Here are a few shots of my latest tractor at work. Kubota L35 with the front loader converted to a Quick Attach so I can switch back and forth between bucket and forks easily.
Good thing you can't see the seat... she's perty torn up... MasterMech could tell what the differences are between the 500 and the 575, I'm sure. With decent maintenance, I can see this thing lasting way past my grandsons...
I bought the chain & binder style that slip over the cutting edge but are secured by chains wrapping over the bucket. They are under $200 IIRC off eBay with the binders. They work and the bucket shows no wear. Pallet forks get so much use, worthwhile investment for me.
Thanks, that looks like a better set up than just bolting on. Just order a set minus binders $105 shipped. I can find some used binders.
Bought this when we moved into the farm in 2013. Moving manure, clearing snow, dragging the arena, moving hay, and now moving cut rounds to my splitting pile. Hope to get a set of QA forks in the next couple of weeks. I'm planning to stack all of my split wood onto 4x4 pallets of 1/4 cord each. Then this thing with forks will allow me to avoid moving it by hand from that point onward.
Be careful - the capacity of a loader is strongly affected by how far out the load sits. The clamp-on forks themselves work fine, but you have less total lifting capacity due to the weight sitting out beyond the bucket, plus capacity lost by having both a bucket and forks mounted. Skidsteer Quick-attach is perfect since it allows you to use any attachment free of "baggage" and you don't have to mount anything by hand. David
Yea I have read about that, I don't plan on lifting anything crazy. It's a small tractor anyways, I don't expect much out of it. But, boy is it handy finally finding a loader for it!
X2. I max at 700# supposedly but had just enough with my box blade as ballast to pull off my snowblower (400-450#) amd tell the old man to gun the pickup before I ding the truck and tip the tractor! Light in the pants are these CUTS.
Well keep in mind the other factor - rear weight. The farther out your load, the more weight you need in back. Small tractors are easily limited by rear weight more than the loader itself. I guess one thing impressed me trying to push/lift logs with my tractor - that wood is heavier than it looks. Even to just roll it sometimes. So every lb of lifting capacity gets used with firewood - might as well maximize what your rig can do.
There are several manufactures of 3-pt winches. Farmi, Uni-Forest, Wallenstein, just to name a few. They are so handy in the woods. Beats the heck out of backing up to a log to chain up to the drawbar! Yes Farmi is still in business. My brother just bought a new Farmi winch last summer.
Growing up with a 1956 Allis-Chalmers for plowing the fields at the family nursery. Unfortunately my dad sold that land and the tractor.
Awesome. After seeing retail prices on new ones, I believe I'll keep lookout for a good used one here locally. Not a huge timber area here but there are some decent sized operations around. That one looks well-built for sure.
That is it? Three pages? My mouth is watering. I guess I'll have to go find tractor page to satisfy my need for more pics. At least until you guys have time to add more.
