Not So Simple

Not So Simple was Originally Posted on May 3, 2011 by lavarock

My mower and tractor need work. I went all over town and finally found someone with a trailer to take the two items to their respective repair locations. The tractor should be under warrantee so it is off to the dealer and the mower needs welding so off to the welder.

The trailer cannot hold the bucket, loader, tractor and mower, so they have to be separated. The bucket will be left at the farm as the loader is the mechanism use to attach the bucket t othe tractor and cannot be removed.

First we needed to load the mower (about 500 pounds) onto the trailer. We removed the mower from the tractor and put a weight box in place of it for balance. Then we turned the tractor around and lowered the bucket. After attaching a heavy chain to the bucket and the mower, we lifted the mower a yard off the ground. Then we backed my truck bed under the mower and lowered the mower onto the truck.

My truck is not heavy duty enough to also tow the trailer and tractor, so they are the next trip. I took the mower to the welder and he lifted the mower out with a winch.

This morning we fixed the trailer (adding 4 new pieces of 2 by 8’s) to replace rotted wood. Then we removed the weight box and bucket from the tractor. Using ramps I drove the tractor onto trailer and slowly drove to the dealer. I unloaded the tractor and they told me that they needed to service the unit with the mower. I drove back to the welder, got my repaired mower and hurried to the dealer, only to find they had just closed. I unloaded the trailer and mower next to my yet-to-be-repaired tractor and drove off.

When everything is repaired, I will have t omake 2 trips to town to move both the tractor and mower back home. Luckily, I have a guy to help unload and reattach everything.

This whole process reminds me of the puzzle of a boat and trying to get a fox the boat and chickens across the river. You can do it, but if you do things in the wrong order, it can be very messy!