My first project with the BX25

[Tractor Factor]

You can see the sad blue tarp I've been using to cover my new baby...that had to change.

First I cleared and leveled an area about 16 x 24 on a slope above my yard. Soil here is dense clay, stone and shale, so I had to dig quite a bit with the backhoe at first before turning to the loader bucket. Man, was I spastic at first. Got a little better with practice by the next day. That was encouraging. After a few years I might be pretty proficient with this machine.

Anyway, tomorrow I should have the new toothbar attached, so we'll see how that works for additional digging. It was tough getting the loader in the back of the truck, especially with the cap. It's resting on the bucket and the frame, not the stand. Hope that's ok. I'm afraid it might be putting stress on the hydraulics??

Next was the frame for the Shelter Logic garage. Impressive little unit for $229 (Black Friday this week at TSC)! Took several days to finish because of gusty winds. Also, if I had to do a second one, it would take 1/3 the time, like everything you learn.

Try as I might I couldn't get the supplied augers into our hard, rocky soil, so I sunk 2-5 foot lengths of 1/2' rebar at each leg (total 16) and anchored everything to those with 1/8" steel cable. I had to pound each of those anchors at least 50-60 times with a 10# sledge, so I'm guessing they won't pull out ever again.

I'm going to bucket in some crusher run and fine tune the leveling with packed stone. I suppose I should rent a tamper, but... Maybe I'll put some plywood down to roll a dolly on. Definitely gonna get some heat and lights in there for servicing this winter.

I think the BX likes her new home!

 

[LBrown59]

You can see the sad blue tarp I've been using to cover my new baby...that had to change.

First I cleared and leveled an area about 16 x 24 on a slope above my yard. Soil here is dense clay, stone and shale, so I had to dig quite a bit with the backhoe at first before turning to the loader bucket. Man, was I spastic at first. Got a little better with practice by the next day. That was encouraging. After a few years I might be pretty proficient with this machine.

Anyway, tomorrow I should have the new toothbar attached, so we'll see how that works for additional digging. It was tough getting the loader in the back of the truck, especially with the cap. It's resting on the bucket and the frame, not the stand. Hope that's ok. I'm afraid it might be putting stress on the hydraulics??

Next was the frame for the Shelter Logic garage. Impressive little unit for $229 (Black Friday this week at TSC)! Took several days to finish because of gusty winds. Also, if I had to do a second one, it would take 1/3 the time, like everything you learn.

Try as I might I couldn't get the supplied augers into our hard, rocky soil, so I sunk 2-5 foot lengths of 1/2' rebar at each leg (total 16) and anchored everything to those with 1/8" steel cable. I had to pound each of those anchors at least 50-60 times with a 10# sledge, so I'm guessing they won't pull out ever again.

I'm going to bucket in some crusher run and fine tune the leveling with packed stone. I suppose I should rent a tamper, but... Maybe I'll put some plywood down to roll a dolly on. Definitely gonna get some heat and lights in there for servicing this winter.

I think the BX likes her new home!

Looks Good

 

[Tractor Factor]

Looks Good

Ground is frozen solid now, though. Like concrete. Wish I had a Bro-Tek ripper tooth.

 

[asylum575]

Looks good,
I think I may pick up that shelter logic garage on Friday. I could really use the storage.
How long did it take you to assemble it?

Ed

 

[Riptide23]

So you ended up loading the WHOLE FEL into the truck? Didn't the bucket come off by itself?

Get a hook welded on the back of the BH bucket too. (And don't try to load the BH into the truck with the FEL... )

 

[Tractor Factor]

Looks good,
I think I may pick up that shelter logic garage on Friday. I could really use the storage.
How long did it take you to assemble it?
Ed

Well, excluding the anchors, about a day to frame and a day to cover. I was working in greasy mud to frame, though, and wind and temps in the teens to cover, so in nice weather it would have gone quicker.

Wasted another half a day trying to screw in those auger anchors. I hammer-drilled a one-inch hole by two foot deep to try and break up the soil a little, but rocks and hard shale just made it impossible to screw them in. Then I spent another day getting materials, driving in my rebar anchors and cabling them down.

So you ended up loading the WHOLE FEL into the truck? Didn't the bucket come off by itself?

Get a hook welded on the back of the BH bucket too. (And don't try to load the BH into the truck with the FEL... )

Yeah, I couldn't figure out how to take the bucket off, and the manual is pretty detailed about the FEL. The problem I didn't forsee it that there's no good place to attach a chain so that the load is balanced. I got the back end in the truck and then kind of backed the truck into it, with a lot of horsing by hand.

 

[asylum575]

My ground is frozen down here in lower New York as well. Weather is supposed to stay above freezing for most of this week, so, I'm hoping to dig over the long weekend. I'd like to setup the garage frame and also dig two 6x6 PT lumber for some columns I'm putting in at the end of the driveway. If the earth is really soft, I may dig a trench to the coulumns to run light to them.

 

[Dataway]

I'm up at 1600 ft. in the Saratoga NY area. Ground here has been frozen hard as rock for about two weeks now. I've never seen it quite so frozen so soon. Only one night in the single digits so far, but average temp seems way down to me, compared to most years.
JohnnyB

 

[jaybrad]

Next was the frame for the Shelter Logic garage. Impressive little unit for $229 (Black Friday this week at TSC)!

I've been considering something like this for my tractor, because while it sits in our attached garage, my car sits outdoors.

So I went to the TSC web site and didn't see a Shelter Logic garage, but found what they call a Landowner's garage (SKU Number: 1110468) is that the unit you bought?

If so, it shows on their web site for $360 - where did you see the sale price?

If those are 2 different units, do you know how they compare (quality wise)?

Thanks very much,
Jay

(the ground is frozen in central Maine, too....)

 

[Evil the Weasel]

We saw one of these on a hilltop near where I live. The canopy and part of the frame were upside down in the road blocking one lane. The rest of it was still in the front yard of the property mangled beyond repair. It had been windy overnight so that was part of the problem. In addition, it was probably poorly installed. Having said that, I can't picture these units as being anything but a temporary solution for protected storage in areas with severe weather. My brother and I constructed a 14x20 pole barn for $1500 using old telephone poles and rough cut lumber. The only major expense was the tin for the roof and 4 windows at the discount shop.

 

[asylum575]

Jay,

The landowners garage in a box will be on sale for $249 on Friday as part of the Black Friday sale. The link is posted above, if not, if you look at the "related Topics" threads, someone started the sale thread and posted a link.

Dataway,
So much for global warming.

 

[Tractor Factor]

Having said that, I can't picture these units as being anything but a temporary solution for protected storage in areas with severe weather.

Well, that's basically the way I'm looking at it, but...I know a guy just a few miles from here who has had one up for about 5 years now, and it's still going strong. He's in a very windy spot...so much so that he had a $56,000 wind turbine installed last year at the high point of his 95 acres. Wouldn't you know it, New York State (which, I think, is $3 billion in the red, paid half the cost of it!

 

[jaybrad]

Jay,

The landowners garage in a box will be on sale for $249 on Friday as part of the Black Friday sale. The link is posted above, if not, if you look at the "related Topics" threads, someone started the sale thread and posted a link.

Doh! I even responded to part of that thread and didn't see the link.

Thanks.

 

[RobJ]

Still looks like it's under a tarp!!

But a lot nicer now. Will it hold up to the snow?

Rob

 

[jaybrad]

Tractor Factor (or others),

How tall is the door opening? The online specs show 12 x 20 x 8, but I'm assuming that means to the peak?

You also mentioned adding heat and lights. Got any clever ideas for doing that?

Thanks,
Jay

 

[asylum575]

If you look at the pictures from the first post, you can see that the Rops are down. The backhoe isn't mounted on the BX that's in the shed. I'm wondering if the BH will fit pinned in place.

 

[jaybrad]

Yeah, I saw that. It's hard for me to guess how much clearance there is at the door entry.

I hesitate to say this in a Kubota forum, but I have a "different" brand that also has a backhoe. So I'm trying to figure out if this would work with my (red) tractor.

Jay

 

[Tractor Factor]

I think it's 6'4" to the door, so the ROPS does have to be folded down...a small inconvenience, really. That's also about the height of the side walls, so there's no limitation walking around inside (as long as you're under that ).

I took the backhoe off in order to bring it somewhere to have some welding done on the bucket to accomodate the Markham toothbar. With the backhoe on the tractor is 14' long and the shed is 20'. So, approximately 3 feet extra in both the front and back when parked in the center.

I've put up a string of lights we use occasionally in my construction business, (5) 100W rough service bulbs suspended from the ridge pole with some long cable ties. I may bury a permanent electric line eventually, but for now power is from a heavy duty 100 foot extension cord...whatever works. I've got a small kerosene salamander heater which should work ok to take the chill off when it's cold enough to warrant it.

And, yeah, a heavy snow may be a bit of a problem. Besides the end wall/rafter steel support members there's only two additional, which makes for a span of about 6 1/2 feet. Two nights ago there was an inch of heavy, wet snow sitting on the roof, causing a bit of a sag. While it wasn't a problem, it made me wonder how much of a total load that tarp could hold between the rafters. Anyway, I knocked the snow off from the inside with a wide broom before I went to bed.

I may try to add an additional rafter member between the existing ones, maybe out of some cheap 1x3s, in order to cut down on the span a bit. Only problem with that is I also will have to add a vertical wall "stud" to the ground for every extra rafter, as the horizontal framing members aren't designed to carry any weight on their own.

 

[jaybrad]

I think it's 6'4" to the door, so the ROPS does have to be folded down...a small inconvenience, really. That's also about the height of the side walls, so there's no limitation walking around inside (as long as you're under that ).

<el snippo>

And, yeah, a heavy snow may be a bit of a problem. Besides the end wall/rafter steel support members there's only two additional, which makes for a span of about 6 1/2 feet. Two nights ago there was an inch of heavy, wet snow sitting on the roof, causing a bit of a sag. While it wasn't a problem, it made me wonder how much of a total load that tarp could hold between the rafters. Anyway, I knocked the snow off from the inside with a wide broom before I went to bed.

Hmmm, last winter we "enjoyed" ~ 120" of snow, including several storms where we got a foot of very heavy, wet snow.

My son is the engineer in our family who would figure how much weight a 6 1/2' span would need to hold. Since he's not here, I'd just say that it's, "a lot."

Seems like I've seen others that have a support every 3-4', but I haven't measured to be sure.

In any case, there's a reason why TSC is able to sell these for $250 when others cost about double that. I doubt that it is because the nice folks at TSC are willing to lose money so we can keep our equipment under cover....

 

[Tractor Factor]

In any case, there's a reason why TSC is able to sell these for $250 when others cost about double that.

Well, we also get about that much snow here. I'll let you know how I made out next spring...,maybe sooner.