Recent content by mlmartin

Well , I went out to the tractor and started it up to take pictures. Wouldn't you know it, the problem is gone. I guess it could have been air in the hydraulics, but it's fine now. Thanks for your reply. If it happens again I'll be sure to take some pictures.

Retired computer consultant

I'm resurrecting a much used and neglected JD 8b for my JD 870 CUT. I have a complete set of new high pressure hydraulic hoses and I have already replaced the bucket cylinder. I have been googling for instructions for adjusting the slack in the swing chain and found nothing. Can someone please...

From time to time I re-read my JD 870's operator's manual. I pick out more things of interest when I re-read it after reading posts here. It's sort of a continuing education effort In the fuel specifications it says: "Important: Use fuel with less than 1.0 per cent sulfer. If possible, use...

... and tight turns. No harm was done, but I thought I'd share my experience. My chain harrow's drag bar isn't very far behind my rear tires. On tight turns it can (and did) touch the tires and get pulled up under the fender. I was moving slowly, and watching to the rear and was able to stop...

I converted a small (1 foot deep, two feet wide) meandering drainage ditch into a straight, 200 foot long, 1 1/2 foot deep, 12 foot wide swale. It took about five hours of tractor time, mostly with the box blade. Perhaps the USGS maps will reflect the change after the next survey. The old ditch...

PHD, it\'s care and use? Mostly use, really. I got pretty discouraged fencing in my new paddock using my brandy new PHD. The four posts facing the house (the ones with the highest aesthetic value) were killers. It took two days to place them. The first (why is it always the first) hole was...

Yesterday I was once again prevented from getting any tractor time due to a flat front tire. This is the fourth since I got the tractor in the spring My local tractor dealer is getting a firm quote from the Arnco dealer for filling both 25 8.50X14 tires with low deflection material. If it's...

While I know that nothing succeeds like excess, just how many hydarulic valves does a compact tractor really need? It makes sense that there wouild be valves for front mounted implements (FEL, snowplows etc) and rear valves (TNT, snowblower chute etc). My 870 has the standard Deere FEL control...

Just as I was going to get the camera, too. I was about to take a picture of my JD 870 with a 7 foot long granite billet hanging on two chains from the FEL. I was placing it in front of the front barn door. I heard a loud hissing and observed a very flat tire on the right front. The air was...

My 8 foot wide chain harrow has arrived. When I was researching chain harrows I saw that you could buy 3ph lifting frames for them, but they were quite expensive. Since I have a post hole digger, I thought I would attempt to build a lifter using the PHD frame and boom. I did a search of the...

In the course of building our barn the contractor really tore up a section of our pasture. Two sections that together total about 1/3 of an acre had ruts in the topsoil. The ruts were generally a foot deep and the deepest were about two feet. He was lucky his material handler had 2 foot 4 inch...

I have a JD 870 and a two acre pasture that needs maintenance. I've been thinking of getting a chain harrow to dethatch and spread horse manure. I know nearly nothing about them. On another thread someone made a reference to www.countrymfg.com. I wandered over to that website and found an...

No harm done, but I thought I would share my experience. I was using my FEL (JD 440 on a JD 870) to enlarge a half swale that I had cut a few feet too short. I was digging into the exposed embankment with the corner of the FEL bucket. Things were going pretty well and I got into a rhythm (that...

A long (two weeks) story, made shorter, but no sadder. I had to refuse the shipment of my new attachments today. They were a 5 1/2' box blade, a post hole digger w/9" auger and a 6' rotary cutter (a total of 1300#). They were to have been delivered sitting as close to the tailgate as possible...