My first track loader!

[boone]

Thanks Boone. I don't blame you for wanting to keep it. If you did sell I do not think you would have any trouble. I would put my name in the hat for it

LOL, someone would definitely know the past 400 hours history on it by reading this thread, the good, the bad and the ugly. You'd be the first in the hat landclearer.

 

[boone]

Looks good Boone. Can you burn year around or is there a burn ban in the county during the summer months?

Thanks CM. We're lucky to not be in the county list of burn bans. It's open season as long as things are too dry obviously. We still have a few more piles to clean up and burn. We're finally getting ahead of the curve on our piles.

I wouldn't get rid of it, it's worth more to you having around than the money you'll get for it. That's like my ol' Blue (Gradall 534D6), I'd rather have it around than the money I'd get for it.

Yeah, we haven't even really considered it. At least not without replacing it with some other piece of yellow iron. But at this point, the loader has been so handy in so many ways it's really been a nice utility tool. I don't know what we'd replace it with that would do what we've done with it. If it doesn't dry up for a while, we might have to hire someone with an excavator and thumb to finish up that spring work, maybe dig a little pond there. Too bad you're not closer!

 

[boone]

I second keeping it around , looks like you guys have several acres , and surely you could get plenty more use out of it. Besides it seems to be a real solid machine. If you sell it can you replace it later for the same $ or less? May even do a few odds and ends for neighbors for a few bucks on the side as well.

Yes, that's kind of been our mindset. There's always some tree that blows down by a storm or big oak limbs that blow off. I'm sure we'll keep finding jobs for it to do. Maybe a pond! I really wouldn't mind hiring out for some selective work, but it'd be really hard with a full-time job. Maybe when I retire many years from now I can try that out. Something to keep me busy while making a few bucks.

 

[dhutch]

Boone,

I've followed your post for a while and just recently bought a '97 Dresser 175C with a 5.9 Komatsu (Cummins) engine. My question is when your sister, I believe, redid your seat for your loader, how has it held up? What material did she use? I'm looking to redo mine as well.
Thanks for any info.

 

[boone]

Hello dhutch. I remember you purchasing your loader. Hope you're making out well with it. Yes, my sister redid the seat on the loader. I had to call and ask her what she used. She used a marine vinyl which is UV protected. She also stitched it with a UV protected thread (nylon). She cotton would burst if it gets wet and is stretched over and over. She bought the vinyl at Sirsfabric at the Fayettville store where it's $10.99/yard.

http://www.sirsfabric.com/Marine-Vinyl-Black-p/sfdc01840.htm

The material has held up extremely well, but the loader sits inside and doesn't see the rain, sun or much wear so I would expect it to still look new. Does the '97 model have the high back seat? I tend to remember seeing that those had a slightly different seat than the one we have. Also, how do you like the Cummins engine in your 175?

 

[dhutch]

Boone,

Thanks for the reply, I'll look up the fabric and may go talk to a local shop about recovering my seat bottom, at least.
I cant remember if I mentioned it, when I bought this 175, it had caught on fire and burnt up all the hyd lines and wiring. I spent a lot of evenings standing on my head replacing all the lines underneath the floor boards and some of the ones going to the loader cylinders. It came with the manuals, so rewiring wasn't too big of an issue. I replaced all the gauges with Stewart Warner gauges after sand blasteing the panels and painting the burnt areas. I have been clearing a lot with it; its much faster to operate than the 955H I replaced. I really like the 5.9, its nothing more than a 12 valve cummins with Komatsu stamped on the cummins CPL tag.
My loader does have a different seat than yours. Its a slightly higher backed suspension type seat that's pretty comfortable. The lower cushion material melted a little in the fire and the foam needs to be replaced. I also ordered the packings for one of the tilt cylinders and will be doing that soon. I read back through your post where you did yours, that will help.

Thanks again

 

[RCTech9]

Any new photos Boone?

 

[DMiller]

Boone, was kind of expensive but I went to a local upholsterer, he had a really good grade of exterior vinyl that he used to replace my seat, made all new cushion foam blocking and basically got mine to where it did not hurt to set for long periods on it.

 

[boone]

I cant remember if I mentioned it, when I bought this 175, it had caught on fire and burnt up all the hyd lines and wiring. I spent a lot of evenings standing on my head replacing all the lines underneath the floor boards and some of the ones going to the loader cylinders. It came with the manuals, so rewiring wasn't too big of an issue. I replaced all the gauges with Stewart Warner gauges after sand blasteing the panels and painting the burnt areas. I have been clearing a lot with it; its much faster to operate than the 955H I replaced. I really like the 5.9, its nothing more than a 12 valve cummins with Komatsu stamped on the cummins CPL tag.
Thanks again

That's great dhutch. I think I saw a dash pic you put on redpower. It looked really good. Sounds like it's working out well for you. They seem to be a great loader once dialed in. We could stand to repack our lift cylinders but their not leaking as bad as our tilts were. If you ever get any pictures of your clearing, I'd love to see them as I'm sure others would too

 

[boone]

Any new photos Boone?

Wish I did RC. Haven't worked on any loader projects since the last round of pictures. We're planning to go over in about three weeks for the last cutting of the season. Maybe we'll get a chance to start on our next "landscaping" project. We have an area that's got some unusual mounds and we're planning to shave down.

 

[boone]

Boone, was kind of expensive but I went to a local upholsterer, he had a really good grade of exterior vinyl that he used to replace my seat, made all new cushion foam blocking and basically got mine to where it did not hurt to set for long periods on it.

That's great Dmiller. My sister didn't cut us much of a break on pricing...hee hee, hope she doesn't read this. It was sorta expensive, but still could've been less that another upholsterer would've charged. The only regret I have is that we didn't rebuild the spring seat cushion. It had great support, but was just coming to pieces. We chunked the spring seat and used foam. It's nice, but it's not near as supportive as the original seat. I use another pillar (southern for pillow) to supplement the seat and it works fine now. Have put in a few long days sitting on it

 

[boone]

Finished up our fall "harvest of weeds" couple of weeks ago. This will be the last cutting for the year.

We had three rigs going. About half way through the first day my bush-hogging tractor sprung a fuel leak on the number one injection line. Line 2 and 3 have already been replaced, so figured it was only a matter of time. I guess it's a combination of inferior materials and lots of vibration. I was able to order a new line for $17.95 which I didn't think was bad until I had to shell out $21 shipping Was here in 3 days but was the wrong line They finally sent me the right one...only took 3 more days. Just glad I can still get parts for it.

Since I was out of commision, I got the 175 track loader out and started taking up the fence around the barn. Dad had put up this fence in 2000 to help round up the cattle when my grandmother sold them all. Now the fence doesn't serve much of a purpose and it stays pretty ragged with weeds and vines. We're having to constantly poison around it and mow around it.

Here's a typical before picture of how it looked



It was a 5 or 6 strand fence. Lots of wire to roll up.



Behind the loader is where the fence was.

 

[boone]

Heavy duty post puller.





The corner posts and railroad ties were the only ones that showed any resistance. But they didn't stand a chance.





All done.

 

[RCTech9]

Yanking posts sure is fun isnt it.

 

[boone]

Yanking posts sure is fun isnt it.

Yes indeedy. I was pulling up a section of fence down by the branch when I'd snatched out the last post I could get without sinking the loader in mud. Just had a few left in the mud and water. Then all the sudden a truck drove up and it was the neighbor who'd noticed me pulling the post with the 175. He brought over his post puller jack. Pretty nifty little tool. We waded off into the mud and that thing yanked the remaining post right up. Great to have good neighbors.

 

[RCTech9]

That looks like a cool mechanism.

 

[DMiller]

Bought my own post puller when I went to replace a fifty year old line on our place, seems these will pull a rusted almost away 'U' post intact where just dragging on them would break them off. Managed to get 90% of them completely out leaving the root anchor spade of the rest in the dirt for a later day. Still used the 7G Allis for corner post with the 4/1 as a gripper.

 

[boone]

Dmiller, I like the idea of the 4n1 as a gripper to yank them out. I tried to salvage all the T posts. We'll probably use all the ones I pulled on the frontage fence.

 

[boone]

Made our way toward the back of the property to a section where we'd cleared the undergrowth, but we never shaped up the landscape. It's really rough and terraced here. The afternoon light, weeds don't really help in showing just how it looks, but there's a couple of gulleys in here that we're reshaping. We didn't have time to finish it, but got a good start.




Panning right. Can't tell much.

 

[boone]

Also taking some humps out of the edge of the field and pushing down to a low spot.