I got a Kubota L2501 with a loader and backhoe. I love it!
35 Years in the Making! (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter knuckle47
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- #202
I don’t have a frequent use for a machine like this …I have needed it for 4 decades living here…BUT WHEN I DO and the times come up where I just don’t have the energy or strength and that I paid 3k for it, it is a Godsend. My neighbor has a Kubota L42? With a bucket that has a grapple type jaw and it’s 4WD. The backhoe is another wish….Very cool but 70k +
I actually used those bolt on pallet forks to lift the 4 post lift shipping package at over 2200lbs and then erect the posts. With the two friends I have, they are both a little older and should probably not to lifting this stuff but they did offer. I let it sit under the overhang with a 6 volt battery maintainer. Starts right up . The trip bucket is not as maneuverable as a hydraulic tilt but you get to learn a few little tricks to disperse a load like height, forward speed or reverse. When the bucket is high up and you trip the lever, it swings wildly dropping the load 6-8’ front to back
For any ham radio guys…if you heard of the tornados we had here 2 weeks ago…this 68’ crank up tower was standing since 1981. Nested it’s about 28’ and that was a KLM KT34-XA With a 32’ boom…..Missed the house by 3’
I actually used those bolt on pallet forks to lift the 4 post lift shipping package at over 2200lbs and then erect the posts. With the two friends I have, they are both a little older and should probably not to lifting this stuff but they did offer. I let it sit under the overhang with a 6 volt battery maintainer. Starts right up . The trip bucket is not as maneuverable as a hydraulic tilt but you get to learn a few little tricks to disperse a load like height, forward speed or reverse. When the bucket is high up and you trip the lever, it swings wildly dropping the load 6-8’ front to back
For any ham radio guys…if you heard of the tornados we had here 2 weeks ago…this 68’ crank up tower was standing since 1981. Nested it’s about 28’ and that was a KLM KT34-XA With a 32’ boom…..Missed the house by 3’
1911
chupacabra
Sorry about the tornado and the damage!
I have a smaller crank-up tower that I'm going to put up on the hill above our house.
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- #204
Thank you….When I dug the hole for the 6x6x6’ concrete pad I measured enough to be close and eliminate a long cable run between coax and rotator wires SO IF it SHOULD topple over, it was far enough away. After 40 years of rain, wind and snow… I never thought it was a problem . On a few occasions I had added an extension mast and a 2 meter beam and an 2 meter Omni-directional antenna and THATS where the extra length became a problem. Wound up being 12’ more above the main antenna boom.
I did use guy wires and earth screws to the non telescoping section and I would climb this thing when I was younger when it was collapsed to 28’ but who’d ever think an EF2 tornado would pass so closely. I don’t know how you guys in the mid-west live under the threat of these storms routinely.
when you run your cables, use good coax and sealers. 5 years passes so quickly and unnoticed….then you find yourself doing cable replacement and the worst times. This mil-spec cable lasted over 25 years.
1911
chupacabra
Thanks for the experience/advice. My tower is only 22' collapsed, so less than 40' extended. I already have the hole for the concrete base jackhammered out. Pouring the base has fallen down the priority list with the house construction. I will guy the lower section. I have a 2 meter J pole that may work good enough given the height on the hill; I have a 2 meter beam and a rotator also if the J pole is not satisfactory. Also have a 10 meter vertical, and an offset-center-fed wire dipole for HF that will go on the tower. I may replace that with a vertical HF antenna; I don't want to mess with any large Yagis for HF. So hopefully not too much wind load. It will be a fair distance from the house (~75?); if it were to come down in a storm it wouldn't hit anything but some native trees or possibly my wife's beehives.
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- #206
Back in ‘81 I started as a tech class and within 4 months went to he FCC on Varick St in NYC and took the 13WPM code and upgraded to general and eventually advanced. I was in love with speaking with people across the globe and had some great contacts. I was also 28 and enthusiastic I dug that hole with a shovel. That antenna had 14dB gain and coupled with a 1500w amp I had built gave that Yaesu radio some punch. At night, I would stay up til 3 am or so on a net called 3905 century club listening for grey line DX on an 80 meter dipole…ah….the good old days
you have a good setup on a hill. Our elevation is about 170’ above sea level but trees have really really grown in 45 years so getting up and over them got to be difficult. That two section tower will be even more secure
you have a good setup on a hill. Our elevation is about 170’ above sea level but trees have really really grown in 45 years so getting up and over them got to be difficult. That two section tower will be even more secure
1911
chupacabra
Even the top of the hill is only about 1,200' here, but that's about as high as anywhere else within a few counties, so I'm hoping for some good line-of-sight for 2 meters anyway. My little tower will be above most of the trees.
I bought a Bobcat skidloader back when I was building my workshop in the late '90's. I did the calculations and it was going to be cheaper to buy it, build the workshop, and then sell it than to rent one every couple weeks for a task - not to mention wondering if one would be available when I needed it and either the time or money to go get it or have it delivered. Except that I never got around to selling it when I was finished... It's just too useful - plowing snow, unloading things from the pickup, moving things in the shop, odd landscaping jobs, etc. The downside is that tasks or projects that any normal person would say "I don't know... That's a lot of work..." become "Of course, let's do it. We have the Bobcat..."
Oh, and the skidloader led to adding a Bobcat mini-ex a number of years later...
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- #209
The guy that cleared the land for the polebarn had a big cat and a skid steer with a grapple and a few other implements. The skid steer was incredibly versatile. He would pickup trees that were 30’ lengths and carry them off like a bunch of twigs. He moved a trailer easily, raked out over 300 yards of fill and crushed concrete and lifted stuff all around the yard.
the big CAT was able to dig but equally impressive was going up to a 20-24” diameter oak tree and pushing it over like a house of cards when I get behind the old 8N tractor… it’s like a Walter Mitty experience … I can pretend it’s the big Cat….vroom vroom
Either way…it’s stronger than I am these days
the big CAT was able to dig but equally impressive was going up to a 20-24” diameter oak tree and pushing it over like a house of cards when I get behind the old 8N tractor… it’s like a Walter Mitty experience … I can pretend it’s the big Cat….vroom vroom
Either way…it’s stronger than I am these days
After owning my skid steer for 10 months now it’s almost the perfect tool for the farm.
Cleared 100 yards of heavily overgrown fence line yesterday probably 15’ wide with briars and trees in less than an hour. Used grapple to move the old deadfall away to burn pile. It’s honestly too easy. The drum mulcher saved me countless number of blood products due to briars and probably a shot of steroids for poison ivy.
Last week I was able to finish pushing 3 younger oak trees from corner where wife and I will build fence. They were 20’ tall and maybe 7-8” wide, a few pushes and they were down. Grapple was able to haul them to burn pile.
A man could go broke buying implements for them though!
Cleared 100 yards of heavily overgrown fence line yesterday probably 15’ wide with briars and trees in less than an hour. Used grapple to move the old deadfall away to burn pile. It’s honestly too easy. The drum mulcher saved me countless number of blood products due to briars and probably a shot of steroids for poison ivy.
Last week I was able to finish pushing 3 younger oak trees from corner where wife and I will build fence. They were 20’ tall and maybe 7-8” wide, a few pushes and they were down. Grapple was able to haul them to burn pile.
A man could go broke buying implements for them though!
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Either way…it’s stronger than I am these days
I was in my early 30's when I bought the skidloader. Heading into my later fifties, it is more appreciated with every passing year.
I've got a dirt bucket (which I should really sell), snow bucket, 4-in-1 bucket (reason to sell dirt bucket), and pallet forks. I've rented other attachments over the years when the need has arisen - auger, tiller, trencher, etc. The need for such isn't as long term and definitely not worth the storage for having them around.
Gonna mount a generator on the counterweight to run the breaker! I love it!
Many years ago I picked up a Rotek slewing bearing from a Genie shooting boom lift. The project I got it for didn't materialize so I put it in storage. Recently I stumbled across it again in my storage building and knew immediately what I needed to do with it- Hydraulic fork rotator for my skidsteer!
My skidsteers just a little 2040 Mustang with 40HP Yanmar, but it works great for everything my 10K lb IHI excavator can't do. I've built a 4ft brush hog, 5ft flail, 4ft rototiller and I want to do a 36" trencher attachment that can fit both the excavator and the skidsteer. I have all the pieces to assemble to a post hole digger and a pile of mismatched augers. I've come to the conclusion it's cheaper to just buy the Chinese hydraulic 2" hex auger setups that include a couple augers than it is to build it.
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- #216
I need to find a post hole digger… I’ve seen them from $400 to $2000 and I am only using it for maybe 50-60 holes. Tractor supply shows a cheaper version but I have ZERO experience with one
The gearboxes are all real similar. The augers are where you can have trouble. Some are too flimsy, some are made poorly and don't cut well. Nice ones will have replaceable cutting edges/teeth, but that doesn't mean others are bad if they don't. Just a nice feature to look out for when buying used. The 2" hex drive is the most common. The round shaft style works fine for homeowner type stuff, but most used augers you come across will have the 2" hex drive.
Michael B
SILVER Star
Happy birthday Al! 
My MIL’s birthday is today and mine was Monday.
My MIL’s birthday is today and mine was Monday.
WarDamnEagle
SILVER Star
Rather than continuing to add your HVAC questions to Jon's thread, I thought I would post something here but I don't know the dimensions of your shop. It looks about like 20x30 (enclosed) but I didn't see you mention the size in the first few posts. Give us the size and wall height and that might help us with your questions a bit better.
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- #220
Thank you Michael. And a very Happy Birthday to she and you as well….my wife said “ do you feel 71”. Me: mentally no, physically in the last 9 months, yes. Like an airplane going into a stall….suddenly ooops!Happy birthday Al!
My MIL’s birthday is today and mine was Monday.
