On Wed, 20 Jun 2012 01:51:19 -0400, Dave wrote:

On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:23:27 -0700, Mike M
When I got my insurance settlement I thought about getting another
bike. Then I thought about the titanium rods in my femurs & the crazy
loons on the road and bought an excavator. Not very fast but it sure
makes work around the property a lot more fun.

In THAT case, here's a way you can have some GREAT fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=CuGBpwnWW2I

Good operator. I'd need to get new glasses before I tried that.

Mike M

On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 21:28:02 -0400, "Lee Michaels"
leemichaels*nadaspam* at comcast dot net wrote:



"Mike M" wrote

When I got my insurance settlement I thought about getting another
bike. Then I thought about the titanium rods in my femurs & the crazy
loons on the road and bought an excavator. Not very fast but it sure
makes work around the property a lot more fun.

http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/.../P10000291.jpg

Counting the dog, you have three diggers in that picture.


I guess actually 4 then as I've got the dog's brother too.

Mike M

On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 22:24:52 -0400, tiredofspam nospam.nospam.com
wrote:

Nice Land Cruiser. Looks in good shape...

I wish I had that Kubota... I could use it..

On 6/19/2012 6:23 PM, Mike M wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:46:46 -0500, Swingman wrote:

On 6/18/2012 9:25 PM, Gramp's shop wrote:

In my pocket right now is a raffle ticket for a Harley 883. Yah, I'm 66
but I still want that bike. And a thickness sander.

My Sportser was stolen about 28 years ago ... all said and done the
asshat might've done me a big favor.

But ... I do get the yearning now and again, especially when driving the
mountains in AR on a beautiful day.

Then, I get in my truck, deal with all the asshats on the road these
days, and think, Naaaah!

When I got my insurance settlement I thought about getting another
bike. Then I thought about the titanium rods in my femurs & the crazy
loons on the road and bought an excavator. Not very fast but it sure
makes work around the property a lot more fun.

http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/.../P10000291.jpg

Mike M

The body has all the rust out, but it actually needs some new
upholstry.

Mike M

On 6/20/2012 11:33 AM, Stuart wrote:
In ,
Larry wrote:
I was happily ensconced in a nice fiberglass helmet. It saved me arse,
it did

I thought the idea of a helmet was to wear it on your head ?
g


Well at younger ages the part we need to protect, our brains, is not
always located in our heads. A lot of women will attest to that face in
that we often think with our ..... ;~)

On Wed, 20 Jun 2012 11:49:20 -0500, Swingman wrote:

On 6/20/2012 11:33 AM, Stuart wrote:
In article ,
Larry Jaques wrote:
I was happily ensconced in a nice fiberglass helmet. It saved me arse,
it did

I thought the idea of a helmet was to wear it on your head ?
g

+1

Smartarses. g

--
It is easier to fool people than it is to
convince people that they have been fooled.
--Mark Twain

Mike M wrote:


Good operator. I'd need to get new glasses before I tried that.


Me too - I'm sure with my eyesight, I would have picked her undergarment off
instead of her dress...

--

-Mike-

On 6/20/2012 12:51 AM, Dave wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:23:27 -0700, Mike M
When I got my insurance settlement I thought about getting another
bike. Then I thought about the titanium rods in my femurs & the crazy
loons on the road and bought an excavator. Not very fast but it sure
makes work around the property a lot more fun.

In THAT case, here's a way you can have some GREAT fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=CuGBpwnWW2I

Lazy ass didn't finish the job.

--
Any given amount of traffic flow, no matter how
sparse, will expand to fill all available lanes.
To reply, eat the taco.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbqboyee/

On Wed, 20 Jun 2012 07:42:58 -0500, Swingman wrote:
Chain cut, picked up, loaded in a pickup, and it's gone. Our banditos
are nothing, if not brazen ... hell, they can steal an entire AC
condenser unit, without losing the freon, in less than two minutes. DAMHIKT

How much would a Sportster weight? No bike is light and neither is a
Sportster. Must have been several people or some type of hoist or
winch to drag it onto a pickup.

Man, I'd go nuts if I caught anyone pulling that crap on me. You must
have been ****ed for a hell of a long time.

On Wed, 20 Jun 2012 17:33:28 +0100, Stuart
In article ,
Larry Jaques wrote:
I was happily ensconced in a nice fiberglass helmet. It saved me arse,
it did

I thought the idea of a helmet was to wear it on your head ?
g

Must have been a hell of a big helmet too.

LMAO!

Dave wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jun 2012 07:42:58 -0500, Swingman wrote:
Chain cut, picked up, loaded in a pickup, and it's gone. Our banditos
are nothing, if not brazen ... hell, they can steal an entire AC
condenser unit, without losing the freon, in less than two minutes.
DAMHIKT

How much would a Sportster weight? No bike is light and neither is a
Sportster. Must have been several people or some type of hoist or
winch to drag it onto a pickup.


Not really. Two of us used to load a friend's Low Rider (bigger than a
Sportster) into a van every year.

--

-Mike-

Mike Marlow wrote:
Dave wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jun 2012 07:42:58 -0500, Swingman wrote:
Chain cut, picked up, loaded in a pickup, and it's gone. Our
banditos are nothing, if not brazen ... hell, they can steal an
entire AC condenser unit, without losing the freon, in less than
two minutes. DAMHIKT

How much would a Sportster weight? No bike is light and neither is a
Sportster. Must have been several people or some type of hoist or
winch to drag it onto a pickup.


Not really. Two of us used to load a friend's Low Rider (bigger than
a Sportster) into a van every year.

Sorry - it was a Fat Boy, not a Low Rider.

--

-Mike-

On 6/20/2012 7:21 PM, Dave wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jun 2012 07:42:58 -0500, Swingman wrote:
Chain cut, picked up, loaded in a pickup, and it's gone. Our banditos
are nothing, if not brazen ... hell, they can steal an entire AC
condenser unit, without losing the freon, in less than two minutes. DAMHIKT

How much would a Sportster weight? No bike is light and neither is a
Sportster. Must have been several people or some type of hoist or
winch to drag it onto a pickup.

Man, I'd go nuts if I caught anyone pulling that crap on me. You must
have been ****ed for a hell of a long time.

I don't recall exactly, maybe 500+ pounds? Three young, healthy guys
could lift it into a pickup, especially with some adrenalin flowing, and
the incentive was there.

I'm still ****ed ... they'd do well to never confess.

--
www.eWoodShop.com
Last update: 4/15/2010
KarlCaillouet@ (the obvious)
http://gplus.to/eWoodShop

On Wed, 20 Jun 2012 20:51:20 -0500, Swingman wrote:

I'm still ****ed ... they'd do well to never confess.

Any local suspects? Do you figure it's long gone down Mexico way?

Dave wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jun 2012 20:51:20 -0500, Swingman wrote:

I'm still ****ed ... they'd do well to never confess.

Any local suspects? Do you figure it's long gone down Mexico way?

Police never got anything on it at all. Probably arrived the next
afternoon, 28 years ago ... Mexico is only a five or six hour drive.

--
www.ewoodshop.com

On Jun 19, 6:36*pm, Larry Jaques
wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:46:46 -0500, Swingman wrote:
On 6/18/2012 9:25 PM, Gramp's shop wrote:

In my pocket right now is a raffle ticket for a Harley 883. *Yah, I'm 66
but I still want that bike. *And a thickness sander.

My Sportser was stolen about 28 years ago ... all said and done the
asshat might've done me a big favor.

I'd give the percentages 50/50 there. *Suckage and luckage.

But ... I do get the yearning now and again, especially when driving the
mountains in AR on a beautiful day.

Ditto here in southern Oregon on spring and summer mornings.

Then, I get in my truck, deal with all the asshats on the road these
days, and think, Naaaah!

Amen to that. *I got rear ended in a parking lot in my big truck with
the headlights on. *The guy didn't even look. *If I'd been on a scoot,
he'd have broken my legs, at minimum.

My very first vehicle was a 1969 Kawasaki Street 90. *I could drive it
alone with my learner's permit at age 15-1/2 in CA. *I must have been
up and down every single street in Vista at least once before I gave
up that bike. *A friend had a Swedish trencher. I rode it once and the
toggle-switch-like throttle scared the absolute **** out of me. *That
Husky 400 would dig a trench a whole lot faster than a DitchWitch,
lemme tell ya. *g *He was a motocrosser. *I never did get a larger
bike, but in the one accident I was in, I was happily ensconced in a
nice fiberglass helmet. *It saved me arse, it did. *My helmeted head
hit the Cadillac's rear door in the center and it broke the window.
My only damage was a rug burn on my right forearm, which I used to put
myself squarely on top of the bike when it went down. *I was glad I
had a coat on that drizzly morning.

--
It is easier to fool people than it is to
convince people that they have been fooled.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * --Mark Twain

I bought a Husky 250 after I wore out my CZ/Jawa 125 dirt bike to the
point I left it behind in Holland.
The 400 was WAY more bike than I needed to have fun, even though it
wasn't that much more expensive.
My love affair with road bikes ( a Honda 750/4 ) ended when my first
daughter was born in 1980.
I felt, at the time, that I needed to stay alive.

I have looked at them again and again, in fact just in the last month,
3 bikes went up for sale: a 750 Yamaha Vtwin, a 1974 900cc BMW and a
nice Sportster, not sure of the details, but nice-looking. That
Sportster sold in a couple of days.

The two two-seater sportscars came up for sale in the same area where
I walk my dog: A Miata, not sure of the age, but I passed the second I
realized there was no airbag preventing the steering column from
impaling me.
The second car was a TR250, also no airbag, but al least life would
end with a gorgeous Italian custom wood-grained steering wheel in my
ribs.
I had a 1967 GT6 Triumph which I bought new and that was a love/hate
relationship. Even just a forecast of rain would make it hard to
start, or when Mrs Jones boiled her noodles 3 minutes too long the
damn thing would wet-out on me and she lived 3 blocks away.

I think I am done with 'sports' motorized vehicles.

On Thu, 21 Jun 2012 05:39:32 -0700, Robatoy wrote:

I have looked at them again and again, in fact just in the last month, 3
bikes went up for sale: a 750 Yamaha Vtwin, a 1974 900cc BMW and a nice
Sportster, not sure of the details, but nice-looking. That Sportster
sold in a couple of days.

The BMW sounds like a nice "vintage" bike. That's a whole different
world. I belong to a vintage group and some of the guys have garages
full of old European bikes. I'm partial to street singles myself - I'd
love to have an Ariel Red Hunter or a Vincent Comet, or even a Panther.
Maybe my wife will win the lottery one of these days :-).

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw

On Thu, 21 Jun 2012 05:39:32 -0700 (PDT), Robatoy
wrote:

On Jun 19, 6:36*pm, Larry Jaques
wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:46:46 -0500, Swingman wrote:
On 6/18/2012 9:25 PM, Gramp's shop wrote:

In my pocket right now is a raffle ticket for a Harley 883. *Yah, I'm 66
but I still want that bike. *And a thickness sander.

My Sportser was stolen about 28 years ago ... all said and done the
asshat might've done me a big favor.

I'd give the percentages 50/50 there. *Suckage and luckage.

But ... I do get the yearning now and again, especially when driving the
mountains in AR on a beautiful day.

Ditto here in southern Oregon on spring and summer mornings.

Then, I get in my truck, deal with all the asshats on the road these
days, and think, Naaaah!

Amen to that. *I got rear ended in a parking lot in my big truck with
the headlights on. *The guy didn't even look. *If I'd been on a scoot,
he'd have broken my legs, at minimum.

My very first vehicle was a 1969 Kawasaki Street 90. *I could drive it
alone with my learner's permit at age 15-1/2 in CA. *I must have been
up and down every single street in Vista at least once before I gave
up that bike. *A friend had a Swedish trencher. I rode it once and the
toggle-switch-like throttle scared the absolute **** out of me. *That
Husky 400 would dig a trench a whole lot faster than a DitchWitch,
lemme tell ya. *g *He was a motocrosser. *I never did get a larger
bike, but in the one accident I was in, I was happily ensconced in a
nice fiberglass helmet. *It saved me arse, it did. *My helmeted head
hit the Cadillac's rear door in the center and it broke the window.
My only damage was a rug burn on my right forearm, which I used to put
myself squarely on top of the bike when it went down. *I was glad I
had a coat on that drizzly morning.

--
It is easier to fool people than it is to
convince people that they have been fooled.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * --Mark Twain

I bought a Husky 250 after I wore out my CZ/Jawa 125 dirt bike to the
point I left it behind in Holland.
The 400 was WAY more bike than I needed to have fun, even though it
wasn't that much more expensive.
My love affair with road bikes ( a Honda 750/4 ) ended when my first
daughter was born in 1980.
I felt, at the time, that I needed to stay alive.

Funny how little things like kids will change things.


I have looked at them again and again, in fact just in the last month,
3 bikes went up for sale: a 750 Yamaha Vtwin, a 1974 900cc BMW and a
nice Sportster, not sure of the details, but nice-looking. That
Sportster sold in a couple of days.

The two two-seater sportscars came up for sale in the same area where
I walk my dog: A Miata, not sure of the age, but I passed the second I
realized there was no airbag preventing the steering column from
impaling me.
The second car was a TR250, also no airbag, but al least life would
end with a gorgeous Italian custom wood-grained steering wheel in my
ribs.
I had a 1967 GT6 Triumph which I bought new and that was a love/hate
relationship. Even just a forecast of rain would make it hard to
start, or when Mrs Jones boiled her noodles 3 minutes too long the
damn thing would wet-out on me and she lived 3 blocks away.

I think I am done with 'sports' motorized vehicles.

Yep, ah reckon so. Mrs. Jones brought out the Prince of Darkness in
the Trumpet, eh?


I've been very happy with my vehicles lately. Fuel injection is a
Godsend, vastly different than the old days. Remember crossing a
street back in carbureted days? When the engine was cold, you'd
wonder if it would stall on you when your vehicle was right in the
middle of the road. I used to tune up my vehicles every several
thousand miles. Now they run for years and years without any need for
maintenance, other than oil changes.

Still, I miss my old '70 AMC Javelin. After my rebuild, installing a
mild cam, it had 425hp and 450ft/lb of torque. The Borg Warner close-
ratio T-10 tranny was good for those busy times of getting up to speed
in several seconds. That thing had a Rottenchester carb which never
gave me any trouble except once, when it stuck WFO. Scary.

--
However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
-- Sir Winston Churchill

On Jun 21, 11:17*am, Larry Blanchard wrote:
On Thu, 21 Jun 2012 05:39:32 -0700, Robatoy wrote:
I have looked at them again and again, in fact just in the last month, 3
bikes went up for sale: a 750 Yamaha Vtwin, a 1974 900cc BMW and a nice
Sportster, not sure of the details, but nice-looking. That Sportster
sold in a couple of days.

The BMW sounds like a nice "vintage" bike. *That's a whole different
world. *I belong to a vintage group and some of the guys have garages
full of old European bikes. *I'm partial to street singles myself - I'd
love to have an Ariel Red Hunter or a Vincent Comet, or even a Panther.
Maybe my wife will win the lottery one of these days :-).

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw

That BMW could have been had for $ 3500.00. It was mint. Purred like a
kitten. I found it 'too tall' for me.
COG up that high made it feel funny. And here I thought flat boxers'
big selling point was a low COG.
I guess not when applied to bikes if you mount the engine up that high
for cornering clearance. Those cylinders are way out there.
Add the crash bars and it feels like you're flying a plane.
Still....nice machine.

Mike M wrote in
:


When I got my insurance settlement I thought about getting another
bike. Then I thought about the titanium rods in my femurs & the crazy
loons on the road and bought an excavator. Not very fast but it sure
makes work around the property a lot more fun.

http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/...ment/P10000291.
jpg

Mike M

How do you like that Kubota tractor? (Sorry if this is a few days old,
yesterday I found out my skid steer has a couple leaks that will be
uneconomical to fix.)

I'm looking at my options and trying to figure out what will be best in
the long run.

Puckdropper
--
Make it to fit, don't make it fit.

On 23 Jun 2012 07:36:23 GMT, Puckdropper
puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

Mike M wrote in
:


When I got my insurance settlement I thought about getting another
bike. Then I thought about the titanium rods in my femurs & the crazy
loons on the road and bought an excavator. Not very fast but it sure
makes work around the property a lot more fun.

http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/...ment/P10000291.
jpg

Mike M

How do you like that Kubota tractor? (Sorry if this is a few days old,
yesterday I found out my skid steer has a couple leaks that will be
uneconomical to fix.)

I'm looking at my options and trying to figure out what will be best in
the long run.

Puckdropper

I like it a lot. I replaced an old 47 Case VAI with it. The Case is
older the 3 point hitches so I couldn't do much with it but tow and
drag. The Kubota is B3200 so I think's its the biggest of the B
series. The 4 cylinder seems to have more vibration then the 3
cylinder but has a 5' bucket instead of a 4'. My neighbor has a B26
and I'm about 10" wider, higher and longer. The backhoe is well
thought out as it goes on and off in about 10 minutes. The seat
swivels around so you have lots of leg room in either direction. The
only con I can think of isn't won't load a standard dump truck. I
have a dump trailer so it is fine for that. The backhoe is strong and
has a mechanical thumb so you can place rocks with it. They have a 4
year zero percent financing so you can get a new one pretty
reasonable. I made a large down payment so my payments are less then
it would cost to rent one for a day. So far I've only had one minor
problem. I bent a mount for a safety switch of course I was a 1/2
mile from home. It was a crowbar repair once I had the tool I needed.
Nuetral position sensor so it wouldn't start. Probably did the
initial bend going thru slash piles. My neighbor just got his B26 w/o
backhoe and I think it was about 14K and there are always used ones
out there. Although 2009 when I was looking at used all the used one
were pre crash purchased and they wanted about as much as the new one.

Mike M

Mike M wrote in
:

On 23 Jun 2012 07:36:23 GMT, Puckdropper
puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

How do you like that Kubota tractor? (Sorry if this is a few days
old, yesterday I found out my skid steer has a couple leaks that will
be uneconomical to fix.)

I'm looking at my options and trying to figure out what will be best
in the long run.

Puckdropper

I like it a lot. I replaced an old 47 Case VAI with it. The Case is
older the 3 point hitches so I couldn't do much with it but tow and
drag. The Kubota is B3200 so I think's its the biggest of the B
series. The 4 cylinder seems to have more vibration then the 3
cylinder but has a 5' bucket instead of a 4'. My neighbor has a B26
and I'm about 10" wider, higher and longer. The backhoe is well
thought out as it goes on and off in about 10 minutes. The seat
swivels around so you have lots of leg room in either direction. The
only con I can think of isn't won't load a standard dump truck. I
have a dump trailer so it is fine for that. The backhoe is strong and
has a mechanical thumb so you can place rocks with it. They have a 4
year zero percent financing so you can get a new one pretty
reasonable. I made a large down payment so my payments are less then
it would cost to rent one for a day. So far I've only had one minor
problem. I bent a mount for a safety switch of course I was a 1/2
mile from home. It was a crowbar repair once I had the tool I needed.
Nuetral position sensor so it wouldn't start. Probably did the
initial bend going thru slash piles. My neighbor just got his B26 w/o
backhoe and I think it was about 14K and there are always used ones
out there. Although 2009 when I was looking at used all the used one
were pre crash purchased and they wanted about as much as the new one.

Mike M

They've got a package deal going with the L3800 or L3200 (5 hp is the
only difference) which seems to have similar specs to yours. The
engines are different sizes, but similar horsepower. How does yours do
in soft wet grass? I had to pick and choose my days for skid steer work
at times, as it wouldn't take much time for the wheels to sink in and
get stuck. (No tracks.)

Is the backhoe limited in height like the loader bucket? With the
mechanical thumb, it could be useful for tearing down my sister's
1-story garage. (We knew the garage needed to be replaced when she
bought the place.)

It looks like tractors with loaders are running between $8,000 and
$12,000 used in my area, with the $10,000 - $12,500 range being most
common. New doesn't seem to be all that much more, maybe around 25%.
Over the life of a machine, that's not all that much. The've got 0% for
60 months and a couple of rebates on the L-series tractors (that expire
this month), so it will be interesting to see how it compares to a used
one.

Puckdropper
--
Make it to fit, don't make it fit.

On 24 Jun 2012 02:34:35 GMT, Puckdropper
puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

Mike M wrote in
:

On 23 Jun 2012 07:36:23 GMT, Puckdropper
puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

How do you like that Kubota tractor? (Sorry if this is a few days
old, yesterday I found out my skid steer has a couple leaks that will
be uneconomical to fix.)

I'm looking at my options and trying to figure out what will be best
in the long run.

Puckdropper

I like it a lot. I replaced an old 47 Case VAI with it. The Case is
older the 3 point hitches so I couldn't do much with it but tow and
drag. The Kubota is B3200 so I think's its the biggest of the B
series. The 4 cylinder seems to have more vibration then the 3
cylinder but has a 5' bucket instead of a 4'. My neighbor has a B26
and I'm about 10" wider, higher and longer. The backhoe is well
thought out as it goes on and off in about 10 minutes. The seat
swivels around so you have lots of leg room in either direction. The
only con I can think of isn't won't load a standard dump truck. I
have a dump trailer so it is fine for that. The backhoe is strong and
has a mechanical thumb so you can place rocks with it. They have a 4
year zero percent financing so you can get a new one pretty
reasonable. I made a large down payment so my payments are less then
it would cost to rent one for a day. So far I've only had one minor
problem. I bent a mount for a safety switch of course I was a 1/2
mile from home. It was a crowbar repair once I had the tool I needed.
Nuetral position sensor so it wouldn't start. Probably did the
initial bend going thru slash piles. My neighbor just got his B26 w/o
backhoe and I think it was about 14K and there are always used ones
out there. Although 2009 when I was looking at used all the used one
were pre crash purchased and they wanted about as much as the new one.

Mike M

They've got a package deal going with the L3800 or L3200 (5 hp is the
only difference) which seems to have similar specs to yours. The
engines are different sizes, but similar horsepower. How does yours do
in soft wet grass? I had to pick and choose my days for skid steer work
at times, as it wouldn't take much time for the wheels to sink in and
get stuck. (No tracks.)

Is the backhoe limited in height like the loader bucket? With the
mechanical thumb, it could be useful for tearing down my sister's
1-story garage. (We knew the garage needed to be replaced when she
bought the place.)

It looks like tractors with loaders are running between $8,000 and
$12,000 used in my area, with the $10,000 - $12,500 range being most
common. New doesn't seem to be all that much more, maybe around 25%.
Over the life of a machine, that's not all that much. The've got 0% for
60 months and a couple of rebates on the L-series tractors (that expire
this month), so it will be interesting to see how it compares to a used
one.

Puckdropper

The L series is a little heavier which can be a plus, go to Kubota's
web site and you can compare all the specs as most of the components
are engineered for the equipment they are on. That's why I have the
excavtor as well as it takes care of most of want the backhoe doesn't,
and it has a hydraulic thumb. But even then I've had to rent a bigger
excavator for some of the really big stumps. Last one I hauled away
was over 2 tons. I'm in Western Washington so you can imagine the mud
here in the winter. With a backhoe you can almost always push
yourself out of a problem. If you get the agricultural tires you get
good traction, 4WD and doesn't tear the grass up if its not too wet.
The tractor is about 3500lbs vs over 4 tons for the excavator and that
weight makes a bigger difference then the HP. I wish I had it 20
years ago I would probably have fewer aches and pains. Put a hot tub
up on the deck by myself with the loader. You'll be amazed how much
easier the tasks will be with a reliable well build piece of
equipment. Of course that's a comon theme here.

Mike M

Mike M wrote in
:

On 24 Jun 2012 02:34:35 GMT, Puckdropper
puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

They've got a package deal going with the L3800 or L3200 (5 hp is the
only difference) which seems to have similar specs to yours. The
engines are different sizes, but similar horsepower. How does yours
do in soft wet grass? I had to pick and choose my days for skid steer
work at times, as it wouldn't take much time for the wheels to sink in
and get stuck. (No tracks.)

Is the backhoe limited in height like the loader bucket? With the
mechanical thumb, it could be useful for tearing down my sister's
1-story garage. (We knew the garage needed to be replaced when she
bought the place.)

It looks like tractors with loaders are running between $8,000 and
$12,000 used in my area, with the $10,000 - $12,500 range being most
common. New doesn't seem to be all that much more, maybe around 25%.
Over the life of a machine, that's not all that much. The've got 0%
for 60 months and a couple of rebates on the L-series tractors (that
expire this month), so it will be interesting to see how it compares
to a used one.

Puckdropper

The L series is a little heavier which can be a plus, go to Kubota's
web site and you can compare all the specs as most of the components
are engineered for the equipment they are on. That's why I have the
excavtor as well as it takes care of most of want the backhoe doesn't,
and it has a hydraulic thumb. But even then I've had to rent a bigger
excavator for some of the really big stumps. Last one I hauled away
was over 2 tons. I'm in Western Washington so you can imagine the mud
here in the winter. With a backhoe you can almost always push
yourself out of a problem. If you get the agricultural tires you get
good traction, 4WD and doesn't tear the grass up if its not too wet.
The tractor is about 3500lbs vs over 4 tons for the excavator and that
weight makes a bigger difference then the HP. I wish I had it 20
years ago I would probably have fewer aches and pains. Put a hot tub
up on the deck by myself with the loader. You'll be amazed how much
easier the tasks will be with a reliable well build piece of
equipment. Of course that's a comon theme here.

Mike M


I'm hoping that the tractor will be the right tool for the job more
often than the skid steer. The skid steer was so sensitive to the
ground underneath that leveling/grading was difficult and so tall that
getting it in somewhere would also be difficult.

I'll add agricultural tires to the list of things to ask about.

Thanks for the conversation, it was good to chat with someone who's got
something similar to what I'm looking at.

Puckdropper
--
Make it to fit, don't make it fit.