I have a very good friend in Kettle Falls, WA who I used to work with when we both lived in Hawaii. I moved out of Hawaii in 2011, and four years ago after many years there he moved from Hawaii back to the house and property where he grew up. His mum bought the house in 1947 and she's lived there ever since although the whole family lived in Africa for a few years. He's on around 6 acres of mostly wooded land but has a very large fenced garden and some lawn areas. Mostly he needs to clear snow, move gravel, cut grass, cultivate and move dirt in their large garden, move lots of downed trees, do some trenching etc. His son could also put the tractor to use so no doubt a trailer is in his future to get the tractor from his place to his son's place about 8 miles away.
He's wanted a tractor for years and at 73 years old this will be his first. We went looking at tractors when I spent a few days with him and his mum over the New Year's holiday but it's slim pickings in that area. I'm always keeping an eye out for him and last week when I stopped by the local dealer there was a used L47TLB on the lot. It was recently traded in but was bought from the same dealer in 2018. It's a really nice machine with 575 hours on it.
It has the 3rd function with flat-faced couplers, the 3-point parts, and chains on all four wheels. It had a full service at around 520 hours which included the HST oil, filters, engine oil, filters, etc. It's currently in the service bay having the loader removed and all related pins cleaned and greased. I like the toggle switch to creep the tractor forwards and backwards while running the backhoe, a feature you don't get on other models of tractor that have a backhoe as an option. Also, the roll cage is a lot safer compared to the standard ROPS e.g. stopping a log rolling down the loader arms and onto the operator.
I'll be delivering the tractor to my friend the weekend of the 21st, and to say that's he's excited is an understatement. I'm really pleased for him, and we discussed his option to buy a lesser model for less money that would do much of what he needs, but he's ok with paying more for this commercial grade model.
Lots of photos to share.
He's wanted a tractor for years and at 73 years old this will be his first. We went looking at tractors when I spent a few days with him and his mum over the New Year's holiday but it's slim pickings in that area. I'm always keeping an eye out for him and last week when I stopped by the local dealer there was a used L47TLB on the lot. It was recently traded in but was bought from the same dealer in 2018. It's a really nice machine with 575 hours on it.
It has the 3rd function with flat-faced couplers, the 3-point parts, and chains on all four wheels. It had a full service at around 520 hours which included the HST oil, filters, engine oil, filters, etc. It's currently in the service bay having the loader removed and all related pins cleaned and greased. I like the toggle switch to creep the tractor forwards and backwards while running the backhoe, a feature you don't get on other models of tractor that have a backhoe as an option. Also, the roll cage is a lot safer compared to the standard ROPS e.g. stopping a log rolling down the loader arms and onto the operator.
I'll be delivering the tractor to my friend the weekend of the 21st, and to say that's he's excited is an understatement. I'm really pleased for him, and we discussed his option to buy a lesser model for less money that would do much of what he needs, but he's ok with paying more for this commercial grade model.
Lots of photos to share.
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Perhaps I should drain the fuel tank and remove the battery once the tractor is on the trailer, so as to make it a little harder for a quick getaway.
