[AT] Proper introduction? (Long''')

Tyler Juranek tylerpolkaman at gmail.com
Fri Sep 16 18:21:33 PDT 2016


Scott,
 Keep your eye on
 http://www.auctiontime.com/
 You'll be surprised what you can find there.
 Take Care,
 Tyler Juranek
 IA

On 9/15/16, Scott Williams <swillia5 at rochester.rr.com> wrote:
> I don't believe I've ever properly introduced myself here on the list.
>
>
>
> We've got a 5 acre parcel with an old farmhouse, been here since about
> 2000.
> >From the beginning taming the land was a struggle (I grew up in the
> suburbs,
> with a push mower.)  A 1966 Cub Cadet 123 with an oversize 44" Cub mower
> was
> my first tool.  It made little paths through the thicket, but wasn't ideal
> for clearing large areas.  One fall it got stuck in the mud WAY out back,
> and it never did move again for me.  Wouldn't start the next year.  A
> couple
> years ago I tried to find it and couldn't!
>
>
>
> Coming up on 2 years ago, our house was damaged by fire.  We decided to
> build a new house farther back on the lot (the old farmhouse was right by
> the busy road.)  Now I'm getting to the part that's relevant to a tractor
> list.  Now that the house was moving, the "back yard" of our new house
> would
> be the thicket that I'd never tamed.  And so I started watching YouTube
> videos on land clearing, tractors, DR Brush mowers, etc., trying to figure
> out what I could do, with my meager budget, to clear some brush.  I learned
> that I could hire someone with a brush hog, OR, I could get a tractor.
> Gee,
> hard choice, LOL!
>
>
>
> I'm a bit of a Craigslist addict, and I get pretty obsessive when I'm
> really
> hunting for something.  The best deals on Craigslist, most people never
> even
> see.  They're posted, sold, and ad removed before anyone notices.  If you
> want to save the money, you've got to put in the search hours, obsessively.
> And I did.  I got very lucky (see how luck happens after you spend
> countless
> hours searching?) when I found a 1972 Massey Ferguson 135 vineyard diesel.
> This was owned by a local orchard since the 1970s, had 2 brand new back
> tires, and I got it for $2000.  It's interesting how compact this "real"
> tractor is, being a vineyard model.  It has 24" rear wheels and 15" fronts,
> fairly narrow track (about 4 ft.) but over 40hp and weighs over 3500 lbs.
> Once I got the tractor, I bought a barn pole (boom,) but what I really
> needed was a brush hog (rotary cutter.)  That wasn't going to be as easy to
> find.  Turns out these get beat to death before they reach my price range
> around here.  I did find an Alamo SHD74 (6 ft.) flail mower in really good
> shape at auction by a county highway department, and was able to get it for
> $600.  I didn't know if it would be good enough for what I needed, but I
> liked that flails don't shoot dangerous projectiles like rotary cutters do,
> because I worry that kids and dogs will never be very far from where I'm
> working (5 of my 7 kids are still at home, and 2 dogs.)  I suspect I'll
> need
> to get a rotary cutter, too, but the flail was too good a deal to pass up,
> and could be used to keep the land mowed, not just clear it.
>
>
>
> That was all last year, before they even started construction of the new
> house.  I started using the flail, and made a path out back and saw my pond
> for the first time in a couple years.  As I was cutting a separate path
> back, I found a soggy spot - DOH!  Very quickly got stuck.  Though it was
> early December, it wasn't cold enough to keep the ground solid.  I broke
> through and was done for.  My multiple attempts to extract myself all
> failed
> miserably, and the tractor and mower spent the winter in the soup.  Sigh.
>
>
>
> I tried to get it out this spring with an "8000 lb" hand winch from Harbor
> Freight.  I shouldn't have bothered.  The frame started to rack, and the
> little ratchet teeth started digging into the cable, but the tractor didn't
> move AT ALL.  The cable was so tight that in my exhaustion, I could sit
> down
> on it like a bench and it didn't deflect.
>
>
>
> OK then.  Electric winch it is.  I bought a 12000 lb 12v winch from Harbor
> Freight, and mounted it to the front of the tractor.  Wow, that sounds so
> easy, "mounted it to the front of the tractor", HA!  I had to put the winch
> and all the mounting hardware, and the battery drill and other tools, onto
> a
> kids plastic toboggan, and drag it WAY out back, in 90 degree temps and
> over
> 90% humidity.  Just a stroll, really.  I could use windshield wipers on the
> inside of my glasses when I'm doing work like this.  Wow, it really was
> miserable work.  And the toboggan dumped its contents more than once.  How
> fun.
>
>
>
> Once the winch was mounted and wired up, winching it out was as easy as
> hook
> it to that big bush, pull the bush out of the ground (boo,) hook it to a
> medium sized tree a good distance away, and AWAY IT WENT!  You cannot
> imagine (or maybe you can) how satisfying it was to get it unstuck.  I did
> some mowing, but only did about 35 or 40 minutes when the PTO shaft came
> off
> the tractor.  I drove it home and left it for another day.  Ordered a push
> button PTO yoke (sounds simple enough, but first I had to figure out all
> the
> different sizes and types of PTO, and figure out what I needed, and figure
> out where to get one) and a few weeks later I got a hydraulic press to
> install it, then started REALLY clearing land!  It was SO FUN!  And
> exhausting, and filthy dirty, and painful (thorn bushes, anyone?)  I
> "found"
> some old wire fence out there (about 80 minutes with bolt cutters to clear
> that out of the mower.)
>
>
>
> Now, with money going into appliances, furniture, curtains, etc., I am
> scraping together my pennies to save up for more attachments.  I'd like a
> carry all, a rotary cutter, and especially a box blade.  The "back yard"
> of
> the new house needs some smoothing out, and the gravel driveway really
> needs
> some work, too.  One problem I have is I don't have any way to pick up a
> rotary cutter.  I have a large van, but it isn't a full 5 feet between the
> wheel wells, and fitting a 5 footer won't work.  The box blade I just might
> be able to handle, if I can get the seller to load it for me.  Seems like a
> trailer hitch and a trailer will be the most economical answer, but then I
> think about something that can haul the tractor, and that's a whole
> different story (dual axles, ramps, etc.)  Anyone want to volunteer to
> explain that I need this to my wife?
>
>
>
> I joined the list last year, but didn't have time to really keep up, so
> I've
> been going through all the list emails recently and have learned a lot. I'm
> up to about January or February.  Plenty of good reading ahead.
>
>
>
> Scott in Penfield NY
>
>
>
> ---
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>



More information about the AT mailing list