[Carlos]

Deck off, blade on, 8 ply Firestones on, V61's on, suitcase weights on. If I think I need more weight in the wheels, I can quickly add a pair of 72lb'ers or an addition pair of 50lb'ers. Yeah, she's dirty. Get a bath in the spring. Still need to deal with that glue from where the sticker came off. If I have to push snow, I can. Long shadows make for odd photos.

 

[Carlos]

Spent most of the morning running about town pushing some snow. We had 5-8 inches around the area here in central Illinois. First time using the X758 to push snow. Did a fine job. Especially on alleys. No complaints on the HDAP tires either. Had considered replacing them right away with the Carlisle Versa Turf.

Only had one real problem right at the end. The X758 with the plow parked in front of the X750 just fit in the shed with a little clearance. You can see the weather seal mark on the floor. When I put on the suitcase weights this morning, that made the X758 even longer. I had to take that little bracket off the overhead door to get it to close. And it still rubbed the snow blade when closing.

Yeah, the sheds a mess. I been going through boxes from when I moved here 23 years ago to make room for both tractors. I need a bigger shed.

 

[Carlos]

I still have a little 3500w portable for....whatever. When we did the remodel on the kitchen and bath, we budged $5000 for a whole house unit based on what our contractor would do. That meant, I had to do some of the work. Farm & Fleet for the 18/20kw Generac generator, with the whole house Nexus controller and 200amp smart switch, a little over $4000+tax. We were also upgrading the service drop to 200amp, and an outside disconnect on the kitchen budget. All that work done at the same time. I went and got the generator on my trailer. Dug and poured a concrete pad for better stability than the plastic one commonly used. Had a neighbor with a skid steer set it on the pad. We have natural gas, but it will also run propane. Dug part of the area for pipes and wires. That was 10 years ago and that same generator is still under $5000. I shopped around and one store sold it to me for $500 less than another. I service it. But if need be, local companies can be hired to do annual service.

Power goes out, 20 seconds or so later it is running. Adjusting valves is easy. It looks similar to a Kawasaki V twin. Of course, we have to be smart enough to not run two driers and the A/C at the same time as everything else in the house is on. Might run it all. The only time you can tell when something turns on and puts a draw on the generator is the A/C. No sense in working it hard.

Whole house units can be affordable. Sure beats dragging the portable out of the shed. Running extension cords. Pulling a cold generator to start when it's -6F outside in a 30mph wind. During a 4 day outage, the house next door froze it's pipes and they burst. Flooding the basement 3 foot deep. Furnace ruined, and not able to pump it dry and keep it dry. It sat until mid spring. Then got abandoned and foreclosed on.

To keep it John Deere related, here is a pic. You can just see it behind a bush between the tractors. Exhaust facing away from the house. A neighbor actually softened their vinyl siding near theirs. You cannot see the sidewalk between the generator and the house, which is why it's so far away. We also did not want any fumes hanging under the overhang of the roof. Or coming in any of the windows which could be open.

 

[Carlos]

Speaking of those steering wheel knobs. Watch that there isn't much exposed bolt sticking down. It will grab everything and tear it. Jeans, shorts, skin.

I use the other style. But none of them really sit as well as I would like on our steering wheels. Always end up a bit crooked.

 

[Carlos]

What are you guys doing for skid shoes on your (54") blades? I took two old wore out skid shoes and had a neighbor weld some steel plate to the bottoms. Worked great until I snagged a concrete lip while dragging snow backwards. Now they are bent. The stock shoes are a waste of money. I have several pairs of those all wore down. They seem to be of very soft steel. Maybe I'll get some pics tomorrow. Still trying to warm up from pushing snow.

 

[Carlos]

Yeah, I bent the skid shoes. And maybe the soft steel just keeps from breaking something more expensive. And a shot comparing it to a worn one that had those poly things on them. That poly stuff was a big waste of money for me.

 

[Carlos]

57F and sunny! Nice day to get out and pickup sticks, trash, and cut mulberry bushes. This is along the front of our little town, between the railroad tracks and State Rt54. Under a mature Ash tree that is dead and does not know it yet. I mow the junction of the county road and this piece of ground. Almost park-like. Keep the town from looking as shabby as some get. Steep ditches here.

Got the herd out for fresh air. Run and charge batteries. Warm up the fluids. They need a good bath. But I did clean up the hood on the new X758. Used a new product to me, Lucas Slick Mist. Easy wipe off product. That old decal glue on the X750 needs to come off and either Slick Mist it, or try to mask it off and paint the strip JD yellow. Haven't taken the blade off the X758 yet. Almost 10 hours on her.

 

[Carlos]

Another day in the sun. Playing around in the little community park. Tied the biggest limb to the back of the X758 and threw all the little ones on top. Drug the pile to the township building and shoved the mess into the bigger pile.

 

[Carlos]

What a glorious day to mow grass in the big park.

 

[Carlos]

Lol. We've all done it.

And boats. Sitting in boats in the driveway.

 

[Carlos]

Well.....I needed to scrape a bit of grass off the deck anyway. **** basketball was wedged in so hard it killed the X758. I could not push it back with my foot while holding the deck. Looking from the side that blade sure looked bent. Once I took the spindle bolt off, the blade and deflated basketball came right off. Blade no longer looked bent. Everything seems alright. Nothing looks askew. I put a new set of blades on to be sure. Besides, they gave me $9.30 off on a new set. I'll take my time and clean up the set with only a few hours on them and make sure they are not really bent. Tractor has only 37 hours on it when this happened.

 

[Carlos]

Carlos, that's pretty crazy! I've never seen a basketball get eaten like that. Ermm, how does that happen? Was it deflated already? Otherwise I'm impressed that it managed to get itself under the deck at all!

Oh, it was well inflated. Kids leave their basketballs in the park. I just use the front guide wheel bracket to push them over to the side so I can make my pass. Done it hundreds of times. Only this time it was under the swingset and there is a worn hole there. That deck sucked that ball back under the plastic exhaust guard and right under the deck in an instant. On flat ground there isn't room. Had to go home and get the X750 to finish the park. I need to clean the blades good, but it looks like it's not permanently bent.

 

[Carlos]

While you had the air hose out there, should have blown the deck off.

 

[Carlos]

We cannot save them all. We have a local scrap man. He has a JD tractor every couple weeks to haul to Peoria. I do watch for the bigger models, which have not appeared yet. I could easily have filled a couple city lots with the smaller and older models. Sitting in lots nearby are unused, a 300, a 316, a 318. They are all over.

 

[Carlos]

I use Howes Diesel Treatment. You can add it to your tank and run it through the system. Matters not if it is summer fuel or treated winter fuel. Howes will prevent gelling in cold weather and there are additional benefits.

There are other additives out there. This is just what I chose to use.

 

[Carlos]

10F and the wind mostly died down. Fat man on the X758 pushing snow for the neighbors. With about 10 layers of clothing it sure makes me look even fatter. Two cycles of glow plug and she started right up.

 

[Carlos]

Parts. Got parts and stuff. Discount on 2.5 gal x 2 of 15w40 oil. A couple filters, a two bucket holder, a new arm for a guide wheel that I broke a weld on, roller kits for the front of both 60HC decks (newer and older serial numbers), and ordered a pawl and sector for the tilt steering on the X750.

 

[Carlos]

Mowed boundary areas in the big park for Saturday's Easter Egg hunt. Mounted the twin bucket holder on the X750. Had to remove the Click-N-Go brackets, which I only use for the weight bracket. If I was handy and had a welder. I would raise the bucket holder several inches and make use of the Click-N-Go brackets. John Deere's mounting system works for the buckets, but it's a bit low. Would be a lot more useful and easy to reach from the seat if it was higher. Then I did some mowing along the State Rt. and tested the new bucket system.

 

[Carlos]

What are those bolts in the middle for? If they are for the bracket holding the buckets, you could get longer bolts and put a spacer underneath out of wood?

There is an angle bracket going down to the hole for the hitch. It drops thru the hole and a clip keeps it from popping out. You can just see the end of the clip. I should have taken a pic without the buckets. There are two brackets that bolt to the frame holding the bucket hoops that just slide on the tractor frame. Depending upon the X? model, you make use of existing holes and two pins with clips to hold the top of the frame to the tractor. It can be removed quickly. But so could anything mounted in the Click-N-Go brackets. Given time, friends & I may be able to fabri-cobble something better.

 

[Carlos]

There is an angle bracket going down to the hole for the hitch. It drops thru the hole and a clip keeps it from popping out. You can just see the end of the clip. I should have taken a pic without the buckets. There are two brackets that bolt to the frame holding the bucket hoops that just slide on the tractor frame. Depending upon the X? model, you make use of existing holes and two pins with clips to hold the top of the frame to the tractor. It can be removed quickly. But so could anything mounted in the Click-N-Go brackets. Given time, friends & I may be able to fabri-cobble something better.

So, the more I thought about it last night. I was sure I could come up with something.

This is how the bracket mounts on my X750.

One of the two upper brackets. Just uses a single pin on each side. You can see where it interfered with the Click-N-Go bracket.

This is how I chose to solve this problem. Repositioned the upper brackets making use of existing holes in the frame. I borrowed two of the smaller nuts and bolts from a Click-N-Go bracket, with the two pins. There is a little play until you lock down the nut with an impact. I pulled the hoop bracket up and out when tightening.

So not perfectly level, but close. Much better height. I have no intention of maxing out the weight, so no need for the lower angle bracket. Won't fit anyway.