New Tractor (non-wood-working tool/toy)

[Brian Runau]

Very nice, I need more land so I can buy a tractor! Brian

[Greg Parrish]

Been a busy couple of weeks adding to the Orange Fleet.

Traded in my Polaris Ranger single seater for a new Kioti K9 2440 double seat with 24hp diesel. It’s no where near as peppy as the 60hp gas Ranger engine, but it will seat my whole family and shares the diesel fuel used in my two tractors.
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Picked up a barely used Woods RT72.40 6’ tiller. It’s red but almost looks orange. LOL. Does a very nice job. Prior owner must have never really used it because other than a scratch or two in the paint, it looked and operates like new.
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Traded in a bunch of older implements that were either too large or too small for this tractor along with an extra 12’ utility trailer we didn’t need and ended up with enough credit to justify some new gear.
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New gear included a 64” Kioti DH2064 harrow made by Woods, a 6’ heavy duty Bad Boy rotary cutter and a 6’ Bad Boy box blade.
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Also got the second rear port installed for hydraulic top and tilt links and got the Kioti 3rd function kit installed so my grapple will work now
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[Maurice Mcmurry]

That is an impressive fleet! I am glad not to see a snow blower throwing up a giant rooster tail.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

Congrats. when I retired, Mrs got me a Mahindra 2555 cab hst. We looked at larger, but got the 2555 because the cab could fit into the pole barn doors. Our driveway is 980 ft long, parking spot to street. The old open cab tractor was a tough deal, but sitting out in the open was awful during a blizzard. The fel can do most, and the rear scraper blade cleans down to the gravel. Also nice having heat for winter and and air in summer.

The heaviest work we do around here is hay, which really doesn't take a lot of horse power. Only do 1500 to 2000 bales a year and stop. Make a lot of friends and neighbors forgive al lot of transgressions when you plow them out too.

[Greg Parrish]

Thanks for all the kind words everyone. I’m super excited. Only got a brief chance to try it out with my finish mower and it handles great. Will give it more workout over the coming weekends. No snow here, and I already had a front end loader/backhoe, but this one being less than half the weight is handy in many circumstances for sure. Thanks again.

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[Edward Weber]

Get some mud on that thing, I'll lend you some if you need it.
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[William Lessenberry]

Nice tractor, you'll have lots of fun "working" with it. I'm jealous of y'all with front end loaders. I make do with a rear end loader aka "pond scoop on my ol' 1951 Harry Ferguson.
BillL

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Nice tractor, you'll have lots of fun "working" with it. I'm jealous of y'all with front end loaders. I make do with a rear end loader aka "pond scoop on my ol' 1951 Harry Ferguson.
BillL

Loader envy is a real thing! Harry Ferguson's 3 point hitch can accomplish a lot. I sure have a crick in my neck after a day on the little Ford.

Here is some local tractor Folklore some of you all may enjoy.

[Greg Parrish]

We've got one of the rear scoop pans also but rarely every find a need for it once we got the JD 310K backhoe. The loader on the new Kioti just further alleviates the need for the rear pan. That said, I scooped up many a load back in the day on the old gas Ford 8N tractors we had when I was young.

[Steve Demuth]

Got tired of fighting horse flies, yellow flies, bees/wasps while cutting grass,

I appreciate your problem. 2 years ago I hit a hornet's nest with my tractor while mowing under trees in my walnut orchard. Little devils came after me wth a vengeance, and as I was driving up out of a gully and through brush to get away a couple came after my face. I tried to shoo them away, but hooked my glasses with my glove, throwing them off the side of the tractor. I can't see much at all without them, so had to stop in the middle of the brush, shut off the tractor, and go looking for my specs. Fortunately they were hung up in prickly ash tree about 8 feet from the tractor, and glinting in the sun, so I found them fairly quickly, and could hightail it out of hornet range after only 60 seconds or so dismounted. Fortunately too, they were not the really venemous yellow jackets, and I only got about 20 or so stings, but my arm and hands swelled up pretty nicely from that, and one eye swelled half shut.

Wish I had a video of the whole episode. It'd be funny as hell if you weren't in the middle of it.

But I really don't like tractor cabs, so I'm sticking with the one I have anyway.

[Jim Becker]

Steve, I hit a nest with the FEL a number of years ago at our old property and had to "run for my life". The little Kubota was still running for about six hours before it finally ran out of fuel. I had to sneak up to it in the dark late that evening with a red light, put a little fuel in it and then high-tail it back to the house area while the little devils were sleeping.

[Greg Parrish]

Added 2 pairs of Rigid Flood lights on rear. Two are facing straight back and two are on rotatable brackets aiming to the sides.
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Also added a set of Rigid driving lights on the front and I have one more set of Rigid flood lights to install on the front aimed to the front sides. These all replaced the factory halogen spot lights. Much brighter and more fill light than the factory spots.
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Added a hydraulic tilt cylinder and have one for the top link as well. I have the second rear port kit ready for install by the dealer shortly. They will be doing it and the 3rd function kit at same time.
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Installed a brush guard on the front push bar to help protect the front end when moving brush.
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Picked up a grapple. Haven’t been able to use it yet as I’ve been awaiting my 3rd function kit. Dealer should have it in and will be picking up the tractor next week to install it and the 2nd rear port.
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Few more things to add, but so far it’s been great. First project was crowning a road and it did a great job with a rear blade and the hydraulic tilt function. I have a Sabre Samurai sitting and awaiting the 3rd function also. It will be used for limb trimming around road ways. On my future implement list is still a set of pallet forks, a tiller and maybe an offset flail mower one day as well. Fun fun.

[Tom M King]

Mentioning wanting to get a tiller, if you have an Agri Supply down there, they sell an Italian Coroni line of implements. I have a 67" tiller that was rated for max 35 hp. I pulled it for miles with a 70 hp and it never did anything but wear out a set of tines.

I did our whole cross country course for galloping horses on it that had been cleared timberland. I needed to get up the randomly scattered rocks and fill in small stump holes. After going over it to stir it all up, I tied the back flap up and went over it again. That hit all the rocks and tossed them up in the air (without the flap holding them down), landing on the surface to be picked up by hand. It worked like a charm.

I've run that tiller way more than it was ever intended to run with double the horsepower it was designed for. I can endorse getting one. It's not the absolute cheapest, but a lot cheaper than a more common name brand. They even keep replacement parts in stock, but I've never needed anything but a couple of sets of blades.

[Ron Selzer]

Greg that Cat is going to get jealous.
Ron

[Warren Lake]

a farmer moved several piles or rail way ties with those jaw things some years back. Got a ton of work done in little time.

Friend on 60 acres won coin in a lottery and bought a used tractor and used Skid steer. He said they are life changing. From day one of those two things he refers to shovels as idiot sticks. Cant pick up a shovel without remembering that.

Some of you have some great machinery. Farm here always moved or lifted machines for me. Now becoming a sea of homes. Argh