[AT] My MF135 at work

Cecil Bearden crbearden at copper.net
Sun Sep 18 06:24:48 PDT 2016


I have been to Snowflake AZ.  It is nice country.   OK is not quite as 
far away and still has some rights for landowners.  We don't have the 
high property taxes that KS and TX do.

Cecil in OKla


On 9/18/2016 1:33 AM, Scott Williams wrote:
> No, we're pretty much considered the suburbs here.
>
> If you have 5 acres you can burn a brush pile, as far as I know - I see the bigger farms do it all the time.  Under 5, you need a permit to toast marshmallows over an open flame.  This year was so dry that I drove my tractor across the bed of my pond, and there wasn't even any mud to sink into.  I haven't heard of anyone being allowed to do a controlled burn, anywhere around here, for many years.
> And now you've got me started.  Grrr.
>
> When we bought this property, the deed said 5.17 acres.  That is good, because if you have 5 or more acres, you have advantages.  You can put up any type of fence you want.  Below 5, you have to do the "nice" fence, with the nice side facing the neighbors.  You can have any size outbuilding you want, provided it isn't too close to the lot lines or over some percentage of the lot acreage.  Under 5, you can build a "shed" of a predetermined size (and not a very good size, at that.)
>
> A couple weeks after our house fire, a freak heavy snow came in mid-November, and collapsed our 36x60 barn.  The barn was in rough shape, so no huge surprise, really. But when we wanted to put the house near the barn site, and build a new barn somewhere else, we learned we couldn't.  Why not?  Because at some point in 2002, the state had confiscated the part of our land that contained the right-of-way for the road.  We no longer owned from the center of  the road, and our lot was now 4.9 acres.  No notification at the time, either.  Just, "you'll need a variance to build a barn."  The town was very helpful, and gave us our variance, but that's not the point.  The point is that now, I'll have to go hat in hand to a zoning board meeting any time I want to do something that any suburbanite isn't allowed to do, and ask for a variance.  And they'll put up a sign on my property, so any neighbor can say whatever they think about whatever it is I'm interested in doing.  My wife is v!
>   ery friendly with all the people at the town, so things tend to go our way, but I *hate* having to ask permission!
>
> Turns out we won't have money for a barn, but we'll be keeping the garage and family room from the burned house, as "my" garage and wood-heated shop (the family room has a wood stove and brick chimney.)  Better than nothing, but not enough for everything I want to do.  And not something that would be allowed, except that we have our "variance" already.
>
> Our annual tax bill for our home (which is property plus school taxes) was $3500 pre-fire.  I'm told I can expect it to go up to between $8000 and $10000 with our "new" (smaller) house.  My plan with this tractor and flail mower is to get the land cleared enough that it can be maintained with a zero-turn mower.  This "park-like" back yard will help us to sell our brand new house.  I cannot afford to pay that kind of money for the privilege of being told what to do on my land.  We're looking at homes in a little town called Snowflake Arizona, where most houses pay less than $1000/year taxes, and you don't melt from the humidity every time it gets above 80 degrees.  Oh, and they (government types) actually understand whose land it is (well, more than in NY.)
>
> Sorry, I tend to vent at the slightest provocation these days.  I can't believe that I have to leave my dad and my older brother behind and move away from here, just because I'm not rich enough to keep up with New York's runaway taxes.
>
> 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 Len Rugen
> Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2016 11:00 PM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Subject: Re: [AT] My MF135 at work
>
> I cleared off about 35 acres a few years back with a match, about 3 acres more than I intended :-) It was a field bounded on 2 sides by a good sized creek, one side by a swampy drainage ditch and we had mowed thr 4th side and picked a day when the wind was from that side.  The 2 sides by the creek have a timber and brush buffer that ranges from a few to maybe 20 yards.  I'd burned off the field most falls for a few years and the fire had always stopped at the brush drip line, this year was a little drier and it sure cleaned up the buffer! In this area, "forest fires" usually won't kill much standing timber, if it's much over 1-2", it will survive. Could you mow fire breaks and do some controlled burns?
>
> Len Rugen
>
> rugenl at yahoo.com
>
>
>   
>
>      On Saturday, September 17, 2016 9:48 PM, Cecil Bearden <crbearden at copper.net> wrote:
>   
>
>   All States Ag Parts has a bumper to mount on the axle of the 35 and 135 tractors to push the brush away from the radiator.
> https://www.tractorpartsasap.com/Bumper-Red-p/104060.htm     If you have a welder or access to one,  Weld a frame  to the bumper and then cover it with some heavy expanded metal.  I used to check out he steel scrap yards in OKC every week, and accumulated a lot of this stuff.  I would think there are places like that in NY.  If you don't know how to weld, you really need to learn if you want to play with these toys. After a few years you will be able to repair anything with scrap.
>
> I also looked at their listings on hydraulic parts and found a strainer like I was talking about earlier.
> https://www.tractorpartsasap.com/massey-ferguson-135-hydraulics-s/41451.htm
>
> Cecil in OKla
>
>
> On 9/17/2016 8:29 PM, Scott Williams wrote:
>> I do keep an eye on the grill area, I know all the flyaway organic
>> fluff can clog the intake, and I do keep an eye on the temp gauge.
>> Today I overdid it, and something punched a hole through the grill and into the radiator.
>> Now I'll have to get that fixed or replace it.  I'm not just mowing
>> the lawn here, though, so I'm not too surprised or upset.  This is
>> rougher going than the video I posted, because I'm getting into more
>> of the bushes and fallen trees (hence the punched radiator.)
>>
>> I'm getting to a point where I need to go in with my chainsaws and
>> take out some of the smaller trees to open up the area around the
>> pond, so I can get the tractor in between the bigger trees to do some clearing.
>>
>> 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 Bo Hinch
>> Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2016 10:51 AM
>> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
>> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>> Subject: Re: [AT] My MF135 at work
>>
>> Be sure and keep your radiator / grill clean . It is this kind of a
>> job where you can ruin an engine pretty quick if not paying attention
>> to you temp. gauge . Looks to me like you are doing one hell-of-a good job .
>>
>> On Fri, Sep 16, 2016 at 2:38 PM, <vschwartz1 at comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Scott;
>>> I have seen some tough mowing in my time but I have never done any
>>> mowing that would even remotely compare to what you have accomplished
>>> here. All I can say is that you and your little 135 done good. I was
>>> going to tell you to watch your engine temperature gauge but I do not
>>> think that it's necessary now.
>>> I once pulled 6/16 inch bottoms plowing in a field in the Missouri
>>> River bottoms. A field that had weeds so tall I could not see over
>>> them standing on the Fender of an 856 International. We had to stop
>>> at the end of each row to clean the bugs off the radiator. I thought
>>> that was tough but it don't compare to what you just did.
>>> Thank you for the video, I would have had trouble believing it.
>>> Gil
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>
>>> From: "Scott Williams" <swillia5 at rochester.rr.com>
>>> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
>>> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com
>>> Sent: Friday, September 16, 2016 1:47:34 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [AT] My MF135 at work
>>>
>>> Here's a picture from last week looking towards the area where the
>>> video was taken, no more tall grass and brush.
>>>
>>> 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 Scott
>>> Williams
>>> Sent: Friday, September 16, 2016 2:29 PM
>>> To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
>>> Subject: [AT] My MF135 at work
>>>
>>> A few weeks ago, I was so happy to finally have my tractor un-stuck
>>> and clearing brush, so I took some video. You REALLY couldn't walk
>>> through some of this terrain without a machete. Also, the "grass" was
>>> so tall, that I would lose my sense of direction when I got into it,
>>> and began to feel claustrophobic. Only the sound of the road let me
>>> know
>> which way was out.
>>> I have literally gone in circles out there before, trying to find a
>>> "shortcut" to my stuck tractor.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Let me apologize for the shaky camera work in this video. I have ET
>>> (Essential Tremor) so my camera work is less than stellar. I could
>>> probably have edited out half of it, but I don't have time or
>>> patience for editing video these days, so I posted it as-is. The
>>> going got sort of rough here and there, causing me to lose focus on
>>> the camera (and annoyingly letting my finger drop into the frame here
>>> and there.) After viewing it, I realized that the camera was looking
>>> where I was looking - and that's not always where a viewer would want me to look.
>>> I look down to see if I'm about to run over a rock, not up to see
>>> where I'm going. So, when I watched the video, I kept "wishing" I'd
>>> raise the camera to look at the path ahead. If you watch, you'll wish
>>> that too, LOL. Also, when I took the video, I thought I had a piece
>>> of wood stuck in the flail making a lot of noise.
>>> Later inspection showed that a cotter pin had come out, and allowed
>>> the flail knives to move out too far, hitting the housing (and making
>>> NOISE.) I have since replaced all the cotters and knife holders with
>>> bolts - when I did it I found that about half were missing the cotters.
>> ROUGH MOWING!
>>>
>>> Anyway, here's the link to the video. https://youtu.be/zzrjLiJ1aQU
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Scott in Penfield NY
>>>
>>>
>>>
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