My new baby!

[Avery]

:cool: here is a pic of the newest addition to our "family" 4-n-1 bucket, and quick attach pallet forks by Long equipment in Tarboro, NC and 10A backhoe fitted to a JD 5410. GOTTA LOVE IT!

[kountryscape]

Hey now thats a tractor! How many customers yards have you torn up with that. You must do some big jobs, That bucket looks great heck the whole outfit looks great hope it helps you out.

One more toy in the toy box never hurts!!!!! :blob3:

[Avery]

Thanks kountryscape. We use this tractor for unloading/moving/planting large B&B material. Takes a much smaller crew. The forks come in handy for unloading sod. Turf farm here charges $200 drop fee if they unload. 4n1 is handy for brush clean up etc....

No yards for this monster. Still using the small Deere with turf tires for that. 'Course I have delt with some people in the past that I would like to run this thing across their nice bermuda sod yard!...LOL

[gusbuster]

Originally posted by Avery
The forks come in handy for unloading sod. Turf farm here charges $200 drop fee if they unload.

Why does the sod farm charge that much. Your deliveries come in single roll or 50 rolls to a pallet. Seems awful high delivery charge.
The company that I use charges me only $40 for delivery of anything under 1000 sq.ft. Anything over that is for free.:rolleyes:

John

[Avery]

'cause we live and work at the beach in a resort area gusbuster. I am charged ten cents per yard delivery and $200 forklift fee. And the sod farm is only appx. 10 miles from where I do most my installs. Plus they use one of those baby three wheeled forks that cannot go in the sand and sand is all we have. They set it on the side of the road and we wind up carrying it all over the yard. We do not use rolls. It comes in pallets of 40 sq/yds in pieces appx. 2'X 4'.

[kris]

nice unit....mind me asking how much you paid?

[Avery]

Not at all. 37,000.00 and change including all you see plus the add on forks that I did not get in the picture. They are a separate unit. Take the bucket off and put the forks on. Not like some you see that you add to the bucket on a cross member.

[eskals]

Nice looking machine.

Just out of curosity, what made you go with the large tractor over say a big skidsteer?

Eric

[gusbuster]

Avery
I thought we get overcharged sometimes.

The sod that is delivered to me is comming from 90 miles to 140 miles away.(San Jauquin Valley or Central Coast) They only deliver to the curb, not on properties. For me, not a big issues as most of my work is just a short haul. (less than 50ft.)

I wish our sod farm would go to the squares instead of rolls. Makes for an easir and faster install.

I still think you are getting whammed on the delivery charges big time. At least speaking for companies that operate out of California and Nevada, delivery charges are minimal.

Nice tractor and enjoy it.
John

[turfman99]

lots and lots of money. You can do more work and raise your per hour charge to reflect. They show every Monday morning, do not drink or do drugs and don't give you a lot of back talk.

Equipment intensive business with higher paid journeymen employees will make more margin and net profit and the conventional pay em as little as you can business model.

We just bought a Kubota L 48 with backhoe and it's an awesome machine. Makes our crews much more effective and we charge more for it.

[Avery]

Because I really really hate skid steers eskals. You can only do one job at a time...have to change implements to do a second. I can run two at once on a tractor. They don't go well at all where I am. You have to add tracks to even think about going in the sand. They are the most uncomfortable piece of equipment I have ever ran. This tractor has a big cushy suspension seat. Riding a skidsteer kinda reminds me of the ride you get when breaking a horse. Bucks and jumps all over the place. They are way more unstable than a farm tractor..ie. tip easier. And they are way more expensive. Doubt you could get a skid with 80hp, bucket, forks, and backhoe for what I paid for this machine.

P.s. Can you tell I really hate skid steers?...LOL

[eskals]

Avery:

I sure can! Like I said, just wondering why you chose one over the other. Its not like I think you made a bad decision or anything.

Eric

[Scag48]

Nice tractor Avery! Wish I had one... LOL. I've never operated a skid steer but it does seem that they buck all over the place. I got the John Deere skid-steer video and they have the longest wheel-base in their class, or so they say. They showed one going over some pretty good bumps with not much bucking and still maintained a fairly level load. I will agree it would be kinda tough with a skid steer in sand. Tracks would be an option, you could go for the new Bobcat T 200 or T 190. Just curious but in sand, wouldn't it be a little more cushy than it would be on dirt? If you had a tracked skid steer, you could float across the sand. I don't know for sure but I thought I'd share my .02 Good luck with the new tractor!

[paul]

Bucking you describe is because of inexperience, a good operator will not "buck" a skid loader. We used to have a TLB but found that with smaller sites and only being able to do "one job" at a time the TLB was over priced. My way of thinking a Mini-X and a skid steer still make the best combo machines. I'll bet you that a skid steer can get into places your TLB can never get into and get out, same with the Mini-X.

We have tracks for all of our Skid steers rubber and steel, we have put them where no rubber tire loader or TLB could ever go, one site the park district lost a 4wd TLB in the mud buried to its axles and floor boards we used our skid loaders to pull it out :)

Good luck with the machine