For those with a loader...

Cvans said:
Your asking a lot from your friend for a ride home in my opinion. Having adapted several loaders to tractors I can tell you just adapting one involves quite a bit of work. Building one is a major project. Your far better of finding a used one.
As far as the grapple goes they add a lot of weight to the front of the tractor. Hate to sound like a broken record but the front spindles and axle were very likely never intended to carry the loads your planning to put on them. If you think about it if you load the loader until the rear of the tractor gets light you now have almost the total weight of the tractor, loader, and your load on the front axle. Trust me you'll find yourself in this position far too often. Larger tractors can handle those loads GT's not so much so. I have my relief valves set for around 400 lbs lift. Even that is a large load for a small tractor.
Good luck with your project.
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I would pay him well, after complete maybe a good sized bottle of rye too

I’m aware of the points you raised with loads shifting, had old boss’s 100 hp loader tractor lift the rear end off the ground a few times, I appreciate your concerns:thumbs:
 
Lance Skene said:
Ive had a couple GT loaders and honestly they are not big enough for much 'Farm' service, they are only designed to lift 300/400 lbs at most and even at that require a fair amount of rear ballast. They can be handy for small jobs but on a farm something like an old Ford N, Ferguson or IH Lowboy are a much better size...IMO
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This is what I wanted to know. If I could lift engines yes, but I see older running farm tractors with buckets for less that $2k
On the GT it would be handy for gardening
 
I had a cub 102 with a Johnson on it, after I realized how gutless it was I sold it. I had a case 580c, but that was too big for my property and I traded it for a terramite. The terramite is a good size. Are the iseki (spelling?) bolens hydro or a gear drive? One of those would probably be a good candidate, or a small kubota or the like. Unless you are restricted on room I would say get a 4-5,000 pound machine. Another thing with the skid steer attachments, is they are usually pretty heavy, although you can still do a quick attack and make your own attachments. No matter what you do, I look forward to seeing it! Good luck.
 
I know of a couple guys that are quite happy with a GT fel... but they have small 1-2 acre lots and limited parking available... works well for some people. I liked my Ford Lgt165/fel alot and it was often handy but it was also often not big enough... was awesome for clearing snow from a walkway.... but a 400yd driveway becomes a 3 hour job.

You can do limited landscaping with a GT fel but then you need to start adding alot of weight to the rear.... so more money... and you can easily end up far heavier than the axles are designed to carry.

Awhile back I wanted to do some landscaping here so I bought an IH Hydro 86/fel, thats about an 8000 lb tractor, paid $2200... did the work and sold the tractor a year later for $2400.

My next loader... assuming all goes well.... Ford 861 Powermaster that currently has no hydraulic pressure so the pump will likely need to be rebuilt... paid $900 for the tractor complete with fel and new rear rubber
 

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Cvans said:
This is my 850.
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Oh I like that... could have used the backhoe a couple years ago when I dug up the septic field.

I do equip maintainence for a small landscape company so for occasional chores I can always borrow something... most often I'll grab the Toolcat and whatever attachment I need.... it uses the same attachments as the Bobcat skidsteer so we have a couple diff buckets, blades, forks, sweeper, mower deck and a hoe, it has 4 wheel drive and 4 wheel steering, and the back is a small dump box.... fun toy but still only rated to lift 650 lbs

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