I used to have a 1948 Farmall Super A tractor with a Woods 60" belly mower on it. It was in bad shape when I got it, but I had the engine rebuilt and reconditioned her, and I loved that thing.
They look like this:
http://www.tractorshed.com/contents/adpic118.htm
Pretty cool, huh?
Anyway we moved from the farm, and I took the tractor with me. There are a lot of hills on the new property, though, and last may I almost killed myself. It’s a high tippy tractor, and I had her up on two wheels and about to roll over. I had bruises on my legs from trying to jump off but banging my legs on the steering wheel. Somehow the tractor slammed down upright, snapping the drive belt for the mower and torquing the deck. I almost peed my pants. I drove the tractor up to the garage, parked it, and said “never again.”
So, I did some shopping and I found a used 1980s Woods commercial zero turn radius mower with 1,800 hours on it. They gave me a good price and I told my wife and asked for permission to buy it.
She said “NO!”
I said “Why not. This makes sense. The price is right. You agree we need a new tractor”
Then my wife proceeded to educate me about myself. It’s a very strange feeling when somebody tells you something about yourself that you didn’t know before. Uncomfortable, too.
What my wife said was “You act like you like saving money by buying old stuff and fixing it up yourself, but you really don’t. You just want to picture yourself as that kind of person, but you’re not. You’re always complaining about how the old tractor didn’t work, and how you hated fixing it, and you were always angry about it. I don’t want to deal with it any more. You have kids now and you can’t spend 40 hours a year out in the garage fixing old stuff, especially if it doesn’t make you happy. If it makes you angry, you shouldn’t bother. Spend time with me and the kids and be happy. Go buy exactly what you need, brand new. Take care of it, and keep it for the next 20 years.”
I thought it about it for ten seconds, and decided she was right. I really don’t like all that maintenance on antiques. I just like to pretend I do.
So, I went out and brought this!!
http://www.kubota.com/h/products/bx1830-2230.cfm
This is 22hp, diesel tractor with ROPS and a 60" inch PTO powered mowing deck. I bought it brand new. This sucker cruises. A 3 hour mowing job now takes me an hour and a half.
On top of that, I decided to kill two birds with one stone, and I bought this with it:
http://www.kubota.com/h/products/BX1830-2230_Implements_loader.cfm
Heh. Heh. Heh.
I have a front end loader now. That loader allowed me to sell my 1979 Chevy pickup with plow on it. It was a cool truck, but a real maintenance bitch just for plowing snow.
The loader is all kinds of useful. You can use it like a man lift, you can dig holes, spread tanbark, landscape and plow snow.
It is also the world’s greatest wheelbarrow.
I but a toothed blade on the end of the bucket. Clearing brush used to be an all day job. Now I just rip it out in one pass.
I love this thing!
Best of all is showing it off, or when the neighbor asks to borrow it. When he wants to borrow it, he brings me a case of beer!
