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The Reason


EricD

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Here is why I'm having to part with a couple tractors. I picked it up today out in the Adirondacks of NY. 10 hour round trip but worth it for sure. It has a hydraulic 3pt hitch, a push blade and frost tooth chisel ripper. It has a ballast box on the back with about 1200lbs of lead. Has brand new tracks, bogies, axles. The chain and sprockets have about 50 hours on them. B&S 18 hp Vangard with 1175 hours on the machine. I'm the second owner. This should last me a bit and put a stop to breaking transaxles in my Sears FEL Suburbans! Struck model MT3000 1990 kit version. [img]/club2/attach/ericd/050807062652.JPG[/img] The landlord in the background is on the auction block (listed in our classifieds, not Ebay) [img]/club2/attach/ericd/050807062640.JPG[/img] I played with it a little bit making a road in the woods. It really pushes some weight around. Great digging. Strange having the center of gravity dead center, you go up and come down when you travel over things or up/down inclines. Very different from wheels. He also has the control levers opposite of what I have on the Suburban loaders so I'm a little awkward navigating. I may switch the lines around so I don't kill myself zigging when I mean to zag.
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Looks good Eric. I could sure use that here 1 weekend. How did the tag sale go? I wish I could have made it. I ended up at a estate sale the other part of Liberty St. today and found an Allis item. It's under "This Allis won't take up much room" in Show & Tell.
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Nick, the sale didn't go as there was yet another death in the family. My wifes second cousin had a stroke. He was a hemopheliac and bled out- only 58 years old. So, there will be another clean out Nanas house day in the future, I'll keep you posted. As far as lifting capacity, the manual states 750 at full lift from the factory but this can be increased by calling Struck and requesting how to adjust the power/ability. The older gentleman that built it did tweak it to use for logging his property. He said it'll lift 3000 pounds (1&1/2 ton) but not full height. We'll see about that. I do know that it has a LoT of grunt to it. I'm going to be adjusting a track, greasing, changing fluids and then playing today so I'll have a better feel for what it can do. At some future point I'd love to find a backhoe that will fit. This doesn't have a PTO but has two hydro lines running back (for the lift cylinder) and a 3pt hitch. What do people know about how backhoes attach and are powered?
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That's a nice machine Eric. I didn't know they made them up into the 1990's, thought they ended back in the late 1970's. That critter will do some work!
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They are still in production today but not in kit form. This is the link www.struckcorp.com The company is incredibly service oriented. I had a question about chain length and a rep called me back in like 10 minutes and we talked dozers for 20 minutes. Most parts for old products are still available. I'm going to have to take some photos of the work I've been doing with this. It is amazing. I'll get some posted in the next couple days.
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Daughter is napping so I ran out for a few shots to post. In this picture I'm showing about 30 minutes of digging between two stumps last night kind of in the dark :I. I pulled a huge rock out of that hole. I hope to have some time to get back out there to attack later this evening. [img]/club2/attach/ericd/050817123814.JPG[/img] This is a photo of the area I was skidding oak logs out of the woods on the road it made pushing yard waste in the form of pine branches down the hill into the pile seen in the third photo. [img]/club2/attach/ericd/050817123916.JPG[/img] Its hard to tell without the machine in the picture for scale, but the pile is easily 12 feet tall and at least as deep. [img]/club2/attach/ericd/050817123956.JPG[/img] Here is a shot from another angle. [img]/club2/attach/ericd/050817124048.JPG[/img] I've always wanted to reclaim this back part of my property and am finally able to do it. My garden tractors would make it down and back out again but never without a fight or getting damaged. Now travel is much more stable and getting stuck is something I'd have to try real hard at to do. The only snapping I've heard comes from branches, not transmission gears. I had about 25 yards of fill delivered the other day and pushed it around. [img]/club2/attach/ericd/050809030854.JPG[/img] [img]/club2/attach/ericd/050809030512.JPG[/img] [img]/club2/attach/ericd/050809030702.JPG[/img] [img]/club2/attach/ericd/050809030744.JPG[/img] This is what is left of the pile in the photos above. Not yet graded because I am hoping for more fill soon. [img]/club2/attach/ericd/050817124158.JPG[/img] None of this is finished off yet but the clearing and filling is moving along well. I plan to get some more fill (free stuff) in the future as it comes available to keep working my way back to the dog fence. I eventually want to extend the grass growing lawn right to the dog fence and have the wooded area in back (and down the hill) accessed via a gate. I envision some bushes coming straight out of the fence line to act as the backdrop of the newly added yard. Bushes will also block the view of the hill/woods beyond. Of course this will involve felling a few more trees but moving them is no problem and even fun now. As far as the low area in the back of the property I don't have a decisive plan as to what I'll use it for but I'm having fun clearing it up.
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Hey EricD, Shure looks like you got the hang of it. I have Struck Magnatrac Diesel 6000 with the loader and backhoe and love every minute I get to use it. My first experiance with "going over center" was running it up onto the trailer at the freight depot. I almost pooped my pants because it did not "go over" untill the rear sprockets were almost at the top of the ramp and the front of the tracks were about 12" up in the air. The other hary moment came when I had the big front bucket loaded to the max with wet sand and tried to back the machine up. The dam thing literally did a nose dive, but pushing the controls forward brought the[img]/club2//attach/UCD/censored.gif[/img]end back down. I then found that extending the backhoe was enough to balance the load. Have fun, be safe.
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Very nice dozer you have there.Looks like it can really do some damage.Would like to try one of those out sometime for fun.Dont know of any around here.Keep the pictures coming when you can.Looks like you are very satisfied with it from your pictures.
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Eric, Do keep me in mind. :) That Struck sure beats shoveling by hand. When we redid the front yard 5 years ago we had about 20 yards of free fill dumped which my brother and I ended up moving and leveling by hand after the Kubota I borrowed would only build up enough pressure to get the bucket foot off the ground. I think we ended up moving close 35 yards over a period of a week.
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Had some more play time today except the play would be lots faster if I had a backhoe like Roger on his 6000 (not to mention hydro drive). I ran into a lot of rocks and the tap roots on these two stumps were really fighting me. Thanks for all your comments. I'm glad to have this and to be able to share my progress. One thing that is very different with this type machine is that the maintanence is very high. I have adjusted the tracks twice in a five hour period of (heavy) use and grease all the lower track fittings before using it each time. I can see that I'll be spending some money on tubes of grease to keep this clean and happy but I'm not complaining. [img]/club2/attach/ericd/050817053406.JPG[/img] [img]/club2/attach/ericd/050817055214.JPG[/img] [img]/club2/attach/ericd/050817055428.JPG[/img] This hole ended up being twice as long than what is seen in the photos because the other root was really entrenched around some huge rocks (far left of pic) that had to be dug out. At a couple points I used a breaker bar and shovel to figure out where I should be focusing the bucket efforts; that's when I realized just how much work the machine was doing. I feel for you and your brother with 35 yards Nick, good thing you were young, I think a week of that kind of work for me now would necessitate a 2 week period of recovery :) On The second stump I opted to grab my axe and whack a couple roots to expedite the process but in the end I don't think it made much difference. Roger, if you get a chance and have the ability, I'd love for you to post a picture or two of your Magnatrac, they really have evolved over time and you have what I think is the best machine out there with the diesel. Nick, I'll be in your neck of the woods at Nana's tomorrow (26 or 29 Spring Street) I should be arriving around noon. You can't miss my vehicle, it'll be the only green ford with a 20 foot bohemoth of a stripped down camper trailer. Maybe I'll catch you then.
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