Recent content by Heavy Clay

So it’s almost two weeks. Everything is on point. Even the radiator that the first mechanic replaced is fine. Truly a learning experience. In short, I saved thousands in dollars, thousands in time, and going to sleep with the confidence that I have the proper resources in place to get tomorrow’s...

Two days into the fix. Parts were ordered last week, arrived on Monday, installed on Tuesday. I was fortunate. It looks like it was only the thermostat. No spikes in operating temperature, no smoke, and ran tiller yesterday. I did have a regular service done, the alternator was replaced. The...

I wish it were that simple. I’ve put a lot of effort, compost, and gypsum into the field to make it passable. The heavy rains set the ground back a bit, but that’s farming. Every season brings a different, unexpected challenge.

Skeets - my brother is homesteading in Mojave. He’s enjoying the challenge, but weather seems to be his #1 issue, he was prepared for the soil challenge.

San Fernando Valley. The ground has always been farmland - first walnuts, then orange groves, corn, berries, then herbs. Now I do lettuce, herbs, greens, and chicories.

I have thought along those lines. Getting an education isn’t free.

Partial update. Went for a second opinion, and I am cautiously optimistic. The second opinion pointed out a few things that had been grossly overlooked by the mechanic I had used to replace the radiator and for periodic servicing. First and foremost the thermostat was not checked when replacing...

@North Idaho Wolfman thank you for your straight talk. I’m appreciative of all the opinions, from everyone. I have little practical experience with implements so am going off of the technical info from LP. I would never be upset with the mechanic for fixing the tractor. And I don’t blame him for...

Thank you for all the responses. The mechanic has been good in the past. This is the first utility sized tractor that I know of that he has serviced. The farm I used to work for had a fleet of full size tractors from Orange to mostly green to red that he used to service. To cover my bases, I...

One more pic.

Good question. I didn’t want to make my first post a wall of text. Here’s the story. One day, between atmospheric rivers, I see the tractor in the distance, and white smoke. I call the driver off the tractor. He says the day before it started leaking from the cap. He goes on to say that he...

Adding tons of compost, literally. This year has been something else with some of the rain totals per hour. Already seeing varieties of weeds here that I have not seen on this piece in the recent past. Lots of “volunteers” from previous plantings also.

I agree 100%! Just trying to figure where the math works best.

In a pickle. I have a good mobile mechanic, but he is focused on my tiller. Land Pride RTR2570. It started with overheating problems after the heavy rains here in Ca, leaky radiator cap. While I was waiting for the new one to be shipped from Messick’s I figured I’d have him out to service the...

It looks cool, but it seems like overkill.