Lefty7
Silver Member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2012
- Messages
- 153
- Location
- Finger Lakes, upstate NY
- Tractor
- Kubota L3940HSTC, LA724, BH92, RTV-X1100C, 1978 Dodge D100 Adventurer (Sunrise Orange), 2018 Ram 2500 (Omaha Orange)
Not too long ago, I posted my personal introductory titled: Been Without a Tractor for Too Long. After having researched tractors since last year, and especially all through the winter, I could see that the used low-hours units were holding their value well, and that there was no real money to be saved buying 'pre-owned', so we went ahead and ordered one new built up to my spec. Unfortunately, all Kubota pricing had just gone up 4% on Mar. 1, but due to a stroke of luck or the Divine, the local dealer already had a L3940HSTC in stock, and so we slid under the wire of the price increase. Want to extend my thanks to all the good people here who were generous and forthcoming with their knowledge, experience and even photos to help me make decisions with regard to tire selection, valving, the tiller, and various other things.
So on Good Friday, Susan and I took my old orange '78 Dodge pickup Sunrise to the dealership some 20 miles away. By prearrangement, we concluded business and then escorted the rollback delivery truck back to our place. It was a beautiful clear day, and bringing the new tractor home is something we will always remember. Certainly, it was a 'Good Friday' for us.
The salesman and dealer rep, Walt, unloaded the machine and gave me the basic learner's course and various instructions. After he left, we had a quick bite of lunch, and then I headed out to get acquainted with the new orange Kubota. My very first use of the FEL was to lift and turn over the compost pile, at which point a very surprised rat went bunny-hopping away. (I knew there was one down in there that the cats couldn't get at, and its unceremonious eviction really had me laughing.) Well, I could see that, although I had yet to learn the any of the finer points, the front loader was not going to be too difficult. What I needed to get into was the backhoe.
For years, there's been a small part of a rock that just breaks the surface of the ground, and I've hit it with the mower more times than I care to count. The part sticking up about an inch was maybe the size of a coffee cup saucer. It has messed up my mower blades, of course, but one time a few years ago, hitting it actually cracked one the mower deck spindles, and put the machine out of commission for a week or more while I hunted down the parts and then made the repair. I admit to feeling some contempt for this blessed rock, and tried to dig it up by hand once until I realized it was likely too big for that. This thing was near the top of my s**t list, and I figured it would be a good little learner's project for the backhoe. Well, it WAS a good learning project, but not so little, as I found out.
With exactly .9 hours on the tractor, it went to work. I went to the site, stabilized the machine with the downed bucket in front and the outriggers out back, and started to dig. First I found that the offending rock was being held down by another one almost as big. Once that was removed, (and a lot of surrounding soil), I eventually could see that Big Nasty was buried in the ground like a coin standing on edge, and just a wee little bit of the edge had been causing me all the problems. For some time, I continued to dig on all sides of it, but as yet it was not even moving at all. The sun was sinking in the west and there was about 15 min. of daylight left when I got it to move, and soon pulled it up and out of the hole with the hydraulic thumb. The thumb is the greatest, especially to someone with decades of manual work on their well-used hands. I love the way it turns the backhoe bucket into a big hand, to clasp onto things with the power of hydraulics. So at the end of its first day here, I had a 'big hand' - and also gave a standing ovation to the new Kubota. Specs on the rock: 57" long, 43" wide, and 14" thick, weight unknown.
The next day, Sat., I used it to attack another thing that's been a thorn in my side for years. Just at the edge of the garden, behind the kitchen and east of the house, someone buried/installed some sort of water tank many, many years ago. I have yet to figure out exactly what its function was. Originally, I thought it may have been some sort of early septic tank, but instead it had something to do with water supply to the old pre-Civil War farmhouse, and may have been a cistern overflow catch tank. Anyway, the top has always been just under the surface and it's made of a heavy gauge galvanized steel, and I've been hitting it with the TroyBilt tiller, (and paying the price), for years. The previous day's project was good prep, because I ended up digging around this relic, a nice little crater maybe 12' across and almost 6' deep. There were a bunch of old plumbing pipes coming to it, and even though I had dug out on all sides of it, it still wouldn't move. Well, it was nasty windy out and once again the sun was going down, and I had gotten just PO'd enough, I decided I would try to tear it apart using the backhoe and thumb. The top portion was already broken a little, and I would grab onto it and on about the third try, I lifted the whole mess out in one big lump. Boy, I got off the tractor and cheered at that, and my wife came out to see what all the celebration was about. Once I dragged that huge piece of junk out of the way, I used the loader to get some dirt fill I've had laying around, and added it to the hole I before I backfilled and graded it smooth. NOW that part of the garden is ready to be tilled.
I bought pallet forks from the dealer, and have had them on (to move some of these larger rocks over to the dam, as well as to familiarize myself with the quick-attach hookup.) I also bought a very heavy duty Phoenix rototiller by Sicma (from a different source), to till the garden and for other assorted landscaping, ground work and small farming requirements; haven't used this yet. The only other 3-pt. attachment I want soon is a PHD. Guess I finally realized that I was too old and had too much milage on me to get away with doing this kind of s**t by hand anymore.
I didn't work on the Easter Sabbath, but friend George came over while it was sunny and took some pics of the new tractor, a few of which I've attached. Glad he did, 'cuz tractors and other things of this sort are only new once, and this thing's not going to look brandy new - with sticker tires - for very long!
So I give my thanks.
Best to you all.
So on Good Friday, Susan and I took my old orange '78 Dodge pickup Sunrise to the dealership some 20 miles away. By prearrangement, we concluded business and then escorted the rollback delivery truck back to our place. It was a beautiful clear day, and bringing the new tractor home is something we will always remember. Certainly, it was a 'Good Friday' for us.
The salesman and dealer rep, Walt, unloaded the machine and gave me the basic learner's course and various instructions. After he left, we had a quick bite of lunch, and then I headed out to get acquainted with the new orange Kubota. My very first use of the FEL was to lift and turn over the compost pile, at which point a very surprised rat went bunny-hopping away. (I knew there was one down in there that the cats couldn't get at, and its unceremonious eviction really had me laughing.) Well, I could see that, although I had yet to learn the any of the finer points, the front loader was not going to be too difficult. What I needed to get into was the backhoe.
For years, there's been a small part of a rock that just breaks the surface of the ground, and I've hit it with the mower more times than I care to count. The part sticking up about an inch was maybe the size of a coffee cup saucer. It has messed up my mower blades, of course, but one time a few years ago, hitting it actually cracked one the mower deck spindles, and put the machine out of commission for a week or more while I hunted down the parts and then made the repair. I admit to feeling some contempt for this blessed rock, and tried to dig it up by hand once until I realized it was likely too big for that. This thing was near the top of my s**t list, and I figured it would be a good little learner's project for the backhoe. Well, it WAS a good learning project, but not so little, as I found out.
With exactly .9 hours on the tractor, it went to work. I went to the site, stabilized the machine with the downed bucket in front and the outriggers out back, and started to dig. First I found that the offending rock was being held down by another one almost as big. Once that was removed, (and a lot of surrounding soil), I eventually could see that Big Nasty was buried in the ground like a coin standing on edge, and just a wee little bit of the edge had been causing me all the problems. For some time, I continued to dig on all sides of it, but as yet it was not even moving at all. The sun was sinking in the west and there was about 15 min. of daylight left when I got it to move, and soon pulled it up and out of the hole with the hydraulic thumb. The thumb is the greatest, especially to someone with decades of manual work on their well-used hands. I love the way it turns the backhoe bucket into a big hand, to clasp onto things with the power of hydraulics. So at the end of its first day here, I had a 'big hand' - and also gave a standing ovation to the new Kubota. Specs on the rock: 57" long, 43" wide, and 14" thick, weight unknown.
The next day, Sat., I used it to attack another thing that's been a thorn in my side for years. Just at the edge of the garden, behind the kitchen and east of the house, someone buried/installed some sort of water tank many, many years ago. I have yet to figure out exactly what its function was. Originally, I thought it may have been some sort of early septic tank, but instead it had something to do with water supply to the old pre-Civil War farmhouse, and may have been a cistern overflow catch tank. Anyway, the top has always been just under the surface and it's made of a heavy gauge galvanized steel, and I've been hitting it with the TroyBilt tiller, (and paying the price), for years. The previous day's project was good prep, because I ended up digging around this relic, a nice little crater maybe 12' across and almost 6' deep. There were a bunch of old plumbing pipes coming to it, and even though I had dug out on all sides of it, it still wouldn't move. Well, it was nasty windy out and once again the sun was going down, and I had gotten just PO'd enough, I decided I would try to tear it apart using the backhoe and thumb. The top portion was already broken a little, and I would grab onto it and on about the third try, I lifted the whole mess out in one big lump. Boy, I got off the tractor and cheered at that, and my wife came out to see what all the celebration was about. Once I dragged that huge piece of junk out of the way, I used the loader to get some dirt fill I've had laying around, and added it to the hole I before I backfilled and graded it smooth. NOW that part of the garden is ready to be tilled.
I bought pallet forks from the dealer, and have had them on (to move some of these larger rocks over to the dam, as well as to familiarize myself with the quick-attach hookup.) I also bought a very heavy duty Phoenix rototiller by Sicma (from a different source), to till the garden and for other assorted landscaping, ground work and small farming requirements; haven't used this yet. The only other 3-pt. attachment I want soon is a PHD. Guess I finally realized that I was too old and had too much milage on me to get away with doing this kind of s**t by hand anymore.
I didn't work on the Easter Sabbath, but friend George came over while it was sunny and took some pics of the new tractor, a few of which I've attached. Glad he did, 'cuz tractors and other things of this sort are only new once, and this thing's not going to look brandy new - with sticker tires - for very long!
So I give my thanks.
Best to you all.
I fudged your measurements a bit to compensate for roundness.
