Tractors and Skid Steers

I upgraded my blogger, now I don't know how to post pictures. I will figure it out.
I have lots of good pictures, but no videos worth editing for youtube, or I don't have the time.

Somehow I got really busy this week. I have needed a backhoe on several occasions, and am on a mission to get one now. I want to build one, but I know the cost of materials will be rite up there with the cost of buying a used hoe attachment, not taking into consideration my time. I have the perfect trailer for a garden tractor style backhoe. I found a used abused skid steer for cheep, that will probably fit in my trailer. You can check it out here This really excites me for many reasons. One, the guy believes the engine needs to be rebuilt, and it might. But it starts and runs fine. As soon as you engage the hydraulics, it dies. Don't you think maybe there is something seized in the hydraulics? But if it does need a rebuild, its just a dead simple 2 cylinder air cooled 25 hp garden tractor type motor. I have researched these 1980 Mustang skid steers. I can only find them for sale in the states, where equipment is way cheaper, and they are asking no less than $5000. So this is one piece of equipment I would surely double my money on, even after years of service work.

But that is only the vehicle for my backhoe. I still need to find a Hoe. The plan is to make an existing used hoe, attach to the skid steer, that was not intended to. I know my buddy Dave inherited a backhoe with his dads tractor, which he will never use, and might sell to me when he needs money. And their are countless other people with hoe attachments, that can be easily modified to fit a skid steer, I hope.

The job I was at today, the woman has 50 acres, but doesn't leave the house, cause she saw a bear once. We needed sand for a buried, cable and she has a sand pit on her farm. She said I could take some, for future, so I hauled my big trailer out their today with 20, 5 gallon buckets, and 2 wheelbarrows. I met her son today, and we got along fabulously. I had to ask him about his old Honda Trike, cause his mom was basically having the excavator dig a big hole, and push everything in it. Sure enough, with a little verbal complaint of how he just bought new back tires for it, before it stopped running, its garbage. So I moved all the sand to the front of the trailer, and we pushed the old honda in the back. Did I mention the sand was wet? Well I didn't even get down the drive way before my newly fabricated trailer hitch bent down to almost touch the ground. So I pulled over, moved all the buckets of sand back behind and around the trike, behind the trailer axle. Jacked the trailer up with its tung jack, bending the hitch back, and back on my marry way. I am buying extra steel to re enforce that all a lot tomorrow.

Then at another job... I shouldn't even mention it, nobody tell Michelle. But there was an old John Deer 540 I think it was. Your standard old farm tractor, probably 80's, obviously neglected. And I had to ask them about it. "Yeh we want to get rid of it, can you get it out of here?" I said to them, "only if I can get it started, and drive it home" they aren't far from my house. Tractors are cool, but it is also a diesel. Even if I decided not to resell the John Deer for $9000 (probably due to some seriously expensive parts it might need) I could put the motor in a full size pickup, like my ol dodge. There is a fellow that does that, and markets the trucks on youtube. Let me see if I can find his video. And don't think for a second that I would let him touch my truck, just saying, "if he can do it, I can do it" I love this guy.