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

Sat Sep 17 04:28:08 PDT 2016

In your part of the USA, a shed is definitely a necessity for a 
tractor.   There is just too many places for water to get into, and the 
condensation is terrible.

Cecil in OKla

On 9/17/2016 12:46 AM, Scott Williams wrote:
> After leaving my machine stuck out in a mud pit all last winter, I totally
> get needing 4wd.  My little 135 is a lot of bang for my buck, though.  I've
> seen no equivalent 4wd machine for even twice the price.  I'm very pleased
> to have it working again, and feel much better with clean, dry oil in the
> trans.
>
> Time to make room in the old garage, so I can keep it dry this winter.
>
> Scott in Penfield NY
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
> [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Mike M
> Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2016 1:05 AM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Subject: Re: [AT] Proper introduction? (Long''')
>
> Scott, welcome to the list. I had a MF 255 that was a great tractor.
> Only reason I got rid of it was I needed 4wd. If I'm not mistaken there is a
> filter screen accessible from the bottom of the tractor when the fluid is
> emptied. It's a small mesh tube that needs to be cleaned. If you neglected
> to clean this screen it could be adding to your problems.
> I see you put the Traveller brand universal fluid in the transmission, that
> should work fine. If you need to drop the fluid again and clean the screen
> it's really not that big of a deal, just get a couple clean containers to
> put the fluid into.  Hope this helps.
>
> Mike M
>
>
> On 9/16/2016 10:54 PM, Scott Williams wrote:
>> I seldom see things on Auction Time that are near enough to me.  Right
>> now there is a really nice back blade on there - in Indiana.  One of
>> the really big auction sites locally is AuctionsInternational.com.
>> Lots of government entities, a few businesses, not much else.
>> Auctions in NY, some PA, some farther east (Vermont, New Hampshire,
>> Massachusetts.)  The government stuff can be great.  I really like how
>> they don't usually put reserve prices on anything - hey, it isn't
>> their money!  That's where I found my Alamo flail, sitting unused
>> behind a neighboring county's highway department.  They mostly use
>> offset flails and the hydraulic wing flails, so this basic unit was
>> surplus.  I keep my eye out on that site for flatbed trailers, other
> implements, etc.  Sometimes things sell quite low there, but not always.
>> There are a few local auction house websites that I watch pretty
>> regularly, too.
>>
>> Someone mentioned the farm auctions.  There are a couple big farm
>> consignment auctions coming up, but I don't see any box blades listed.
>> I suspect that prices would be best at auctions that are live-only (no
>> "online
>> bidding") because then the pool of bidders is limited to the guys
>> standing around the lot.  If what you want comes up later in the day,
>> there may not be that many people left when it sells.  But you have
>> to drive a couple hours or more, and stand around, just to find out if
>> prices are any good or not.  It has been a long time since I've been
>> to a live auction.  I always felt a little intimidated by them (get
>> your number, remember the buyer's premium, etc.)
>>
>> There's a guy almost two hours from me selling a Woods box blade (not
>> super heavy duty) for $750.  I've seen really heavy duty ones sell for
>> a lot less than that, but right now I'm not seeing anything else
>> available.  I'm thinking of offering him $500 and see what happens.  I
> can't go over $600.
>> I can wait and see if a better deal comes up at a farm auction, but
>> I'd really like to get one before winter hits.  This "gravel" driveway
>> of ours will be a mud pit if I can't turn it with a blade.  I think it
>> will be easier to do before it gets really wet, too (says the guy
>> who's never done it before.)
>>
>> Scott in Penfield NY
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
>> [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Tyler
>> Juranek
>> Sent: Friday, September 16, 2016 9:22 PM
>> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
>> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>> Subject: Re: [AT] Proper introduction? (Long''')
>>
>> 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
>>>
>>>
>>>
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