Bought my first tractor today. Got myself a b7100D. 1500 hours on the clock. It has a plow with the hydraulics hooked to it so I can raise/lower it and turn it left and right without getting off. I bought it from a friend that got it after his father-in-law passed away and he only plowed snow with it a few times in the 10 years he owned it. It was in the shed where he keeps it and the first thing I noticed was that it wasn't marking its territory where it was parked. It fired right up, no clouds of smoke. No clunks or grinding noises during operation. I'm in my 60's and just had knee surgery last week. There's a ton of dead ash in my woods, It beats the balls off my atv trying to get wood up and out of there. It's uphill all the way. I'm not going to use it commercially, just around my property and to plow the private road we live on. I'm going to change the oil and filters and get new tires for it to start out. I'll probably change the radiator fluid and the hoses. the rad hoses could be the originals. Anything else I should check/do to it?
First Post-I took the plunge
- Thread starter tomtsled
- Start date
North Idaho Wolfman
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L3450DT-GST, Woods FEL, B7100 HSD, FEL, 60" SB, 743 Bobcat with V2203, and more
85Hokie
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BX-25D ,PTB. Under Armor, '90&'92-B7100HST's, '06 BX1850 FEL
Clean the radiator INSIDE and out , then do it all over again.
That machine does not have a water pump - so it works on hot water rising, then cooled and it starts all over again.
keeping the radiator clean will be your #1 priority. IT is a mule on steroids - hellva of small tractor.
That machine does not have a water pump - so it works on hot water rising, then cooled and it starts all over again.
keeping the radiator clean will be your #1 priority. IT is a mule on steroids - hellva of small tractor.
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Skidding logs up hill with a quad sure sounds like it would suck ash. Congrats on the new work horse and be safe on those hills.
trial and error
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B7100dt manual trans. homemade FEL, 4 way hydraulic dozer blade
Congrats @tomtsled, on the b7100, I have a similar b7100 which came woth the 4 way hydraulic plow. It works fairly well for plowing except when the plow is angled and loaded up, then the front end gets pushed around, rendering the steering wheel nearly useless. You will quickly learn to overcome this with the independents steering brakes. the machine will likely run out of traction before it runs out of horsepower plowing snow. Even with 350ishlbs hanging off the 3 point and cobbled chains on the rear I still run out of traction plowing my 400' driveway that goes uphill.on both ends. I also use mine for skidding logs and with a simple homemade trailer hitch on the 3ph with a integrated grab hook and a chain with a slip hook I haven't found a log I couldn't skid using the 3ph so long as I can get one end off the ground. To overcome the logs I couldn't get one end up on I fabricobbked a (sketchy looking but functional) FEL for the front end using the plow hydraulic valve plow fram and aquired steel. Now if I can't lift it with the 3ph I just buck it up on site and take it out a few pieces at a time, slower but it gets the job done.. next project is a set of forks for my loader. You are going to like the simplicity and reliability of that little billybgoat of a tractor. As others have said religiously keep an eye on your fan belt radiator and coolant level. I recently replaced my fan belt, hoses and most of the coolant in my machine hoses and belt where probably original. The hoses are an easy find on Messicks site and the belt has a napa cross-reference that I can't remember right now but someone posted on another thread just the other day I had already got mine from messicks.
One thing others haven't mentioned but I'm sure you have figured out is that these little 3cylinder deisels like the glow plugs and a strong battery. A battery float charger will be your best freind especially in the cold weather, I've never had an need for any block heater etc in the NY cold so long as I glow it long enough and the battery is on the float charger
One thing others haven't mentioned but I'm sure you have figured out is that these little 3cylinder deisels like the glow plugs and a strong battery. A battery float charger will be your best freind especially in the cold weather, I've never had an need for any block heater etc in the NY cold so long as I glow it long enough and the battery is on the float charger
You might want to consider a 3PT log skidder attachment for the machine. They are quite handy for moving logs a distance.
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Fuel filter. Grease it, look for busted/missing zerks. Add tire ballast if it doesn’t have it. Check for loose fasteners/fittings. First it have tie rod ends on the steering linkage? If so, check those.
Fuel filter. Grease it, look for busted/missing zerks. Add tire ballast if it doesn’t have it. Check for loose fasteners/fittings. First it have tie rod ends on the steering linkage? If so, check those.