My first track loader!

[boone]

Wow, thanks Kap! The work is finally starting to pay off.

We took the loader over to the farm this weekend. The 175 holds 80 gallons. We had about a quarter of a tank. We put 55 gallons of fresh fuel in the 175. We topped it off with the fuel out of the old farm tank. Fuel in the farm tank is probably 4 years old. Figured diluting a little at a time won't hurt too much. Not sure how long diesel lasts. Using the old pump definitely gave me some excercise.



Dad attacked the fence row by the barn. Nothing too big in here. Took about an hour.

Before - this was taken a couple of weeks ago while my brother was in the process of bush-hoggin'.





After - Friday evening, cleared this row in about an hour.



Early Sat morning with rain on the horizon. Thankfully, it didn't rain. We got 7.5 hours in on Saturday.

[boone]

cont...



Next, we started attacking this long fence row

Before



During

[boone]

cont...





Piling the brush





Picture taken from opposite side. The pile to the right is the resulting pile of the pictures above. We finished the long row trees. We also cleared the thicket that the loader is pointed at. I didn't snap anymore pictures the rest of the day and sadly didn't take an end of the day picture. But you get the idea.

[Goldtrigger]

Boone, you will have a fine bon fire after that drys a bit. We are back in a burn ban here in Lampasas County, probably will be till October. Sure looks nice and green there!

[norite]

Read the whole thread, great story, pics and videos.

I never wanted a crawler loader before, but now I wouldn't mind having one like yours. I am sure your story has led to many old trackloaders being bought and fixed up.

[amunderdog]

Looks great.
Looks like Dad is having a great day.
I have a Grapple Rake on my wish list.

[boone]

Originally Posted by Goldtrigger

Boone, you will have a fine bon fire after that drys a bit. Sure looks nice and green there!

We have several big piles of brush that will make for some big fires! We had a wet spring, but the summer has been a bit dry. That's actually made it good for getting into some areas that are normally wet. We still found some sinking wet spots that scared us but we were careful not to press our luck. Our triple grouser pads don't provide a real good bite.

Originally Posted by norite

I never wanted a crawler loader before, but now I wouldn't mind having one like yours. I am sure your story has led to many old trackloaders being bought and fixed up.

Thanks norite! Maybe the thread will help someone avoid some issues we had too. When you buy yours we want to hear about it

Originally Posted by amunderdog

Looks great.
Looks like Dad is having a great day.
I have a Grapple Rake on my wish list.

We've been having a blast on the loader. Dad and I try to split seat-time, when I can get him off it We both really enjoy it. All in all I can't think of a much better all around tool or a funner way of clearing land. It's amazing what you can do with this thing in a day...even when newbies like us are using it. Unfortunately, the tree branches have taken out their revenge on the new paint job and it doesn't look so new anymore.

We've been working most every Saturday with it and putting about 10 hours a working day on it. The landscape is really transforming. Glad to report the engine is running smooth and strong with no oil leaks that we've found. Doesn't appear to be losing or burning any oil. The transmission and cooling system are working great as well. The hydraulic fluid is a different story. Both bucket curl cylinders are back to leaking...one really bad. It also appears we have a hydraulic leak underneath which is probably around the pump somewhere. It's getting to the point where it's expensive to add fluid and we're afraid if something becomes disconnected underneath we may start a fire or burn up a pump before we know it. We still have some work to do on the farm, but we're planning to bring her back to the shop within a week for some inspection and maintenance. We'll be trying our hand at rebuilding the bucket cylinders and trying to find the leak around the pump...hopefully it's just a hose or lose connection.

I had some pics but the site's pic resizer isn't working yet.

[boone]

We'll see if I resized these correctly...here's a few working pics of one Saturday. Nothing too amazing here.

Close-up tipping out a small cedar.





Pushing to the pile. A grapple rake would be very useful.



My brother was cutting the same day on his M8540. If it weren't for him we'd probably have lost several hills to vegatation this year.

[boone]

This ditch had mostly thorn trees all along it and the hill had several saplings. Glad to see those go.



Zoomed-in.



Zoomed-out.



All I have for now.

[ScottAR]

Great pics! Looks like it's coming together...

[Goldtrigger]

Boone, great pics. Take a look at my thread. We are digging away at a pond. What fluid do you use for your tranny? We use Car Quest 303, which they say is the equivalent of 10 weight oil. We are not sure it is pulling as well with it.

Talk about oil leaks, can't seem to pour enough engine oil in the Beast. And as most guys have said, these things are fuel hogs!. About 20 gals diesel for 3 hours work.

[jughead]

wish my D75 looked that good. guess that wont happen this old man is just too lazy. pushing same basic stuff mine uses 6 gallon of fuel an hour. needless to say it doesnt get much use anymore. i does come in handy though if something BIG gets in the way

[stinkycat]

Boone do you have trouble with kudzu stuff? I guess it takes over anything that doesn't move. and no easy way to get rid of it

[boone]

Sorry for the late response. My wife and I have been out of town taking advantage of a long weekend.

Originally Posted by Goldtrigger

What fluid do you use for your tranny? We use Car Quest 303, which they say is the equivalent of 10 weight oil. We are not sure it is pulling as well with it.

Talk about oil leaks, can't seem to pour enough engine oil in the Beast. And as most guys have said, these things are fuel hogs!. About 20 gals diesel for 3 hours work.

My favorite part of your pictures are the mean puffs of black smoke! I'm sure it sounds as mean with the straight pipe on it. We use IH oil in the engine, but for the tranny we're using Tractor Supply's Traveller brand. They claim it's Hytran compliant. It's a bit cheaper than Hytran and seems to be working well so far.

Originally Posted by jughead

wish my D75 looked that good. guess that wont happen this old man is just too lazy. pushing same basic stuff mine uses 6 gallon of fuel an hour. needless to say it doesnt get much use anymore. i does come in handy though if something BIG gets in the way

Our fuel consumption has been better than we expected. We expected the worst. We're only burning about 3 gallons an hour, but we're only about half way in the throttle with it. We don't bog it, it has plenty of power even at half. This motor really screams when you pour the coal to it.

stinkycat, there is plenty of kudzu in this area, but luckily we don't have much if any on our place. I'm not sure that's kudzu on the trees on the picture...it looks similar though. Your right though, it takes over everything and it difficult to get rid of. I've seen entire hillsides covered with it including trees and utility poles. Nasty stuff.

We're bringing her home tomorrow to start tending to the hydraulic leaks.

[7GP]

I just spent the last hour and a half reading this thread! WOW! Very impressive to say the least. Really like how you kept us updated and with many clear photos! Great job!