Haten it now......

[jimadd]

Hello all. Newish member here after getting my first Kubota. I will try and make this short and simple.....

Kinda did a sale swap with my 2004 JD 110TLB. It was getting on in age and well loved on and needing some work here and there. I took in on a trade last year and did all the large things I needed to do, and figured I would down-size now. So I sold/traded the Deere for a new BX25D. I was delighted to say the least when the guy showed up with it on a trailer to swap me out. I got a 54" mmm with it and it only had 1 hour on it. Man was I happy. My first new tractor......

So, now this is where the problem comes in. The 110 was a great tractor to say the least. Not small but not full grown either. Bigger than a compact, smaller than a full-size machine so the wife never messed with it. (Here we go) She would always ask me to do this or that....stuff always got done.....no problem.

Now, she want me to teach her how to use this one as it is not so large and intimidating. As she says " Its so small and cute I can run this one". Being I have only had it for a few weeks now, (30 hours and clean and shiny) I have been putting it of teaching. I dont want it to be all ding up with the so called OOP's syndrome. Dear I had a oop's and hit a tree, oop's I flipped it, oop's I dropped a limb on the hood. I am sure you get the point. Just dont want my new toy...err tool/machine to have a oop's unless it is by me. Am I wrong to feel this way. If so, I am sorry.....

So please help me out here. I am running out of excuses to give her to keep her of of it. Ones I have used are below....HELP!!!!!

Reasons used so far.....These are only weekend excuses also......
Its out of fuel....
Have to move all this dirt first....
Has a flat...(I let the air out of a tire)...
I have a headache....(she can use it so can I)...
Back is killing me.....
Have to change the oil in it first....(She didnt go for that one)
Its really to hot outside.....(was in the low 80's)
its to cold out....(again in the 80's)
have to take it in...wont start...(took the battery loose)
Flat tire.....(let the air out of a diff. tire)
Have to take it in again. Dripping oil...(poured a little oil on the floor for proof)

 

[pendoreille]

buy another!

 

[RDL]

Buy her some flower, sit her down and explain to her that its your tractor so she needs to keep her dang hands off it!!!

or

just tell her you lost the key! LOL

 

[koja]

Sounds like to me it may be easier just to teach her the right way to use it safely . My trick was to scare the heck out of her right off the get go . Doesn't want anything to do with it now . Says its too scary , works for me

 

[D2Cat]

It's easy jim. Simply go into the kitchen and remove three or four cabinet doors with your cordless screw gun (while she's home). Then begin removing all the contents of the cabinets onto the floor. If need be, then go to the refrigerator and begin getting things out of it.

Sooner or later, she will want to know what you are doing.

"I'm just helping you in the kitchen." "Helping, this is not helping...., put this back and stay out of my kitchen, she'll respond."

"You want to come out and help me with my outdoor projects, and I keep giving you excuses. So to be fair to you I'm showing you how I feel about you wanting to do stuff with my tractor."

"For the time being this is how I feel. Maybe later I'll change my mind, but for now I'll stay out of your kitchen if you leave me to the tractor."

Now be ready to duck as she throws a quart glass pitcher at you!!

 

[jimadd]

I'm headed down the road of scaring the crap out of her. I know why she wants to learn....If she ever gets really mad at me.....people are going to have a hard time finding me our here in the country. It digs to 6' just right as she says....LOL.

It will be alright if I can keep up the excuses. She will give up sooner or later.....Teaching her to do it safely also, is like teaching a child to drive a car....sooner or later it will happen. A oop's that is.

As for lost the keys....we have a spare hanging in the kitchen. So that a no go. And if I even try the flowers and telling her to keep her dang hands off please....well lets get back the looking for me in the country part.....LOL.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Simple. Have her read the manual. Ask her to pay attention to the safety warnings. Find some youtube videos on tractor mishaps/crashes/rollovers
And point out its not a toy-for girls.

My best friends daughter is a heavy equipment operator-at 19 years old.
My other buddy's wife is competent on her new (green)tractor. He didnt pin bucket and raised loader-tumbled bucket onto cab and demolished plastic roof cover. Lucky it didnt come through windshield.

Lastly, and final option wifey cant drive it til after you put first dent or scrape on it.
Get some touch up paint and hide it....

 

[Daren Todd]

My wife is fascinated by equipment. She hasn't shown any interest in learning the old tractor. But then she knows it's tempermental, especially with the transmission. Now, when I rented a backhoe l, I had to give her a quick lesson on how to run it. But we were just about up on the hours and were fixing to get charged for another day, so it was fairly easy to get her off from it. I sympathize with you on her running it. But, sometimes you have to buck it up and let her have her way If I get a new tractor, I'll have to give her lessons on how to run it and operate it safely. It will probably drive me crazy because I'll want to be on it running it. But what can you do . Happy wife, happy life

 

[sheepfarmer]

Jim, you ain't gonna get one particle of sympathy from me, if I can learn how to use my L3560, your wife can learn to use a BX. There are no dings in mine yet, no flips, no torn out fence posts (I don't want to tempt fate here!) It could come in handy for her to know how to help you out on some projects

Although now that you mention it, my possessive gene goes in the other direction, there are several guys I know that I wouldn't let within 10 feet of my tractor, they have no feel for equipment and cowboy everything they drive...

Maybe just keep it for yourself for a few weeks till the new tractor smell has worn off, then teach her. Sign her up on OTT so she can get all the safety tips..
Mary

 

[skeets]

Dude teach her the proper way of using the machine, I did and manys the day I got home from work and the yard and orchard were mowed,, for my money its good,, BUT let her know as I did mine if she tears something up she has to fix it,

 

[Grouse Feathers]

I agree with sheepfarmer and skeets except I can't get my wife on the tractor, and she grew up on a farm driving tractors. I think she is afraid of a tractor so unsafe it requires roll protection and a seat belt.
Does anyone else wonder if skeet's wife has taken over the orchard mowing because skeets isn't safe mowing around trees.

 

[Orange Turbo]

I Agree, "teach her" It's save me more than once.


1. go dump the wood on the trailer.(wile I keep cutting)
2. pull the old truck, (to pop start-it) me in truck.
3. rise it a little higher. (me trimming limbs)
4. put the tractor up, when it starts raining. (me not home yet)
I could go on,, but you get the pitcher.

 

[sawmill]

Jim, if you take D2's advice you better get yourself a divorce lawyer first.

 

[jimadd]

Jim, if you take D2's advice you better get yourself a divorce lawyer first.

I seen his post and died laughing. And had to let wife read it....needless to say, she said If I had any inclination to do that....go ahead and she would be warming up the tractor and finding a good spot for her new tree. me as fertilizer.....

Its all good now....she seen the post I put on here, and said until I crash it first, she wouldnt mess with it and stick to her little Craftsman rider. The one I put flames and a racing steering wheel on for her, that she already ran into a tree, hit more than a few stumps with (that I dug up so she wouldnt hit them anymore), drove into the side of the garage with...may I say more than once. I hope you all get the picture.
I thank you all for all the input, help, and great ideas.

Im headed uot right now to wax and polish my new baby, may even take it to get rino lined tusday
again, thanks for all the help and advie. will see how its gooing to work.
Been a blaast though.

 

[skeets]

Grouse that was cold man,,,,lol,, no anyone can do it now with out getting tangled up in branches now,, even me

 

[armylifer]

My wife wanted to help me with the mowing of our 5 acres. I very happily taught her hot t use it and now I have more time for riding the Harley.

 

[olthumpa]

Aaaaaah, another advantage of gears instead of HST. Takes more practice and knowledge to operate them effective and efficiently. Unfortunately for me, my wife is very comfortable using a stick. Fortunately for me she leaves my tractors alone.

 

[Fro65]

I wish my wife would show an interest. Often, I could use the help.

Don't understand it either, she grew up a country girl. Got her to take the

yoke of a Piper Cherokee once about 25 years ago. Other than that, I've

never seen her operate any machine other than a car.

 

[Corney]

My Bride is the best hand a guy could ask for! Although she doesn't want to operate the bota she will take her 25th anniversary gift of a 22 hp JD garden tractor and cut the weeds, pull the drag, pick rocks into the wagon and haul water to the trees.

We have worked our butts off trying to grow trees, grass and a garden in the driest year I can ever remember!

 

[CaveCreekRay]

What Skeets said.

My wife will jump on mine and does a very good job of operating it conservatively. The only damage she has done was nicking the new stucco wall with the bucket coming through the back gate. It was no big thing to fix but I caught hell for it because I was directing her.

She has been so helpful in lifting heavy loads for me moving boulders and sewer lid collars and covers. My L3800 is HST simply because she wouldn't touch my last manual tranny Ford tractor. Having an experienced operator around for when you want to be the one out managing the load is very handy. And getting you yard mowed is a nice benny too!

I say work her in slowly but show her the dangers. (high loads in the bucket, tilty slopes, maneuvering in close quarters...)

Where's the link of the tractor siting on its ass after the wife ran it up a steep dirt pile because she couldn't figure out how to stop it? That coulda ended very badly.