Help, I'm melting...

[texbaylea]

Re: Help, I\'m melting...

Sorry about the losses you have suffered. If I lived closer I would be talking to you about some of your hardwood.

Everyone else has pretty well covered the matter but the chipper. I looked at the DR PTO chipper and decided to go with the Woods 5000. I felt that the DR was too light and it dumped the output at your feet which meant that you will have to stop every so often and move the chipper or scoop it up. I bought the Woods 5000 with add-on blower to put it in a trailer. There is an identical Bearcat model 70554, I believe. They will chip the big stuff up to 5" and shred the small stuff. Just dump it in the top. I have 30 acres and it seems that about half of that is juniper (cedar) up to 25' tall. I have a contractor come in with a tree shear to clear about 2 acres ( takes about 6 hrs) then I work to chip it down. I wouldn't want to do it with anything smaller.


I do concur that you need a bigger tractor and I am planning on getting a Kubota L3130 to make my jobs a little easier.

 

[SPIKER]

Re: Help, I\'m melting...

I have a JINMA 284 28 hp, but at a higher than PTO speed. (JINMA is same as nortrac with some slight differances)

they are good machines and I have 22 acres and it is just barely enough for that much. I would suggest the 354 jinma which has some different designs, yes a couple grand more probably. if you have lots of BIG stumps then hire out the grinding of the stumps to someone who has a commercial unit. don't attempt to pull dig or bury them too much work.

ok I have 6' box blade and it pulls it around like nothing untill I pack enough dirt/rock up aginst the back tires. and there is a china chipper a 5" i think which has a great right up in the attachments section started by DIY GUY (he has the 204 jinma with the 6" chipper and says it runs it fine.) lots of good info there on that.

as for the rest. well I would have to have a heart attack, I spent 10 yrs finding right wooded lot then to have it hit by tornado would be devistating to say the least!

Mark M /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Tornado]

Re: Help, I\'m melting...

Everyone, thanks so much for you replies. I am blown away (no pun intended) by the responses.

Let me clarify a few points.

I hired a trackhoe (big one) to get up the really big stumps - well all but the almost 7 foot diameter poplar! I still have a pile of big stumps, but I am pressure washing them a bit at a time. I wash and chainsaw, then wash some more. It works, but ti will take another year to get the pile all the way down. So, most of the stumps that are left are already half out of the ground - thanks to mother nature. I don't think I will need a back hoe because of that. I should be able to push, tug, and dig a bit to get them the rest of the way loose.

I was already concerned that the bucket on the FEL looked a bit weak. So I will half to address that.

As for the HP. That is a bit of a surprise. According to Northern, the PTO HP is 23.7hp or so. The implements I selected all claimed to work well with 20 hp. I am not surprised at the difference between stated HP and actual HP. I just figured it would be different for tractors.

Obviously, I am back to the drawing board on the tractor. I live in Tuscaloosa county (someone asked me where). I don't know if this is frowned upon on this site, and please correct me if I am wrong, but if there are any reputable dealers out there that can get me what I need and keep in in the 15k range, please send me a private message. Since I was not raised on a farm (although I spent my boyhood in the woods), I simply have no known local resources other than the internet, and even less free time.

As for liking the looks of a tractor or not, I won't let that flavor my decision, with one exception - the Lenar jl254. No offense to anyone, but that is the ugliest machine I have ever seen

As for the "good with a wrench" part, I have never encountered anything I couldn't fix, but I do have limited time. So minor repairs are no problem. I don't really want to buy someone else's headache though.

Thanks again,
David

 

[BillG_in_TX]

Re: Help, I\'m melting...

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( what I need and keep in in the 15k range )</font>

I think you can get close with a Century 2535. Here's a dealer in Texas with a package deal that's $15k after rebate. The 2535 is 37 gross HP and 31 PTO HP. This package doesn't have a PHD or a chipper, and of course, it's in Texas, but it should give you an idea about the pricing for the Kukje twins (Century and Branson).

Look on the Zetor/Century/Branson forum for more information. Branson has a dealer locator on their web page, as does Century.

By the way, burning is way faster than chain-sawing and chipping. If you can ever get a wet, calm day (and if there's no regulations that prohibit it) I would "burn, baby - burn". /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Tornado]

Re: Help, I\'m melting...

Thanks for the links!

That seems to be a good deal on the package. I already have an 8,000 pound 16 foot trailer, but no brakes. Guess I need to upgrade that as well

The Century looks like a decent deal. Besides, I can 'sneak' purchases of the other implements by the 'accounting system' Now if I can get someone closer to match the deal...

I wish I could burn. I burned all I could get to for months after the storm. I borrowed a backhoe and dug a huge hole. I burned in it for months until it was almost full and covered it up. The leftovers are all under power wires. I could burn them, but I think I would make some folks really unhappy. I gave away fire wood to anyone that would take it. I even gave away firewood to a guy that sells it full time during the winter. He hasn't been back for more. I guess the firewood that is left - cut, split and stacked, will have to just rot in place.

Someone else had mentioned that we must have been scared during the storm. We were. I was talking to my daughter who was in college at the time, on the phone as we watched the tornado approach. It came up over a hill southwest of us. The bottom was about 500 feet off the ground. I said to my daughter and wife "if it will just stay up, we will be ok" I swear it was like I flipped a switch when I said that. The tornado immediately went to the bottom of the valley, then started up our hill. We ran for the bathroom (no basement) and got there as the tornado hit. The sound of the house ripping apart mixed in with the storm was something else. I had simply hung up on my daughter on the phone without saying anything. There wasn't time, and I didn't want her to possibly hear us die if the phone managed to continue working for a few seconds in the brunt of the storm. After the tornado passed, I looked down the hall toward the south end of the house and saw blue sky. What an experience.

David

 

[Laminarman]

Re: Help, I\'m melting...

David

I bought a 40HP New Holland that is "big enough for all my tasks" and I still wish I had more at times. My simple advice is to look for a clean, used big tractor that is solid, even if it's a ways away, then just get it somehow. I see guys on here with NH's, Kubota's and Deere's with well over a thousand hours still going strong. You can easily be in your price range there. I wouldn't entertain a machine less than 40HP.

 

[Golfgar4]

Re: Help, I\'m melting...

Hello David! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

And welcome to TBN! Glad to have you here. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

A number of the guys have provided some very good information (so what else is new at TBN!? /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif). I think some one mentioned this, but just in case I'm wrong, almost all of the tractor manufacturer's web sites have dealer locators. You should be able to go to any of them and find some dealers within a reasonable distance.

However, I've discovered that it seems there are a lot more dealers out there that aren't on the web site. I'm not sure why this is, but for example, when I check on the Deer site, I get about 3 or 4 dealers within 50 miles. But I know for a fact that there are at least 10 or so. Point being, a lot of the dealers I've discovered have been just from driving around. On one Sunday, I found 4 dealers (various brands) within a 2 hour drive and going no further than 50 miles one way.

Another option you might look into is on e-bay. I've never purchased anything from e-bay, but a number of guys have gotten some really good deals that way.

Oh regarding your firewood? If all you want to do is get rid of it, you might consider Boy Scout or Girl Scout offices to see if they might like some. Also, if there are any RV campgrounds in your area, they might take some (even pay for it!! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif) to sell to their customers. In our area, I've even some bundles of firewood wrapped up (shrink wrapped) and sold at the local convenience stores. Maybe you have some kids that could take over that project to make a little money?

Really sorry to hear about the devastation to your woods. Now that most of the trees are gone, maybe you should build a golf course! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Tornado]

Re: Help, I\'m melting...

Thanks for the welcome Golfgar4.

Here is what I have decided on, unless I am missing something big.
The only local dealers are all JD or Ford/Kubota. Since they are all out of my price range (for what I want), I have picked out the following from a dealer about 90 miles from here.

Branson 4240 with Series 2(BL2010) loader, R4 tires and a United 6' box blade - $17,500 delivered.

I am considering adding a dual spool remote @$625, but I am not really sure that I will need it much.

The brush cutter and posthole digger I can pick up locally - actually about 900 feet down the road. An older gentleman I have known for 30 years sells good stuff (name brands) at just a bit over cost.

That should give me all the HP I need for a while, but it sure blew the heck out of my budget

How did I do?

David

 

[Poppa]

Re: Help, I\'m melting...

Sounds to me like you have done real good. Strong machine and a great price. Congratulations

Mike

 

[Tractors4u]

Re: Help, I\'m melting...

David,

Here is a solution for the excess wood. Take it to Talladega in October. There are guys up and down Speedway Blvd selling firewood. Paint a #8 on each piece and you can double the price on it! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif