Bruce's Journal

[greybeard]

We call that flywheel torque, as the formula is strictly for engine or motor output.
Torque is the measure in foot-pounds (ft.-lbs.) of the amount of work an engine can perform. Horsepower is the measure of how quickly that work can be done

It's the transmission gearing and final drive gearing that enables a tractor to be a tractor..
You aren't taking into consideration the transmission+final drive gearing, and, the size of the wheel/tire assy has to also be considered as part of the gearing.
You will have to know the gear ratios for each gear, as well as the ring and pinion size in the final drive and the wheel/tire diameter to accurately calculate torque.
It's why drawbar torque and PTO torque are different from each other and both are different from engine torque. The gearing multiplies engine torque.

We tend to think of torque in relation to what we have always thought of and referenced in automobiles, but they do it completely different/opposite. Automobile eng designers start with torque and develop HP from it, while tractor designers start with hp and develop torque from that.

as one person put it.here's an interesting bit of trivia:
below 5252 rpm any engine's torque number will always be higher than its horsepower number, and above 5252 rpm any engine's horsepower number will always be higher than its torque number. At 5252 rpm the horsepower and torque numbers will be exactly the same.
Again, flywheel torque, not torque at the wheels.
examples...

 

[Bruce]

Tractor arrived. Messed about figuring some stuff out, like yeah I need to remove the top link to turn the seat around to use the backhoe. The rest of the 3PT parts were just strapped in. I put them all on a shelf in the barn workshop. That would be the open door in the last picture. I put the boom for the auger in there as well. Auger is too heavy to move easily. The sales guy said some people just use it to drill a hole and leave it standing.

Lacking depth perception, I can see (not trying to be funny!) that I will need to come up with some strategies for attaching/detaching equipment. Am I close enough yet? No, now? No, now? TOO CLOSE! The loader and forks are skid steer attach so at least when I am in the right place I don't then have to figure out how to line up pin holes. I can get close then wrangle the attachment so it is parallel to the plate. Maybe I need a hood mounted camera with a display back at the operator's station

 

[CntryBoy777]

Wow Bruce!!!....that looks really good sitting on your property there..........I know ya will sure have fun and enjoy figuring out all the amazing things ya can use it for....hopefully, it'll even come in handy for some of the snow removal too. My Dad has used cinder blocks or bricks to mark the tire spots for his attachments.....when the tires hit them he was where he needed to be to attach whatever to it.....it may just work for you too.....

 

[RollingAcres]

Nice! Congrats on the new tractor Bruce!
If you run out of things to use with your new tractor, I'm not that far away from you!

 

[greybeard]

Tractor arrived. Messed about figuring some stuff out, like yeah I need to remove the top link to turn the seat around to use the backhoe. The rest of the 3PT parts were just strapped in. I put them all on a shelf in the barn workshop. That would be the open door in the last picture. I put the boom for the auger in there as well. Auger is too heavy to move easily. The sales guy said some people just use it to drill a hole and leave it standing.

Lacking depth perception, I can see (not trying to be funny!) that I will need to come up with some strategies for attaching/detaching equipment. Am I close enough yet? No, now? No, now? TOO CLOSE! The loader and forks are skid steer attach so at least when I am in the right place I don't then have to figure out how to line up pin holes. I can get close then wrangle the attachment so it is parallel to the plate. Maybe I need a hood mounted camera with a display back at the operator's station
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A few things...
1. When you get your implements all situated where you want them, make it a habit to off load each from your 3pt at the same place each time..and do it on level ground. The first time you get ready to disconnect from one, lay a treated board right behind your rear tires..2x4 or even better, a 4x4. Next time you get ready to hook up to it, just back up till you feel the tires touch the board and you're exactly at the point you need to be to hook up to the implement.
2. Before you use anything with a gearbox, check the lube oil in the box!!. They generally come from factory and from dealership with no lube oil in the gearbox. (most gearboxes are vented and the oil would all leak out in shipping because of the way they are positioned and handled during shipment) This is especially true with mowers and post hole augers.
3. Your auger should always be stored standing up, but I would not reccomend drilling a hole in the ground to stand it in. The drilling edges would be constantly in soil, usually wet and the cutting edges will very quickly rust and be dull. Make or buy an auger stand. (I back up to a heavy fence post (cross tie) and have a chain stapled to the cross tie. I back up until the gearbox of the digger contacts the post, lock the brakes on the tractor and lower the auger until it contacts a cement pavestone. I then get off the tractor, wrap the chain around the auger right below the gearbox, hook the chain hook tightly and then take the pins out of the lift arms and center connection, as well as disconnecting the drive shaft.)
4. If you have more than one size auger for your digger, the 1st time you swap them out, before you put the other auger bit on, apply a liberal amt of grease or antiseize to the shaft protruding from the gearbox and inside the bore of the auger itself. Then do the same thing to the auger bit you just removed. (you will thank me for this tip one day)
5. On your backhoe...When you are done, make sure the stabilizer rams are completely retracted, and if you are keeping the tractor outside, extend the boom, dipper and bucket until those rams are retracted inside their cylinders as well. In other words, the whole thing will be stretched out in a line on the ground. This keeps the rams' immersed in an oil bath inside the cylinders and keeps the chrome plating on the rams from rusting and pitting, which leads to leaks and an expensive repair.
IF, you ever remove the backhoe from the tractor, and store it for any length of time, you won't be able to do that, as the stabilizers and boom/dipper/bucket assy form a tripod for the thing to be freestanding. Once you get it off the tractor and stable and freestanding, smear some cheap grease on any exposed chrome of each ram.

 

[Mike CHS]

Congratulations on your new machine.

 

[Bruce]

Thanks for the tips @greybeard and @CntryBoy777
OK, so the tractor, when parked other than for short periods will look like a snake with a long tail I do plan to clean up one bent of the barn to keep the tractor inside. But step 1 for that is renting a Uhaul truck and moving metal to the recycler. Then I have to clean up all the stuff in that bent. The deconstruction/construction guys were throwing EVERYTHING in the dumpster and I told them to stop, so they started throwing everything in the barn. Most of it is usable, I haven't bought a 2x4 since the reconstruction. That bent has a gravel floor.

What I would LIKE to do is build a wood/equipment shed. Now that I have the tractor and forks, I want to build "cages" for the firewood. Maybe 4x4x4 which would be a half a run. I measured the landing where we bring the wood into the enclosed porch (not the primary porch door we use to get in the house) and it is big enough I can fit a pallet on it. So my PLAN is to stick a cage of wood on the landing, remove the glass from the storm door. Then the wood will be accessible from the porch without having to pick it up from the pile, put it in a transport then carry it up the steps and stack in the porch. This should be a time and back saver for me. Of course I'll need some sort of weather proofing around the wood and a roof of some sort. Don't need it getting all packed in with snow.

 

[Bruce]

OK, made my snake tail when I went out and snacked the animals and made sure all the chickens were in the back.

First effort with the tractor:
Implemented @CntryBoy777's suggestion using my loader implement. Good thing I remembered to ask for chain hooks.

Afraid I am too late to save any fish, looks like there is hardly any water in the pond at all. I didn't think there was a big deep part and looks like that is correct.


Second "task" was messing with the loader to take down some"high ground" just outside the gate on the north fence line. It is years of horse stall shavings and poop from before we bought the place. We've pulled some out over the years for garden compost and it grows really great grass where it is "stored". Sorry, no true before picture. The grass is a royal PITA, it rolls up in wads that are not easily picked up in the loader. I ended up pushing a lot of it up the hill. Not done yet and it is really a job for the rake (and was starting partway through!!) but I didn't want to mess around with taking the backhoe off since I really want to dig the pond. It is a lot less hill than before and I will rake at some future time.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Thanks!!!.....that really helps out a bunch....now ya are "styling" up there...........and I have severe tractor envy!!

 

[Bruce]

Well if you ever get a tractor, don't give Gabbie rides in the FEL!