A few little add-ons

I’ve added a few things to the tractor to make it easier to use.  They’re not expensive, but they work well.

The first was to replace the small plastic toolbox with a larger one.  I picked up a surplus .50 caliber ammo box, and bolted it in the same place as the Kubota toolbox.  This one is larger, sealed at the lid, and holds the tools (pliers, adjustable wrenches, screwdrivers, etc) that are useful when using implements.  I added a small 3 pound hammer for convincing tight pins to go in or come out, as needed.  A few shop towels for wiping things clean, such as before using the grease gun on zerk fittings.  Also handy for wiping your hands after greasing.  It also hold extra pins and linchpins, and shear bolts for the bush hog PTO shaft.

The second was a short length of chain to hold the lower 3 point hitch lift arms in so they don’t swing outwards and hit the rear tires.  When not needed (while an implement is on the 3 point hitch) it clips up and out of the way.

I put a 2″ ball on the drawbar so that I can move trailers around with the tractor.  The 20′ flatbed trailer is heavy and not easily moved around but the tractor makes quick work of that.  In the future, I might drill a hole through the bucket so that a trailer ball can be installed for positioning trailers.  A nice feature of using the bucket is that you don’t need to move the tongue jack to set the trailer on the drawbar hitch, just drive under the hitch and lift.  The flatbed trailer uses a 2 5/16″ ball, but a 2″ ball fits all of my trailers and is fine for moving them around.

I’m considering adding a scabbard to carry a chain saw to the tractor so that it’s with me and I won’t need to make a trip back to the cabin to pick it up.  Especially handy when you’re out clearing brush and downed trees.  There are several types available, one that clamps around the loader post, and another that clamps onto the ROPS bar.  I haven’t decided which one yet, but it will be one of those two designs.  Either is better than just putting the chain saw into the loader bucket.  It’s too easy to forget it’s there and either load dirt or gravel on top of it, or accidentally dump it out and lose it or worse, run over it.  Neither of those are good for the saw.

I might add some LED work lighting to the back of the tractor, probably mounted on the ROPS bar.  That would help when unhitching an implement or working at dusk.  Sometimes you just want to finish up a job and you wind up needing another half hour or so after the sun goes down.

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