TODAYS SEAT TIME

[Runner]

A little more leaf pickup today. The sweetgum and tulip poplar decided to drop a few more leaves and since it was a small job, I broke out the 185. Since it is basically in retirement, I keep it set up with the bagger
"in case of just such an emergency" (as Foghorn Leghorn might say).

I gave it a little whiff of ether and it popped as soon as I turned the key, even after sitting for months. It runs good, but I was a little surprised it started so easy because it has been having a problem with the interlock for the PTO switch.

You turn the key and nothing. Engage the PTO switch, turn the key and it clicks, then, disengage the PTO switch, turn the key again and it starts. Not sure exactly what part of the system is causing the problem, the PTO safety switch or something else. Sometimes it starts first try, sometimes you have to play with it a little.

Anyway, the bagger has always worked very well on this machine and it just took a few minutes to get it done.

 

[ptsg]

Today's seat time consisted on hauling about 7000 lbs of gravel to make a 20x16 ft pad in front of the storage building so I can park the vehicles there and not get mud all over the interior.

It was about a 9 mile round trip with the way back having a pretty good 20% incline. Tractor had really good workout on this incline as I had to downshift to 1st gear High range for most of it. Pretty sure I could see the fuel gauge dropping. On flat road, it did 4th gear easily.

Weather was great to drive an open station tractor as you can see. Not really.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

We have had two hard frosts so it's time to dig my Cana bulbs. First thing is to rotary cut them close to the ground,

Then I put the pallet forks together on my loader tractor and use them to pry the clumps of bulbs out of the ground. I got my nephew to help me pick them up and put them in pails,

Here's what we ended up with from that row, 24 pails of bulbs.

I store them over winter and replant the row in the spring; it takes about 8 pails to replant.

SR

 

[4570Man]

I changed the hydraulic oil in my skid steer today. I didn’t have a drain pan big enough so my first plan was to pump most of the oil out the aux line which that part worked perfectly. After that i realized that apparently there’s no drain plug so I used a shopvac to suck the remainder of the oil out. Then the filters are mounted in the tank and the access hole is about 5” round. I couldn’t get the suction filter broke loose with such limited access and it looked pretty clean anyway so I reused it.

 

[4570Man]

I unloaded some pallets of rocks with the mini skid steer. The quarry didn’t weigh these but I would guess those pallets are around 2,000 pounds.

 

[BackRoad]

That's a pretty capable machine to be able to move those and not be standing on its nose...!

 

[4570Man]

That's a pretty capable machine to be able to move those and not be standing on its nose...!

I’m impressed with how much the little machine can lift especially for something that weighs 3600 pounds.

 

[tacticalturnip]

I’m impressed with how much the little machine can lift especially for something that weighs 3600 pounds.

It's really cool to see; that thing has got to outlift my tractor.

 

[4570Man]

Here’s another lift test for the mini skid. It’s too tippy to really do much but on flat concrete it was capable of lifting and moving the block. That block weighs 3600 pounds which is the same amount that machine weighs.

 

[LouNY]

That is impressive, my Branson 8050 struggles lifting and moving those. I can stack them 2 high and carry them around but thats about it.

 

[Highlandr]

58° and sunny, so I took a ride out to the rubbish bin by the road with a few bags.

 

[Thomas]

58° and sunny, so I took a ride out to the rubbish bin by the road with a few bags.

Tractor ride always good therapy.

 

[Highlandr]

Tractor ride always good therapy.

Truth.

 

[LouNY]

Well no pictures but moved my sander in and out of the sand shed a couple of times, muddy as all get out.
So spread some fine gravel in the mud and stiffened it up then slicked it down, hitting 31F heading for low 20's.
Maybe it will stay a bit smoother for a while. Using the Branson on the sander and the little Kioti for dressing things up.
I can see that I'm going to have to do something with the work lights on the Kioti, the front facing ones are almost worthless. The rears aren't terrible.

 

[TimberXX]

Very impressive. I rented a diesel toro dingo. I tried to pick up the ass end of my scag Patriot, it struggled.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Well no pictures but moved my sander in and out of the sand shed a couple of times, muddy as all get out.
So spread some fine gravel in the mud and stiffened it up then slicked it down, hitting 31F heading for low 20's.
Maybe it will stay a bit smoother for a while. Using the Branson on the sander and the little Kioti for dressing things up.
I can see that I'm going to have to do something with the work lights on the Kioti, the front facing ones are almost worthless. The rears aren't terrible.

What do you have for a sander Lou ?

We were very lucky - seldom happens. It was 48* and we had plenty of rain. It was just enough to take the packed snow off and expose bare gravel but not enough to soften it at all so we didn't get any mud or ice. Then we got 3/4" of sticky snow as the temperature plummeted to 15* and every thing got covered again. Windy, windy - they said we had 50mph gusts. It was a real chore to get the tractor de-iced this morning and I needed a crowbar to get into my truck.

gg

gg

 

[LouNY]

It's a Highlander Jr. it has a 1 1/2 yard capacity when level full.
I had mine on a pickup for several years and then I trailer mounted it.
What ever I use it with has to be chained up, pickup or tractor. It will push the tractor at times going down the driveway, especially if heaping over full

 

[Gordon Gould]

It's a Highlander Jr. it has a 1 1/2 yard capacity when level full.
I had mine on a pickup for several years and then I trailer mounted it.
What ever I use it with has to be chained up, pickup or tractor. It will push the tractor at times going down the driveway, especially if heaping over full
View attachment 4618574

I like the idea of mounting it on a trailer rather than dedicating a truck to sanding. Do you have an idea of how much you use - like tons or yards per 500 feet. I am thinking about getting one and I am clueless about them.

gg

 

[Molalla1]

I like the idea of mounting it on a trailer rather than dedicating a truck to sanding. Do you have an idea of how much you use - like tons or yards per 500 feet. I am thinking about getting one and I am clueless about them.

gg

I'm also clueless about such . . .

 

[LouNY]

I'm sanding almost a quarter of a mile, doing a light sanding with the gas engine throttled down for a narrow pattern one load will do a decent job. If it's a lot of ice from an ice storm (1/4" or so) I may use a load and half.

The sander holds well over a yard and a half of sand when loaded with a heaping load, with "damp" sand being over 3000 pounds per yard it can be a pain pulling a trailer down or up hill.

With an 11,000# tractor with chains on all four it's not an issue but you sure know it's behind you on hills.

On a chained up truck it was a piece of cake, on the trailer it can get your attention.

This is my third sander, I've rebuilt 2 older steel body sanders. Then I bought this new SS sander 10-12 years ago. I see that there are some smaller 3 point self loading sander available now days.