Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Tractor for maintaining small places

I think it might be more interesting to see how many were killed.

I'll confess my ignorance here. It's been many many years since I've been around a "farm" size tractor. Do the "newer" ones have seat safety switches?

Some do, but I don't know if they all have them yet?

Back when I was a young man and going to college I received multimedia red cross training to be an ambulance driver and an attendant. I worked for a company that provided ambulance service to the whole county. This was in Wilbarger Co. Texas and we were the only ambulance service for the county. This was and is a farming community, where growing wheat is big business. This was in north western Texas. I was an attendant for four years making money to go to college. In the four yr period I was called out to two farms where a younger man was trapped under a tractor that had turned over and pinned them under the tractor. After digging two out from under the tractor one died and one survived. In both cases, the tractor was disking or plowing farm fields. I saw a lot of things happen to people both good (delivering babies and such) and some bad. I loved that job but it did not pay much and so I went a different way in life. Respect tractors and be safe when operating such things as tractors and mowers.

All the new ones do (last 15-20 years) but they serve a different purpose mostly. Not going to fall off a tractor in an enclosed cab.

They will mostly warn you of things that may still be turned on when you leave the seat. For example they will flash a warning light and a short buzzer if you leave the seat while the pto is still running. It just reminds you to shut it off before you leave the tractor but it is not mandatory to do so, for good reason. Things like grain augers, irrigation pumps, feed grinders, etc have to keep running with no operator present.

It will also give a warning if a hydraulic circuit is still engaged. And it will prevent the tractor from starting on some of them so a person can not be off the tractor to jump start across the solenoid or something like that.

Probably some other things they do that I do not recall. They are not really objectionable and serve a useful purpose.

But it is assumed professionals are running the machine so they are not quite as cumbersome as some of the hobby and consumer market stuff.

Thanks for the info guys!

Snrub,

I had to chuckle when I read this part of your post. When I was growing up there were still lots of family farms. Those "professionals" back then started at about 9 years old! I can also remember driving our two ton truck and having to sit on a cushion to see over the dash!

Our new LS has a seat switch with two wires running to it, so most likely a NO contact like I spoke of earlier.

Snrub makes a good point about cab tractors, but my gut says the non-cab, compact and utility models are probably hot sellers these days, and most are cabless. Plus, I'll bet many of their operators do not qualify for professional status. This group probably needs all the protection they can get.

Curiosity got to me, so I went out and ran a few quick tests. With the LS, I can dismount with the engine and pto running, but I need to set the parking brake to keep an alarm quiet. As soon as the tractor starts to move in either direction, pto on or off, if I come out of the seat the engine dies.

Update: the LS will pull a 6' yard box so full with stone that it's running over the back, with ease now. That additional 1100 lbs made a huge difference.

Yupp. I rounded a corner too fast with a 1950 1 1/2 ton Chevy on a gravel county road and put it in the ditch. Spilled some of the seed beans and a ten gallon milk can filled with gasoline for the planter tractor. I was 9 years old.

I was doing limited field work on tractors at 8 and quite a bit by the time I was 10. Started out on an 8N Ford and JD model B.

"Professional" is a rather loose term. I have met a few that were pretty unprofessional. And unlike me, they even had the credentials to prove it.

Edit: Which reminds me of a story. For my 20th year high school class reunion on the registration form was a place to put ones occupation. I put "Professional Farmer". When the little pamphlet came out with all the classmates occupations some of my farming classmates, having only listed their occupation as "Farmer", chided me a little and ask "What makes you professional?". I calmly just said "attitude".

Man those were the days! First tractor my dad put me on was our Farmall H with FEL. Turned me loose pulling a drag around the field he had just disked. I was in heaven. We also had a JD H, AC WD and a Ford Jubilee with FEL. My dad's idea of "new" equipment was if you could find a spot somewhere that still had the original paint!

Thanks for the ride down memory lane....

My son at work in 2008

Well done RAH! He will remember those days fondly when he is old and gray...not to mention the skills acquired.


What's the vintage on that disk? Reminds me of what we used to have but ours had cinder blocks tied on with baling wire for weight!

He is now 6'3" and 210 lbs (lean). I can tell you from a bad decision I made to have a "fun" sparring session with him, you do not want to catch a size-16 foot from a black belt in karate! He was very apologetic and offered to get me head gear, but I said that would not be necessary because I would not be sparring with him again (much better decision!). And that was 2" ago! In all fairness, I leaned into the kick and he could not avoid the contact. Good thing that I have a hard head! He is a great kid, but as most young men his age, he has reached his "height of knowledge". He soon will be learning how little any of us really know. That is just part of growing up.

On the disc, I bought it 25 years ago on an auction for $9, but it cost me another 20 to replace a disk and all the grease fittings (back then). I don't use it much anymore since we have a very nice rototiller for our vegetable operation. I have always favored drag discs over 3-pts.

Today I bought a 5 ft Mahindra rotary cutter for my little tractor. As long as I go slow, the little LS handles it fine. Most of my ground is too bumpy to go over 3 or 4 mph except for the walking path I have been grooming.

This grapple is really working good. Cleaning up some flood debris and limbs I had cut before the storm. This picture is of it on my larger tractor (JD 5083E) but it also fits on my 3038E.

I think it would be a handy attachment for any pondstead where brush clearing is involved.

Original post when I bought it with picutures

Nice set up. I use forks, but it's not as easy.

I looked and looked at a grapple. I just don't have enough use for it to justify the cost. I think I'd need an addl hydraulic line also. Or can you run it with the same lines as a loader. It's been a few months since I even started my tractor. Hope the diesel isn't turned to jelly. I keep it in a enclosed barn, and we had a mild winter, but I didn't put in the stabilizer like I have the past few winters.

Just a quick update on the LS. It has thus far done all I have asked of it. I'm comfortable now saying I'm glad we bought it, and would buy again with no reservations. As I suspected, I'm not exactly working it to death...the hourmeter just ticked over 20 hrs this evening, and I have yet to even flip the pto switch to "on".

We decided it needed a new home, so we tore down the existing machinery shed and are constructing a bigger one. The projects never end.

Never ending projects? Ain't it the truth. I am not crazy about tractors, seem like they beat me up to much but I would not want to be without one. I have a rental excavator coming out on the 2nd, I have to replace some drainage culverts and some other work also. I would like to have a bull dozer full time but they can be costly to say the least.

When I saw the JD 3025e's on sale for 19Kbux with loader, box blade, bushhog and trailer I picked one up. My first tractor and Im in my late 50's. I only have three acres, but I finally feel I have some control over what goes on here. Just today I moved a bunch of coquina rocks to create an erosion dam and and raised the road along our little pond with fill sand. A lot of rocks have some nice JD green paint on them.

Tomorrow I'll do a little bushhoggin..
Well, they seem to retain good resale value. That's why I went new.

Built this little project for my FIL to haul wood with. He had been using only the bucket on the loader and taking lots of trips. His eyesight is bad and the thought of him backing or maneuvering a trailer around his house seemed unwise. So I built him a 3pt carrier. Can't jackknife it.

I cut him quite a bit of wood to heat and cook with and after Thanksgiving wife and I decided to buy him a 3pt carrier. Went to the typical farm stores and none in our area had one in stock. So I decided to build a quick a dirty one. Should be able to complete it in a day. So three days later (I work slow and decrepit) here is the finished product.

All is made out of scrap metal that came from my farm "iron pile" with the exception of the strips the boards bolt to. That came from the new iron rack. The bolts and screws were new. The boards all came from ones used on concrete forms and other previous projects as well as some crating material that we had some parts shipped in. The handle on the back was new as was the paint. So 95% of the project came from the scrap pile.

I think it turned out decent and my FIL was thrilled. He got my MIL out of her easy chair and had her come outside on the first load to show her all about it.

Heck Yeah! Been thinking along those lines myself. Nice work!

Thanks!

I started out just going to do something "quick and dirty". Just something thrown together to haul wood, no paint or anything. Then as I progressed thought "this feature would be nice". Then another. Then a tailgate would be good. (the way my projects go - they take on a life of their own) so it turned into more work. Then I thought "hey this is turning out pretty nice, I ought to paint it".

But the end result was worth it. My FIL will give it a workout and hopefully it will help him keep active a few more years. That was the goal, to make his life a little better.

Sweet John! Let me know when you go into mass production! I could use one of those!

Nice John. Only problem is that it holds too much wood. By the time I get a bucket full, I want to take a break