Oil & Fuel New CK30 Owner and New to Forum

[jrkaye]

A quick update:
Firstly, Thank y'all SO very much for your unselfish assistance. A great forum here and members should be proud to have joined, I am.
Secondly, I worked around the horse shelter, part of the pasture that if rife with a yellow flowered weed that return every year and get a few feet high (don't know the name other than "that darn weed") and has a long tap root system. At first I used my front end loader to "clip" these beasties and in most cases they actually pulled loose and a rough forward then reverse level of horse wallow areas around the terraces. Then I went to town with the box blade. I have it set, at the moment, at the lowest hole in the 3 point with tines still UP as I didn't want to chew up too much soil. Appears that at that position I can effectively move and smooth at about the 4-5 setting for depth lever. How I ever lived without this to dress up the ground, I'll never know. I put in an hour just to experiment and made remarkable progress in both the land and my ability to get close to structures (shelter) without clipping it nor disturbing the 4 X 4's that serve as uprights that are concreted down about 4' or so. Soil erosion during our drought was substantial, especially with West Texas winds. We had a rain event that stopped 2 weeks or so ago that dumped almost 12" on our place in 10 days. Expecting more rain this weekend .

The bottom line without the banter, the tractor has about 14 hours on her now, fluid levels checked before every operation and all clean and steady, no issues. I do check tire pressure, under the hood for any debris or "critter tracks" and also check belts, hoses, etc just to assure myself I got a gem not a problem child. It's a gem thus far and couldn't be happier. Thinking a backhoe attachment is in my future but that might be awhile yet. Having horses, dogs etc, the inevitability of needing to dig a hole in a timely fashion with a backhoe trumps everything my partial front end work then hand work so that back hoe is going to be a good investment.

Thank y'all again, you've been outstanding.

Jeff

 

[k0ua]

Keep in mind you can dig a hole big enough for a horse to be buried in with just your FEL as long as the soil od not too rocky or hard. It would be faster with a backhoe especially if rocky but I have dug a hole large enough for a few hundred pounds of rotten meat. We came home to a freezer failure. What a mess. I dug the hole, and used the loader to transport the meat in the bucket. I was sure glad to have the FEL to dispose of this problem.

 

[jrkaye]

Keep in mind you can dig a hole big enough for a horse to be buried in with just your FEL as long as the soil od not too rocky or hard. It would be faster with a backhoe especially if rocky but I have dug a hole large enough for a few hundred pounds of rotten meat. We came home to a freezer failure. What a mess. I dug the hole, and used the loader to transport the meat in the bucket. I was sure glad to have the FEL to dispose of this problem.

Topsoil isn't bad, mostly dirt though very fine in places, small rocks, but down about 5' or so I encountered caliche when I was digging post holes for the horse shelter some years back. Used a gas powered post hole digger, since sold, that worked pretty well until the caliche just bound her up. Hand tools, what can I say? So, work to do and attachments to invest in. I have an old gelding even though his health is good I still need to plan ahead. We have coyote out here and if not buried deep enough and masking the decomp, those Ba*S#ards will smell em out. I hand buried my yellow lab that died of old age down almost 5 feet, spread fertilizer over her, chlorine and those coyote still kept at her grave. Shot 3, put slab rock on top and they still kept coming back. I figure 6-8 feet is going to be required. . The job for an animal lover is to protect your babies alive or buried. I do have a healthy distaste for the coyote, not the Kioti. Ironic? Yes?

 

[tedmed0302]

LoL! I know the feeling about your animals and coyotes... I agree with you, get the hoe. Shoot the more attachments I figure the easier my life becomes! If you have a barn and forks, you can palletize them and store them up in a rack system. That's my winter project for sure this year. Take care.

 

[k0ua]

Sounds like you need the Back Hoe for sure.

 

[TJP89]

Its amazing how easy it is to justify spending someone else's money, isn't it

Seriously though, there are times when I think a backhoe would be really nice, but those times aren't often enough to spend 6 to 8 thousand...but give me time!

 

[jrkaye]

Its amazing how easy it is to justify spending someone else's money, isn't it

Seriously though, there are times when I think a backhoe would be really nice, but those times aren't often enough to spend 6 to 8 thousand...but give me time!

There are certain applications where only the right tool will work. I can use my FEL and clear a wide and fairly deep trough, hit caliche, the bane of some areas, and it's very difficult to dig down without power and a bucket and that's with scraping a little a a time. The CK30 in 4WD is powerful enough for the top layers of soil but you get to the hard stuff, it's a whole different ballgame. A 1200# horse needs quite a large "burial plot" and then there is the masking of decomp. Realizing the back hoe is expensive and might only be used a few times for this application, it trumps paying an inordinate amount of money for removal, etc. So, where is the price point to break even? I can dig troughs, ditches and even water holding "tanks" but the payback for contract work versus me doing the job will pay dividends. I'm one of those folks that helps his neighbors and charges nothing though they would gladly pay for work done, even if just broke even on the fuel. I play it forward to the people that have and would help me in a heartbeat. Personal decision, and of course my dime at the front end.

 

[Buggs67]

Seriously though, there are times when I think a backhoe would be really nice, but those times aren't often enough to spend 6 to 8 thousand...but give me time!

Since you won't need it often you could get the small one. It digs very well and is easy to remove/replace. Start looking now and maybe you can find a used one.

 

[jrkaye]

Since you won't need it often you could get the small one. It digs very well and is easy to remove/replace. Start looking now and maybe you can find a used one.

Agreed !

 

[TJP89]

There are certain applications where only the right tool will work. I can use my FEL and clear a wide and fairly deep trough, hit caliche, the bane of some areas, and it's very difficult to dig down without power and a bucket and that's with scraping a little a a time. The CK30 in 4WD is powerful enough for the top layers of soil but you get to the hard stuff, it's a whole different ballgame. A 1200# horse needs quite a large "burial plot" and then there is the masking of decomp. Realizing the back hoe is expensive and might only be used a few times for this application, it trumps paying an inordinate amount of money for removal, etc. So, where is the price point to break even? I can dig troughs, ditches and even water holding "tanks" but the payback for contract work versus me doing the job will pay dividends. I'm one of those folks that helps his neighbors and charges nothing though they would gladly pay for work done, even if just broke even on the fuel. I play it forward to the people that have and would help me in a heartbeat. Personal decision, and of course my dime at the front end.

Yeah, I always say, if the tool is really needed, pay once for a good one. And if you need a backhoe, then you should get one, your decision. Me, I don't "need" one, but it would be useful. But then, I don't "need" my tractor, I could just use my little garden tractor with cart and take 5 times longer. What I'm trying to say is, if a tool consistently eases and shortens a job, it's worth whatever you paid for it. You may need a backhoe, I probably don't. Although if I do decide to get one, I'll pay to get a good one that fits my tractor.