New Pets for New Home
July 25th, 2017Guess I Should Also Think About Furniture
I feel like providing an update on the diesel front.
I finally got some details on the golf cart, tractor, and garden tractor the seller of my new home wants to sell me. The tractor has 1100 hours, and it has a small hydraulic leak the seller can’t find. The garden tractor has 783 hours (Yanmar diesel), and it has a small leak around the PTO shaft. The cart has 308 hours.
The seller says he adds fluid to the tractors after every fourth use.
I looked into hydraulic leaks, and it sounds like I’m not in much danger. When the mechanic looks the machines over, he should be able to tell if there’s a serious problem. Some hydraulic leaks are a big deal, and others are just annoying. The PTO leak on the John Deere sounds trivial. You can buy a new seal for $9.50. The people who sell the seal say it’s easy to install. Which is what you would expect them to say, I grant you.
I told the realtor (our messenger) I would be comfortable at $10K, but if the seller comes back and sticks at $11K, I’ll buy the machines anyway, because that was already a great price.
If what I’ve read is correct, 1100 hours is around 25% of the time a typical tractor will run before needing major work. Given that the tractor is around 17 years old, and assuming I work as much as the seller did, I should be fine for the next 51 years.
The garden tractor is supposedly immortal, except for the mower part, which is called a “deck.” Even that can be repaired, as long as the really big parts aren’t destroyed. I have read about people running them for upwards of 4000 hours. Also, I’m a machinist and welder. Surely I should be able to fix a few of the things that wear out.
According to the small amount of information I’ve been able to find, gas-powered golf carts are good for 5000 hours before they need to be totally redone or scrapped. I figure 308 hours is an acceptable total for a used machine. Even if it blows up, it’s a cheesy 350-cc motor which can’t cost much to fix or replace.
This is exciting. I’m going to have a tractor. Not thrilled at the prospect of mowing, I admit, but…tractor. You can do a lot with a tractor. It’s a tool. And I love buying tools.
The cart will need a radio. I can’t be out there touring the grounds with no tunes. Forget that.
I’m having a hard time finding a mechanic in Marion County who will go look at the machines. Angie’s List and Yelp don’t work all that well in the sticks.
I look forward to posting photos of my farm adventures.
July 25th, 2017 at 10:38 PM
Radio, ice chest, mudder tires, rifle rack, camouflage paint job . . .
July 26th, 2017 at 9:56 AM
Get out of the habit of calling it The Sticks. The internal dialogue will become external and betray you at the worst time.
You may be dismissing it as a minor thing but it will color all your perceptions if you aren’t careful.
July 26th, 2017 at 8:09 PM
What Jay said. You are moving into real America and leaving Cubazuelaragua (otherwise know as S. Florida), so you need to revert to normalspeak and drop any words with too many si-la-bles
July 27th, 2017 at 6:53 AM
Buy a pair of bib overalls.
July 27th, 2017 at 8:40 AM
As for furniture, try antique stores. I just read that the boomers are downsizing, the kids don’t want their real wood stuff, so prices are plunging. I’ve been trying to downsize on the kids for years; one takes it, number two just whines about me not giving her enough, and then says she doesn’t want it; and I wouldn’t trust three as far as I could throw her not to sell it or have her brain-dead boyfriend destroy it. I’m saving my grandmother’s china for my granddaughter.
July 27th, 2017 at 9:35 AM
Juan: way ahead of you.
Elizabeth: my plan is to hit consignment stores. To be blunt, at any given time, there are a lot of old people dying in Marion County, and that means used furniture.
As for heirlooms, luckily for me, my sister hoarded a lot of them and then either destroyed or pawned them, so I won’t have to move that much.
Still have my mother’s mink stole, which is going to the Salvation Army.
July 28th, 2017 at 8:41 AM
Good. I know the feeling about heirlooms; my third daughter and your sister have things in common. Only thing of real value I have is an 1850’s bookcase. My eldest is the one with the house keys. And her husband has a biiiigggg truck. She knows what to do.
July 29th, 2017 at 12:55 AM
You did well. The lawn tractor was $9000 back in the late 80’s. Kubota was around $20K, and the golf cart was probably $5k.
That’s a start; you’ll still need a backhoe! You got land, you need to dig it up!
Look on Craigslist for a local hoe, most of them are on acreage, so you can drive it around and use the hoe. It’s a real eye opener what you can do with it…