Ahhh, for the love of tractors

These last few days really have been something!  I might have to make an “Eric’s Ahh, for the love of” series.

This morning it was the tractor!  I got up to bush hog my land—and use my hydraulic 3-point toplink for the first time.  I got dressed, ready, jumped on the tractor and it was dead—wouldn’t start.  I tried jumping but absolutely nothing!

I called Deere and gave them the details.  The manager remembered me and remembered just how much damage mice had done to the wiring about a month ago.  He told me that he would have to see it and that he would get it on Tuesday.
And I was thinking that I had lost another month!

But I called my awesome neighbor who was over almost before I could hang up the phone and we managed to get it started with his lithium ion jump-pack—an amazing device and great tool for the homesteader.

We then rolled out my brand new fuel cart and tried the new fuel pump being powered by a 12v 50Amp DC source.  And it was amazing!! The 5 gallon can drained in seconds!  That’s no exaggeration.  It fills so fast that you barely realize that you have started pumping when the can runs dry!!  The second can emptied just as fast and the nozzle shut off when the tank filled!


And shortly thereafter I hooked up the bushhog and I was off and mowing!!

Everything was great until about two hours in.  I was astounded at how fast and easy things were going.  I could mow, even mow fairly short, adjust the top PTO link to adjust the “pitch” of the mower.  
The mowing was GREAT!  The engine barely bogged down under load.  The tractor’s engine suddenly seemed to labor less as I went through the same material.

THIS IS WHAT LIFE SHOULD BE!!

I felt a slight sideways tug on the tractor—nothing big.  I looked backwards and I saw why the tractor labored less suddenly—the bushhog somehow was angled to my right side, veering away.  The tractor labored less because although the mower was still cutting, half to two thirds was now over cut grass—barely any was cutting through tall grass.  And it gets worse.  To make that bizarre angle meant something had gone wrong with the 3-point connection.  The mower somehow came loose from the quick hitch.

I took the whole tractor up to the driveway, barely managed to back up the very slight incline.  I finally disconnected the mower from the tractor and looked at my mess.  My mower was hanging on by one point of the 3-point, the left side point.  Somehow the top, middle link on the mower self-destructed.  A major bolt that connected major lift arms that reach out to the rear of the mower left and right sides came unbolted.  The whole geometry of the mower fell apart and if I hadn’t stopped mowing when I did, I would have pulled the rest of the mower linkages apart and left the mower in the field.


At that point I was befuddled, amazed, bemused, and strangely serene at having had so many separate things go wrong on the tractor today.  

Since everything was in a safe place for the day, I went inside and took a nap.  I was tired of fixing things.


And yeah, I laughed at this too.

Since bad events make for good stories, this week will be legend.


Eric