Woo hoo, John got a tractor. Late here I’ll look it up tomorrow. Panthers won series tied. Good night.

 

--I am learning a lot about lawn mowers. Nothing earth shattering, of course, but interesting. I found out about the governor on a Kohler engine that is known for spewing out the cap- there is a video on Youtube of a guy taking apart one and finding parts inside the crankcase. Took apart mine (lotsa labor but no$) and found exactly the same- $25 in parts will fix- waiting on them. Also got one that won't crank- broken compression release- again guy on youtube taking one apart, finding spewed parts in crankcase- Haven't taken that one apart yet but I'll bet it is the same. Prolly about $35. to fix that one. Found out that taking a engine out of one of these is no big deal- not like a car ... Bought 2 identical MTD 48" lawn tractors last week, one needed starter( 35.) Other has fuel problem.
-- Got ulcer back on bottom of right big toe.. Bummer. My feet want to arch up and carry a bunch of weight on big toe- causes a sore- I'm don't have diabetes, but do have neuropathy in my feet especially and arthritis ,, UGH.
--Still haven't gotten Olds all cleaned up- Under hood, trunk, and interior are done. Need to wash next but don't want to get my "clod hopper" foot thingie I have to wear wet.

 

John - You purchased the 4520N Pro Pkg from what I understand. I reviewed a little bit of the Operation 4520 Quick Start video. Interesting PTO - all attachments are belt driven. I'm going to review more about this beast when I have more time. Looks like quite the beast w/ some serious attachments. Congrats on removing that heavy weight burden from your wallet.

 

Greg's Lawn & Garden Service

 

What a game, what a Series so far! Some of the most exciting, hardest fought hockey I've ever seen!

 

John, I'm impressed. What attachments did you get? Did you look at Steiner also?

 

Thanks John. I agree with your statement about breeding dogs, or other animals, to the point where it causes them to have genetic health issues..

Really glad you have a new heavier duty tractor headed your way. I hope it turns out to be a good one for you and lessens the time you have to mow at your new place.

 

Greg - You sure are learning alot. Wish you were close, I'd try to get you to work on my old lawn tractor. It's about a 1993 Craftsman with the 14hp Koehler on it, and the hydrostatic drive. I stopped using it about 12-yrs ago because the tires got bad and I was too lazy to take it someplace and get new ones put on, and I really didn't need it when I moved to the smaller yard. Shame is it has the complete plowing package with it, wheel weights and chains. It actually plowed snow pretty well with it being no heavier than it is. I had a very large asphalt driveway at my old place.

I sure hope your toe ulcer heals up quickly for you, that sounds very painful.

 

Good morning guys,

I was hoping to go to a car show at the Eagles Lodge in Festus today, a show where I won Best in Show 2-yrs ago, 1 of only 2 Best in Shows I've ever won. Plus, the Festus Mayor's Summer Main Street Cruise was supposed to be this evening and I had planned to go to that too. Just can't catch a break with this damn weather though. It rained hard overnight and was still sprinkling when I got up at 0700 to see what it was like and what the forecast was looking like for the rest of the day. Not good, periods of rain the rest of the day, with some possibly severe. Definitely not worth getting the car out, especially with the potential of hail, my worst nightmare!

Our Subdivision Garage Sale is going on today. I always hate it. People are so disrespectful of other people's property. Our neighbor's across the street always put stuff out and people coming up the street will pull off on our side of the street, over the gentle curb and into the yard, and several times have left significant ruts. I've tried to stop that crap by parking my truck there the past couple of years and it seems to work pretty good. I helped Dawn pull some pieces of furniture out of the basement up to the driveway that she essentially just wants to give away. Pieces she thought she might want to refinish one day, but now she has decided they're not worth it. The pieces are going to Goodwill if they don't sell.

No other plans for today with this crappy weather! Hope everyone has a great day and rest of your weekend!

 

Norm, it seems like a turbo lawnmower designed for ease of use as opposed to a real tractor that can pull dirt. A lot of real tractor attachments seem to run based on rolling on the ground, like a discer or a seeder, or can pull something through the dirt to get ready to plant, so they're tall for the leverage of the huge wheels. I have some slopes and could roll a traditional tractor.

Jim, the Steiners seem equivalent and maybe a little bigger and heavier. Ventrac seems to be made by Steiner, the family named that, so I think they sold the original brand, and now make something else. This is why you never, ever, put your family name on a product or a company. I bought the mk960 wide area mower and the hq682 brush cutter deck. There are smaller mower decks I can get if the big guy can't get to enough places that I don't want to use my old rider for. I anticipate this thing taking up a garage stall with its attachments eventually.

 

Good morning everyone.

Been raining a couple hours so there's nothing to do outside today. I could stay in and clean house. What fun.

Worked yesterday morning. I have a feeling overtime is going to be hit or miss this summer so I should get it in while I can. After Awful house I put in some laundry then fell asleep. Too bad it was nice out. Eh, it happens.

So Walmart today. After that who knows. Hope everyone has a good day.

 

John - Maybe I was mistaken about Model # 4520 vs. 4520N. I assumed you got the 4520N when you said you got the Kubota gas upgrade, but that was a little premature on my part since both the 4520Y & 4520Z get the Kubota gas engine. Then, there's the 4520 PRO Model. Holy Guacamole hard to follow. I'm excited for you though - it looks like one hell of a beast.

Couple questions:
(1) You have eight wheels/tires or four wheels/tires?
(2) Is the tractor two wheel drive or four wheel drive? I assume it's likely a 4-wheel drive; but, if so, is it ALL TIME 4-wheel drive or FORWARD ASSIST 4-wheel?

That mk960 Wide Area Mower has a 95" width which is awesome. You're going to love that thing & that hq682 is killer.

I guess Ventrac (Venture) was bought by Toro in 2020?

John - You're going to love your new manly-man machine. So, envious.

 

Multiple Kubota engines. I got the 4520N with 32.5 horse Kubota EFI. I am getting a "dual wheel kit" so I will have either 4 or 8 depending on whether I bolt on the outboards. I plan to run with 8 unless there is a reason for 4. It is full time AWD so you're either not stuck or really stuck.

There are other mowing decks. I will see what I need. There is a basic deck, and a contour deck. There are also flail mower decks.

I see a need for a snowplow. Perhaps a bucket of some sort. There is a hedge trimmer on a hydraulic boom, a large scrub forest eating deck, an edger, and a tiller I can see I use for.

Toro did buy the company. I am planning on buying all attachments and accessories for this unit within the next few years in case they cut costs and install woke engineers in the future.

 

John - It sure sounds like an incredibly versatile machine, I think you made a great choice!

 

After normal routine of several hours trimming/pruning hedges I managed a run to the grocery store & back hoping to avoid what appeared to be an eminent downpour but instead hit the downpour head-on on my return. Many scattered T-Storms predicted throughout the area then they decided to align producing a frontal boundary w/ 70 mph winds & half-dollar hail predicted. I immediately thought of Chris' encounter. Made it through unscathed as I pulled into the drive waiting for the end to arrive. Disaster narrowly averted.

 

Sure glad you missed any hail Norm and got home safely! 👍

 

 

Good morning everyone.

Ah Monday. Good wall guy, good robot guy. Hope that means a good week. The lead that was here Saturday told us no overtime today, then our lead texted everyone over the weekend saying no overtime. Gee they must be serious. Don't know what's up with that. Apparently the worthless foreman thinks he's using overtime to manipulate us. That's backfired in the past but he has to learn for himself.

John I've never heard of that tractor. Hope it does well for you. I bought a Deere. Even though I'm not a fan of foreign stuff I stopped at Kubota first. The guy gave me a song and dance. I asked him, what am I going to hear when I go down the street to John Deere? He went into a tirade of how Deere sucked and I wouldn't be happy blah blah. I went to Deere, got a good presentation, asked him to compare it to Kubota. He gave me good comparisons, not all of them pro-Deere. He said he'd give me this price if I bought by the end of the year(I was there the last week of December). I said, I planned on buying it today. I thought he was going to do a cartwheel.

So out in my barn I found a trampoline pad and all the springs. Probably been there for years. What should I do with this stuff? I don't suppose the springs have degraded but I've seen multiple videos where people are jumping on their trampoline and then fall right through. Is it worth trying to sell/give away this stuff? There's no frame, maybe I could make my own trampoline with two by fours.

Slow to get going. Well, it is Monday. Been here over an hour and only two wheels. Eh, so what. They'll learn. Again.

Hope everyone has a good day. Norm don't go outside if it's hailing.

 

Mike, around here people put unwanted stuff out at the edge of their yard with a free sign on it. If there is any metal in it ,it will be gone in a day... My neighbor said he was mowing lawn and went to lunch leaving push mower out by road, something else came up and didn't get back there til next day and found someone had taken his mower... I always put a free sign. Easier than hauling to dump, and maybe someone will get use out of it. I even admit I have taken some free stuff- "one mans junk, another man's treasure"...

 

That would be a good idea Greg, except this isn't that kind of neighborhood. We are sort of off the beaten path and don't get a lot of traffic. That's funny about your neighbor's mower, though I'm sure he didn't think it was funny. He should put a sign out, bring my mower back!

 

I bring all my scrap metal to this guy. He's a welder and an artist and creates these sculptures with junk people bring him.



Just a sample of the things he's created.

 

Art - I like what he did w/ the motorcycle gas tanks.

 

Pretty cool huh.
He sells his works and will even create things if you have an idea for something. He also teaches how to do this at local colleges. These photos are from a few years ago. I should visit him again and photograph his yard of the new stuff.

 

I've seen numerous yards/displays around the country of folks who create art from scrap metal - some are very, very interesting.

 

John, I never heard of Ventrac as well. I went to the Home page, and watched the video, what a beast! Mike, last I knew, Kubota was made in Athens. Your neck of the woods.

 

I like the yard art as well, very cool. Around here there are quite a few Car Shows that will have the "Special Awards" custom welded from auto parts, I always love to see those.

 

Good evening guys,

Haven't been on much today because it's the first day I've really felt I was back close to 100%. After 3-days of rain the yard really needed mowing so I went out and did that first, getting done around 12:30. Then I did my lifting workout. Then I carried a bunch of stuff from the basement to the trash that Dawn's throwing away. Then I broke down and cut up about 20 cardboard boxes that were also part of Dawn's purge from the basement. Then the two of us went to Keegan's baseball game at 6pm. Felt good to have an active full day again.

Hope everyone had a great day and has a relaxing evening!

 

Mowed more this afternoon. Poor rider mower is having a time with all this property. Finished the main yard, cut some side stuff, and hit a branch hard. After a break, I went to cut more and had no blade power. Seems the branch hit made the belt cut a little and jump a pulley. The deck was also drowning in clippings on both top and bottom. Pulled deck, cleaned off, found damaged belt, and also found a blade nut was loose. Last time, I jammed it with a tent stake as my bent screwdriver was awol. I have it now.

Did some weedwhacking. It was not fun. I cleared out several yard arts that will need to go. Pushmowed what needed pushmowed, then it was dark and I went home. I do have a spare deck belt, so I will hopefully get it done tomorrow and back here because this place needs mowing. A friend wants to give me a backpack powered string trimmer. Seems interesting.

 

John - I can't imagine trying to keep up with all that acreage with just a basic lawn tractor! Glad the Cavalry is on the way.

 

SOS here - pruning/edging hedges.

 

Norm - Hope you can get all the yard work done soon so you can get back to your #1 mission . . . more golf!

Wow, what an *** whooping the Panthers put on the Oilers last night. Nothing like the very competitive games we saw in the first 2 games. The Oilers got so flustered all they could do was take cheap shots and start fights. I had kind of been rooting for the Oilers, but after all the cheap shots I saw them take last night, I'm firmly in the Panther's camp now! I'm hoping the Panther's crush them!

 

What do you think of my hedge cutting shoes Norm . Yes it,s ok to laugh , i do it myself
also . But the extra inches are very good for my shoulders when using the gas hedge cutter.

 

Glenn - Love it!

 

Glenn - I guess homemade would do in a pinch if you're on a budget, but you do know you can buy those right?

 

Glenn, I used to do that with old shoes decades ago when dressing up at Halloween, trying to be scarier and more imposing when handing out candy.

 

Chris - How many pairs you own?

 

LoL, dem dare ain't mine brother, dem's Dawn's. I wouldn't be caught dead in a pair of those Kanga Boots!

 

Chris , never seen or heard of these Kangoo Boots before ( i google them now ) i can understand why the shoe give
the foot a good support

should se if something else can be used instead of wood

 

John - Is the dealer shipping/delivering the 4520N to the farm or you have to pick it up (including attachments)?

We're still getting some much needed rainfall from isolated popup showers which should relieve some of the drought we've been experiencing.

 

Glenn - If you've already Googled and found them you already know they're also called Kangaroo Boots or Jump Boots, designed as a fun way to get excersise. Dawn is pretty good on them. To me they just look like an easy way to break a leg or arm, or worse! Not my thing for sure!