Ken Sweet of Sweettractors.com, etc..

[laen64]

Hi everyone. Glad to be here to learn anything I can about everything I can. I live in Central Florida. Lakeland to be exact, its right in between Tampa and Orlando. I'm 30, I come from a typical blue-collared southern family.. I've been hunting, (dove-hog-deer-snipe-gator), fishing (mostly freshwater), riding ATV's, UTV's, 3 and 4 wheelers of all kinds, camping, and mudslinging in one aspect or the other throughout my entire life. Its safe to say that I have always enjoyed being outdoors, and enjoyed things that involved nature, outdoors, wildlife, etc... it provides me with stress relief unlike anything else ever has... hard to explain it, but I love it. Pretty much everything I know about tractors I have learned in the past 14 days. Believe me, I have read a whole lot. From different PTO types, to soil testing, to liming, to ph, implements and their uses, blah blah and yada ya. I have literally submerged myself in tractors for the past 2 weeks to try to give us the headstart with as much useful information as I could find prior to trying this for the first time on a tractor. (Before my father did it with a four-wheeler one time because he absolutely insisted, but we usually pay the owner of the land to come in and do it. He's not a farmer, and we are not there when he does it.) We want be more involved with how the land is handled, planting our choice of what we want, managing the wildlife and the land, the condition of the soil to maintain its crop growing ability, etc.

We hunt (whitetail) near the Georgia/Alabama line.. in Alabama- Directly between Eufaula, AL and Dothan, AL near a little town called Abbeville. We (we means myself, younger brother, and father) have been hunting in this region of AL for at least 5 or 6 years. We have been on this particular property for ..2 or 3 years, its approximately 50 acres. In the past few years we have really been into learning about whitetail management, and this year we plan on starting to slowly implement management practices. Part of whitetail management involves foodplots, and that involves farming/tractors.. which is why I am here. Although I have been involved with all kinds of things outdoors, and I have successfully planted and maintained a few plants in my lifetime- I am by no means a professional farmer, a tractor specialist, a know-it-all of anything, etc.

A couple weeks ago we purchased a 1983 Allis-Chalmers AC5050. Its a 50hp 2wd tractor in good working condition, good body condition, almost new tires, no smoke, everything works good, 1950hrs, etc. Only it doesnt have a ROPS or any shade, and this particular 5050 has the rounded kinda- Ford style "earlobe" (i call them) fenders that only cover about an inch of the inside of the rear tires. (hope someone knows what I'm talking about, did the best I could to describe it) We bought the tractor for $3500, and it came with a 6" box blade (missing one of the 6 removable teeth), and (i think) 5ft adjustable blade. Here is a link to the tractor info if you'd like to have a look. TractorData.com Allis Chalmers 5050 tractor information

I think that is more than an appropriate introduction.. so let's get on with the meat of the conversation...

Obviously winter plot season is coming up, and we would like to get at least the very most necessary implements for our tractor for this fall, and be more "ready" by next spring. We're primarily looking for a disc harrow, probably around 6 ft, and a cultipacker, probably also around 6 ft. (After that it would probably be, PTO spreader and sprayer) I don't want to go much larger than the tractors 67" width because there are a couple small wooded roads in the back to go down and I don't want to T-bone the implement between any trees behind me.

First and foremost I want to know does anyone know who Ken Sweet is of SweetTractor.com? What is your experience with him or the company? We're looking at some used implements from him, and would like to get some good input about him and/or his company prior to committing to any purchases.

I also got some other pricing from another out of state used implement company on a used 6 ft- 3pt hitch- angle iron -2gang harrow (toothed/smooth) for 675+ 170frieght, and a used 6 ft Brillion 3pt hitch cultipacker (smooth ribbed wheels,no sprockets,no crowfeet) is $995+196 freight.

I apologize about how long this first post was, I know its a little intimidating, but I wanted to post as much information right from the beginning as I possibly could. If you made it this far, thanks!

ON ANY AND ALL OF THE ABOVE... please feel free to give me any opinions, suggestions, ideas, etc... I may or may not use them right away- but I certainly appreciate every single response.

I want to know what you think about the pricing on these used items?
What do you think about the tractor we are starting off with?
The area of the country we're hunting in.. or whatever you got for me.

-UG

you Guys hunt in my neck of the woods and it's great hunting.

God Bless