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I've got a JD4300 with a JD 550 tiller. I was tilling the other day, and at the end of one pass I raised the tiller and suddenly the entire tractor began to shake badly. I mean so badly the rear fenders were flapping. I immediately idled down and disengaged the tiller, looked carefully...

This isn't strictly tractor-related, but I've heard of similar problems with tractors.. so perhaps it's close enough.. I changed to my summer tires over the weekend, and didn't drive my car until this morning.. about 16 miles to work. I went out at lunch, and found a strange thumping feeling...

R4\'s on the highway I've seen a lot of posts talking about R1's wearing out quickly on the road, in comparison to R4's. My question is, how bad is highway travel for R4's? My wife keeps getting me into these situations where I have to drive 10 miles each way to till a friend's gardens...

Bird, you okay?? Bob

A family story Hi friends, new and old. It's been a while since I've been around here.. some of you may remember me, some not. But a couple of folks have sent me private notes asking if I'm still incarnate, and I thought I would share what we've been through over the last .. hmm .. how long...

Howdy, My next door neighbor bought a new GT235 about a year ago. I know this isn't a forum for Garden tractors, but perhaps it's a general enough question that it isn't too far O.T. Here is what he just wrote to me: </font><font color="blue" class="small">( I made a huge mistake last night...

Does anybody here have much experience with selling implements they no longer need/use? My only trip to eBay, a couple years ago, resulted in such a flurry of spam that I left in disgust and never went back. I do have a friend who loves eBay, however, and who has offered to handle selling...

I wonder if anyone here can offer hints on routine maint of a JD272 rear finish mower? Mine came on a JD4300, MY 2000. It's about due for maint, given the estimated hours on it and given the squeak I now hear sometimes where mowing. Okay, first step.. consult manual. It says to remove the...

For those of us who've used computers for years, SpinRite has always been the tool of choice for hard drive maintenance and emergency data recovery. It's been out for 16 years or so, and has never had an equal. Unfortunately, it was never able to run on NTFS or Linux drives.. until now. It's...

Weird, everything was working just fine.. I did some work without an implement attached, pulling railroad ties with a chain, let it sit for a few hours until the rain stopped, then went out to hook up my rear dirt scoop. Attached the scoop, tried to lift it, and nothing at all happened. Tried...

Young lady's Chernobyl Story You folks might enjoy, if that is the correct word, this fascinating journey through the area surrounding Chernobyl.. by a young Russian lady. I wish my Russian were half as good as her English. She's a biker, and takes rides through that area on her Kawasaki...

I believe this story will be of interest to most folks here. It's tangentially on-topic, in that it deals with business ethics, management, and computers ... which of course all of us here use; and we all certainly have to deal with business ethics (witness the current thread about the problems...

I posted on this a while back, but have new data.. and I'm wondering if anyone can shed light.. My JD4300 with front blade instead of FEL began showing some signs of minor problems.. the SCV lever was sticking to the side rather than returning to center. I decided to have the dealer take a...

Implements section of user\'s profile Did this section of the profile get shortened? I remember I had mine all set at one point, but it's now been truncated. There is another thread going on about the importance of keeping the profile up-to-date, so I went and made sure mine was okay. I...

Someone in another thread mentioned putting a glove over the SCV whenever there was something in the loader he didn't want to lose. Great idea. Something I do is hang the power cords for the engine and hydraulic heaters over my forward/reverse lever (SyncReverser.. ), so it's impossible to...

It's been such a strange winter here near Rochester, NY.. there's no grass to mow, no snow to plow, nothing really to do with the tractor.. so poor Jez just sits out in the unheated pole barn waiting. I was wondering about putting a battery charger on it from time to time. It's a JD4300, so...

Weird thing.. I had the dealer take my tractor a while back to make sure everything was okay. I'm new at this, and do my servicing myself, but wanted them to just check it over, install the non-fogging instrument panel glass (JD 4300), and do whatever it needed. On return, the front blade...

One thing I always notice is that the check box for "Add this thread to my favorites" is always unchecked, even when I have previously added the thread to my favorites. So, in a long back-and-forth type of exchange, I always find myself re-adding the thread, just in case not doing so would...

A friend just made me a 55-gallon drum full of rebar and cement, with a rod through it for the lower lift arms, and welded on a couple of bars with holes in them for the pin for the top link. So, what I'll have is a very heavy rear weight to hook on when plowing snow, etc. The problem is, I...

I had some time to kill the other day, so wrote a web page about basic security while running on the Internet. Maybe it will be of some use to someone, or, more likely, maybe someone will have some suggestions to correct errors, etc. If anyone is interested...

I had the dealer pick up my JD4300 the other day for routine maint.. it had about 300 hours, but most of those were from running the generator during the ice storm. I had done routine maint, but wanted a pro to check it over and make sure I wasn't missing something critical. When it comes...

I was just reading the thread about how fast people mow, and it occurred to me to wonder.. is it essential to run the finish mower at full PTO speed if you can get a decent cut at a lower RPM without overheating or lugging the engine? (Whew.. taking deep breath.. that was a long sentence. )...

I just installed a trial version of ZoneAlarm Pro, which includes all kinds of spiffy features like the ability to block and/or alert you to various aspects of web pages. When I come to this site, the "Privacy Advisor" pops up and tells me that it has blocked "Third Party Cookies", "Web Bugs"...

For folks who are interested in computer security, the recent worm attacks, etc., I highly recommend this page: http://grc.com/dcom/ It's in beta 2.. my guess is that nothing will change before release, except perhaps Steve will expand on the web page description of the new *free* utility...

I stopped in to a bar on the way home last night, and got to chatting with some local farmers. They all seemed to agree about one thing.. for the average non-farmer type of person, it's cheaper and easier to simply buy food than it is to grow it yourself. I told them about our 2.5 acres, or...

KK 30\" dirt scoop hits JD4300 tires Anyone run into this problem? I have a King Kutter 30" dirt scoop, which I love.. but I hadn't ever used it in the forward position until the other day... and I discovered it hits the rear tires when raised. The King Kutter people suggested maybe longer...

My wife used to travel a lot, and one thing she keeps noting is how well the Autobahn works. Right lane for slowpokes and trucks, second lane only for passing of the above. The rest of the lanes are free for all.. but people are very considerate and don't hog the left lanes. Very low accident...

This weekend I found out a few things I didn't know before. The first was that it's apparently wise to keep 3pt hitch implements aligned so that the PTO shaft is a straight as possible. I found vibrations in my PTO generator that bothered me, but using a 2x4 under the generator to align it...

Just wanted to apologize for not responding to some posts.. my home machine blew up and lately I've been on the road each day at work.. no time to log in and chat. When I get some time I'll start diagnosing the home machine.. it's shows lights on cpu and monitor, but nothing else. Time to...

I think I finally have the CFO talked into letting me swap from front blade for a FEL and rear blade combination. I initially got the tractor on a JD loan.. x amount / month. The dealer told me once he'd give me $1500 in trade for the blade toward the FEL.. and I'm wondering now if that could...

types of grease guns.. what\'s easiest? After pondering a bit, I thought this was probably the appropriate forum for this question.. sorry if I mis-judged.. Let me start by asking Muhamad if he would consider adding "Idiot Member" to his list of titles? If so, please change mine. I was...

I hope this isn't too far off-topic, but I know lots of you have rear wheel drive vehicles.. and I don't know a better place to get advice. I'm getting a RWD car on Tuesday, and I have a bit of a dilemma. Really, to deal with Rochester, NY type weather, I'm sure I would be best off with snow...

I have a JD 724 snowblower that gets used rarely.. I have the gas treated, etc. But I'm wondering if it's wise to turn off the fuel valve and let the engine simply run out of gas when I shut it down? Does this do much good, or does it possibly do any harm? Thanks, Bob

I'm not a survivalist type, but it does seem to me that there's a significant possibility of problems in the future.. ranging from extended power outages, to droughts, lack of ability to get food, and so on. We know the "terrorists" would love to down our power grid, or perhaps poison our...

Jeez, it's been too long since I've posted an attached jpg or gif here. I can no longer remember how to do it.. and the FAQ mentions a field when editing the post which allows you to pick a file to upload ... only I don't seem to have that field anymore. I have the "I want to preview my post...

I think I've read about all the posts on the board (a lot of them) about PTO generators. So I went to the Northern Tool site and starting seeing about putting together a system.. and boy did I get lost in a hurry. I found a 12,000 watt generator for $1900, that looks like it would be enough...

I keep toying with the idea of a diesel pickup.. but I wonder.. Do you have to treat them the same as a diesel tractor? Do you need engine heaters? Do you need to let them warm up for 15 minutes before you go anywhere? I would assume a diesel is a diesel? Tks, Bob

I'm setting up my JD4300 4WD for snowplowing, and it occurred to me to wonder.. should a tractor normally have as close to a 50/50 balance of weight from front to rear as possible? I have a blade on the front, and a dirt scoop with a few sand tubes on the back. I'm wondering.. do I want a...

I hope this is the right forum for this.. I wasn't sure between this and owning/operating one... I just got a card saying my 4300 warranty was about to expire, and offering either a $220 plan or a $280 plan for an additional two years of warranty. The more expensive plan doesn't require a $25...

Probably a dumb idea, but could this work? I have a JD272 rear finish mower, and from time to time I wish I had a bush hog of some kind. Then I got to thinking (ut oh!) and said hmm, I wonder if I could put some bush hog blades on this deck and use it for light stuff.. like saplings, etc...

Anybody heard anything from Mark lately? Hope he's okay. Can't wait to see what mods he's made to that beast of his lately! Bob

Someone over on the Lawn and Garden Tractor forum pointed me to a good article about torque and horsepower, but I have to confess that I'm still not clear about the relationship. Here's the article: <A target="_blank" HREF=http://vettenet.org/torquehp.html>http://vettenet.org/torquehp.html</A>...

I'm wondering if it might be possible to be notified by email whenever anyone posts to a thread which I have started. Does that make sense? In other words, I begin a thread on X. I follow the thread until it seems to die out, but then a few weeks/months later someone comes along and adds...

Okay, I know this is a trivial complaint, but why did Deere choose the shift pattern they did for manual tranny tractors? I always have to stop and think when changing gears. Let's see, 1st is left and back, 2nd is left and forward, then 3rd is right and forward, and 4th is right and back. So...

I just found a nice little Coleman Cut-Off Tool which I thought would be handy for those times when the tiller picks up tough vines or wire and wraps it up tight. Just go in with this and cut the stuff out of there. I think I can also put a small grinder wheel on it for sharpening blades.. but...

I wonder if I'm doing something wrong. I just used my front blade to cut a path for my wife out to the garden. 4wd engaged, and pushing as much as I could. When it would start spinning, I'd raise the blade a tiny bit to get moving again, and then feather it back down. During all of this, I was...

What do most people do with the old corn stalks in the garden when the season is over? If I had a bottom plow, I suppose I could just plow them under and let them decompose during the winter. But lacking that, I figured they would just get all wrapped up in my tiller next year, so instead I...

I've been looking around on the net for an overrunning clutch for my JD 4300 PTO shaft, and all I can seem to find are ones for 1 3/8 inch shafts. Is this the right size for my PTO? I've looked through all my manuals, and darned if I can find any mention of the shaft size. I'm hoping this...

Now that DDT is no longer being used, or so I gather, it seems that we will be needing something else which is really effective against mosquitos and other blood-sucking insects. Anyone know of anything that works well? The various "vector-born" (spread by blood-sucking insects) diseases seem...

A beginner\'s learning curve I was helping a buddy move a few tons of top soil the other day, using my rear dirt scoop, and I had a good learning experience. Normally, I set my engine speed with the hand throttle, and then do my work. What I found during this job is that it's much more...

I have a problem.. I don't have a single flat surface on my entire property (if I do it's just by chance and I don't know where it is. ) What's the best way to set up a rear mower (JD4300 with JD272 rear finish mower)? I really mean it.. there is nothing level on our land. All I've been able...

I visited the Deere web site the other day, and was surprised to see that the 4300 was still being sold alongside the 4310, etc. Is there an advantage to the older ones that some people find important, or is Deere just in the process of re-doing their site? Thanks, Bob

I\'m an idiot Was "helping" my friend get his lawn mowed quickly the other day.. and got careless. Somehow I backed my rear finish mower up near his above-ground swimming pool, and when I pulled away I heard this awful crunching sound! oopsey! Somehow I must have turned enough to let the...

We are leaving for vacation in a few days, and there is so much that needs to be done. One of the big ones is that I need to go around with the dirt scoop and collect up all the rocks that have surfaced since I tilled the gardens and since the bulldozer put in a new driveway for us and pushed...

I wish I had my manual here, because I can't remember the technical name of these things. They are on the lower 3pt hitch arms of my JD 4300, and can be set to rigid or floating. They suggest floating for ground-engaging implements, and rigid for others. I'm not sure I understand the whole...

I have a JD 4300 that just turned over its 50 hours, so I did the 50 hour service on it myself at the recommendation of the dealer. One odd thing was that they recommended straight 30-weight oil for summer use. I went ahead and took their advice, but now I'm having second thoughts. People...

This is going to be controversial, and I want to preface this by saying that what I'm about to talk about is almost certainly a dumb idea.. please, nobody try this at home!! I was hooking up my finish mower the other day, and the PTO shaft wouldn't slip into place. What I finally did was leave...