wrsni

If you're on the ball through the off-season you may be lucky enough to pick up a good s/h GR1600 Kubota for not much over 2k. 36in cut, hydrostatic, direct collection, diesel engine, leaves a lovely finish, will lift wet grass, and is a pleasure to use. I bought ours with just over 300hrs on the clock, it's now approaching 800hrs and doesn't look, feel, or work any different than when I bought it. Routine servicing and a deck belt is the running cost to date. It's 2005 so 11yrs old now and the deck is still as solid as new. By contrast I had a Mountfield before it which I think is pretty much typical of most of the domestic spec stuff. It was a good working mower but it was about 4yr old with 200 odd hours and I had to weld the deck in a couple of places already. Big difference!

Or just a realisation that the more good big thra'n levers they replace with a nice dinky little switch, the more likely it is to get smashed to bits by the slacked jawed muppets who frequently end up operating them. Give them electrically engaged 4WD and it's easier to horse it in while at full tilt, give them an economy 540 PTO and they'll destroy every mower gearbox by over-speeding it, give them a cab and not only will they smash all the glass but they'll leave the million and one fragments it breaks in to, over footpaths, fairways, play areas or whatever. Used to think that it was just farmers who were tractor wreckers but the young fella says that he's seen things about the golf courses that would make Wully John farmer seem like a beacon of mechanical sympathy. So why would the golf course superintendent, local authority purchasing manager, football/rugby club chief exec, etc, etc, want to accept a higher tender price for a clatter of stuff that'll just get smashed anyway.

Even better product on the market now which also has a seal on the threads of the plug which expands on contact with oil and seals the hole that way. Claimed to work as long as there are enough threads in the hole to physically hold the plug in, but no tightening required to stop leaks. Can also be used as a replacement bung for people who worry about destroying threads. Can't remember the name of the product even though I have them in the shop!

Some possible scenarios all of which I've seen at some time. Firstly, the washer clings on to the bottom of the sump for a while but falls off after the drain container is removed. No washer on plug or bottom of the sump to be seen! Secondly, the washer can occasionally stay stuck to the bottom of the sump the whole time. This is the least common but it can happen. Third, and most common. the washer comes off with the sump plug but is so tightly compressed that you think it's just the flange of the bolt. I probably remove more drain bolts some months than most people remove in their lifetime and I still frequently have to take the drain bolt, put it in a vice and work at it with a sharp flat blade screwdriver to ascertain whether it has a washer on it or just the flange of the bolt itself. Bear in mind also that copper washers are seldom used by manufacturers on sump plugs, they use aluminium, so if you were looking for copper you're unlikely to have found it. So you may have lost the washer, or very possibly it's still there and your leak is just due to under-tightening due to concern about thread stripping. They do need to be pretty tight in some cases to prevent leaks.

Yes it does, although to be fair, my old 454 International had one of those as well and it was early seventies. Remember rotovating for potatoes with an old standard Major when I was about 13. At the end of a row each time you had to stop, clutch, ground drive and pto out of gear, clutch out, lift the rotovator, clutch again, in to gear, clutch out to turn, clutch again, drop rotovator and engage pto, clutch out. At least you didn't feel the cold!

Just a quick update if still relevant, although you've probably taken the plunge by now. I've just very recently acquired a larger Kubota with what they refer to as the "Glide Shift Transmission" (GST). It's basically a standard synchromesh gearbox operating through a single hydraulic multiplate wet clutch, which is also utilised to give you a clutchless shuttle lever on the dash. It's not as effortless to shuttle or vary ground speed while maintaining constant engine speed as hydrostatic, nor is it as effortless with on the move gear changing as a modern multi-pack tractor transmission. However, it is an excellent useable transmission, streets ahead of any modern "conventional" tractor transmission that I've driven, and apart from that one single hydraulic clutch there is nothing other than shafts and gears transmitting the power to the wheels, it's as basic and simple as a Massey 35. For a balance between simplicity and durability but combined with ease of use it's a cracking effort.

I'd go geared if there's a substantial degree of draught work in it's schedule. With modern clutchless shuttles and such like you can now have a geared transmission but which still allows a lot of manoeuverability without constant clutching. Hydrostatic still has it's place and I think it's biggest problems are firstly that it's easy to abuse, and secondly, will punish you for poor or irregular maintenance, both of which you can avoid by owning your machine from new. But I think once you go in to a slightly larger tractor, say much above 30hp, the type of work it's more likely to be doing will automatically take you more towards some type of geared transmission. This is our little Kubota with hydrostatic earning it's keep last week working hay. Not heavy draughting work by any means but probably still at the stage where you would ideally have geared instead. Against that, put it in some niggly mowing with a roller or finishing mower and it would be difficult to imagine anything any better.

Roller mower, Major or Trimax, very hard to beat for such purpose. Keep them sharp and the standard of cut won't be far off an amenity type cylinder. Maintenance and potential breakdown costs a tiny fraction.

Haven't been through the whole thread obviously so apologies if it's been done before. The late, great, Rory Gallagher. [ame] [/ame]

Second LP I ever bought, 75ish if memory serves me right. Brilliant!

Thanks.

We're collie people through and through but we've also had two rescued Springers, absolutely adorable little rascals the both of them. This is the second one, Patty. Dogs Trust in West Calder (just outside Edinburgh) brought her over to us as she was old (10), "difficult", and they couldn't get her homed. Her owners couldn't deal with her any more () and she'd been rehomed and returned. We never had a pin of trouble with her, she was hugely intelligent and soon figured out that she was in a good place with people who loved her. She lived out the rest of her life with us and will always be remembered, we planted a weeping birch where she's buried and it will always be Pattys tree.

Never get between a Spaniel and it's food bowl. Cruel man!

Could you post a link to it? Obviously if you're genuinely interested I'll not be intruding.

Classic quote from John Seymour in relation to one year he had successfully grown grapes, "the pheasants ate all the grapes, but then we ate all the pheasants, so that was OK".

Well I fell out with my father over twenty years ago so I'm probably not best placed to view such traditions with much understanding.

The main issue is whether you want to collect or not. If you want to collect with a compact tractor you'll need to go with a deck, clamshell, and blower. Expensive, clumsy and pretty OTT for an acre. Whereas a decent ride on will collect when you want it tidy, but you can take the bag off and put a deflector on for the rougher bits. A decent ride on will do you a long time as well, our GR1600 has over 700hrs on it and still runs as new. It needed a deck belt last year and so far that's been it. If on the other hand you're sure and certain you'll not need to collect at anytime, a compact starts to make sense. Finishing mowers can be picked up pretty cheap, even better (but a bit more expensive) a roller mower.

Go on, get the oul sock out! Haven't seen a 515 yet but I can't imagine you'd need anything handier than the 520, and they've been out now what, coming up on 20yrs? No excuse!

So you STILL haven't bought a 520-50 JCB yet?

The Kubota range have ride-ons and compact tractors. But get a really small compact with a deck and what is it, a ride-on or a compact??? Just remember than you never get something for nothing, go for a bigger compact and it'll be a lot more versatile and useful as a tractor but a lot less handy as a ride on, and vice versa. We've both, a compact and a ride on. I wouldn't like to have to try and replace them both with one machine, but then we've a fair bit of grass to look after. I think you'll probably have to decide what jobs you want to prioritise and go from there.

For 1/2in get a decent set of deep drive impact sockets and buy a good ratchet. I got these a couple of years ago and they do the vast majority of the work now. Even for light work they fit well and are just very nice to use. Not cheap but you're better with as good quality as possible in the stuff you do use rather than the cost spread over a lot of stuff than you won't use. If you're fussy then a nice little 3/8 - 1/4 set combined for fiddly stuff (I've Laser and Teng both and can't fault either), or going the other way buy a good quality 3/4 T-bar and buy individual 3/4 impact sockets in specific sizes as you need them.

......and then unwind with a nice walk at his holiday home.

Bit of a workout on the beach.

Makes sure the hay is just right for baling!

Percy is now two and a very clever boy. Likes to keep an eye on winter planting in the woodland.