Oh no I get what you are saying. I agree that I believe it would change my view on things if I had a little human to take care of as well.

 

I can't wait.

 

^

 

Are you offering to carry it to term for me?

 

[Gaffigan]Male has the baby[/Gaffigan]

 

I would.

 

So for a while now I have been fence posts on my split rail that have been rotting out. I replaced two of them a while back but since then I have been just adding pressure treated 2x4 supports to hold them up. I figured that I would just take a weekend or two and knock them all out at some point.

About 3 weeks ago I went and picked up 16 new posts and 16 bags of pea gravel which is what I have been switching too for installing them. I am doing 5-6in below the post in stone and then more stone to hold it in place. From what I have heard at least around here in the heavy clay-based soil it seems to really help the drainage. Filled the suburban up pretty well.



Almost levels the 2500 out but not all the way. I think I was at about 1400lbs worth in the back.




Today I finally decided to knock a couple out. Think I might need a bigger trailer down the road.
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32in deep hole
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5-6in of gravel base
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Tamping gravel every 5-6in of additional gravel
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Gravel until 4in of the surface
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Dirt fill after that.
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Turns out at least in the summer heat I won't be knocking these all out in a weekend or two. Only was able to get 3 done today.
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Still have lots more to do. two more sections of 3 on either side of the ones I did today along with several other individual ones as well through the fence.
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Also had a tree come down on the other side of the road and fall on my fence and take out one of the rails that I got around to replacing today as well.
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Nothing like a good refreshing lager after some hot work.
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That opening sentence was confusing as shit.

Eh, looks nice. Enjoy the Lager, bud.

You have a Burban too?

 

I knew what he was talking about.

 

It looks good Jason. Doing the same thing I did. I did my fence in 104+ degree weather for 3 straight days.

 

After like 3 re-read, I got it!

So you ended up not hiring the Mexicans after all?

 

You are both right that's terrible. That is what I get for posting after and exhausting day with no proofread.
Yeah not the best time to knock it out but have the time right now so might as well. Knocked out 4 more today.

 

Enzo!
Bro, I would have bandaided that bitch forever...
that's crazy. well done, J

 

Enzo was not happy he wasn't allowed to come with me and had to stay inside the fence while I was outside.

 

I thought it made for an interesting pun, or whatever.

 

Looks good and that tractor is looking mean but that trailer...

 

Yeah, the tractor has been beasting it. Been loving it. But yeah the fact the trailer is meant for the old tractor makes it a little small for this thing. It doesn't even sit level cause the wheels are too small. My dad had one from when he bought his tractor of the same size 16 years ago. He only uses that for snow removal now so he said I can have the other trailer. I am hoping it is the 18cu/ft trailer but I believe it is probably the 13cu/ft trailer. The one I have now I think is only 9 or 10. So his should be at least a foot longer but I do know it has larger wheels so it will sit more level.

 

It's that time for fall yard work to start up. Small project to enlarge the bed around the tree near the side of my driveway. Hard to believe this free was about 2.5ft when I bought the house and it is now about 2ft taller than I am which would make it just under 8ft now. Now I can drive around the tree with the tractor without having to stop and back up to make it around.

Loosely tied a string in a loop around the trunk of the tree and then tied it to a straight blade knife I use for yard work. Then traced on the dirty a line around the tree so that I had a perfect circular line to grow the bed. I then used a manual edger to dig that line deeper.






Did not expect the dirt I would remove to fill the wheel barrow full.
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Put down some matting to keep the weeds from ruining it.
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Three bags of mulch to fill it in.
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Round 2, since I moved here, trying to expand my yard and fill in bare spots. The first part was about 2 years ago where I planted grass to fill in one side of the yard that was almost completely bare. Now I am feeling in all the remaining bare areas as well as trying to increase the grass coverage in the backyard towards my fire pit. I also plug aerated the entire yard beforehand and then overseeded the rest of the yard.



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Had to set up a sprinkler as my irrigation doesn't reach all the way to where I have put seed. I figure why not get grass growing before bothering to expand the irrigation system in case I can't get grass to grow as far back as I would like to.
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Put down 50cuft of top soil, 100lbs of seed, and 6 bails of straw. I think I will need to get some more dirt and straw though to finish a few spots that I ran out for.

Need to adjust or replace a few sprinkler heads in other areas to cover all the seed that I have put down along the edges of the property.

 

Nicely done!
spread that seed, baby!

 

So we are at about 2 1/2 weeks since I planted the seed. Take has been pretty good it seems. Some places better than others and some places sadly have started growing some clover which I will have to pick or kill out that section of the yard. Overall happy with what has taken so far. The one issue though is the places I had added some topsoil seem to only be growing in the topsoil and not rooting into the rest of the ground. My sister's little shit of a dog insists on kicking his feet with much aggression after doing his business and has ripped up some of the new grass. I figure once I start going to a more spread out watering period after the 3 week point it should help the grass start to dig deeper for water.





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Most impressed with this area. This has basically been nothing but dirt since I moved in as the first time I worked on just the backyard where the dogs played. Had I known this would take so well I would have done it long ago cause I always thought it was an eyesore.
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Also had a spot in the front yard that was a large patch of this light-colored weed and no grass mixed in. Spent time removing all of that this weekend and put down more seed and straw to see if it will fill in.
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It's going to take a little bit for the grass to root below the topsoil. When watering frequently, the roots stay shallow because that's where the water is. Once the grass is more established and you cut down on watering, the root system should expand to find additional water.

Looks great though!

 

Yeah, that is kind of what I was thinking. The little shit I am dog sitting for my sister just doesn't get any freedom in the backyard because of it.

 

So the grass is still growing in really well. I went and did something crazy this weekend though.

I have been looking off and on to find a John Deere 45 Loader for my X738 since I bought it. Found several loaders for sale since I bought my X738 but they were all in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York. For me, that would be a 9-12hour drive one way for any of them. Hard pass on those for now. Had actually given up and put the search on hold for the past month or so. Was sitting around killing some time Thursday night and just did a random search on Facebook and found one that was 3hrs away and had only been posted 3hrs before I saw the listing. The catch is it was part of a tractor package and they didn't want to separate it. I slept on it and when I got up I made an offer to buy the entire package. They accepted and by Saturday morning I was on my way to pick up my new 2011 X728, 360hrs, with loader, 54C deck, power flow, and 54in blade.

Here it is loaded up in all its glory.


I need to swap over the hydraulic parts to mine to support the force of the 45 loader. I already have the brackets to mount it on my X738 being built so I should have those fairly soon as well.

The loader had a small leak at one of the bucket connections. It was really small when testing it out before loading it up but apparently, it got worse while driving and leaked a whole bunch that I didn't find till I stopped for gas. Taped a rag around it for the remainder of the drive home.



Had put the loader to use to load the trailer even when I was picking it up and made it easy to unload when I got home as well. Not sure it was the best way to strap it to the loader but it worked at the time.


Had to find some uses for it right away so delivered my neighbor some firewood since his was all wet from a recent storm.


The first time dismounting and remounting the loader took a few minutes. I think my issues came from not doing it on the flattest surface. Once I got the hang of it it was super easy and I am so glad I went this route vs the CTC loader. The ease of install and removal was the reason I wanted a 45 Loader and it didn't disappoint. Install or removal can be done in 90-120 seconds tops. Being able to quickly change functions to me just makes a tractor more usable for smaller jobs.


The previous owner told me he only used the loader for doing mulch. That fits with the fact that the only ballast he had was filled tires and himself on the machine. It also is obvious in the fact the stickers are still on the loader and somewhat legible after 9 years.


Here are some pictures of the machine itself. Overall seems in pretty good condition. Runs strong. Used it to mow my yard yesterday with no issues besides some questions about the power flow system. Been years since I had used and installed one on my dad's X475 growing up.








The 54in blade looks like it was rarely used. It needs a wash but otherwise looks pretty much new still.




So now I just have to figure out what a 1 owner 2011 X728 with 360hrs, 54C deck, 2 bag power flow, and 54in blade is worth so I can get it listed. I don't think it is worth it to keep it around for loader work although I do have a project now to build a lean-to extension onto the side of my shed to store the loader and my 54in blade and some other stuff. So if anyone is looking for a larger garden tractor I will have one for sale soon.

This pickup will now accelerate the need to build a lean-to addition onto the side of my shed so I need to start drawing up some plans for that now.

 

Congrats!

Are you going to ceramic coat it before sale?

 

No I am not going to ceramic coat this one.

 

Then I'm out.

 

You're missing out on a huge market...

 

Agreed.

What kind of shady used tractor business are you running with non-ceramic coated lawn tractors?

 

Got some time to work on the x728 Friday before the rain came for the rest of the weekend.

It appears my leak on the 45 loader was just a bad o-ring. Time will tell I guess but move around and picked up some dirt and no leak as of yet.




Got the deck off and just the loader on for the first time as well so I could clean up the deck.


Does not appear the underside of the deck had been cleaned in some time as I need a pry bar so scrape off much of this. Debating on if I want to try and get it fully down to metal and coat the rust or just leave it as is.


Deck isn't in bad shape but could use a good bath.


So some degreaser, soap, and a bit of scrubbing and it looks much better.




Also cleaned and UV protected the plastic covers to help extend their life.

 

I would buy anything from you...
you're so meticulous.

 

At this point ceramic coating it isn't that much more work

 

This is true too...

 

Damnit, I am never going to live that one down.

No ceramic coating for this tractor sale. I have already ordered $32 in replacement parts to repair some things and probably will end up with about $30 more before it is done with. There went the ceramic coating money.

 

Bro, you'll get that money back.
Plus it's not about that, it's about you sleeping at night knowing you did it right.

 

Oh I know and even if I don't get it back knowing I did it right is better for sure.

 

ceramic coating coming up soon

 

Awesome tractor Jason, I'm definitely jealous. Great work on the fence as well, I was busy moving and didn't keep up with your thread for a few months. Definitely reminds me that I need to update my home thread since I bought and sold lol

 

yeah bro...
I want to see your house updates not a post winter 300 picture diary of a fuse box install again!

 

Thank man. Got one I will sell you

Definitely look forward to seeing the new house.