A mighty fine yard tug

"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck) 12/29/2019 at 20:45 • Filed to: None

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I bought a hitch ball for the lawn tractor so I could use it to move our small trailer into places the Outback couldn’t go. Before this weekend, I only used it to move the trailer from the street to the side yard where it is stored. I really put it to the test yesterday. I used the trailer to pick up some blocks and gravel to set the foundation for the storage building I’m building . I was a little concerned about pulling it up the driveway with the tractor, but even with a 1,000 lbs load , the tractor pulled it with ease.

Hands up! I’ve never had much use for the arm rests. I should just take them off since I never use them.

T hat’s my neighbor’s shed sitting over the drainage swale. When he started building it, I made sure he had a permit to build it over the easement. Turns out he didn’t. When the drainage guy showed up, he made the neighbor put in a culvert to ensure there would be no restrictions to the flow of water. That fence panel comes off with six screws if the parish ever needs access. Moving his building will be a little more complicated. To avoid those issues, I’m putting my building outside the easement.

This afternoon my son and I installed the foundation blocks. We dug each hole and put a little gravel in the bottom to level the block and provide some support. The soil is about six inches deep, then it’s just solid clay.

The lumber should be delivered tomorrow, so the first order of business will be setting and leveling the posts, then back filling the holes so the blocks can’t move. If the delivery is before noon and the weather holds, I should be able to finish the foundation and floor tomorrow!

VincentMalamute-Kim > TheRealBicycleBuck 12/29/2019 at 21:18

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Mine looks very similar, a Craftsman GT6000.

How is that hitch connected to the tractor? In the first picture, i t looks like steel tubing is connected to the rear hub?

TheRealBicycleBuck > VincentMalamute-Kim 12/29/2019 at 21:39

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That steel tubing goes to an accessory plate which functions as a lift. I have a small box blade and a roto-tiller. Lifting the handle picks up the box blade or lifts the tiller blades out of the ground.

The ball just screws into a hole in the accessory plate, just like a bumper hitch. The big difference is the ball is female instead of male and it uses a much smaller bolt than the standard ball hitch. Just imagine this with a ball instead of a hitch pin.

VincentMalamute-Kim > TheRealBicycleBuck 12/29/2019 at 21:47

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You don’t have a dozer blade for the front? I’m planning on having many tons of recycled asphalt delivered and dumped in the backyard for a driveway to the shop and I think the lawn tractor with a blade o n the front could distribute it all.

Your box blade in the back can’t do what a front blade could, right?

shop-teacher > TheRealBicycleBuck 12/29/2019 at 21:51

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I had a lawn tractor for a few years, and I used to do that with my trailer too. It made moving  stuff around so easy. Frankly a lawn tractor is comically oversized for my lot, I only had it because it was given to me, so I sold it off and went back to push mowing.

TheRealBicycleBuck > VincentMalamute-Kim 12/29/2019 at 22:40

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I’m not sure they make a front blade for mine. I did use the box blade on the side yard. It was fairly rutted up and had a big pile of dirt from an earlier project , so I tilled up the worst of it and smoothed it out with the box blade. Here’s what it looked like after a few hours of work. I went back the next day and cleaned it up a bit more.

My tractor doesn’t have either hydraulics or a PTO, so my options are fairly limited. Working with the box blade was a real challenge without hydraulics to control the blade position.

TheRealBicycleBuck > shop-teacher 12/29/2019 at 22:42

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I inherited mine from my mom. She had five acres. My 1/4 acre residential lot is a bit small for it, but I’ve put it to good use.

VincentMalamute-Kim > TheRealBicycleBuck 12/30/2019 at 14:25

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Result looks good. But a box blade can’t really move piles of dirt around?

Is yours the GT6000? I’m thinking about getting a front blade and just welding/jury rigging the attachment points.

TheRealBicycleBuck > VincentMalamute-Kim 12/30/2019 at 16:31

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Mine’s the Excellerator GT. It’s probably very similar to the GT 5000. I found a guy demonstrating a manual front scoop and I’ve seen a front blade attachment, but after my experience with the box blade, I don’t see much value in them without hydraulics to position the equipment.

The pile of dirt I was dealing with had been sitting for several years, so it was well compacted. It was also higher than the max height of the box blade, so I had to knock it down before I could start spreading it out. The first pass was with a shovel, then I got the tiller out to really break up the soil.

VincentMalamute-Kim > TheRealBicycleBuck 12/31/2019 at 15:16

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That video leads to a black hole of home made blades and buckets. No one seems to sell new blades/buckets (Husq, AYP, Craftsman, no one). Tractor forums talk about new garden tractors aren’t in the same class as the ones from the 70's and current frames can’t deal with the loads of a bucket. May be why they don’t sell them anymore.

I’m not willing to build my own but possibly could modify a blade to work. Might be workable even without hydraulics?

TheRealBicycleBuck > VincentMalamute-Kim 12/31/2019 at 20:14

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I did see a new snow plow blade for sale. I’m sure it’s not designed to handle the heavier loads from dirt. After dealing with the box blade, I wouldn’t try a bucket. A blade might be workable. I’m not sure about the frame up front, but the back is pretty solid.