[Brent]

Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 11:58 pm

So I bought a tractor, had it for two days now. But here is the story behind it:

Several times over the last few years the snow has gotten so deep that the berms on the side of my 1/4 mile road become too tall for my SnowBear blade (on the '82 Jeep Wagoner) to throw the snow over. After they get about 2' high it starts getting tough, and at 3' it's nearly impossible to drive fast enough to throw. So the sides start closing in on the road.

My driveway has a switchback in it, and a 90 degree turn as it goes down the hill. When the berms are high, all I can do is shove the snow down the tube to the switchback and fill it up, then continue down to the cul-de-sac and start filling it.

Last year and this year were the worst. Lots of hours spent sliding snow down to the end of the road. Last week a series of events occurred that forced my hand. We have had record snow fall left me with berms 3'+ high, and a 8' or less wide road. So after another two hour session pushing snow I noticed:
- The under-frame mount for the blade kept angling down more and more. That was a problem last year, fixed with a torch and a 10' steel pipe as a pry bar. Twice. This year it didn't take long to be in even worse shape, as the metal is fatiguing. About $150 for a replacement mount, that would do the same thing on me.
- In trying to push back the berms, I cut loose some 1-2' ice balls. These rolled off the blade, up the berm, and came back down as I went by. One put a 8" dent in the passenger door. I was able to pull the dent out as it was right below the mirror. Another put a 2' long scratch in the driver's door.
- I bent back the right side of the blade 2" by clipping the ground on the side of the 90 degree corner
- The alternator on the Jeep is wearing out- it can't take the low RPM, high wench, heater fan and lights load anymore.
- A replacement heavy-duty alternator is $300+ Mechman makes some nice ones.
- The cutting edge of the blade is wearing out- I've already lost one bolt on the left side. Replacement blades are $150.
- I still don't have lights for the blade, so it's not street-legal after dark. Light posts run $150.
- The snow was closing in around the garage- it was getting tighter to turn around, and at this rate I'd have a hard time getting the dog out the door by the time the meltdown comes.

The Jeep has been in the family since Grandpa bought it new. I like it, it works well and I don't like the thought of tearing it up. $2k in to body work and paint 1.5 years ago means it looks great. Four studded snows means I've got a great winter vehicle.

The blade is about shot- still usable, but not like I've been using it. A heavy-duty blade with power tilt runs $4-5k, and will be heavier that the Jeep can handle.


So I started thinking TRACTOR. My dad has a John Deer 322 that he got from a neighbor. They have been using it for years to blow their driveway that is as long as mine, but not as steep. Works well, has a soft cab on it and everything. So I started thinking that was the way to go- never have to push snow again, just blow it out of the way.

[Brent]

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:10 am

So I started watching Craig's list and emailing posters right before Christmas, during the worst of our snow-in. Units were rare, and moved fast. No stores in town had anything, even the larger tractors were sold out.

I was considering a Craftsman 23HP with a blower, but reviews online were not terribly positive. My expectation became that over the long term, I'd have problems with that level of a tractor, even at $2k or more.

So I started looking at a Deere. Turns out one of the local shops (Ragan Equipment) had a X300R in stock. I spent many hours researching it, and I really like that tractor. It is the only Deere that has a rear discharge from the mower deck- it goes between the tires and right out the back via a special blower. Supposed to suck up things better, and has an auto-shut-down so it does not clog. Looked really neat, but the best part was the rear bagger that can be dumped without getting off of the tractor. I've had that feature on a Toro since before I was old enough to mow, so did not want to loose it now.

The final deal setter was that they were getting in the matching 47" blower by Jan 9th, only two weeks away then.

So after much internal struggle, I signed on the dotted line.

John Deere X300R: $3999
44" blower: $1499
2 Wheel Weights: $116
2 Mount kits: $16
TX16200: $100
BM22196 deflector: $113
Spring assist lift kit: $76
Total: $5919
Discount due to the tractor being a returned unit: $200
Tax: $355.14
Setup and delivery: $200

Grand total: $6274.14

Yes I choked on that number- it was far higher than the $3000ish I had worked my self up to.

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[Brent]

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:16 am

My major concern (other than raw cost) was that the sales guy kept trying to talk me in to a X500 or X700 tractor as he thought the X300R was too small to get traction on my hill. That thought wore on me for a while- $6k for something that might not work for me?

I kept watching Craig's list, and within a few days convinced myself that I needed a bigger tractor. I found a Kubota B7100 on Craig's list for $4900. 17HP, 4WD, loader, hydro transmission. Looked about perfect, but it was in Bend, Oregon. The seller said he has delivered to Spokane before, but was not excited about coming up again so soon. But if he would come, it would cost $500. I figured a total of $5400 was not too bad, so told him I'd take it. He said he wanted to try to sell it locally for a few days, and would get back to me.

So I kept looking...

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[Brent]

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:33 am

I spent days on tractor sites, like Tractor By Net. I decided that I could live with a front bucket for pushing back the berms, and maybe get a back blade if that was not good enough. If needed, I'd eventually get a blower but at $3k I'd have to skip that for this year.

Turns out the other local Deere dealer (Columbia Tractor) had a 2210 in stock. I spent many hours that night looking it up, having never seen one before.

It looked perfect. It had the features I had decided were requirements: Hydro, loader, ROPS (Roll Over Protection System) and a lower than normal C.G. That last bit was important to me- I live on a hill, I can't go 50' in any direction without it being steep enough to roll a machine. The grandfather that ran the kids camp I worked at as a teenager rolled his tractor and killed himself the fall after I worked there, so with that still in my mind I was concerned.

I found videos on the net that showed how easy it was to roll a standard tractor- turns out very easy. Scary easy.

But the 2210 has short fat tires, so is low-slung. It's also 23hp, which since they had told me 17Hp was plenty to run a blower, 23 should be even better.

I went up the next morning and bought it.

John Deere 2210 Tractor, LV2210H216502: $8,500
Tax: $739.50
Total: $9,239.50

Yep- If you thought I puckered up over the last JD I tried to buy, this was worse. I'm the type of guy that stresses over spending $100. Seriously. Other than our house, college and my Wife's car 5 years ago, I've never spent that kind of money. The house and college were required (and I was younger). The car was so we would have a car with 4WD and anti-lock breaks, air-bags, etc. for the family.

Yep, seriously stressed over that number.

[Brent]

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:47 am

I did more research that night, and decided that I would wait on the blower and get a blade instead. I researched features, and decided that I wanted it to tilt, rotate 180 degrees, and be able to off-set it. And 6' long, so I could push back the berms with it while I drove down the road. Turns out that Columbia had the perfect blade in stock- Another $895 plus $77,87 tax, and free mounting and delivery. It's a Frontier RB2072 rear blade.

I had to arrange financing with the bank, so could not take delivery right away. Bank needed until Thursday 1/8/08 to do paperwork, so I arranged for it to be delivered that night. A big freeze was coming in, after several days of thawing and rain. I wanted to work on the berms that night, as I knew it might be weeks before things thawed enough again.

I took delivery, and had the sales guy go over all the controls with me. I then spent two hours pushing snow around. Not much luck with the blade- every time I dropped it, it bit in to the thawed ground and drug me to a stop. When I angled it, it bit in and then push the tractor sideways. It dropped fast, lifted fast, and was hard to finesse. A 1/4 second flip on the handle moved it more than an inch. Coupled with the rises/holes from the snow, and I couldn't get much work done with it.

I was able to use it on an icy area- worked OK with it straight, but just slid the tractor sideways when it was angled.

I had more luck with the loader. Most of the night was lifting up bucket fulls and dumping them over the edges. I cleared out about half the cul-de-sac before running low on fuel and calling it quits. It had gotten nearly 1/2 full, was starting to look like a peace symbol with the two driveways and one road having paths though it and meeting in the center.

I did already break something- the turnbuckle that holds the top of the blade is now bent. Turns out that when I was in the cul-de-sac pushing snow, I would occasionally run up on the snow berm a little, and that banged the back blade in to the pavement. It does not have much clearance when it is all the way up. So now I'll have to replace one end of that turnbuckle. It's about 1.5" in dia., so I'm sure that won't be cheap.

I'm already wanting to spend more on it- I'd like a top for it, so I can mount lights and keep the rain off of myself. Gauges would be nice- nothing but idiot lights and a Tach so far. And it's a little beat up- poor paint, concrete stuck in the bucket, overspray on parts of it, etc... It's going to get a paint job this summer I suspect.

So that's where I sit today- I'll take some pictures tomorrow, and when the snow thaws, go work on those berms again.

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[Brent]

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 7:34 pm

I thought the berms were too frozen to do anything today, so I went out and waxed the hood and fueled it up. Then I decided to work on the blade positioning, so took it out and determined that I've got 7.5" of clearance when the blade is up. I got that adjustment turned down so it drops slower, and practiced setting it at 1" up.

Turns out if I drop it all the way down (so the weight is off of the tractor) then do a very quick blip up, I get it about 1/2" above the ground.

Then I made my mistake(s)- I tried the berms, and could make progress on them, so went and dropped off the blade so I would not further damage the linkage. Things went well enough up by the house, but then I went down to the corner which has some slope and ice. I didn't tip it over, but came close a few times.

I should have stopped and thought harder about it the first time it happened. I did stop, but not long enough to realize that it was the lack of the back blade as a counter-balance that was causing me to be so tippy. Twice I would have bailed off of the tractor, but I was buckled in so did not make it off. Luckily I was able to drop the bucket each time, and regain control, but it was greatly concerning.

What was happening was that I'd pick up a big scoop of snow/ice, then back up and turn to dump it to the side. As it came up and I turned, the CG changed enough to make one of the back tires come up off of the ground. Several times I just froze-up, analyzed it, and tried to undo whatever I had done. The tractor was happy to sit there with one wheel a foot off of the ground while I pondered.

Not long after I figured out that if I just drop the bucket I'm OK (and I was already moving slower and watching for that problem), I got it stuck. I dropped the front two wheels in a scooped out hole I had just made as I drove forward to dump the bucket, and the back tires were on a sheet of ice. No traction at all.

So I really need those chains, the weighted tires, and maybe I probably need to keep the blade on as well. Not to mention more practice, and maybe a change of shorts....

[Brent]

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:04 pm

A nice person on Tractorbynet.com looked up this information for me:

Quote:

serial # LV2210H216502 was sold on March 4, 2004 from the dealer in Pasco,WA It has had 3 warranty repairs during the warranty life. None were that big of deal.

I feel better knowing what year it was. I felt bad that I didn't get that information before I bought it.

[Brent]

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:59 pm

I decided to get a gauge from surplus center on the recomendation of a knowledgeable person so I could check that the Pressure Release Valve (PRV)is adjusted correctly. Too low and I don't have enough power to the loader arms.

Code:

1    1/4" X 24" 1/4 NPTM X 1/4 NPTM 2750 PSI HYD HOSE   Item # 916-1424 1    1/4 X 1/4 NPTF COUPLER   Item # 9-5000-4-4 1    3000 PSI 2.5" LF LM GAUGE   Item # 21-1044     Subtotal:    $23.90 Tax:          $.00 Shipping:    $7.22 Handling:    $2.00 Total Cost: $33.12

[Brent]

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:41 pm

So my first repair is going to be the SCV lever- it's sloppy so I started taking it apart. There are two rotating pieces that have bushings, and both are pitted and rusted so there is too much slop in them.

Parts #40 and #21 are the rotating parts that are pitted.

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[Brent]

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:43 pm

Parts #21 and #40:




Last edited by Brent on Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:42 pm; edited 1 time in total

[Brent]

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:46 am

Some more pictures that show the repair work needed:

Front:


Concrete on top of bucket:


Concrete inside bucket- think I could chisel it out?


Overspray of some kind on the rear plastic- this is all over the tractor:


Damage and overspray on the hood:


Damage to my new blade (came this way):



I keep telling myself that the condition is why I got it for $8500.



Last edited by Brent on Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:41 pm; edited 1 time in total

[Brent]

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 5:26 pm

After much thought and research, I caved in and used the beet juice in the tires- $80 total for both tires from Less Swab, so not bad. Weight of each tire after the fill was 148 pounds. I forgot to weigh them pre-fill.

At 10 gallons per tire, and 11# per gallon (according to the Rim Guard site), I added about 220# to the back end.

That ought to be enough to keep the bucket from lifting the rear off the ground when it hits a block of ice.

Here it is with the tires back on, and the new chains on:




Last edited by Brent on Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:39 pm; edited 1 time in total

[Brent]

Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 7:03 pm

I didn't like the lights I got from Northern Tool, so ordered Competition Series Round Driving Lights from CarParts.com, which are just 12v MR-16 bulbs in a housing, similar to what I use for lighting many places in my house. Since I already have a stash of bulbs with various light angles and colors, I figured I could tune the light spread pretty easily. And I already have spare bulbs.

Code:

2-3/8"W x 3-3/8"H x 2-3/8"D Round Driving Lights with Chrome-plated Housing - Dichroic Clear Lens 49CP0430B Pair Qty 2 Mfr. #  QH-7CC Price   $17.99 Total Price:  $35.98 Shipping:     $9.24 Total:        $45.22

These are the switch brackets for my new lights, from West Marine:

Code:

Rocker Switch Bracket - 2 Switch       COLE HERSEE 82159-03-BP     1945708     In Stock       $4.59 Rocker Switch Bracket - 3 Switch     COLE HERSEE 82159-02-BP    192171    In Stock      $12.99 Cart Subtotal:  $17.58    Tax:         $2.40    Shipping:    $9.95    Total:       $29.93

And these are the Contura waterproof switches from basspro.com:

Code:

(4) 38-506-702-00     Contura Switches - On/Off         $47.96     Standard Shipping   $7.95     Total               $55.91

[Brent]

Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:58 am

This was from last season-
My wife called me from the driveway in tears- she was half way up and couldn't go further, in an AWD Forester with studs on, and was too afraid to back up in the dark.

So I suit up and head out, and promptly fall flat on my back- it was worse than an ice-skating rink. I had to slide down the 1000' road on all fours like a crab- I seriously could not even walk, and the snow in the woods was 2' deep or better.

So I crawl in to the car and promptly slide it sideways backwards in to the ditch. I spend another 1/2 hour making sure it is really deep in to the ditch, then we walk up to the house though the woods.

I come back down with a shovel and after an hour and a half manage to get car all the way off the road. Unfortunately, I was trying to go the other way but down-hill is down-hill and I was not getting that thing uphill at all.

At the time I didn't have my tractor yet or the chains for the Jeep, so I ended up calling AAA. They send out a kid a few months in to his first job. He does a 360 on the paved road in his tow rig about 1/2 mile from my driveway, I could hear him spinning around then about 5 minutes of dead silence as he checks his cahonies. He had thrown his chains earlier in the day, so had nothing but duals in a rear-wheel drive tow-truck.

It takes him three attempts it back in my driveway far enough that his winch will reach, and then he promptly ratnests his winch by running it in reverse without it spooling out the cable. Nearly an hour later we have the winch cleared out, and he was able to pull the car out in a few minutes. I had hand-spread some sand by then, and was able to drive back up to the house. The next day I slid down the hill and my brother-in-law met me, and we went out to get chains for the Jeep.

When it got nasty again this season and I started tearing up the Jeep trying to plow, I bought the tractor. When we got our second sheet-of-ice again for this year, I took the Jeep, bought the sander I had researched for a month and had 6 yards of wet sand delivered.

I was able to sand, but not well- this summer I'll build a lean-to to protect the sand, and get some more delivered so it will be nice and dry for next season.

[Brent]

Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:02 am

I've been making good progress- I started by scraping off the concrete splatter with a dulled wood chisel. Then used Goof Off to remove the over spray (still need to finish the loader arms).
I pulled the front grill, used a tooth-pick to clean out the concrete and sprayed a light coat of paint on it. It is amazing how much better it made it look.
A little touch-up paint where needed, and a coat of buffing compound, then cleaner/wax and it is good to go.

I also cleaned up the battery area some- was just too much of a mess and I didn't want it rusting out on me. I ordered fittings to replace the cables, but will have to do that the next time I'm in there.
I cleaned it up with a wire brush and air hose, then used the best paint-over-rust primer I could find. Dried it with a pair of 250W halogen lamps on it, then sprayed three light coats of the paint-over-rust paint.


Before:

After:

[Brent]

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:47 pm

I got my canopy installed on Saturday. I searched around and ended up getting one from my local dealer. They had exactly what I wanted, but were a little pricier than desired. I paid $475 plus tax for it. They are made by Weidmann Brothers Canopies, although the canopy also says [url]tractorsunshade.com[/url] right on the back of it (which I'm going to remove some day soon).

It went on pretty easily- after I got done I realized that a clamp or two would have helped greatly. I ended up putting the side clamps on mounted a little high, bolting the canopy to them, then loosening the U bolts and sliding it down until the ROPS was touching the inside of the canopy. It ended up adding about 2" to my height, which considering that I had about 4" of clearance before, makes it pretty close.




I mounted the lights I bought, but have not wired them yet. I'm not yet decided on where I want to mount my switches, and I was anxious to get out and use the blade while I still had daylight. I worked on the switchback on the road in the pouring rain- I figure it is better than when I started, but I certainly need more practice.


But it was certainly fun. One thing I did notice is that the rain likes to run off the front of the canopy and hit the hood. Maybe I'll add a U-channel to that lip to direct the rain to the sides more.

I also noticed that I could hear tractor noise above and behind me- I was getting some reflection off of the canopy. Since I wear earmuffs normally anyway, it won't be a big deal. But I do plan on at least lining it with sound deadening foam, and maybe building a cab under it.

[Brent]

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:30 pm

Full speed ahead, Sulu!

One thing I didn't like about my used JD2210, was that I had to press really hard on the HST pedal to go "full speed". I looked at it and the pedal was bottoming out on the plastic deck. When I pushed harder the rubber on the pedal mashed and the deck gave a little, which gave me another 1-2MPH. Pretty significant when I was only going 4-6 MPH to start with.



I looked at it and there did not seam to be any adjustments to the linkages. It did have those plates between the arms and the pedals though. I thought they might be for short people, to make the pedals closer, but taking them off made the problem worse. I messed around for a while and ended up swapping the plates around a little. That and a little grinder work got it so that when I push the forward pedal down, the arm moves the lever all the way to the hard stop on the transmission. The down-side is that the reverse pedal might not go all the way down now, but it is 90% or better.

My high speed is much faster now and easy on the leg. Before I'd slow down as my leg muscles wore down.

I figure I picked up at least 2MPH, maybe more. Significant when I go up/down the 1/4 mile drive. I'll clock it when I get a chance to drive down the road a 1/2 mile and see what I'm at now.

[Brent]

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:48 pm

Here are some more pictures that I'll let speak for themselves-




This is the temporary spray boot I made up- Worked pretty well for keeping the fumes out the house, but not perfect. I would open a window across the room and use the fan to pull out the over-spray/fumes. But when it was cold out, it cooled down the room pretty fast. I ended up hanging two halogen lights above the spray area- the thermal heat from them kept the parts warm and baked on the finish.

[Brent]

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:44 am

I tried pushing the dirt with the blade flipped when I was down at the switch-back, and it did seam to go smoother, but the blade seamed to lift easer and floated a lot. I doubt my links are very tough though, it is a pretty small tractor. I tied in to some big roots, and even some rocks that yanked me to a dead stop, even when I was going very slow. But if I stayed out of the ditch with it, I'd probably be OK.

I went back out today to have some more fun in the mud. Yesterday I was trying to use the blade to carve out the ditch as I drove down the road. That mostly just put mud on my gravel for me, and left a pretty rough ditch as the blade bounced over rocks.

Results from yesterday:


So I decided that I'd scrape out the ditch a bite at a time by backing up and dropping the blade, then use the loader to scoop up the dirt and cart it away. That made a nice rounded ditch but took a lot of forwards/backwards. Also quite the pain to pickup the mud/dirt and throw it over the edge of the road.



Then I made some passes with the blade, but ended up cutting though the gravel to the dirt underneath in a few places- hope that doesn't make mud puddles before the road restrictions come off and I can get some gravel up here...

[Brent]

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 7:17 pm

I bought a spreader (claims it does sand) last year, and some sand. The wet sand would not go though the spreader. I ended up having to drive with the spreader bouncing on the ground behind the tractor to get anything out- each time I bounced it I got a second or two of sand.

So this year things were going to be different. I spent days digging though the dry hard-pan with the bucket to make a hole in the hillside to put the sand. With some help from my parents, I poured a 8'x10' pad at the bottom, and sprayed it many times a day to keep it wet for a week. About that time our several month dry spell ended, and it's been wet ever since...



But I was able to get the dry-set blocks in place around it- In one day I moved 2.5 pallets of blocks (97) from the ground to the bucket, then from there to the wall.



Since these pictures I've continued the drain line around to the left, but was waiting on the gravel (got it today) to finish the wall in that direction. To the right I'll dig in the line under some gravel so I can drive the tractor up that hill still, then start the wall by the trees again and continue it around to meet the existing wall.

I'm still working on plans for a roof- I'm thinking 4x4s and sheet metal...