Tractors are handy, ain't they?

[LJH]

Finally got some snow, if you want to call it that. Instead of our usual fluffy powder, this stuff is wet, heavy and slippery as greased owl chit - more like white mud. Anyway, someone (who may or may not have been me) got a little careless backing the F150 up our steep hill to the house and slid it right into the ditch I recently dug for a stone wall footing (that I may or may not have forgotten was under all the snow).

Couldn't back up, couldn't go forward. It's 4 WD but ... ice. And I'd dig it out with a salad fork before calling my buddy with the big yellow machine and listen to the giggling. So I warmed up Baby John, got a chain & crossed my fingers -

truck is out of the ditch, BJ back is in her shed, face has been saved and I'm surfing my forums with a hot cup of coffee. Did I mention how handy having a tractor is?

 

[pedalstomper78]

Handy and fun. But telling the Mrs. how handy it is makes it an easier sell.....

 

[murphy1244]

John is a she??????????

 

[MIKE R]

They are handy. They can be used anywhere and do anything.

 

[creekbend]

As you previously indicated, owning a tractor opens up all possibilities of making tasks easier. Well done in regards to the recovery effort.

 

[lakngulf]

Good Recovery

 

[k0ua]

About 3 winters ago, while trying to get the Mother in law to the Hospital, one snowy day, I put the car in the ditch first trying to get to the lower drive where we could load her without her going up the staircase.. Then I got the 4wd truck, and got it stuck on the hill, then decided to back down. Whoops too slick, uh much like the greased owl "butter" you mentioned, and managed to lose control of the truck going backwards (ahem, yep happens to the best of us) and put it down an embankment nose first..Anyway the ambulance with 4wd and the studded snow tires came. and darn near got stuck, but finished loading her and in the end there wasn't anything serious wrong with her to begin with. $320 dollars later for the wrecker fees (and the wrecker driver made me crawl back into the truck to put it into neutral, as it was dangerous as he77, and he did not want to do it.) both of my vehicles were back in the garage safe and sound. Nothing in the way of a tractor was going to pull the truck out. (2 hours and 350 foot away pull with a snatch block. The little B7500 I had at the time might have pulled the car out, but I did not try it.

James K0UA

 

[JDgreen227]

I struggled to care for a 5 acre lawn on an 11 acre property with a good size Deere garden tractor (318) for about nine years...finally decided to upsize to a CUT and once I did I wanted to kick myself for not buying one sooner...my 318 would mow and push snow, my 4210 does that plus a dozen other tasks and would do fifty more tasks if I purchased the proper attachments. The 318 was just about ready for a rebuild of the engine at 1100 hours, the 4210 just rolled over 1,000 hours and is barely broken in. Yes, a tractor gives you the most bang for the buck of any motorized vehicle you can buy...ESPECIALLY when it's a GREEN AND YELLOW TRACTOR !!! :thumbsup:

 

[valley]

If that snow was here, we'ed call it Sierra Cement.

 

[JDL538]

I struggled to care for a 5 acre lawn on an 11 acre property with a good size Deere garden tractor (318) for about nine years...finally decided to upsize to a CUT and once I did I wanted to kick myself for not buying one sooner...my 318 would mow and push snow, my 4210 does that plus a dozen other tasks and would do fifty more tasks if I purchased the proper attachments. The 318 was just about ready for a rebuild of the engine at 1100 hours, the 4210 just rolled over 1,000 hours and is barely broken in. Yes, a tractor gives you the most bang for the buck of any motorized vehicle you can buy...ESPECIALLY when it's a GREEN AND YELLOW TRACTOR !!! :thumbsup:

I bought a 1980 kabota back in 92 it was mostly just an old tractor no LOADER used it for grass and Snow 1500 ft. of driveway paid $5500. with a bushhog and Cultivator 2 wheel drive and found out latter it was a grey Tractor from Japan but for 17 years I never had one problem with it.
I bought a CK30 IN 09 with a loader and 4 wheel drive what a TRACTOR and I waited 17 years to find out the difference from 4 wheel and 2 wheel and the loader alone was worth the money and it wasn't much more money. Live and learn

 

[DKCDKC]

Got a long - 1 mile - driveway in. Hills, curves and all. Much of it is north facing, but the entrance road faces south and melts quick. It's really a thinly disguised trap for UPS and FEDEX trucks. They come in. They can't get out. I warn them, but drivers change. Got a UPS 2wd box truck two years ago. He called his wrecker before he walked down to my house. I warned him and the wrecker driver. Wrecker got stuck on ice-covered hill. Chains weren't enough. Got out my old 2wd JD 2030 and took a forest road to the top of the hill. Used the bucket and box blade to scrape out raw gravel about 40 feet up from the wrecker, then pulled him out slowly with a long few chains. We winched out the truck. We made it 1400 feet to the next hill easily, then they got stuck again. Same process. Got them finally out about dark. Darn expensive package - for me and UPS.

Built a package drop near the highway last year. But we didn't have a lot of snow. I'll be waiting to see if the delivery guys have the sense not to come in this year.

 

[Pete Judd]

I can't count how many rigs, I have pulled out over the years. Happens every year. Ice happens around here, and even though the roads in town are wet, I am 200 feet above them, on a road that is shaded by a ridge right to the south. Every thing will be wet until they get to the corner of my property, then things get slick NOW. The uphill ditch, and the downhill creek, have seen a lot of rigs in them over the years. The young drivers that like to drive up our 25 mph road at 50 to slow down.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I put the blade on the back of my 3130 last week and bladed the neighbor lady's driveway. It is pretty steep, and her idiot kid can't stay off the gas, so they had dug moguls a foot deep in the gravel. It took about half an hour to smooth it out. I welded up a barrel rack for the 3-point and stuck a roller pump on the PTO. I can spray a couple acres in half an hour. It's really great for keeping the blackberries in check. I also have a brush mower, a plow, cover crop disc, cultipacker, and harrow. I have a 1960 vintage Howard Rotovator, but the seals are completely gone. Pour oil into the gear box and it runs right out the side. I'm planning on tearing it apart and installing new seals sometime before spring. I also have a salvaged 3" fire pump that I would like to set up on a 3 point PTO mount, but that's a "someday" project. No, I don't have a backhoe. I never saw the need.

The neat thing about a modern utility tractor is that it will lift, pull or spin just about anything with the right implements.