What did you do to or on your Kubota today?

[dirtydeed]

I fully understand cleaning snow for folks and not getting a "thank you", but think you have all the equipment and time. Our neighbor has a driveway about 400' and a slight grade. They had two young boys, so I kept the drive clean so they could get groceries, whatever. After several years of free service and no thank you I just quit clearing their snow. They figured it out fairly quickly!!!!

I would just mention to them you are going to turn the snow removal over to them. That is all that needs to be said, no excuses, no explanation just...oh just say I'm too busy and getting slower! They can't argue with that.

One point of clarification: I recently saw some social media posts from this neighbor denigrating certain voters and I have taken issue with that. Maybe that sounds petty, but, I've grown really tired of that crap. I've helped people all of my life (including this new neighbor many times using my equipment/tools and never charging for it) but now, I've had my fill of the BS.

Admittedly, that's probably the real issue that I'm having with them and struggling with that decision as it goes against my nature. It seems like when you do favors for people over time it becomes an expectation.

 

[McMXi]

It seems like when you do favors for people over time it becomes an expectation.

And what happens when you damage your equipment helping them? Are they going to pay for it?

I hate biting my tongue, literally or figuratively! I've been organizing dust control along a mile or so of gravel road below me for the past seven or eight years (maybe more), but got fed up with the freeloaders who don't contribute a penny but benefit, and there are lots of them. This past summer I decided to not accept the county's dust control quote and let everyone choke on the dust. I'm disgusted with all those people who expect others to shoulder the burden of making their lives better.

 

[Shawn T. W]

I picked up my forks today for the second time, my dealer had screwed up, and not specified that they were to go on a 3pt CAT 1 quick hitch, so it was made for CAT 2 ... While the bottom pins can be turned around, the top pin was way too high (at the top of the top bar!) so he said to bring it back and he would send it back to the local manufacturer/fabricator ... This was back the beginning of November ... I bugged them a few time to see if I could pick it up ... But it hadn't even been taken back ... Tuesday when I called he said he was gonna take it over right then, and apologized for the delays ... He called last night said it was ready.

I picked it up today ... It is very heavy duty, didn't know if My Little Baby Fergie could pick it up with the SSQA forks, as they are a lot heavier than the bucket ...

Went to put in the top pin figured it would be a place to hook the scale, and it's not lined up!

I can put a CAT 1 pin through but the head/flange is too small, and just slips through ... I'm gonna see about just getting a big washer to keep it from sliding out, I'm just tired of bugging him ... Disappointed but will make them work ... Kinda wish I'd just kept my mouth shut and did it myself!

I weighed it though ...

Minus the weight of the chain ...

Primary purpose will be to carry a tote of water to water my trees, to relieve my Little Baby Fergie of that job!

Not sure when I'm going to try them on, too many other things on the list for today, but at least they are finally in my barn under cover!

 

[Trustable]

Torn between a 6 or 7 footer. The buy once side says 7. The other side says 7 will be too wide for dirt work and a L2501.

I have a five foot with my l2501. I can and have gotten bogged down moving snow and dirt with it. More often there isn’t enough weight at the front of the tractor so steering isn’t great when taking a good scoop. I would say stick with no more 6 if moving a lot of dirt, 7 may be possible but if you angle it you’ll probably have to add weight to the front depending on the size of scoop/bite you take to be able to steer.

 

[The Evil Twin]

I have a five foot with my l2501. I can and have gotten bogged down moving snow and dirt with it. More often there isn’t enough weight at the front of the tractor so steering isn’t great when taking a good scoop. I would say stick with no more 6 if moving a lot of dirt, 7 may be possible but if you angle it you’ll probably have to add weight to the front depending on the size of scoop/bite you take to be able to steer.

Going 7. Found one about an hour west of me at a decent price. Any dirt would be for a final finish. No ditches here.
I know what you mean about front weight. While using my redneck rear blade (rake with sheet metal in it) I found steering to suffer. Solved that by ditching the bucket and fitting the grapple with a load of firewood in its jaws. Not perfect, but much better.

 

[PoTreeBoy]

I'm envious of all of you folks getting lots of snow. We've had so little here in Kalispell and moving snow is one of my favorite winter activities. It's supposed to be in the mid 40s next week. Ridiculous!

Too bad you weren't down here. You could've shoveled snow, Tennessee style. It was kind of chunky.

 

[Trustable]

Going 7. Found one about an hour west of me at a decent price. Any dirt would be for a final finish. No ditches here.
I know what you mean about front weight. While using my redneck rear blade (rake with sheet metal in it) I found steering to suffer. Solved that by ditching the bucket and fitting the grapple with a load of firewood in its jaws. Not perfect, but much better.

Okay nice! You’ll have to post an update once you’ve gotten the chance to use it. I imagine if you’re doing final finishes it won’t give you any issues besides less seat time since you’ll be more efficient. That’s a good idea regarding the grapple. I was taking buckets of snow as that’s pretty much all I had and it wasn’t doing much, besides blowing off the bucket into my eyes lol.

 

[Trustable]

I'm envious of all of you folks getting lots of snow. We've had so little here in Kalispell and moving snow is one of my favorite winter activities. It's supposed to be in the mid 40s next week. Ridiculous!

Just had to say it out loud now you guys will get buried after the thaw . At least that’s how it went here when it all thawed after Christmas.

 

[biketopia]

Okay nice! You’ll have to post an update once you’ve gotten the chance to use it. I imagine if you’re doing final finishes it won’t give you any issues besides less seat time since you’ll be more efficient. That’s a good idea regarding the grapple. I was taking buckets of snow as that’s pretty much all I had and it wasn’t doing much, besides blowing off the bucket into my eyes lol.

I was fighting the same thing and would try my best to load the bucket, but it was such a light, sandy type of snow that once you broke the sleet layer, it didn't do much. I still haven't dug out back towards the barn and wood shed, that's this weekend's (excuse to get outside) project.

 

[Shawn T. W]

Even with my setup above on my SCUT, with extra weight and all four tires chained, traction was my biggest "problem" in the snow ... To be fair, I got home two days after the snow stopped, and didn't start clearing until day three ... Here you can see my first pass trying to push back the pile the county plow left for me ... I have a 60' wide driveway which ends at the marker, but I added to the shoulder to give me any extra 2' width 25' down past where my driveway really stops, to get a head start angling in my 53' trailer ... Was getting it done, but the load got too much, and it started to "crab walk" ... You can see where that began, as the blade pushed the back to the left, but it also pivots the front to the right, which causes the blade to swing to the left a bit as the pile shows, I tried to counter steer, but it was too much, and once the front tire got in the ditch, I had to commit to going into the ditch, (couldn't back up!) then I was finally able to climb back up farther down, but with a SCUT, it has very limited lift, so I was dragging the blade about 6" off the dirt, but pulling snow, while spinning tires!

A L2501/02 will have more standard weight than mine, and larger tires, which "should" provide better traction, my rears are down to 10 psi ...

In gravel with a partial load of gravel in the bucket for front weight, but didn't want to overload the front axle, as the majority of rear blade weight was on the ground, and only filled rear tires, low range, 4X4, rear axle locked, a good load of gravel stopped me here with three tires spinning and crab walking a little!

Once I added the steel wheel weights, and steel plates, it would pull a "full" blade of dirt ...

I think for a CUT sized tractor, a 7' is a better fit . . . If it gets to be too much a load, you can always raise it a bit and take a smaller bite, but what fun is that!

A rear offset blade would be nice for pushing back snow banks, but will also increase the tendency to crab walk, it's like a big rudder on a boat!

 

[Trustable]

I was fighting the same thing and would try my best to load the bucket, but it was such a light, sandy type of snow that once you broke the sleet layer, it didn't do much. I still haven't dug out back towards the barn and wood shed, that's this weekend's (excuse to get outside) project.

I’m glad I was not alone in my experience haha. Got off the tractor looking like I was the tailgating a road painting truck

 

[DONLI]

And what happens when you damage your equipment helping them? Are they going to pay for it?

I hate biting my tongue, literally or figuratively! I've been organizing dust control along a mile or so of gravel road below me for the past seven or eight years (maybe more), but got fed up with the freeloaders who don't contribute a penny but benefit, and there are lots of them. This past summer I decided to not accept the county's dust control quote and let everyone choke on the dust. I'm disgusted with all those people who expect others to shoulder the burden of making their lives better.

When we lived in the FD up state of Calif. we had a road on our property that was serving 4 home including owers, it was uphill for about 1/4 mile gravel.
After we bought ower place I went to each and evertone of them and said if we all go in together and split the cost of gravel I would do all the tractor work but would not get on the end of a shovel because of a back injury! NO ONE HELP!
So I did a lot of tractor work trying to keep it somewhat driveable for a couple of years then built my own road from the bottom to our house dnd quit working the other road!
The other home owwners where POd at me and wanted me to go in with them to have the original raod paved! I JUST LAUGHED at them and went on my way!
So I know how you feel!

Don

PS.
When we moved 5 yrs ago they still had a mud road that was impassable when it rained or snowed without 4wheel drive!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Well so much for winter...
All we have is a little snow and now rain and mud!

 

[Tarmy]

Went from 70 this morning in CA to 20 in Colorado this afternoon…supposed to be 0 in the morning…

 

[The Evil Twin]

Okay nice! You’ll have to post an update once you’ve gotten the chance to use it. I imagine if you’re doing final finishes it won’t give you any issues besides less seat time since you’ll be more efficient. That’s a good idea regarding the grapple. I was taking buckets of snow as that’s pretty much all I had and it wasn’t doing much, besides blowing off the bucket into my eyes lol.

lol. I tried the bucket of snow also. Not a fan. Do not recommend.
I had my snowboard goggles on but it still sucked. Or blows

 

[Splinters and Sparks]

Today I only leaned on my Kubota and watched a South Tennessee snowfall.

A couple days ago, however, we played tug-of-war with an up rooted pine from some strong winds that swatted the corner of small outbuilding farther down the hillside

This adventure prompted the purchase of a 12,000# winch!

 

[S-G-R]

Pushed snow and switched to forks and put the RTV tracks on the trailer. Getting them put on the X1100C next week.

 

[KubotaHawg]

Torn between a 6 or 7 footer. The buy once side says 7. The other side says 7 will be too wide for dirt work and a L2501.

Same thought process last year, ended up buying 7’ with angle and offset adjustments, 500 lb. Wasn’t sure if L2800 would have enough power for it but weight is your friend when it comes to blades/BB. I made the right choice. Learning curve over my light duty 5’ LP BB but 28 hp plenty of power for what I use it for. Plowed my gravel driveway for first time with it yesterday and no traction issues with R1s.

 

[NCL4701]

Most snow we’ve had in years and still coming down. First time I’ve tried plowing with this tractor. Usually don’t get enough to challenge our 4WD vehicles and just wait a few days for it to melt.

Changed the transmission filter and figured since most folks say R4’s suck in snow, I’d make a few passes on our private road. About 6” at that point. If we end up on the high side of predicted snow depth and R4’s are as bad as some say, was a little concerned it might not plow well or, worse, not at all. Road is pretty short, but long enough it would take forever digging it out with the loader. Don’t want to get it down to the gravel, just thin it so it will melt off the road pretty quickly when temperatures get above freezing in the next few days.

Didn’t take any pics of plowing. When I got back inside, noticed I’d forgotten to turn off the Arlo cameras so the one on the road took some pics for me.

I did take one picture of the tractor right before putting it back in the shop. Was only out about 30 minutes doing a rough plow out of the road and the three short driveways at the houses. Obviously it was still snowing pretty good while I was out.

I can see why some enjoy plowing snow. Using the backblade, put the sidelink on the rear remote with float to follow the road contour, set the toplink to a relatively non-aggressive angle, full pedal at about 2100 rpm in medium range, and drive.

Planning to do a more thorough job in the morning after it stops. Kind of fun as a novelty. Might get old if it was routine.