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

wanted to share my take on your policicy of wrenching.
i struggle to find people to do tasks im not proficient at. your skills per hr rate is a deal. keep up these sweet builds. i like to watch and admire. my truck is sitting 3 weeks now for intake gaskets. half torn apart and dude is mia. im giving him a truck in trade. we will see when its dun.

 

Remember I have a B7100 that's got 1100 hrs on it +/-. Since I've had it I put 200 hrs on it in 4 years I think.
Do the math bushhog is 2-4k I would think and disks probably the same.
It would be a good deal even if you had to do some repairs on it.

 

Yes it seems like a good deal, even though I doubt that I would ever use that disk thingy. But @RustyGreen explanation of the differences in operation between a manual and a hydro tractor has kinda talked me out of this one. I'll probably just continue to look until something comes along, or maybe eventually decide to go with a new one. What I think I would really like is something with a grapple-bucket.. but it seems only really large tractors or other types of machines are equipped with those.

 

Make sure you get a quick attach loader bucket instead of a pin on style.
With an auxiliary front hydraulic kit you can easily swap on and operate a grapple bucket.

Quick attach, note the black levers:



Pin on style:

 

You should ask if manual if it is then pass because of your prefrence, but if it's hydro you can always sell the disks to recoup some of your money. My B7100 is a manual and basically I use first and second gear most often, high and low range. Now with that said if earth moving use low range mowing high range. I like @RustyGreen explanation of the differances.

 

Thanks, I’ve always had a bad habit of under charging people. A dear friend of mine told me years ago “charge people what you think it’s worth, they’ll either pay you and be happy or pay you and not call you again”.

 

I just did a head gasket job on my neighbors mower. She told me “let me know what parts you need” when I picked it up.

I had my wife send her links for gaskets, push rod, air filter, oil filter, and a battery.

When I carried it back Friday she said “am I gonna owe you for doing this?”

I said yes, I worked on it for a while. She said I was just wanting you to look at it. I said I can look at it and tell you it’s a mower.

Why didn’t you say you just wanted me to look at it when I told you what parts you needed and why did you tell me to let you know what parts were needed if I was just looking at it?

She had already questioned my wife and ask her if I knew what I was doing and she’d had two expensive shops work on it and they made it worse.

I charged her $80, she gave me $100.

I know it was cheap on my part, that’s the problem I have. I need to start charging more.

 

Consider it an advertising fee. She gonna tell someone else, then they tell someone else.

Make the money back on future projects.

 

That’s kinda the way I look at it, I’m new to the area and trying to get some customers

 

...and finding better customers who actually appreciate getting a job done right the first time.

 

I haven't "fired" a customer yet, but have come close.

Got a good friend that wanted one of my rehabbed ZT's.

I put him in a nice 60" Z Master. He loves it. Unfortunately, he uses it as a brush hog. He makes trails around his wooded property. To tell the truth, it's doing a great job making those trails.

Unfortunately, his area is in old oil well country from 80 years ago. There are unmarked pipes everywhere! Hi hit one. He actually twisted a fabricated deck. Had to source a new deck. I couldn't straighten it.

I fully expect to see the rig again. His money is good and never questions what I ask.

My wife always giggles every time his name shows up on the phone.

 

My wife often volunteers me for jobs like this………sucks balls when they think it’s a freebie favor

 

The more formal you are the clearer the communication. Having a basic work order will help clarify the entire process, for you and for your customers. It lays out how you are willing to do business and helps to make sure you both are on the same page without any issues. Too much trust in people will encourage some people to take advantage of you. Better to have a customer pull the plug before any work is done then complain about how THEY envisioned everything to go after everything has been done. I would keep notes on the work order about what you agree to do and have the customer sign the document. You can always make the excuse that you are very busy, deal with many customers and want to make sure that you keep track of exactly what you have promised to do and you get a signature to remind yourself that the customer has agreed to what is going to be done for work. I would tell them that it is not them you distrust but yourself to remember what you said you would do. Of course it really is that you do not trust the customer.

 

Ok made it home!
Brakes worked fine. The bleeding & adjusting did the job.
Now did I get them perfect? NO. Once I get unloaded will put it in the shop next week & get it off the ground, repack the bearings with new grease & then set them all by the manual for drag vs my best guess.

This trailer pulls fantastic! I really like these torsion axles vs the leaf spring set up! Big fan so far.
Trailer with Excavator on it was just over 8K when I rolled it across the truck scales, the truck was right at 9.8K.

So my rolling weight was real close to 18K..... & That's why no trailer brakes kinda stressed me on the way down. :-0

Didn't unload anything but my clothes. Gonna take rest of today off & spend it with the Wife & the bully dogs.

 

Tell me if I’m being stupid.

I really want a dump trailer to haul gravel on our driveway for years to come. After borrowing two identical ones recently, one bumper pull and one gooseneck, I want gooseneck.

It pulled so much easier with a heavy load. I have a gooseneck I bought new in 2017 and recently gave up a bush hog job an hour away so I won’t be using it…..much at all.

I’m thinking about converting it. I have all the tools, welder, shop, etc. I gave $5,800 for it new. It’s almost $10k new now. A dump trailer like I want would be over $11k.

I think I can convert it for less than $4k and have less than $10k in it.

I’d shorten it to 16’, move the axles, and make the dump part using the cross braces I cut off. All I’d have to buy is the dump mechanism and side material.


Opinions welcome.

 

I'm more than confident you can do it.
Personally I wouldn't want to lose the capability of the flatbed - with my tendency to haul crap home...

Idea:
Could you build a dump box that would securely lock onto the trailer yet be removable?
Then you could have your dump and the flatbed too.

 

Sounds logical to me! Save you some money. Other option is sell that one for a profit and get the new dump trailer. Dont think you would save money on That though

 

It would be too heavy if I added to it, and long. As much as diesel is I want to be able to haul as much material at one time as I can. We seem to be 30+ minutes from everywhere. I have the red 6 1/2’ x 12’ trailer as well.

I can haul stuff in the dump too.

I won’t be hauling my tractor to do work, I watched my dad do that for years only to wear his stuff, and himself out. I’d rather leave mine at home, that’s just me. I may haul the skid steer every now and then, that will be done with the dump.

 

I thought about selling this one but I’d be lucky to get $8k out of it I think, just because if your close to a new price why not by new?

That’s why I bought a new one in 2017, didn’t want someone else’s junk for close to the same money.

This one has less than 2,000 miles on it I’m sure.

 

If you buy new all the hydraulics & electric is new and has a warranty -- and you don't have to do any work.