Have any implement purchase regrets?

[bcp]

Boom poles, for most users, were made obsolete by front end loaders.

Bruce

 

[/pine]

I use my boom pole a lot...IMO loaders are for "loader" work...I realize many operators have larger heavier duty FELs on their tractors but I always thought my LA301 was just a little light weight for many of the things I use my boom pole for...was always afraid of wracking or twisting the loader frame etc...

...Another thing is the sight factor...unless you have a ground man/spotter it is very hard to see through the front of the tractor and the bucket etc...especially for delicate clearances...

With log tongs or a (sky) hook a lot of times I do not even have to get off the tractor to grab something with the boom pole and I have a clear sight view of the action...

One of the best mods I've made was putting a receiver ball on the boom pole...I can pull my trailer with the boom pole...drop it off and use the pole to load whatever on the trailer then just reconnect the trailer and I'm off...

Having a heavy duty hydraulic top link is an added advantage as it turns the boom pole into a mini crane..ratchet straps work well for check chains

 

[3gunr]

This, CL junk


View attachment 567996

Looks like a nice cultipacker . What dont you like about it.

 

[arizona98tj]

I bought a Wallenstein BXM32 Chipper/Shredder. Now that I've used it for a couple of summers, I find I rarely used the shredder feature. If I could do it all over again, I would just get a slightly larger chipper with an auto-feed. I like Wallenstein's quality....I just didn't get the right model for me.

 

[bambam31]

I bought a new 6' disk harrow with 20" blades. I wish I had got the 16" blades. We have a lot of uneven ground at the camp. I can't lift the 20" blades as high and the disk drags the ground when crossing a low spot. I never had that problem with my old disk with 16" blades.

 

[sixdogs]

I bought a new 6' disk harrow with 20" blades. I wish I had got the 16" blades. We have a lot of uneven ground at the camp. I can't lift the 20" blades as high and the disk drags the ground when crossing a low spot. I never had that problem with my old disk with 16" blades.

Can you shorten the lift arms on your three point hitch to, in effect, raise the relative height of the implement? You just move the pins to a different hole in the arm.

 

[mxm3904]

samurai sabre cutter (hydraulic sickle bar cutter) struggles to cut anything stronger than a single 1/4 in twig without binding.

 

[John_Mc]

Hi,

just curious. Here is mine.

I bought a backhoe with my B2910 Kubota about 15 years ago. One bucket was included. Any size. The second was paid for.

I chose 16 & 10 buckets.

I now realize a 24 and 16 would have made more sense. Live and learn.

For soil conditions here the 10 does not let the clay soil drop out freely. I do not even use the 10 when digging stumps anymore. The 16 is not much different.

Just wondering if if I am the only one that learned a lesson after the fact...

Clay soil here as well. I saw a trick someone did with their mini-excavator that I have been wanting to try on my backhoe. They had something rigged with two lengths of chain in their bucket. The chains were attached in such a manner that they were pushed into the bottom of the bucket while digging, but uncurling the bucket pulled the chains out, pulling out the dirt/clay at the same time.

I did not get a close look, and it's been a while, so I don't clearly remember the setup, but it seemed to be working well. Maybe someone here has seen a similar setup and can post a picture or describe it better. There may have been a thread on here about it as well.

 

[John_Mc]

BTW - - one unwritten law out here in the wild west - - you ain't never gonna find ANY used implements of any kind. So, suck it up, and be prepared to buy new. Same with a tractor. I swear to God - the written law says - "all used tractors and used implement must be transported EAST of the Mississippi before being offer for sale".

It's not any better east of the Mississippi, though there a couple added provisions to your law:

1. In the event a used tractor or implement is available for sale, it must be either so thoroughly trashed as to be unusable, or it must be advertised at 90% or more of the price of a new tractor or implement of similar design. (Exceptions may be granted for used implements for which I have no use.)
2. Used tractors or implements in good condition may be sold at bargain basement prices only after I have spent at least 2 years looking, and then given up and bought new.

 

[oosik]

Yes - I have an implement "suggestion" for all those manufacturers. Quit trying to impress the weekend yuppy "farmer" by powder coating your implements. Yes, they are shiny and look good sitting back there on the 3-point OR up front on the FEL. But powder coat has a bad habit of chipping - which leads directly to rust - which looks "really neat" sitting in and amongst the remaining powder coat. Looks a lot like seagull crap on top of a freshly fried egg.

For God's sake - use a good automotive paint and be done with it - already.

BTW there John - your two added laws apply here, west of the Mississippi also.

 

[daugen]

Yes - I have an implement "suggestion" for all those manufacturers. Quit trying to impress the weekend yuppy "farmer" by powder coating your implements. Yes, they are shiny and look good sitting back there on the 3-point OR up front on the FEL. But powder coat has a bad habit of chipping - which leads directly to rust - which looks "really neat" sitting in and amongst the remaining powder coat. Looks a lot like seagull crap on top of a freshly fried egg.

For God's sake - use a good automotive paint and be done with it - already.

BTW there John - your two added laws apply here, west of the Mississippi also.

most of the paint jobs I have gotten, even from ones like Land Pride, are pretty bad. Our local big advertiser's implements
flaked and rusted on me too. I don't care about the shine, but I don't like seeing metal rust. Of course you are going to wreck the paint in any ground engaging implement. Just shine them up again when you plow or disc again, but the frame shouldn't peel and rust.

where did you find powdercoating? I sure don't at local Tractor Supply.
We want durability, not fancy...
though whoever painted the hood red on my larger Massey did a seriously good job. If I wax that, which sadly I do infrequently, it looks like the hood of a Ferrari. Only Ferrari I'll ever own...

A few of the implements I've had to sell were sold at about half original price to dealer, who marked it up 10-20 percent so the buyer bought something almost like new for about 30 percent off original. I don't want the public on my farm so I use the dealer, understand the cost and accept it.

What I really regret was selling my 7 foot LP bush hog thinking I had no use for it on my farm, and then almost immediately had an opportunity to buy land from neighboring farmer, and wound up buying another Bush Hog, a BH15, to clean up his fields he had abandoned. Both were/are good products but the LP one lost over a foot of paint due to bad paint prep I'm sure. I didn't expect that from something made in Kansas.

 

[oosik]

daugen - "where do I find powder coating" Well - my Land Pride grapple and my Land Pride LPGS. Both have chipped paint spots that I've touched up with a rattle can - and it looks like crap. But better than rust. Actually - think my Wallenstein BX62S might be powder coat - I did touch up on that with rattle can black gloss. Its now got "black lips" all the way around the in-feed chute.

No question - in my "stable" the Kubota is the shiny horse. Both the Jeep and the F-150 have several layers of good 'ol dust protecting their painted surfaces. The Kubota got hosed down yesterday after completing a dirt project.

 

[newbury]

Buying used is not always possible.
In my area of the Northeast a person could wait years for a specific implement/size to show up used,

I've done that plenty of times and am still doing it.

I'll post "I think I need a 47" 3pt falsename that costs 1,000". I'll get a ton of replies "look on CL, they go for $200 all the time". Then after looking for 3 years I still have not found one.

It's not any better east of the Mississippi, though there a couple added provisions to your law:

1. In the event a used tractor or implement is available for sale, it must be either so thoroughly trashed as to be unusable, or it must be advertised at 90% or more of the price of a new tractor or implement of similar design. (Exceptions may be granted for used implements for which I have no use.)
2. Used tractors or implements in good condition may be sold at bargain basement prices only after I have spent at least 2 years looking, and then given up and bought new.

Yup, looked for 2 years for a good used rototiller or a good used plow, finally bought a new plow. Then plows started falling out of the woodwork. Good looking ones every week on CL. But a couple of months later a good 5' KK tiller turned up on CL for less than half price new.

Yes - I have an implement "suggestion" for all those manufacturers. Quit trying to impress the weekend yuppy "farmer" by powder coating your implements. Yes, they are shiny and look good sitting back there on the 3-point OR up front on the FEL. But powder coat has a bad habit of chipping - which leads directly to rust - which looks "really neat" sitting in and amongst the remaining powder coat. Looks a lot like seagull crap on top of a freshly fried egg.

For God's sake - use a good automotive paint and be done with it - already.

BTW there John - your two added laws apply here, west of the Mississippi also.

I've got powder coating coming off in sheets, which made it easier to repaint.

But to get to the title of this thread - I'm getting to the point I have regrets about ALL my implement purchases. Regrets that I don't get enough time to play with them all.

Not a tractor implement but my biggest regret so far is my barely used Stihl 088, 120CC's of power, w bar and chains and carrying cases for $450.

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/chainsaws/257299-i-couldnt-believe-088-450-a.html
Rarely get to use it, but when I do it's there.

 

[drs1023]

Glad someone brought up tillers. I looked on CL for over 2 years and finally found a Woods DT 50. The guy I got it from bought it new, plowed up his garden for 2 years, then let it set for the next 7 years. Although it was covered in dust and I had to cut away a lot of honeysuckle vines to get it out, it still had over 90% of the original paint.

Here it is 2 years later and I have used it 4 times and my brother used it twice. I've given up the garden spot back to the deer and rabbits because I refuse to put a $1500+ fence around it for some fresh vegetables. And so.....I now have another thousand dollar useless piece of equipment sitting around.

 

[John_Mc]

Not a tractor implement but my biggest regret so far is my barely used Stihl 088, 120CC's of power, w bar and chains and carrying cases for $450.
Rarely get to use it, but when I do it's there.

I feel bad for you having to make room for that useless piece of junk. I think you should free up some space by just sending it out to me. (I've always wanted to try some chainsaw milling, and that would be just the ticket.)

 

[jjp8182]

So far the closest to a regret I've come is buying a 72" EA Severe XTreme Box Blade Category V2 I bought a little over a year ago.

While it's high quality and works very well, after having used it several times on a few different projects I've realized I probably could/should have bought a heavier model that has a hinged back.

On the other hand, if it hadn't been a necessity to use an implement I'd borrowed I would very much be regretting the purchase of a quick hitch from Harbor Freight. That thing has given me a whole new level of appreciation for the telescoping lower link ends on my L3560.

I find I can hook up an implement with the L3560's standard 3pt links far more quickly and easily than I can with the quick hitch. Trying to align the vertical plane of the quick hitch to the plane of the implement's pins when neither the tractor nor the implement is on level ground takes me far longer (and is far more frustrating) than just being able to get the lower link ends "close enough" and then manually extending/maneuvering which ever links need to shift in order to hookup the implement I'll be using.

 

[greggyy]

So far the closest to a regret I've come is buying a 72" EA Severe XTreme Box Blade Category V2 I bought a little over a year ago.

While it's high quality and works very well, after having used it several times on a few different projects I've realized I probably could/should have bought a heavier model that has a hinged back.

On the other hand, if it hadn't been a necessity to use an implement I'd borrowed I would very much be regretting the purchase of a quick hitch from Harbor Freight. That thing has given me a whole new level of appreciation for the telescoping lower link ends on my L3560.

I find I can hook up an implement with the L3560's standard 3pt links far more quickly and easily than I can with the quick hitch. Trying to align the vertical plane of the quick hitch to the plane of the implement's pins when neither the tractor nor the implement is on level ground takes me far longer (and is far more frustrating) than just being able to get the lower link ends "close enough" and then manually extending/maneuvering which ever links need to shift in order to hookup the implement I'll be using.

And then you may break it is doing heavy work too.......

The solution is a tractor for each important implement

 

[jjp8182]

And then you may break it is doing heavy work too.......

The solution is a tractor for each important implement

I like the way you think :thumbsup: ...unfortunately I'm not so sure my bank account would like it as much :laughing:

 

[Diggin It]

Sub Soiler. I bought it with the intent to rip trenches for laying cable or conduit, but I'm not sure it's the right tool. I've heard that narrow trenching buckets (4" or so) can be difficult to keep from getting dirt packed in them. Is there a single solid ripper tooth/claw for a BH?

 

[jjp8182]

Sub Soiler. I bought it with the intent to rip trenches for laying cable or conduit, but I'm not sure it's the right tool. I've heard that narrow trenching buckets (4" or so) can be difficult to keep from getting dirt packed in them. Is there a single solid ripper tooth/claw for a BH?

I've seen a few things like that for excavators/backhoes; they generally seem to be marketed as "frost rippers"