Fall Cleaning

As mentioned I would last week, I've started selling off some of my Gravely 2-wheel tractor implements. I've posted four things to Craig's List, and have had one bite so far. Failing a sale, each will go onto eBay, next:

One (1) highly dangerous Gravely open-reel two-stage snowblower:
http://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/grd/1426981656.html
This thing is just crazy. It was my dad's when I was a kid, though he gave up on snowblowing sometime in my teens, and hired a plow guy instead. It looks like it was intended to consume small animals, just as much as throw snow. Not something you want to be messing around with near the business end. It absolutely devours snow, even icy stuff pushed into snowbanks and left to harden for weeks on end. This comes with a spare reel, which I picked up as a package with the rotary plow, below.

One (1) far less dangerous but still beastly Gravely quick hitch snowblower:
http://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/grd/1426994517.html
This one was my most recent acquisition. It's not as dangerous as the first, because you can adjust the chute remotely and it has side cutters rather than open sides. It's a lot wider than the first one, so it takes more power to run through deep snow. But in a normal snowfall, the extra width makes quick work of the driveway. The nice thing about this one, too, is it is very easy to get onto and off the tractor. The downsides are that the chute's remote lever is stiff and finicky, and that it doesn't feel securely mounted to the tractor. This one I bought from eBay several seasons ago. I'm keeping one much like it that's not a quick-hitch model and slightly narrower.

One (1) entirely unconventional Gravely rotary plow tilling/trenching device:
http://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/grd/1427009100.html
I bought this maybe 5 years ago and used it three seasons. It looks awfully funny, but it excels at destroying a patch of lawn to create a new garden bed. And it does a decent job of creating rows/hills as well. In that sense it's perfect for a serious gardener/small farmer with an acre or so to plow and hill. It's probably overkill for a home garden though. If the dirt shield isn't set right, it'll occasionally chuck rocks at your head as it works -- I always managed to duck, but a hockey goalie's mask might be a good accompaniment to this one. I have a spare gearbox for it and I think some other stuff as well. I'd planned to make a spreader for it, but that was in another life.

One (1) aftermarket angling plow blade:
http://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/grd/1427018958.html
This is not a Gravely part, and that shows, in that there's not a whit of cast iron on the thing. But it's a clever design that looks like it'd do the trick in terms of plowing walking paths through snow. It came on a tractor that I bought for parts out in the Hudson River Valley, and which I sold a year ago. I've never used it, but I bet it could be disassembled, sandblasted, painted, maybe updated with some replacement hardware, and serve someone well.

And once the leaves are up, the 430 tractor will be sold off as well. It's doing bang-up job on the leaves this season, as always -- blown engine or not.

All for now,

J