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Tractor Talk Discussion Forum

Lightened my load by 13 tons

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Ultradog MN

04-20-2008 20:27:39




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Breaks my heart to have done it.
Had it 15 years but hadn't drove it in nearly 4.
Last time I did I walked it a couple hundred yards to where the cab was under a big old maple tree. Was going to was going to use a limb and a rope and pully to put the cab back on.
Showed this pretty girl that I could do it.
I never planned to dig with it again. A guy couldn't here with their restrictive wetlands laws. It would have looked nice at the extinct gravel pit by the highway where I own. Just as a monument to itself. But laying out by the lake, all forlorn and kind of deadly looking it was not an asset at all. Would have cost most of a Grand to move it just a few miles.
I thought real hard about cutting it up. Scrap is real high right now. Thought about saving the counder weights for something I don't whow what.
The bucket would have made a nice flower garden here at home. I even thought about selling the smooth track pads to the yuppies at the Farmers market for fancy footsteps in their Zen gardens.
Had all kinds of plans for the thing. Of course I had plans when I bought it too.
If you're ever looking for an investment where you get 1/3 of your money back after 15 years an old dragline is a good one for that. Don't use it for your IRA though.
When I bought it and had it dragged up to the lake I had to replace the old Buda with a ford 300 industrial. And then there was cogs and big chains and track tensioners and pins and cables to deal with. And the fairlead. And it took a couple tubes of grease in the greasegun just to spin it up.
And it was a heck of a lot of fun to buy this giant old machine that no one knew how to run. Not even the guy you bought it from. And sit there like a merrygoround and figure out how the levers work and swing that bucket out and try to make it take a gulp.
And get it stuck and make it drag itself out off a couple trees. Both cables pulling and the tracks turning too but you got it out. And tell me that it wasn't a lot of levers to pull on at the same time. And to have to fix the thing and get hot and greasy and spend your darned money on it.
I had a lot of calls on it when I ran the ad. Mostly folks wanted to ask about it. They weren't even real tire kickers.
Several scrappers called but I told them it had to go out of there in one piece. That put the balk on them.
The fellow who bought it says he wants to make it run and he doesn't have a wife so I figured it was a good fit.
I got a check and some cash for it. It's in my wallet.
I don't know why it was so hard to sell the old thing. Like I'm geieving for it.
Writing about it here helps sort it out.
That I did the right thing. Both buying and selling. Like a long fun trip that you took. On a merry go round. And got a third of your money back.
Thanks for reading this.

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Hoss in Me

04-21-2008 17:46:37




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to Ultradog MN, 04-20-2008 20:27:39  
I know just how you feel.I was getting my old beloved 47-a J.D. ready for another pulling season last week when a fella and his son stopped by and wanted to know what Id take for her.I told them they didnt have money enough.Well,they did.They explained that they had seen it pull several times and thought it did pretty good and liked the sound of it under a full load.{Who doesnt/}I have 2 big Cases Im gonna pull this year and said why not.Its only down the road 10 miles and they said I could come play with it anytime.Oh well such is life.I had fun restoring it anywho.

Latah, Hoss

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george md

04-21-2008 10:02:23




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to Ultradog MN, 04-20-2008 20:27:39  
The insley looks like a K-12 , I have one with a hoe front on it , built an engine to put in but don't have it in yet.

george



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37chief

04-21-2008 07:27:19




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to Ultradog MN, 04-20-2008 20:27:39  
I can't get rid of anything my self I know how you feel. I am going to need to make a decision in a few years on what to do with all my things. First I need to stop bringing stuff home. Just bought a old A/C crawler last weekend. I bought two tractors from someone near me a few years back. He felt so bad I sold one back to him, and gave him a disc to go with it, one less thing I will need to deal with. Stan

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ole shovel

04-21-2008 06:04:07




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to Ultradog MN, 04-20-2008 20:27:39  
You had your fun with it now someone else's turn right. Several others share what you saw in it too once.



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Ultradog MN

04-21-2008 04:07:01




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to Ultradog MN, 04-20-2008 20:27:39  

I knew that there were folks here who could relate. There's something about old iron that draws you to it. Makes you want to have it.
Even if it's entirely impratical.
Thanks



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Vern-MI

04-21-2008 11:46:49




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to Ultradog MN, 04-21-2008 04:07:01  
It's the smell of old grease, old oil, belching exhaust and rusting metal that draws us into the love affair. It's just amazing when the machine has sat for years and with a new battery and some grease it fires right up.



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2x4

04-20-2008 22:08:56




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to Ultradog MN, 04-20-2008 20:27:39  
All us packrats hear ya. Had to let my old sawmill go down the road. Always wanted to put it back in shape & saw again. But I'm too old for that stuff now & even if I could, where would I find the men I needed? Maybe the failure isn't as great as I imagine. Guy bought it & fixed it to work but its still a bittersweet memory.



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Hal (WA)

04-20-2008 21:31:21




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to Ultradog MN, 04-20-2008 20:27:39  
It's hard to see old friends go. My buddy got into a huge financial hole a few years ago and ended up being required to have an auction as part of his bankruptcy. We watched his Bucyrus-Erie track mounted crane, his old cable tool well driller, a non-running D7, and a rubber tire skidder go for about a tenth of what he had in them.

Oh well, he at least did use the crane a number of times around his place, and pounded one well. And gained a lot of experience and knowledge in having the equipment and working on it.

10 years or so later, he still talks about how he misses having the old iron...hope you don't miss your drag too much.

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JMS/.MN

04-20-2008 21:19:30




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to Ultradog MN, 04-20-2008 20:27:39  
Jerry- too bad I didn"t know you had it....any more treasures? Local fellow has a 30 foot crane, also a man-lift and sweeper that he wants to trade for a round baler. Also looking for a rake, swather. I agreed to trade the round baler for the man-lift and sweeper (engine of sweeper goes to the man-lift). I need to get on top of some bins, and two sons have some sheds to put up. I figured I"d give him the rake along with the baler. Interesting unit with the "open station" controls instead of a house. When I worked for the local excavating contractor after quitting dairy- ran his dragline- courtesy of engineer training course in the Army Green Beret"s. Boss"s machine was almost as old as I was - it was a 1948 model. A few interesting times almost tipping it into the drink while bailing out mud in the settling ponds of the wash plant. Not too many older operators around now that can run a dragline. During Army training- I remember a National Guard Sgt. that got on the machine, and went round and round, couldn"t find the right lever to make it stop. Reminded us of a 60s song, someone stuck on a subway?, someone throwing him a sandwich every time he passed by?- maybe Kingston Trio song? Something about never return?

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2x4

04-20-2008 22:02:40




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to JMS/.MN, 04-20-2008 21:19:30  
song was about the MTA (Massachucetts Transit Authority) "Oh he never returned, No he never returned..."



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JMS/.MN

04-20-2008 22:21:54




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to 2x4, 04-20-2008 22:02:40  
YES- EXACTLY- thanks for the reminder from earlier days!



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Bill in Colo

04-20-2008 21:19:06




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to Ultradog MN, 04-20-2008 20:27:39  
I'm going to be forced to do the same think with a good 68 Koring 405 in the next year or so it just needs new pins, havn't started it in 3 years and I never really mastered running it. Wife call it my dinosaur,really wasnt a good investment.



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Chad Franke

04-21-2008 10:22:23




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to Bill in Colo, 04-20-2008 21:19:06  
Where are you at in Colorado? I and my brother may have a use for a drag line...



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Bill in Colo

04-21-2008 19:32:06




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to Chad Franke, 04-21-2008 10:22:23  
Not quite ready to part with yet,but my email is open.



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Nancy Howell

04-20-2008 20:57:08




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to Ultradog MN, 04-20-2008 20:27:39  
Yeah, I hear ya. Tough decision.



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Mark-Mi

04-20-2008 20:46:29




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to Ultradog MN, 04-20-2008 20:27:39  
Ultradog,I share your thoughts and feel your pain.Mark



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Davis SC

04-20-2008 20:38:25




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 Re: Lightened my load by 13 tons in reply to Ultradog MN, 04-20-2008 20:27:39  
Well, it sounds like you found it a Good Home.. New owner wants to fix it... That means more than getting top $$$$$$ ... I have sold things at a loss, to keep them from the scrappers..



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