What did you do to or on your Kubota today?

[Crash277]

Speaking of snow blowers. Snow blowed and used the loader to get rid of the last 24hrs of snow we got.

 

[SAR Tracker]

Snowblowed (is that a word?) the circular driveway, neighbors drive, the street out front, the area around the neighborhood mailboxes. Or is it snowblew?

 

[nbryan]

Had a great afternoon skidding birch firewood trees out of the forest for trimming and bucking with the little tractor that could. R4 industrial tires (with no chains or fill), 4x4 1st gear, diff lock engaged, 2200 rpm, raise the 3-point and GO. This is serious fun, folks! It can turn around in REALLY tight spots too, with split braking especially.

I worked it HARD for 4 hours clearing bush for skid trails and dragging heavy, knarly, green birch trees around in thick forest, then an hour of box blading next week's trail to the tamarack, and back home on ONE BAR on the fuel gauge. Started with 3 bars, back with 2 bars with literally piles of work done.

Best tool investment I ever made, next to my Tacoma, which has had 13 years to prove itself.

 

[River19]

Another hour or so clearing the driveway of what was supposed to be just 2-4". I went out at 5:30 and cleared things and noticed the snow picking up more.....over the next 3hrs picked up another 2" so another round of clearing for this morning.

I really don't mind winter, kinda enjoy 3-4 months of it. This tractor makes clearing the driveway so much easier especially as we enter the tail end of winter when a late March dumping can really be annoying with the walk behind blower on a 500' driveway........the novelty has worn off on clearing snow by that time most years....

 

[pokey1416]

Started moving snow piles to the field as we’re in for some warm up after tomorrow night’s snow.

 

[S-G-R]

Picked up my replacement pto shaft for the blower from the dealer this morning. They cut the first shaft too short forgetting i have a quick hitch. This one is perfect although I had the back window open and almost took it out with the chute testing the legnth.

 

[Bmyers]

We went out to the farm and did some snow removal. Nephews also got out the 4 wheelers and did some playing. I really liked the way the box blade removed the snow, it worked very well.

 

[Lil Foot]

I really liked the way the box blade removed the snow, it worked very well.

Pushing, pulling, or both?

 

[UpNorthMI]

It was time for snow blowing and snow pushing with the MX5800 today, cold day but nice in the sunshine.

I caught a log in the rear 3pt snow blower, it certainly did some damage to the auger and the impeller cover plate, it will be a lot of heat / bending or a new auger! Just not sure where that log piece came from! The 6mm shear bolt is still intact, as is the pto shaft shear bolt, I hit the pto disconnect pretty much immediately but things sure bent up fast, I guess that's what 50 PTO HP does, it reminds you why you should not get near a running PTO or attachment.

As I have a large woodland property, pieces of wood do fall and get covered in snow, it was making me think about fabricating and adding a rear grating cover over the snow blower to keep out any foreign objects such as a log or piece of wood. Anybody ever done something similar?

View attachment 55227

 

[OntheRidge]

Yup, more snow.

 

[kubotasam]

It was time for snow blowing and snow pushing with the MX5800 today, cold day but nice in the sunshine.

I caught a log in the rear 3pt snow blower, it certainly did some damage to the auger and the impeller cover plate, it will be a lot of heat / bending or a new auger! Just not sure where that log piece came from! The 6mm shear bolt is still intact, as is the pto shaft shear bolt, I hit the pto disconnect pretty much immediately but things sure bent up fast, I guess that's what 50 PTO HP does, it reminds you why you should not get near a running PTO or attachment.

As I have a large woodland property, pieces of wood do fall and get covered in snow, it was making me think about fabricating and adding a rear grating cover over the snow blower to keep out any foreign objects such as a log or piece of wood. Anybody ever done something similar?

View attachment 55227



View attachment 55225

If you did damage like that and a shear pin did not break then something is not correct. From the picture it looks new. I would check to be sure that it had the proper shear bolts in it. If it does have the correct shear pins I would modify them to make them shear a little easier. That damage should not have happened.

 

[Old_Paint]

Finally got a little seat time in today. Dug up and snatched about 20 stumps from scrub I cut before the last monsoon hit and my chainsaw quit on me. Picked up all the brush and piled it up in 3 piles to get ready to feed the WC68. The missus raked some leaves and against my better judgement, tried to burn them. Still too much moisture in them, and all they did was smolder and smoke. Was gonna burn some of the stumps we pulled up a couple weeks ago, but she didn't feel like she could handle them by herself while I was digging out more.

Sunk the front end of the tractor completely at one point. That's how soggy it is here. Had to lift and curl to push the tractor out backward. Had quite a bit of difficulty trying to break off roots in a couple areas because the soil is so wet. Normally, this clay is more similar to brick than it is to dirt. Figured out I was just making a big mess I was gonna have to fix later, I quit a couple hours before dark. The missus had t run up the street for her meds, so I got her to pick me up another can of fuel. Gonna take all of the 5 gallons and then some to top it off, so I'll dump one can in and go get another tomorrow. Looks like I'm gonna have to store more than 5 gallons when I have better weather. Then again, I didn't refill the can last time I emptied it. Had to yell at myself in front of the teenage grandkids for doing that. Gonna burn a bit tomorrow, so gonna have to empty the can and go grab some more early so I can get started.

I do like the R14's because they're pretty gentle on the turf yet get plenty bite in the mud, but lately, my little Husqvarna rider does nearly as much damage with turf tires as I do on the LX with the R14's. I'll be glad when monsoon season is gone. But, I'll probably be crying for rain in mid June.

Still have a few VERY LARGE pines I gotta get down. Beetles were hard on my trees about 5 years ago when we had a pretty serious drought. Might be lookin' at an Alaska type saw mill to make me some rough-cut timber for a pole barn.

Forgot one thing. I also hosed off Big O after slogging around in the mud all day. Still too cold to get out the pressure washer and give it a good scrub, but I had to blast a few hundred pounds of mud off it. Hope my wheels don't stain before I can take the pressure washer to it. Ain't no two ways about it, I got it to get dirty, and I haven't decided which of us gets the dirtiest yet.

A bad day tractorin' is better than ANY day at work.

 

[UpNorthMI]

Message Edited.

 

[PoTreeBoy]

Still have a few VERY LARGE pines I gotta get down. Beetles were hard on my trees about 5 years ago when we had a pretty serious drought. Might be lookin' at an Alaska type saw mill to make me some rough-cut timber for a pole barn.

Can you still make lumber from a dead pine that's been standing for 5 years? Over here it would be molded, insect eaten and half rotten.

 

[Old_Paint]

Can you still make lumber from a dead pine that's been standing for 5 years? Over here it would be molded, insect eaten and half rotten.

Depends on the species of pine, damage done to the top, where the beetles attacked it, how quickly the bark slips, wet weather, lots of factors. But typically, if it stays dry, the wood will stay usable for a long time. Probably not the best storage option for wood, though. Most of the ones I think I can use are probably only about 2 years dead, but are still a result of the beetle infestation. One quick look at the top of the tree will tell you if it's still got usable material in it. If the top is still relatively intact, still has small limbs and even pine cones still in it, it very likely has good material in it. If large limbs are breaking off because they're rotted, probably not. The trick is to fell it without destroying it. The longer it stands there and the dryer it gets, the more likely it's going to shatter when it hits the ground. Dried wood isn't nearly as resilient when it hits the ground. A dry pine will typically break in several places when it hits, which is also what makes them so dangerous if they do get rotten while still standing. We call 'em deadfalls or widow makers down here. They're extremely dangerous to cut down once they're rotten. There's almost no way to control the direction of the fall, and sometimes, just the inertia of it starting to fall over will make the top break out and fall on the sawyer. Don't even think about trying to push one over with a tractor unless it ain't much taller than the tractor. The good part about air-dried wood is that it doesn't warp after milling. Most trees grow in a spiral chasing the sun through the seasons, so it's hard to cut lumber that won't twist without kiln drying it.

Another thing that will get beetles started is when something else kills a tree, such as a lightning strike. It's like a pine beetle buffet, then, with the good stuff just a few bug steps away. I had a massive pine about 100 feet from the house that was nearly 30 inches in diameter at the base that was killed by a single strike a several years ago. There was probably at least 1500 board feet of lumber in that thing. I was looking straight at it when it happened. That one strike took out the pine as well as a pretty good sized water oak that was about 20 feet away from the pine. The strike stripped every shred of bark off the water oak from the ground up to about 30 feet high, and there were huge craters around both trees from where the roots exploded. I didn't really realize the pine was also hit until I walked out there to look, because there was that glistening naked water oak standing there. Was petty obvious that tree was not gonna make it. We were watching TV that afternoon with a storm blowing in, and my then 6 year old granddaughter was laying in the recliner with me, nearly asleep, but claiming to be afraid of the storm. Truth is, from the time she could walk, if I was in the recliner, so was she until she just got too big for either of us to get comfortable. I was watching the trees sway back and forth, and then BOOM! A huge orange plasma cloud, bark flying everywhere. I found pieces of my trees in 4 different neighbors' yards the next day. The 6 year old's reflexes were kind of amusing when she launched. She must have levitated at least 18 inches straight up. It wasn't nearly as funny when she came back down on top of me. She's always been strong as a mule and tough as a pine knot, all muscle and bones. She is not a fluffy little couch potato. She's worn out 4 or 5 bicycles in her short 12 years on this planet, and NEVER stops moving. She's like the Looney Toons Tasmanian Devil. Refreshing to see a kid that will actually get outdoors these days.

 

[Magicman]

Still have a few VERY LARGE pines I gotta get down. Beetles were hard on my trees about 5 years ago when we had a pretty serious drought. Might be lookin' at an Alaska type saw mill to make me some rough-cut timber for a pole barn.

I regularly saw beetle killed Pine and it is very doubtful that yours are still good. 5 years is a looong time. They will probably fracture when they hit the ground. If they were still good, hiring a portable sawyer to saw them would the wisest choice. There are many of us out there and I could help you find one.

Edit: looks like you were also replying while I was typing.

 

[Bisleybob]

Soon to attempt cutting a path uphill to the back lot to get my trailer out. Snow is untouched, and now about 8" , packed and partiality frozen. See how it goes!

 

[Old_Paint]

I regularly saw beetle killed Pine and it is very doubtful that yours are still good. 5 years is a looong time. They will probably fracture when they hit the ground. If they were still good, hiring a portable sawyer to saw them would the wisest choice. There are many of us out there and I could help you find one.

Edit: looks like you were also replying while I was typing.

Yeah, I know what to expect, and will know pretty quick when the saw touches to bring 'em down if they're usable. If they're corky on the outside, not likely to get anything out of 'em. But I have a few that should still be OK. They'd be good for some temporary timbers at minimum. The cones and limbs fall off pretty quickly after they're of no use at all. Probably wouldn't hurt my feelings to know if there's someone local with something like the Woodland Mills portable system. There's pretty much no way that I'm getting anyone in there to cut what timber there is. Not enough of it to justify the access costs. The yellow pine stuff is pretty much a foregone conclusion that it's rotten with the possible exception of one that looks like it died within the past couple years. There's probably a half-dozen or so short-leaf that should be pretty good though. All the cones are still up there, even some straw on a few.

If I can get 'em leaning against a hardwood, I can then drag the butts and soften the fall a little bit. If they hit flat ground and don't have to flex as much, they might survive. There's a lot of undergrowth that will help soften the fall, too, but that can also back-fire and break it too. If not, well, I've lost nothing. I just hate to waste something that big. My lot is basically nearly 50 years of neglect, the last 15 being it's first experience with me. It's all wild volunteer growth with a lot of underbrush and junk, twisted and bent by storms and other trees falling, as well as poison ivy and scuppernong vines the size of my arm. Had I been the original owner of this place, I probably wouldn't have a need for the LX right now. It would be fairly nice lawn back there with a few trees.

All I have to do if I can't use 'em is figure out how I'm gonna make 'em small enough to feed the beast (efficiently). Quartering it with the chainsaw is a little labor intensive. The birds and squirrels will love me for all the long stringy sawdust to line their nests with, though.

 

[nbryan]

Pushing, pulling, or both?

Both!

 

[Magicman]

You know the routine:

1. Enthusiasm
2. Disillusionment
3. Panic
4. Search for the guilty
5. Punishment of the innocent
6. Rewards for the non-participants