I sold this bbq grill to get the cash to buy my Jake !
When i first purchased it, it had a tow ball mounted on a plate. the plate connected to the rear end housing by a steel rod going thru the housing holes at the very bottom of the unit, with washers and cotter pins bent thru holes outside of the washers.
the 2 inch ball was allright to use to hook up tow straps and chains to drag tree logs i couldnt carry or move by hand.
i have to admit i was very suprised to be able to not only move the logs, but drag the logs up a very steep incline and stop where ever i wanted. I cut down 10 trees 90 + feet long and some of them around 12+ inches around. The logs where over 20 feet long that i pulled up hill over 100 feet. the slope on my property has 30 + feet of fall in 140 feet of width. major hillage.
used my jake to pull logs, and pull my dump trailer with wood i cut for stacking on wood pile for seasoning. did this for a week, got 100 feet deep by the total 140 feet wide of my lot cleared of trees. have 5 differant wood piles now.
I noticed sometimes the trans would grind and be hard to get into gear. Sometimes had to paddle back between 2 gears to get it to go into the gear i wanted, also the brakes did not seem safe if i was backing down my 50 degree lot. did i mention my lot is not leveled yet? lol
I got my jake from craigs list. The guy i got it from modified the stock rims by cutting around the hubs and welding atv rims to the original hubs that fit the axles.
so my jake had 6 atv tires on it. 2 in the front and 4 in the back.
you would think dually atv tires would hook up and not spin. wrong. they bounced and spun like crazy. the soil on my recreational lot i am develeping is very loamy and rocky. loose gravel = fun donuts lol. careful of swinging the pull behind dump trailer when doing donuts in loose gravel. it swings fast empty.
Large diameter tires and rims made my jake go very fast in 3rd gear wide open.
my jake has this power band thing going on where it keeps revving higher and higher going faster and faster till i shut it down in fear of tearing something up in the motor or loosing control and hitting something.
after clearing the first few weeks i started running into big trees 24 inches plus diameter. i didnt want to tear up my jake, as i just got it and did not know it`s full potential yet. so i was forced to abandon my tree clearing operation, and start on my driveway culvert so i could get my 4x4 suburban truck on the property to drag the huge logs i going to use for a pole barn later.
so i went and got a 15 inch diameter 20 foot long ads dual wall plastic storm pipe to use as a culvert. I ordered 14 tons of 2 inch minus rock to lay a base and to use as backfill over the boulders i set down around the plastic pipe to keep it in place and help prevent my 2 inch rock from getting washed down the very steep ditch and paved road next to the ditch. all the water rolls off the paved road and into my ditch, causing alot of hydrolic pressure.
the dump truck driver said because of the steep incline he could not cut the truck at an agle to dump the load on the pipe or on the backside of the ditch. so he dumped all of it in 3 piles, on the road.
My jake has a snowplow / dirt blade on the front. i figured great , her`s a chance to use my tractor!
i pushed about 7 tons of the 2 inch minus from the road onto , over the culvet.
the atv tires spun so bad, i couldn`t really push any amount with the blade straight or all the way down. the rocks would slide on the hollow, low pressure rubber atv tires.( no chains, or wheel weights at this time) i had to ziptie some green rebar (thick and heavy) to 1 side of the blade and swiveled it to push at an angle, so was kinda cutting / pushing / slicing the 2 inch minus. it has big rocks and dirt mixed, so it packs good.
the previous owner mounted the blade height connecting rod to the control handle with the spring loaded button on top.it was mounted at a bad spot and the handle broke at the bottom where it is mounted to the swivel bracket with notches to keep it at the set height.
i been a union laborer for 8 years. my expertise is excavating and utility improvements ( pipe layer ) so i am used to grading and shoveling rock all day. just nice to have a machine help when you have alot too thick and are buried in it. usually i grade 1 inch clean or 1/2 inch clean. 2 inch minus is not easy to shovel.
so i used a steel cable to keep the blade edge up and tried to keep pushing the rock off the road. because it was starting to get dark. i put some aftermarket lights on my jake so i could work at night.
after 4 hours of tire bouncing, spinning,almost rolling backwards down the steep road into the ditch opposite my driveway, i stop to take a break.
I shut off my jake, get a drink, and look at the huge pile of rock, still in the road. I get back on my jake, turn the key, it doesnt turn over!
took me 12 hours to hand shovel the other 7 tons of rock off the road.
I figured i got my machine to hot, and the bearings in the starter / generator seized up. after taking the starter / gen apart the bearings where seized. I got new bearings from oriely auto part store for under 20 bucks a bearing!
Put it back together,and on the machine. it had flat spots where it would turn, then not turn, it started smoking and burned up again !I paid 120 to get it rebuilt. put it on, it started smoking. blah
here is what happens when pull your tractor 30 miles an hour and try to pop start a seized smoking starter
so my dad and i started testing all the electrical componets on the tractor, and ended up replacing them all because the voltage regulator was bad and fried my other parts.
so while my tractor was down, these past 2 weeks we been dialing it in.
replaced the starter /generator again (this makes 3 times), starter selonoid, voltage regulator, ignition, and put in new battery, new headlight bulbs, headlight switch that works with ignition on or off, now it turns over, starts, and runs once more, it is alive !!
adjusted the brake linkage, replaced the clutch brake pad that was wasted with a fabricated one made from a car caliper pad.now it shifts into gear easily, with out grinding and it stops confidently.
removed the rear atv tires and put on dif ones that are filled, they weight more than the wheel weights i put on them lol. they look like pulling tires or ones from regular tractors only smaller.
fabricated a manual lift hitch mount, modified a harrows, 1 row plow, and spear cultivator to fit the sleeve hitch so can pull and lift when turn
have begun to fabricate and work on a pull behind boxblade made from steel H beams
this weekend i am going to hook up the plow and see how deep i can get the soil to turn and not burn it up again lol Hopefully i can use plow to loosen the soil up enough to push it with my front dozer blade
