.