| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| canawler |
Posted - 10/27/2011 : 13:28:55
I posted a few pics in my introduction thread but I thought I might put a few in the gallery section also.
This Homesteader is sooo much fun to use.
I went from no Simplicity products to this in 2 weeks.
Here's the Homesteader 8 all cleaned up for show duty at the local Steam-o-rama.
Leaf duty is actually fun (no, really) with the Homesteader and my new sweeper. I can't believe I've been raking all my leaves for all these years.
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| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Talntedmrgreen |
Posted - 10/30/2011 : 19:12:48
I was thinking of this tonite when I took a drive. I live a mile or so outside of a large (15000 acres?) State Game Area, and have a number of hunting spots I peek in on when I cant make it out for a hunt.
Driving the gravel backroads and twotracks, there is pickup load sized piles of leaves everywhere. Some left right in the road (in younger times, they were a ball to smash with an Oldsmobile). I figure, thats the game plan each fall for lots of folks.
Where I work in the city, everyone must bag them in city labeled paper bags for pickup. |
| skunkhome |
Posted - 10/30/2011 : 18:27:20
That is great! The parish (county) does not want the leaves to end up in the landfill, the insurance company doesn't want them left on the ground and most yards don't have enough space to compost that amount of leaves. |
| canawler |
Posted - 10/30/2011 : 17:06:14
They just completely banned all burning in our township earlier this month. Permanently. Not just leaves but even brush and tree trimmings. They claim the state DEP is forcing it everywhere in the state but, when contacted about it, the DEP says they're only concerned about burning leaves. Everyone is up in arms about it but the twp commissioners voted unanimously. The only exceptions are for religious ceremonies and those patio fire rings. Funny thing is even those have to be at least 50ft. from any structures. You would have to have a pretty big patio.
Now we've had yesterday's snowstorm that caused more tree damage than I've ever seen due to the heavy wet snow and most of the trees still having their leaves. There's massive tree damage everywhere and there's nothing we can do with all the limbs because we can't burn them..... |
| Talntedmrgreen |
Posted - 10/30/2011 : 14:47:34
Thats great! Everyone here burns....smells good from a distance, the first time of the season, then gets pretty old. |
| B-16_IC |
Posted - 10/30/2011 : 14:41:54
That sure is neat! Thanks for posting the pic, never seen such a rig before. I am guessing the leaves then get composted? |
| canawler |
Posted - 10/28/2011 : 09:05:49
quote:
Originally posted by skunkhome
Saves space but still don't know where to put all the leaves. The garden is overloaded with organic matter.
Here we actually have leaf pickup. You just get them to the edge of the road and the township comes around and sucks them up, twice a week from the middle of October through the beginning of December. They just came through 10 minutes ago so I got a pic.
Now THAT'S a leaf vac...
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| canawler |
Posted - 10/28/2011 : 08:33:29
quote:
Originally posted by Talntedmrgreen
Jim, thanks for the info on the sweeper...I haven't looked at any in person, but the Agri-fab's look, well, dainty.
I know what you're saying, but the trouble is that they all look that way. It really all depends which model you're looking at. Each brand has low end and premium models. The comparable Brinly model used plastic brush holders and bushings instead of bearings on the brush shaft. I found weight numbers for most of the sweepers and the Craftsman wasn't really any lighter than any of the other brands (actually more due to the metal gearbox.) It does away with the cheesy plastic drive gear setup and it uses bushings. I will say it feels more solid than it looks. Of course, only time will tell how it holds up. It wouldn't be the first time I bought a piece of junk. |
| Talntedmrgreen |
Posted - 10/27/2011 : 22:00:16
Im looking to have some revitalizer knives cut for future use, while mine are still in good shape. They are amazingly durable, but I dont wanna waer them down too much before duplicating them. |
| skunkhome |
Posted - 10/27/2011 : 21:32:17
quote:
Originally posted by Talntedmrgreen
Jim, thanks for the info on the sweeper...I haven't looked at any in person, but the Agri-fab's look, well, dainty.
That revitalizer will find any stones or rocks that are within an inch or so of the surface...and you'll know it. I did my acre, which is poor soil also, and was suprised to find only a dozen stones or so. I have mostly sandy soil.
I would stay away from the Agri-fab the school had one and it was a piece of rolling junk. |
| 1014211 |
Posted - 10/27/2011 : 21:26:01
Jim, to prove your point about having plenty of power, here is the 6hp Yeoman I bought for my daughter towing a 1500 pound water wagon. It did fine...
Insert Image:  |
| sammiefish |
Posted - 10/27/2011 : 20:41:36
I think its important to know where the stones are as I believe the blades for
the revitalizer are NLA... you'd have to make one should one break |
| Talntedmrgreen |
Posted - 10/27/2011 : 19:41:12
Jim, thanks for the info on the sweeper...I haven't looked at any in person, but the Agri-fab's look, well, dainty.
That revitalizer will find any stones or rocks that are within an inch or so of the surface...and you'll know it. I did my acre, which is poor soil also, and was suprised to find only a dozen stones or so. I have mostly sandy soil. |
| B-16_IC |
Posted - 10/27/2011 : 19:00:23
Nice! I had a Homesteader until recently, fun little machine! I had a tiller also, that thing worked like a charm. |
| skunkhome |
Posted - 10/27/2011 : 17:59:33
"Leaf duty is actually fun (no, really) with the Homesteader and my new sweeper. I can't believe I've been raking all my leaves for all these years."
Agreed, I love my Brinley sweeper, requires little HP and does not raise all the dust of vacuum system. I have learned to cut my leaves first then sweep. Saves space but still don't know where to put all the leaves. The garden is overloaded with organic matter.
sharp little tractor BTW. |
| canawler |
Posted - 10/27/2011 : 16:57:09
quote:
Originally posted by 1014211
Nice! I love the little tractors. I have a 6hp Broadmoor, a 616, a newly acquired 738 (I think about the same as your Homesteader) and in the process of restoring a 535. The small ones are so fun, yet can do quite a bit of work also. Very nice looking tractor!
Looking at parts manuals, it appears that the Homesteaders are a combination of several different generations of Broadmoor. The dash tower is the same as the earlier 707 and 717 Broadmoors. The differential is Simplicity, not a peerless?? like the earlier Allis B-207s used. The center pivot and drive belt / clutch setup is the same as the newer 728 and 738 Broadmoors. Plus I've seen that there's two generations of Homesteader with the earlier one using the earlier Broadmoor drive setup.
As far as working goes, I haven't found a situation yet where it seemed underpowered. I know this sounds silly because I don't consider leaves to be that heavy, but when I was reading reviews of lawn sweepers, I read several where the authors mentioned barely being able to pull the sweeper with newer tractors! One even mentioned his was a 22hp Craftsman. I had the hopper on mine full enough that it was hard to lift to empty it and the Homesteader didn't even notice the weight. |
