Trailer is usable.

I did some finish-up work on the trailer today.  I got it hooked up to the truck and adjusted the hitch so it doesn't move when I lift it and it is latched.  I looked through an installation guide online and it was installed correctly.


Fortunately I saw after I got it off the blocks that I had forgotten to rehang the wiring after putting the decking on.  Oops.  You can see it hanging down at the back.


I put that back on and for the time being just screwed the license plate onto the end.


I also painted my piece of steel that will be the longer term license plate holder.


While that was drying I took the trailer for a test drive around the long block (about 20 minutes) and made sure that the decking didn't lift (I haven't secured it down yet) and also put my hand on the hubs when I got back, both were cold, so the bearings aren't heating up.

I then turned my attention to another project that has been waiting, the south wall.  I got the top and bottom pieces in. but ran into an oops on the sides.




I painted the wrong boards, which means that the actual sides I had cut for it were the boards I diced up to make spice racks.  D'oh!

I did get the top board up.  I got a siding board since it had the lips on the top and bottom.  The lip fit perfectly under the z flashing.


Both boards are now installed, and I used some tyvek tape to cover the seam.  It will get painted when I paint the house.


I then grumbling went on to another project; finish the trenching in the back yard.  I got about three feet of trench dug before I tried to lift a rock that I apparently shouldn't have.  That sideways thing is the handle of my shovel.  It doesn't quite line up with the rest of it anymore...


So I moved on to another thing (sensing a pattern...), fixing the truck tail light.  It turns out I didn't have a torx bit large enough for my ratchet, so I ended up using the driver (I did have a T30 driver) some vice grips and a leverage extender, but I got the taillight bucket out and fished the light bulb out.  It appeared to still be in working order, so I just put it back in since I didn't have a spare that would fit.


I then decided to take a trip to Chappell's tractor in Milford.  He had a couple of used Kubotas I wanted to look at.  Turns out the one I wanted to look at was sold though.  He had a couple of bigger ones there, but most interestingly was he actually had a couple BX1880s on the lot.


The tractor is easy enough to get into.  You do lose the tilt wheel on the smaller model, but it didn't really bother me too much.


It has a cup holder and a small storage compartment on the side.  For some reason it has a 12V plug too.


The class 1 hitch


The tractor will be obnoxious to work on.  This is was as far as the hood opened.




The engine compartment isn't laid out as nicely for working on it.  The hood doesn't easily come off like most lawn tractors (which just lift off), you have to take pieces off to get the hood off.


The underside isn't protected by skid plates like the larger model either.




They seemingly fixed the throttle pedal, so that isn't painful to use anymore.


The brake is still obnoxiously tall.  My ankle was bent back as far as it goes.  But as Dad can attest to, I don't tend to use brakes...


There is a plate at the end so I could put a receiver or something on it if I wanted to.


Since they had one there, I poked at one with the mower deck too.


With the mower deck, I was impressed with the ground clearance that it had.  It is hard to tell from the picture, but it was around 6 inches.


The only thing I don't like about the Kubota is the hood and the brake pedal, neither of which would make me consider another brand.  Dad mentioned on my last post that the agricultural equipment exemption might apply to a tractor, so that would keep the RK in the running.  Still not sure I would want to go all the way to KY for it though.

When I got back from tractor hunting, my power meter was waiting for me, so I will hopefully be getting back to solar testing tomorrow.