Tractors, Mowers, Chippers, Trailers, Chainsaws, Generators, Driveway Erosion Control, ETC.

I know where there is one cheap...will need some fabrication work to make it fit...

 

No "likes"!

 

No not really. My house is in the middle of 5 acres sitting on top of a hill. Pond in the back yard and stuff. Other yard I cut is pretty smooth

 

I think I’ve narrowed down my grapple selection… for now until I start looking for more options again

 

That poor 500lb thing was way outclassed in that configuration. Transaxle was a very weak T40. I would think a short residental flat driveway would be appropriate for that use.

The X500 is in a totally different class than your LT. Think F250 vs Ford Ranger.

 

It's always impossible to say without actually doing it and that's why I hesitate. The D140 you had is designed to mow a flat yard of 1/2 acre. The X500 can plow a garden, pull a box blade, and mow several acres. I remember hooking a 200lb double 8" channel x7ft wide driveway drag to my old Husky LT(similar to your D140) It didn't even try to budge it. I hooked it to my Cub XT3(JD 500 equivalent) and dragged it uphill with 200lbs of gravel piled up on it.

If I had an x500 and wanted to plow or blow snow with it I would add wheelweights, fill the tires with RV antifreeze, run ATV tires and/or chains, and hang 200lbs of suitcase weights on the rear hitch. Proper ballast is everything with these plus having the proper strength transaxle to take the load. Many of the people on my tractor forum live in Canada and up north and plow with garden tractors.

https://youtu.be/2YcIVoC3ht4

This is what my GT can do ballasted like I said above. Wheelweights are 100lbs per side, 130lbs of liquid ballast inside the tires, and 220lbs on the rear hitch. I did put my bucket straight down and pushed a wall of snow all over the place with it the last snowstorm we got here including uphill in the woods. Pushing snow is waaaay easier than dirt. Nothing compared to what you get though.

https://youtu.be/Pmj8r-YxQDY

 

I have a flat concrete driveway and the machine I have has bigger tires and a locker. I may take it out in the snow without an attachment to get a feel for what kind of traction it has in the winter first.

 

The x500 makes me use my ATV less. I used to need it more because my little Craftsman wouldn't have the traction to pull even a few hundred pounds behind it if tried any significant hill or uneven ground. The x500 never struggles.

I don't think I have started the ATV in a month.

 

Thanks. I have had people post on the tractor forum I mod on and their 4WD SCUT can't even do what my GT does. They have no ballast. Gotta hang weights on them. If you look at this vid you can see that even with 500lbs of extra ballast weight(literally your D140) I could use more as I blow the tires off at the drop of a hat. A properly ballasted GT can do amazing things. And those 4WD SCUTS could blow me away if they are properly ballasted.

https://youtu.be/skLz0SKmNx0

 

I need to explore that on the 9N, no idea if the tires are filled yet. Also going to bite the bullet on some tire chains to give it some help in the snow. My 318 (that somehow weighs near 1k lbs with a snow blade) managed last year but definitely struggled in one 12+” storm with just chains and no additional weight.

I don’t envy the grades you guys deal with out west. Just got setup out near Kalispell for the week on vacation and my ass puckers imaging trying to plow some of the drives out here.

 

That’s no shit! I about had a heart attack when I saw chain prices. I’m thinking about wandering around the local dealers with a couple Benjamin’s to see if anything has been traded in with chains recently that they’d separate

 

Holy Schmoley! A grand for tire chains? That's some ding-dang-ol clunk-clunk clunkety-clunk chains on the highway robbery.

 

I used to dog sit for second home owners with an awful driveway. I don't know the slope % or degrees, but if I stopped halfway up in my Tacoma I could not get going again in 2WD no matter how lightly I feathered the gas. It was pretty well packed gravel.

One of the owners told me she rolled her Wrangler on it one winter because there was ice on the slope and she kept sliding faster and faster until she hit the first corner, then it was all over.

They had two 330 gal oil tanks because when the house was built they determined they may have significant periods of time in the winter where an oil truck wouldn't be able to get up the driveway.