Anjou
Member
As the 0% financing for 36 months drew to a close in late February 2007, my anxiety levels increased. I couldn't really afford to buy a tractor and my wife was opposed to the timing as we're entering year 4 of building our house... and still living in the basement. But one bright sunny day, my younger daughter, Maggie, and I hopped in the car for a roadtrip to the local Deere dealer in Hallifax, PA (Valley Ag & Turf). I had done my hoemwork and was well prepared to do some major haggling. But in the end, I just accepted the discounted price from the dealer: $13,800 + tax for the Deere 2305 w/R4 tires, a 200CX loader w/49" bucket, a 62C belly mower, I-match, and ballast box. I hoped I was doing the right thing, because now the cash flow would be getting real tight. A few days later, my new toy arrived on a blustery cold and windy day. Despite the weather, the deliveryman spent a solid two hours explaining every aspect of the tractor and giving me the full demo. Just what I needed. A few days after that we got about 6 inches of snow. I was all excited and raced home, eager to dig out my 200' driveway. But the Fates had decided otherwise and I arrived to find that my neighbor had already plowed me out. What a disappointment. At least I got to play in my other neighbor's driveway. Then the big storm came and dumped about 12 inches on us. Not a lot of snow, but a decent amount for Pennsylvania nowadays. I spent about 2 hours in ecstasy when I noticed my elderly neighbor lady thinking about shovelling her two parking spaces. Off I went to the rescue like the calvary. She was thrilled. I made one pass, raised the loader, backed up, and prepared to cut another swath. Only one wee problem... the bucket wouldn't drop. It would curl, uncurl, and lift, but drop, it would not. The shame of it. I slunk back home and called the dealer in a panic... it was a Saturday. The dealer readily provided some suggestions, none of which worked, and I was starting to get really worked up. Then out of the blue, without any anger, cajoling, or yelling on my part, the dealer announces that the store is closing, but they'll send a guy over anyway to fix the problem. This is when I knew that I had picked the right dealer. This is what they mean by good service and that is more important then the price anyday. An hour later, the repairman arrived with his bag of spare parts. I explained upfront that undoubtedly the problem would somehow involve me being an idiot (like when you can't start you car because you left it in gear). Sure enough I was an idiot and in my attempts to connect/reconnect the hydraulic couplers, I had inadvertently mismatched the colors. DUH! But thank GOD, that did NOT solve the problem. He tried replacing two of the male couplers for the loader hydraulics. No luck, the loader was still high in the air. In the end, it was a malfunctioning female hydraluc coupler, which as it turns out was the last of the spare parts he had brought. I thanked him profusely and darted off to do my plowing. Then I got really lucky and the driveway drifted shut over night... to a depth of 36 inches in places Yes! Such is my experience thus far. I can't wait to give the mower a workout on my 7 hilly acres. I keep you all posted on my adventures and I thank you for all your advice, particularly that of JDFanatic.
The attached photo includes my house, my tractor, and my daughter, who is standing by the FEL.
The attached photo includes my house, my tractor, and my daughter, who is standing by the FEL.
