Protecting new tractor from the elements

[swreeder]

Greetings everyone,

I just signed yesterday on a new tractor for my property. I have been using a old Yanmar 2420D for the past several years to maintain 50 acres in Texas hill country. It was undersized, but served me well until I could afford something better.

So coming home this week will be a new LS MT353 Hydro with a cab. Living in Texas, the sun and heat are brutal on equipment. I plan on building a really large barn in a year or two, but until that happens I want to keep this tractor shielded from the elements as much as possible. So I am looking for some ideas here.

It will have to handle extreme heat, high winds (not uncommon for 20MPH sustained gusting to 50MPH) and not be a eyesore on the property.


I thought about something like this (pic below) in a 16x24 config, but haven't been able to find plans and not sure what it might cost me to build it myself.

Advice, thoughts and suggestions welcome.

 

[arrow]

Greetings everyone,

I just signed yesterday on a new tractor for my property. I have been using a old Yanmar 2420D for the past several years to maintain 50 acres in Texas hill country. It was undersized, but served me well until I could afford something better.

So coming home this week will be a new LS MT353 Hydro with a cab. Living in Texas, the sun and heat are brutal on equipment. I plan on building a really large barn in a year or two, but until that happens I want to keep this tractor shielded from the elements as much as possible. So I am looking for some ideas here.

It will have to handle extreme heat, high winds (not uncommon for 20MPH sustained gusting to 50MPH) and not be a eyesore on the property.


I thought about something like this (pic below) in a 16x24 config, but haven't been able to find plans and not sure what it might cost me to build it myself.

Advice, thoughts and suggestions welcome.

Open sheds are good enough. I keep mine in one and my last tractor at trade in time looked great after 28 years in there.
Only difference is I would build a "shed" type roof with the shed side of the roof facing the prevailing winds.
This way you can run the rafters parallel to the opening and not crossed as in your pic.
Much easier to build.
Just make the "low" side of the building high enough to swallow your tractor should you wish to back it in.

 

[swreeder]

I'm pretty handy and have made and fixed lots of things in my life, but never a pole building. Going to be a learning process as there is a lot that I do not know.

 

[Bearsixty7]

You should also call a few metal building companies and get quotes. Sometimes they offer a built building at discounts that are not much more than your materials then it's done quick and ready to go.

 

[buck12]

On our remote property I have two shipping containers for tractor,atvs, golf cart, etc. They are not pretty but I placed them where I do not care how they look. They are cheap and most importantly they keep the rodents out. I have a barn with a lean to but I gave up on storing anything that rodents like in it.

 

[jezreel]

So I just got my MX in December. I began getting bids for a shed with 3 enclosed sides just like your picture. 26ga Galvalume. One bid for a 30x36 pole shed. Another for a 30x40 steel framed shed. Pole shed quote was $12,000. Steel frame shed quote $13,700. Well that was a no brainer to go with steel. But get this. . . If the price of lumber was not already bad enough, I was looking at 2x12x12 boards for raised beds. I looked 2 weeks ago, and one board was $17. 3 days later the same board was $31. I am NOT kiddin. If I get the bid for the pole shed right now, it would be more than the steel shed.

Both lumber and steel prices are way up, but lumber is up exponentially! ! !

 

[swreeder]

So I just got my MX in December. I began getting bids for a shed with 3 enclosed sides just like your picture. 26ga Galvalume. One bid for a 30x36 pole shed. Another for a 30x40 steel framed shed. Pole shed quote was $12,000. Steel frame shed quote $13,700. Well that was a no brainer to go with steel. But get this. . . If the price of lumber was not already bad enough, I was looking at 2x12x12 boards for raised beds. I looked 2 weeks ago, and one board was $17. 3 days later the same board was $31. I am NOT kiddin. If I get the bid for the pole shed right now, it would be more than the steel shed.

Both lumber and steel prices are way up, but lumber is up exponentially! ! !

Thats what I was afraid of! I hate to dump 10-15K into something that is temporary. My plans are to build a 30X40 fully enclosed, insulated big barn workshop, but thats going to take some time to save up.

 

[JCoastie]

with the cost of wood these days!!!... A metal carport works just fine, can be custom sizes and are relatively inexpensive. My LS MT240 sits under one and survived a direct hit from Hurricane Sally just fine. (ours is certified)

Non-certified metal carports haven稚 earned an engineer rating for snow and wind load. Certified carports are designed by professional engineers to stand up to specific snow and wind loads in a given area. Certified carport covers may be built with additional structural tubing and include superior secure anchoring systems with extra bracing, in addition to tighter screw pattern spacing.

several years ago it was about $600 and it is 23x25ish with 7' legs. Would probably go taller these days, as my last tractor didn't have a ROPS, but the MT240 fits just fine. (The extension to the left is new, it is what was left of a neighbors carport we cut in half after a Hurricane Sally tree landed on it. We had enough scrap for a large lean to, it was completed about 2 weeks ago. I am fully confident in it's hurricane wind rating...a tree not so much.


Tree on top of the lean-to when it was a full carport:

 

[arrow]

Thats what I was afraid of! I hate to dump 10-15K into something that is temporary. My plans are to build a 30X40 fully enclosed, insulated big barn workshop, but thats going to take some time to save up.

Then what you do is to build this shed with a design that will incorporate your eventual, full building. In the meantime, you still have shelter for your tractor.
Another reason to incorporate a "shed" style roof as they can easily be made to attach and blend into a larger building addition.

 

[oosik]

swreeder - that original picture of a lean to is all I've ever had out here. I've kept two tractors in my enlarged carport for over 39 years and had no damage of any kind. We don't have the heat that you do but UV from the sun is probably the same. You gotta keep the sun off the tires and any other rubber or vinyl parts.

Around here - fully enclosed reduces the dust/ash build up but certainly does not eliminate it. Our SW winds will blow dust/ash everywhere. That's why I've never gone beyond a large carport. My M6040 sitting in its carport stall. View attachment 686388