Reclaiming overgrown land

[teejk]

Been awhile since anybody has talked about the DR walk behind. I bit the bullet 2 weeks ago because my shop building was becoming over-run plus I seem to be losing about a foot of lawn per year. After a rather rough beginning (they sent the wrong manual, there was no power to the drive wheels and customer service was either not helpful or was impossible to reach), I removed the deck and studied the mechanics which are pretty simple in design...the drive belt basically sits there between the motor pulley and the transmission pulley waiting for someone to push the traction lever that pushes an idler pulley against the belt and make the drive belt go to work (otherwise it's just sitting there even with the motor running). The traction lever from the factory was set so at rest it sat at about 1/2 way through its length of travel and when I did push it, it wasn't enough to do anything before it bottomed out. There is a adjustment mechanism on the cable but I didn't think it would provide anywhere near the "take-up" that I needed. Finally decided to do my best with at cable adjuster before I packed the machine up to send it back. I was wrong on how much that little adjuster could do to remove slack. So today was the maiden voyage. Hadn't been back behind the shop in a few years. About 10' wide patch of brambles about 5-6' high (a lot of what they call thimble berries...long nasty thorns). First pass had me bleeding everywhere so I found a long sleeve shirt and gloves. The shop was built "high" using the material from our basement excavation so there is a bit of a ditch all around it (not so sure that was necessary since this is mostly sand/gravel soil and standing water is never an issue). I have to say the machine did what they said it would. It's a bit of work even with the "power steering" (independent wheel brakes) but I'm getting it figured out. Had to stop because I apparently found a hornets nest.

 

[Jstpssng]

Those DR's are great. Hopefully you got the one with limited slip so that both wheels can be locked together. 'Most everything else that they sell is way overpriced though, but there seem to be plenty of suckers like me who buy just for the "Made in USA" label. Your experience with customer service mirrors mine with my little string trimmer.

 

[jk96]

jk96, does your loader have a demolition/forestry door on it? If so what brand is it? Are they necessary?

No demo door but should be necessary with the rotary cutter Im running. Have to be very carefull of the pitch so you don't throw debris toward yourself. I have actually been looking at options for one for safety reasons. Soil is not rocky here otherwise I probably would have lost the door already.

My land clearing project didn't go far last year due to work. Finally getting some time to work on it again and will try to post some updates this fall.

 

[teejk]

Those DR's are great. Hopefully you got the one with limited slip so that both wheels can be locked together. 'Most everything else that they sell is way overpriced though, but there seem to be plenty of suckers like me who buy just for the "Made in USA" label. Your experience with customer service mirrors mine with my little string trimmer.

I got sucked in with the low "teaser" price on the "premier" then quickly moved up the chain to the "pro" because I could later add "attachments". Then I went further to get electric start and what they call "power steering" (I'm getting old). I stopped at the 14.5 B&S model since with that, a cover, maintenance kit, extra blade, hour meter, lift gate delivery and sales tax I was already way over budget (>$2,900). I didn't focus on the "made in USA" at all but that would be a plus...not too happy with a lot of junk coming from China even if marketed by reputable US companies. The only attachment I might look at is the chipper/shredder. Using the machine for a few hours I question the utility of the push blade and the snow blower.