Big wheel string trimmers

[bigpete]

J,

This may be "out of school" for you, but have you considered finding a good used Gravely two-wheel tractor? Those bad-boys were the Swiss Army knife of any serious gardener and estate rancher from the 30's to the 70's. I think they made every conceivable attachment and you might even find that flame thrower you were musing about earlier. There are tales of the awesome power of those things such as stripping the bark off trees at thirty yards while snowblowing a gravel driveway.

Here are a couple of good-looking old "L" series, one with a finish mower and one with a brush hog attachment that would probably scare saplings and scrub so badly they wouldn't even consider germination--just park it near your lagoon for preemergent protection.

Have fun

 

[Bird]

Yep, Harv, I've definitely worked mine and it's held up as well as could be expected; maybe better. I've had to replace the drive belt (twice), but it was probably my fault for running over something that got pulleys out of line, and last summer I replaced the idler pulley because the bearing was getting some slack in it. I called and ordered a belt and pulley at the same time, but the other time I needed a belt, when I called, the lady told me she could send one, or. . . and she gave me the Gates belt number to just buy it at the local parts house.

And I've used a little of that 155 line you have on yours, but not much. It's great for heavy work, but you'll sure take all the bark off the trees you trim around if you aren't careful. I use a lot of the 130 line and for trimming just grass in the yard and around the house, I frequently just use 105 line. I also cut my line an inch longer than the manufacturer recommendations; don't have to change it quite as often./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[TresCrows]

Those are nice looking units similar to a number of walk behind trail cutters and brush cutter on the market today at fairly high price. I have never seen a Gravely, I think those must be regionaly popular. Unfortunately, me and used equipment do not fair well together, back home I just kicked relunctant machinery down the hill and then let the Spring rise from the river sweep it away, here it just lays about rusting.
J

 

[bigpete]

Gravelys were originally built in North Carolina, I think. Ariens bought the company out in the 1980s. Gravelys are still manufactured, some models are still built on the original design model.

The Pro two-wheeler is still around.
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.gravely.com/RPro2/>http://www.gravely.com/RPro2/</A>

 

[RonL]

bigpete

First off, excellent pictures, excellent machines. Now some questions. Is the brush hog attachment still available? Is Ariens pushing the Gravely 2 wheel tractor? I went to a gravely dealer two years ago and it was as if I was bothering him asking about the two wheel tractors.

RonL

 

[Thomas]

Whats the piece of equipment to right of the photo..a small dozer. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

 

[s1120]

Those are some nice looking units. Are they yours? I have been looking for an old fix it up walk behind for a wile. First I love to fix old stuff, secound is that they will be a LOT cheeper then the DR's.

 

[bigpete]

Unfortunately, those L's are not mine. I have been sniffing around for a two-wheeler as a second-string member of my foliage assault team. I saved those photos from another club a long time ago.

Gravely does still offer the brush hog attachment. You can see the full line and most attachments at their website.

If you manage to find an old L series, I know they made a few models of brush hogs, sickle bar attachments, and even a 30" horizontal circular saw--one mean looking liability lawsuit waiting to happen. Of course I want one. I have even seen these units with log splitter, generators, pumps, you name it. A lot of guys put duals on the back and I have also seen some with tracks (I don't think that is what is off the margin of the above photo, though)

There are several dealers in my area that carry the Gravely line, but I use the terem "carry" kinda' loosely. I have only seen a couple of two-wheeles and Pro G four-wheelers over the last four years. I think anytime a dealer carries a line like this their margins are tighter and they are less willing to tie up precious capital in what they believe is a slow mover. I will say that Gravely is one of the lines that I would still feel comfortable buying a unit sight unseen by specs only.

If you are looking seriously there is a Yahoo club dedicated to tech talk and another dedicated to classified ads.

Regards,
Pete

 

[fractal]

I really like my sears 4 1/2 hp string trimmer. I bought it last year after I spent 8 hrs with a ryobi 31 cc trimmer doing the weeds on our hill. I spent 1 1/2 hrs with the sears doing the same job with equal size weeds this yr. My only complaint with the sears is the strings tend to break if you get into 1 inch material (or a tomato cage ...). They take 30 seconds to replace but you have to stop the motor, tilt it over and replace them. Then again, the "auto feed" on the ryobi is a joke and the string is always breaking off inside the hub and ...

There is no doubt that a bush hog is a better tool for large flat areas or that a powered wheel tool would be better for open areas on a slope where you can't (don't want to) take a tractor. I like the light weight sears for the perimeter of my avocado orchard on a hill that is too steep for the power wheel trimmers with small plateus of weeds that a hand held string trimmer worked too hard at and a fixed blade lawn mower was inapropriate due to rough ground.

Each tool has its own place around these parts.