What have you done with/to your GC Series 2300, 2400, 1700 Tractor TODAY

[MF RED in MT]

We have a few more days of this brutal cold and I believe it's heading your way irvingj.

The dog does not spend much time outside in this cold weather, but the good thing is we have not had much wind with this cold weather.

The "highline" (northern border of Montana) has been unbearable as they always get winds.

Hope everyone stays warm.

KC

B.T.W. its -30 degrees at 12:30pm.

 

[Dmacleo]

possible 6" tomorrow. been week roughly since fired up tractor. good day to test rear (540) blower just to be safe.
started instantly, could not ask for better, replacing bad glow plugs REALLY helps.
540 lever in go position so I engaged pto clutch.
grind noise.
WTF moment.
Suddenly pissed.
Punched the fender next to 540 lever.
Chuck of ice fell out.
Suddenly no grind and blower works.
Winds (so many of them lately in last 7 days TWO 3" snow then rain then freezing weather ) must have driven rain up under my cover and it collected on 540 lever.

anyways...odds are...since every forecast since Dec 1 2023 (on Dec 18, I forget storm name, names are **** was supposed to get 65 mph winds. I got 35 mph winds. did lose power for over 2 days but that's because so many people (if there are trees down don't try to jump them) are f*ing idiots) has been wrong...I'll either end up with 1 inch or 20 inches of snow.

but I got to punch a tractor, did not break anything (hell I made it WORK) and crap works now.

so guys...when in doubt...punch a tractor

better than punching the person you really want to punch.
A tractor will NOT file charges against you.
old man advice

edit: had a ) in wrong spot

 

[hube2]

Had mine out quick today to clear up a drift in the middle of the driveway. That's what happens when we get less than an inch but the wind is going 40+. That dusting from everything west of my driveway piles up right in the middle of it. Just glad I did not need to do it at 5am when it was 5f outside.

 

[Langanobob]

We hit 37F or so. About 3" of wet snow overnight, followed by maybe 1/4" of rain (still raining off & on now).

Set a new record on my outdoor weather station thing for max gust -- 19.7 mph. Previous record --2 years ago-- was 17+ mph. The wind sounded like a jet engine all night & all morning. Just calmed down about 2 hours ago.

Lots of branches & trees down; we lost power --thankfully a rare occurrence-- for about 5 hours today. Glad I already had the woodstove running!

Interesting about your max gust of 19.7 mph being a record. I think you easterners get a lot more cold than we do but we must get a lot more wind. 19.7 mph would be considered close to a dead calm here, we don't start getting excited until it gets over 60 mph. The record on our backyard weather station is 96 mph, ten or fifteen years ago.

 

[hube2]

Interesting about your max gust of 19.7 mph being a record. I think you easterners get a lot more cold than we do but we must get a lot more wind. 19.7 mph would be considered close to a dead calm here, we don't start getting excited until it gets over 60 mph. The record on our backyard weather station is 96 mph, ten or fifteen years ago.

I actually see winds in the 40+ range all the time and don't really get excited till in tops 60 myself. There are very few days when it is below the 10 to 15mph range here on top of the hill, that's considered the normal . They get excited on the news about damaging winds when they'll get 30+ in the valley. I've told people for years, it is not about how much snow falls, it's about how deep the drifts get. There have been times when I've had to move snow every day even when in hadn't snowed for a week.

 

[kenmbz]

60 sustained would do a lot of damage where I am.
We had 50mph gusts the other day and a lot of trees got knocked down.

 

[hube2]

60 sustained would do a lot of damage where I am.
We had 50mph gusts the other day and a lot of trees got knocked down.

The elevation drops fast in almost any direction from here. The fastest is about 1000 feet in about 5 miles.
Any trees that a 50mph wind will knock over were knocked over a long time ago and now the town usually removes anything that is dying near the roads before the wind can do it form them. This is also the reason I don't have any trees on my property within 100 feet of the house.

 

[irvingj]

Well, "the kids" got that weather station for me a few years back. I am convinced, however, that its wind speed always reads lower than actual. While it went higher than it's ever been before, the general consensus around here that day was that the wind was gusting to 30 - 40. We did lose quite a few trees around here.

Yes, it's up on a pole (about 12 feet) and it's not next to trees, but we do have a lot of trees around, at the edges of our lawn area, so I guess it is somewhat sheltered. Take that 19.7 with a grain of salt.

 

[Dmacleo]

5 or so inches fluffy snow, prob is last fw weeks snow-rain-freeze rutted everything so had to run skids on blower on high so only blew off 2inches or so. most stuff done, bright sun will cause some flowing into ruts and then I will lower skids and polish stuff off

or I may just put the grader blade on and polish dunno will see how it goes.

 

[walhondingMF]

Finished up the wiring for a 3500# winch I picked up cheap for dragging logs out where I can cut them easier.

 

[irvingj]

Oooo-o-o Nice! There have been more than a few times I wish I had a winch....

I replaced the scraper blade on my blower. (Yet another Kubota part.) Since I scrape right down to the pavement, I get about 1-1/2 seasons out of them -- but I consider it worth it.

(Damn I hate this camera!)

 

[Dmacleo]

-4F this morning. must have crappy fuel (rural area, diesel comes from pony tanks and nearest high volume is almost 40 mile round trip....not happening) and no start. not any sort of fire. tossed some diesel 911 in ran block heater 15 minutes and running. then crapload of snowblowing to polish off the drifts and stuff from the little storm.
polished up my 3 customers and finally did my stuff. mine always last, all my vehicles (even the rwd marquis) can get out I don't cheap out on tires.
tractor ran like a champ, course the tach screamed at me a lot but no way am I spending 580$ to fix a noise that only happens below 20 degrees.
plus at full bore with hat on can't hear the screams anyways....so not bothering with the disconnect stuff.

 

[hube2]

Wasn't today. Yesterday afternoon, temps in the single digits, wind chill -10, had to clean up the drifts with my blower before the warmer temps today and rain this week. It was not fun.

 

[MF RED in MT]

2nd plowing this winter about 5 days ago and warming up a bit for the snow to start sliding off of the roofs.

KC

 

[Dmacleo]

well, this is using tractor for convenience instead of actual need.
28ft long shed split with entry way between both sections. one section heated with direct vent empire DV55 lpg furnace, other with a master 80k btu kero heater mounted in door with fans to kick hot air through ceiling/roof to heat the main section.
been working well. until it wasn't. heater just over 5yrs old so figure time to do its first yearly mtx. on kero pump supposed to be 3.8 on #2 4psi. was 1.5. problem.
so I hand carried it, just fueled up so vent on cap splashing me plus I am doing construction in shed so MANY obstacles, to main section to work on. did the mtx, cleaned filters, put new rotor in, gapped rotor, cleaned and gapped igniter, etc.
still....1.5 psi.
so pulled hose off pump put finger over nipple turned on, 10psi (had replaced check ball/spring) so knew was hose or nozzle issue. pulled air hose off nozzle and pump, pulled it out completely, where it went thru grommet coming back up in to connect to pump had a 50% split.
3$ of hose fixed it runs 4psi fires w/i 1 second and flame touches end cap w/o going past.
so time to haul it back to other side and mount in door.
this is where GC2400 came into play. tossed into bucket drove over and then down hill raised up and heater was sitting level with mount in door.
shoved in hooked up to power parked tractor.

anyways convoluted way to say if you run heaters and you consider yearly mtx to mean every 5 years AND you got low pressure....check the pump to nozzle hose and use a tractor to lift it

EDIT: oh yeah, I got one more same model I leave under house in case water freezes when -20. guess I should check that

edit 2: proof positive that you can twist MANY situations into a tractor topic

 

[irvingj]

Well, I used mine briefly yesterday -- had a large (but rotten, so fortunately not too heavy -- I think) branch fall off a pine tree... right onto the trailer portion of my DR Leaf Vac. Used a chain to drag it off; I'll check for damage (grrrr) in the spring. Much easier to pull off with the tractor than trying to do it by hand!

 

[MF RED in MT]

Happy Groundhog Day everybody!

The picture of the driveway this morning shows ice coming off, 2 months too soon!

The rodent is forecasting 6" snow tomorrow?

KC

 

[irvingj]

It's been warmer than usual here, too -- it used to be we'd get a week or so of -20F weather, but so far this year it's only gone below zero once or twice, down to a whopping -2 or so. Lots of days at or just below freezing, with some very strong winds now & then. At least the heating bills are less....

 

[Dmacleo]

so far (2-2024) I have only run the blower once since Dec 2023, due to upcoming knee operation I am VERY happy so far. yeah I lose money if it don't snow but...getting old LOL

 

[GeneV]

Guys, lemme tell ya about these here R4 tires on the GC, and how well they do in snow. I'm seeing all grass now, so all the snow melted. But we did have quite a bit there for a while, including a couple of VERY slushy snow storm.

So one of these slushy episodes, about 5" on the ground, I went out there to clear that off the driveway. 100' driveway, I had the plow straight, and I was able to push it down from my garage to near the end of my drive. I was also in 2wd and in high gear. Honestly, I was shocked because I never attempted that before...usually I'm already in 4wd. Industrial tires on the GC are awesome tires!