Month: January 2021

Categories
Case FarmAll 75C Fabricating Fun Prototyping

Modifying a Case FarmAll 75C to Use Skid Steer Attachments

I really want to use my skid steer attachments on the back of my Case FarmAll 75C utility tractor. I have had this desire to give my tractor a skidsteer mullet (tractor up front, skid steer in the back) ever since I bought it, in particular I really really want to use my 4 in 1 bucket on the tractor. The 4 in 1 bucket is a perfect attachment for the back of the tractor.

The limited range of motion of a 3-point hitch make the 4 in 1 a good fit because it can pick up loads and dump them without needing to fully tilt forward. In addition, the bucket will act as ballast, a carry all, dozer blade, box blade, post puller, tree puller and more.

This modification wasn’t as easy as I had hoped and I still need to make some tweaks. The 3 pt to universal quick tach adapter has some limitations and needs a good range of motion on your hydraulic top link. I had to fabricate an extension to the adapter to help tilt the hitch more towards the back. This is part 1 of a two-part series on upgrading my 75C to handle skid steer attachments.

Check out the video on YouTube and please support my channel with a subscribe or a like. Thanks!

driftlessinwi

Categories
At the Mill Buckthorn Forestry Sawmilling

Can you mill buckthorn? Harvesting and Milling a Large Buckthorn Tree

You may have wondered, “can you mill buckthorn?” Or, maybe, “is buckthorn wood good for anything?” Common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica), or European buckthorn, as it is also known is a a highly invasive plant that grows all over my woods. There are a few places in the woods where this stuff has grown to over 10 inches in diameter. I looked all over for other examples of people milling buckthorn for wood working but couldn’t find a video so I thought I would make this. Includes a few shots of doing atv logging. I made a follow up video on this to show how well buckthorn dries and finishes – Energy Efficient DIY Wood Kiln – Buckthorn Drying

Tell me if you think milling buckthorn is worth it in the comments on the YouTube video! Enjoy, and please subscribe! 🙂

Categories
Gehl RT210 Goats Long Term Review Machine Reviews

Titan HD Tree Shear Review

I have used this Titan HD tree shear for over 3 years now, mainly to clear large buckthorn and honeysuckle in my woods. It has held up great and makes clearing large buckthorn much easier and safer than using a chainsaw. Some additional benefits of a tree shear are: Cut large debris into more manageable sizes for collecting and burning, much easier on the hydraulic system of your machine, and no high flow is needed.

I would highly recommend this for a skid steer, but I am neutral on using it on a tractor…unless you have huge auxiliary pump capacity on your tractor, cycle times will be pretty slow. More importantly, unless your tractor has a forestry protection kit on it, I think it is only a matter of time before you damage something on your tractor when using this.

Where a forestry mulcher is a hammer, this is a scalpel. This is a much cheaper alternative to buying a forestry mulcher and it is much cheaper to operate.

One could use this for limbing trees, but the lack of hydraulic tilt makes it difficult and clunky to use for that purpose.

As always, if you found this review useful and would to see more in the future please Subscribe to my YouTube channel!

Categories
JD 60" Snow Thrower John Deere John Deere 1585 Long Term Review Machine Reviews

How to Change Attachments on the John Deere 1500 Series (applies to the 1400 Series too)

Winter is coming! After a video showing how the JD 1585 broom works, I wanted to change over to the JD 60″ snow thrower to show how easy it is to do, and because we are expecting a big winter storm with over 7 inches of snow. Changing attachments on the 1585 is not nearly as easy as it should be. John Deere could make a lot of improvements to help smooth the process. To see how I do it check out the video and please like and leave a comment if you have any tips you use. The process is probably the same on all the front mount John Deere mowers in the 1400 and 1500 series ranges.

Also, take note of a problem when I test out how things are functioning…it comes back to bite me when the snow finally arrives. Check out the follow-up video to see how this performed clearing snow, spoiler alert: it doesn’t do that well, but the reason is complicated. Check out the other video to see more.

Categories
JD 60" Snow Thrower John Deere John Deere 1585 Snow Removal

Snow Plowing with a Broken John Deere 60″ Snow Thrower on a JD 1585

I recently made a video of using the JD broom to plow snow and followed it up with another video that had me showing how to change attachments, from the broom to the 60″ snow thrower in preparation for a snow storm that was coming. In this video I used the thrower to handle the slightly deeper snow, between 4-5″. I realized when doing a drone shot that the thrower wasn’t working right and only have the auger was spinning. Take a look and see what is wrong with my snow thrower. Luckily I still had my broom to save the day!

I will be adding another video follow-up with some shots of the broom in deep snow to show how it handles it.

Thanks for watching and consider subscribing to my channel on YouTube!

Categories
John Deere John Deere 1585 Snow Removal

Snow Plowing with the John Deere Broom on the JD 1585

Showing how the JD broom handles deeper snow using my John Deere 1500 series front mount tractor (JD 1585). We received between 4-5 inches of snow and my thrower was broken, so I had to take out the broom to clear the driveway. 4 inches of snowfall is about the max of what the broom can handle in most situations because where you have drifts, and in places like the end of one’s driveway, the snow can be much deeper than the snowfall amount.

When you have more snowfall, you have to take light passes and go over multiple times. Take a look at how well it does, or doesn’t do. Let me know what you think in the comments. I will be getting the thrower out whenever we get a big snowfall again to test if the fixes I performed on it actually worked.

Consider subscribing on YouTube if you like the content and the channel. Thanks!

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Cows Farming Gehl RT105 Initial Impressions Machine Reviews

2019 Gehl RT105 – Super Compact Track Loader

A quick overview and demonstration of one of the world’s smallest compact track loaders (CTL), the Gehl RT105. I bought this skid steer because I can tow it behind my half ton RAM 1500, and because it goes where my Gehl RT210 can’t. Don’t let its small size fool you, it still has a tipping load of 3000lbs and weighs in at under 5000lbs. In this video I use it to feed the cows a large square bale (800 lbs) and then put on the 4 in 1 bucket from CID attachments to clean out the cow barn. Pretty nice little setup, but man is it noisy!

I will be doing a more thorough review of the machine in another video, this was just a quick video to show how it performs in the real world.

If you like my videos, consider subscribing. I try to keep my content family friendly, clean, educational, and concise so you are not wasting your time. Enjoy!

Categories
At the Mill Wood Kiln

Simple DIY Dehumidifier Wood Kiln – Super Energy Efficient and Mobile

This kiln can hold 16ft long lumber and has a 4ft H x 4ft W chamber. I reused a bunch of 2.5″ foam board I had, along with lumber from a metal roofing pallet to make the majority of it. It will get to 110 degrees F with just a small dehumidifier running. A tiny personal heater can easily heat the chamber to over 150 degrees for sanitizing lumber.

After milling some giant buckthorn I wanted to test drying it, so I loaded up the kiln with a bunch of silver maple and Osage orange that I am using for a treehouse project. This is not a video on how to dry wood, it is just a tour of my setup…in fact there are many things in the video you shouldn’t do to get the best results, but I am experimenting and the wood being used is for a treehouse and not furniture. I will have follow-up videos that show how well the buckthorn dried, and how well it finishes. Consider subscribing, thanks!

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Case FarmAll 75C Farming Initial Impressions Machine Reviews

2020 Case FarmAll 75C Review – Initial Impressions – Full Test Drive and Walkthrough

If your head is spinning looking for a good Compact Utility, or Utility, tractor take a look at this video to get some insight on the thought and buying process I went through, and why I ended up settling on the Case 75C, which is a step above the compact utility class. I never looked in the Utility tractor class because I thought they would be more expensive. I found quite the opposite, beefier frames, more horsepower, and way more standard features for the same price.

I will be doing long term reviews on this machine, and will also be putting out more videos on the equipment buying process, so be sure to subscribe on YouTube to get the latest videos. Thanks!

Categories
Machine Reviews

Hay Equipment for my First Year Making Hay – 2021

So…I am getting into the hay business! I just bought a load of equipment, sight unseen, from the internet…Will I regret this? I am super excited about the Krone AMR280 disc cutter, it is the only piece of hay equipment I bought that is totally new. I will be using the cutter on the back of my tractor (check out the my video here: 2020 Case FarmAll 75C Review).

The New Holland BR740 round baler is definitely the most intimidating piece of equipment in the bunch. I did manage to get a service manual for it and feel pretty good about how everything works, but man is it massive.

The Tonutti 5 Wheel rake is very straight forward and lightweight, I expect no issues here.

Lastly, the New Holland Super Hayliner 68 is over 60 years old but I was assured that it is in good working condition. I may convert this baler to run off of a 16 horsepower gas motor so I can pull it behind my Honda Pioneer.

I will have my hands full this spring getting everything tuned up and it should make for a very exciting summer, subscribe to follow the action. I am a first time farmer trying to figure things out on my own.