Tremors and Tractors

[Rob38]

I dont have my Tremor yet (build week 11/1) but this is my tractor. I get so much done with this. I plow snow, mow with a flail or bush hog, use a grapple, do gravel driveway work, and get firewood and saw logs out of the woods. My last tractor was cab-less and the snow plowing finally got to me. I was worried about the cab in the woods but with a bit more care its no problem. Heat and AC puts the fun back into the work

I also do some dirt work with the mini excavator i bought last year. Hard working little machine and the thumb is another huge upgrade in handling just about anything.

 

[MoKan]

Dropped by the farm to run the game cameras and my cousins had the combine and grain cart staged to start harvesting corn the next day.

 

[Redoggs]

I dont have my Tremor yet (build week 11/1) but this is my tractor. I get so much done with this. I plow snow, mow with a flail or bush hog, use a grapple, do gravel driveway work, and get firewood and saw logs out of the woods. My last tractor was cab-less and the snow plowing finally got to me. I was worried about the cab in the woods but with a bit more care its no problem. Heat and AC puts the fun back into the work

I also do some dirt work with the mini excavator i bought last year. Hard working little machine and the thumb is another huge upgrade in handling just about anything.

The ac and heat is a difference maker for sure! I went for years without a cab and this year got a new bobcat ct 5558 and now realize how dumb it was to delay that!

 

[oops]

I dont have my Tremor yet (build week 11/1) but this is my tractor. I get so much done with this. I plow snow, mow with a flail or bush hog, use a grapple, do gravel driveway work, and get firewood and saw logs out of the woods. My last tractor was cab-less and the snow plowing finally got to me. I was worried about the cab in the woods but with a bit more care its no problem. Heat and AC puts the fun back into the work

I also do some dirt work with the mini excavator i bought last year. Hard working little machine and the thumb is another huge upgrade in handling just about anything.

Awesome setup. Yanmar makes amazing excavators. That thing will well outlive us both. I don't see many Massey's on the west coast.

Are you near Albany? I've got fond memories of ogling over equipment at Abele!

 

[RickLB]

 

[Rob38]

Awesome setup. Yanmar makes amazing excavators. That thing will well outlive us both. I don't see many Massey's on the west coast.

Are you near Albany? I've got fond memories of ogling over equipment at Abele!

Yes SOOP I am 20 miles east of Albany and have bought my last 2 tractors from Abele. Good guys to deal with. And, I know the feeling of ogling anytime I’m over there

As for the Yanmar mini-x, that I purchased at PLT in Pittsfield, Mass. I heard a ton of good things about Yanmar and they were a good dealer to work with also. Still very low hours but working great so far.

 

[Rob38]

View attachment 35512

Love the truck, I have a Star White Tremor on order myself. I also bet that gooseneck trailer pulls really nice.

 

[RickLB]

Love the truck, I have a Star White Tremor on order myself. I also bet that gooseneck trailer pulls really nice.

It pulls real easy after I learned where to put the tractor. First time I had it back to far, wasn’t enjoyable. Haven’t made that mistake again.

 

[DavesTractor]

Rob38, I have a Yanmar excavator myself, a Vio55 with a thumb and the hydraulic pin grabber. I love being able to swap buckets without getting out of my seat. You have a nice setup.

 

[scallopr]

 

[Rob38]

Rob38, I have a Yanmar excavator myself, a Vio55 with a thumb and the hydraulic pin grabber. I love being able to swap buckets without getting out of my seat. You have a nice setup.

Thats a nice machine I bet you have. Can get into a bit more of the heavy stuff I’m sure. Yeah, i have the hyd. Pin Grabber too and it is slick.

 

[DavesTractor]

Did a 1000 mile round-trip tractor delivery to Elko Nevada yesterday with the Tremor. The speed limit in much of Nevada on I-80 is 80 mph. In California, we are limited to 55 mph when pulling any trailer. Ridiculously slow. I set the cruise on 80 mph and had a great trip. Weight-wise, not very heavy, about 18,500 gross combined loaded, and about 12,000 coming back with an empty trailer. The average for the trip was about 14.5 mpg.

 

[oops]

In California, we are limited to 55 mph when pulling any trailer.

Never heard of this before!

 

[DavesTractor]

We are special. 40 million people, therein lies the problem. But 55 is too slow.

 

[oops]

We are special. 40 million people, therein lies the problem. But 55 is too slow.

Wild. Have never noticed one of those signs. Is this ever enforced? I feel like I would have noticed if people were ever doing less than 95 on our highways.

 

[DavesTractor]

Almost every time you see a normal speed limit sign in CA (on roads for which the car speed limit is over 55), you will see that trailer sign within 100 yards or so. Yes, it is enforced, but that doesn't mean that a lot of people don't ignore it at their peril. I stick pretty close to 55-60 when loaded, but will run a little faster with an empty trailer...not sure there is good logic to that concept, but it works for me.

 

[Apparition]

Never heard of this before!

When I pulled the Jeep out to the Rubicon and down through Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Yosemite I never saw a 55 sign nor did I only go 55. oops

 

[deezel-gitur]

I need to dig up my pics of the tractor/trailer we used to move buildings at Prudhoe Bay. It was big, kinda. The trailer had 90 axles in 45 pairs/180' long. You read correctly. Four wheels per axle and each axle was independently suspended and steered so it could almost rotate about its center. The tractor was from Germany. Huge is barely adequate to describe it. Oh, you ask, how big were the pre-fab buildings? Some were 5 stories IIRC. Each had its weight prominently displayed. I remember most were over 400 tons with some over 500. Tons mind you. Your average semi carries like 20, right? The buildings were made in Portland and sent north by barge. The trip on gravel roads from the dock to wherever the buildings wound up were sometimes 4-5 miles. For safety laborers spent weeks laying 1-1/8" plywood end to end on both sides of the gravel roads! Many many semi loads of plywood. At the end of the construction season they were all picked up and most were burned because they were imbedded with gravel. Greta woulda had a stroke!

 

[Falcon09]

I loaded my tractor up today to take it from our ranch to our home which is about 30 miles. Going to do some cedar clearing at our home.

 

[deezel-gitur]

Almost every time you see a normal speed limit sign in CA (on roads for which the car speed limit is over 55), you will see that trailer sign within 100 yards or so. Yes, it is enforced, but that doesn't mean that a lot of people don't ignore it at their peril. I stick pretty close to 55-60 when loaded, but will run a little faster with an empty trailer...not sure there is good logic to that concept, but it works for me.

Edit: the "double-nickel limit" goes back to a Federal Law from 1973 passed after the Arab Oil Embargo. 55 mph is the most efficient speed for most vehicles (not Zamboni's, obviously), balancing the inherent efficiency of internal combustion engines with viscous drag from airflow.

I read your statement about logic, and your logic actually is pretty sound (doing 55 while towing is good, and you can go a little faster un-loaded). It is based on a concept similar to terminal velocity. The speed at which you fall is an equilibrium between two forces:

F-g - gravity's pull on your crazy self (who the F^*$ jumps out of a perfectly good airplane?) and
F-Drag - the drag cause by moving you through the atmosphere.

Good Video:

For a vehicle driving down the highway (falling horizontally?), we balance energy transfer from the engine to the wheels to maintain speed and push the truck through the air. After ~55mph we see diminishing returns on fuel economy, and we are limited by engine efficiency and drag coefficients (*math happens*).

Increasing your speed above 55mph causes you to burn more fuel due to the air drag force overtaking your trucks ability to efficiently propel you forward.

Fun reference:

Smarter Driver Behavior Improves Fuel Economy for Trucks

As truck fleets and policy makers aim to curb big rig fuel consumption, the secret weapon is driver behavior.

www.nationalgeographic.com