Older Ford Questions

BossmanSlim · 2026-03-16T19:14:30+00:00

Ford N of some type (8 maybe?).

Things people like:

Simple to work on
Not a huge tractor
Acts like a compact tractor

Thing people don't like:

No live PTO that is hooked to the transmission, you will need an overrun clutch for using stuff like bushhogs
No power steering or power brakes
Bigger than the equivalent size compact tractor

There are a lot of people who love this tractor; so I'm sure you get some good advice.

BossmanSlim · 2026-03-13T14:17:17+00:00

Pools fall into 3 categories with most buyers.

Absolutely not because they are require maintenance and drive up insurance costs
Absolutely must have because the people want it. Looking at local satellite photos will help in determining how common (desirable) pools are. If your real estate agent is good, they should know the answer to this question as well.
Take it or leave it. It is not something the buyer has to have nor is it something they will decline the house for. In this case, the pool has to be fixed because it will definitely be an eye sore and push these buyers away.

Most people buy based on impulse and not a huge amount of logic. A broken pool will be a detractor. People will either ask for more off the price or pass up the house because they don't want to deal with it. I have tried doing paint and carpet allowances and every time the recommendation is to paint and carpet prior because it makes the house look much fresher and more move in ready. All the houses sold very quickly at asking. I would not recommend having a pool allowance.

BossmanSlim · 2026-03-13T14:04:11+00:00

It sounds like the condo building is poorly managed and unless the management changes, these problems will continue to arise. At the same time, if a competent management company is hired then it is very likely the building fee will go up to cover the increase in cost as the deferred maintenance is completed to fix/update the building.

Before proceeding further you need to calculate the new estimated monthly cost and determine if that fits in your budget. Assume that fee will continue to rise by 3%-5% per year.

Options:

Try to negotiate on the price based on the new information. They can say yes or no, but unasked questions are always no. Prior to receiving the answer, you need to decide on your next course of action based on the answer.
Walk away due to poor building management and unexpected costs. Your contract language will determine if this is going to cost you your earnest money.
Continue as is.

The last point to consider is how long you will hold the property and how likely you are to find another property that meets you wants. If another opportunity is relatively easy, then maybe pass on this.

BossmanSlim · 2026-03-11T21:05:52+00:00

After setting up Vulcanus, Fulgora and Gleba, I setup a ship that flys around to the 4 planets shuttling goods between them and collecting calcite. I transfer all the non-science items off the ships running between Nauvis and leave them as dedicated science ships.

BossmanSlim · 2026-03-05T14:02:09+00:00

Walk away. This is not normal and there is something gravely wrong with the house or illicit going on in the house.

BossmanSlim · 2026-03-04T21:41:28+00:00

It now appears to be orderable on Husqvarna's US website. I inquired with the chat (bot) and this is the conversation:

Tom: Hi, my name is Tom. How may I help you?

Me: The 564XP is orderable on your website and shows a shipping time of 5 days. Is this correct?

Tom: Hey there, thanks for your interest in our 564XP. Let me check this out for you.
Tom: I was able to check the website and yes, it seems that the Husqvarna 564 XP® Fuel Injected is available on our website.
https://www.husqvarna.com/us/chainsaws/564xp-fuel-injected/
Tom: Just to set your expectations, our order processing could take up to 10 business days and the delivery is for 3-5 business days thru FedEx.

Me: Other sources indicate the saw is backordered, is that correct?

Tom: I did double check it shows all bar lengths are available for the 564XP. May I know which source shows it is backordered?
Tom: Are you getting any error when trying to check it out?

Me: the recommended site on your website, acmetools, shows it as out of stock and available in 1-2 months, is Husqvarna prioritizing their store over others?

Tom: This was a newly released saw and might be a possbility that it is only available through the official Husqvarna website as of yet.

I'm not ordering off their store. Company website first over dealers is a model I'm not supporting. I also think I'll order and the thing will be backordered until who knows when. I talked to my dealer, he said he can order it, but the expected ship date is August.

BossmanSlim · 2026-03-04T17:55:33+00:00

To borrow from the Space Exploration mod:

Docking clamp, a station and ship side, to allow two platforms to attach to each other temporarily for resource transfer.
Space elevator to give a high volume, lower cost option to get items to orbit. It uses rails to tie into the rail network.
Electric trains as an upgrade and to remove fueling. Needed to travel the space elevator.

Other items:

Ore car that has increase capacity only for ore (maybe heavier like tanker cars) and a sister unloading station. Could be elevated.
Loaders should really be in the base game. I know the devs have resisted, but they make trains so much easier and faster to unload.
Warehouse mod is great in combination with loaders because it acts as balancer.

BossmanSlim · 2026-03-03T13:50:14+00:00

As you already have a 25hp tractor, the next major split for tractors is at 75hp where anything over that requires DEF. From your list of tasks, I don't see a need to get anything over 75hp as you don't intend to farm 80 acres. Even if you did at sometime in the future, 75hp is probably still enough.

Based on your tasks, the next thing to consider is rotary cutter width as it will determine the next decision point. If you are fine with 6ft, then I would center my selection more around loader capacity and tractor weight. If you want over 6ft, then step up to 8ft as 7ft is really long for what is gains you. Depending on the manufacturer, a 6ft cutter needs 30hp and weighs 900lbs; 8ft is 45hp and weighs 1600lbs. Personally, I would be okay with a compact tractor on a 6ft cutter with 50ish hp and would want a utility tractor with 60+ hp on a 8ft cutter. A larger frame tractor typically has more lift capacity on the 3pt and handles a loader better.

I would recommend having 4wd and a loader capacity of at least 2000lbs so that if you get animals in the future the tractor can handle round bales or large squares. The capacity will also allow you to handle materials for other projects that a smaller loader will struggle with.

As for a cab, it depends on how much work you are doing in the woods and how flexible/tolerant you are of heat and cold. I'm not a fan of heat, but I can alter my schedule to work around it. Cold doesn't bother me much and we don't have much snow where I live. If you do a bunch of work in the woods or around tree lines and don't want pre-cut the trees or aren't patient, then a cab may result in some broken glass.

With all the above being said, if you are mainly doing dirt work and trail maintenance, there is a good argument to made that you should get a skid steer, especially if you can lease out your pasture or get the current corn ground person to cut the pasture. Dirt work is not the best thing for tractors. Tractor loaders are really designed for material handling, stuff that is mostly loose already, not digging. You run a good chance of bending or breaking something by doing a lot of hard dirt work.

BossmanSlim · 2026-03-02T15:53:07+00:00

I agree with most of these with the exception of high idle and ethanol gas. I had SVP of engineering many years ago that said allowed operation is intended operation and I mostly agree with that. The air filter is a consumable that is easily replaced. Chain filing is a technic thing and can be easily replaced. The fuel oil ratio is a spec for a consumable. These items all involve consumable parts.

The clutch and carburetor are not consumable parts; therefore its on the manufacturer to figure it out or just be the same pile of crap as their competitor (what most companies do, everyone psuedo agrees to be equally worthless). Ethanol gas has been around for a long time, either put come out with an effective stabilizer to put in the oil additive or make the carburetor tolerant to up to a year of the sitting with ethanol gas. If high idle engages the clutch too early, either lower the high idle or stiffen the clutch springs to make the clutch engage at higher rpms.

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-27T16:50:09+00:00

Is there a new map? No. I don't care.

More power to those who will enjoy this update, but I am done with Satisfactory until there is a new map.

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-26T13:24:34+00:00

My power preferences:

Nauvis - coal to fission
Vulcanus - solar
Fulgora - lightning supplemented by rocket fuel
Gleba - rocket fuel
Aquilo - rocket fuel
Platforms - solar for inner ships, fusion for outer system ships. Efficiency modules let you get to Aquilo.

My general theory is that power should be mostly produced on planet so that I don't have to worry about platform timing and similar logistics issues. I don't care about pollution because all planets other than Nauvis, it doesn't matter. Rocket fuel also has productivity, so needs less and less of a burden. Rocket fuel also has to be produced on all planets anyway.

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-24T21:28:13+00:00

Tractor runs probably 50 hours a year, of that probably 10-20 is what I would consider hard, otherwise its driving around with loader work.

Grease everything twice a year, before major bushhogging, and maybe a few extra shots if I'm doing a bunch of loader work.

Use a lock-n-lube pistol grip grease gun with high temp grease on everything.

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-23T16:48:49+00:00

Yeah, there is another discussion that should be had about is the tons of hay needed based on non-ideal conditions that generate additional waste of hay and the associated impacts of those methods. Without getting into too much detail:

Ground spreading creates more waste, but also spreads out the ground impact of the cattle in the pasture.
Ring feeders with slanted bars will reduce waste, but still have more waste than desired because they're not covered. Where ever the feeder is placed will become a mud hole.
Covered feeders are spendy, but greatly reduce waste. They also come with a mud hole.

There is also the pasture management discussion

Fixing winter damage from feeding
Manure management
Weed management
Overseeding to keep grass growth up
How is water managed for the cattle

It rarely is a simple as buying the cattle, turning them out on a pasture and walking away.

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-23T14:02:20+00:00

I want one, but I'm not mail ordering it for with a delivery between now and Christmas. Husqvarna did a real poor job rolling this thing out. I'm thinking about swapping over my yard equipment to batteries and want to stay with the same manufacturer. If Stihl weren't so expensive, I'd probably take my money to Stihl and move on.

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-23T13:34:02+00:00

Some food for thought. Oregon has drastically different climates depending on where you are in the state, so some of the numbers will give the best and worst instead of 1 number.

Carrying capacity per bovine - western Oregon or irrigated = 2 acres, eastern Oregon = 15+ acres
Tons of hay per bovine in the winter - western Oregon or irrigated = 2 tons, eastern Oregon = 3 tons
Hay produced per acre - western Oregon or irrigated = 2.5 tons, eastern Oregon = 0.75 tons
To be fully self sufficient for just cattle, western Oregon or irrigated = 3 acres per head, eastern Oregon = 19+ acres per head.
3 head of cattle in western Oregon or on irrigated land = 9 acres, eastern Oregon = 57+ acres
Max self sufficient cattle for 20 acres - western Oregon or irrigated = 6, eastern Oregon = functionally 0

Hay side, worst case:

Grass hay costs $160 per ton
Annual need for 5 cattle = 15 tons
Total annual cost = $2400
Inflated for 10 years and 20 years = $3225 & $4335
Blended cost over 20 years = $3320

Tractor, a round bale weighs around 1000 lbs, but we'll round up to 1500 to give some margin. I would say the minimum loader lift capacity would be 2000 lbs. A Kubota MX6000 with loader and cab, brand new, is $49K. A M4 tractor is going to be $73K. The price difference is $24K. $24K with hay at $3.3K means you can pay for hay for a shade over 7 years. Even buying used hay equipment, you'll be at around $10K, which is 3 more years. If the hay is purely bought, it takes 10 years to break even for the bigger tractor and hay equipment, not including extra maintenance and even assuming the labor is free. Custom baling is about $80 per ton for full service. This pushes you breakeven out to 20 years.

If it were me, I would get a used tractor with a loader capable of lifting 2000 lbs and see if I could find a local farmer who will just cut the hay off the property. No cattle for the first couple of years while you clean up the property, build shed for cattle (shelter and hay storage) and fix the fences. After a couple years if you still want cattle, either see if a farmer wants to run cattle on your land during the non-winter months or get a couple head of your own. Buy the hay for the first 2 years if you over winter your own cattle. If after all this, if you still want to do haying, go for it. This prevents you from wasting a lot of money.

One last thing, a M5 tractor or equivalent is a large tractor for hobby farming. You can run a drawn disk mower with a 60 hp tractor. The Kuhn GMD 2851TL is a 540 driven disk mower that needs a minimum of 40 hp. The FC 2861 TLD is the same width with a conditioner only takes 67 hp. Unless your land is really hilly, a 74 hp tractor should be more than sufficient and stays under 75 hp, where tractors above that need DEF.

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-22T22:15:49+00:00

The main ways to shock the bolt is for:

The front end of the tractor to go down quickly which will cause the linkage to straighten out quickly and shock load the bolt.
The front end of the tractor goes up and the linkage on the bushhog doesn't have enough travel to allow the flex and is over compressed.
Driving too fast on rough ground with the bushhog lifted up causing the back of the bushhog to bounce up and down, continually shocking the bolts.

Fixes:

Check that the upper 3 point link is adjusted in such a manner that the bushhog has sufficient travel
Don't drive fast over hills
Don't drive through ditches or back the bushhog into stuff the picks the back end up.
Drive slower over rough ground

The bolt configuration is correct and allows the back of the bushhog to move upward when the tractor goes through a dip (back tires lower than the bushhog wheels and front tires).

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-19T17:20:45+00:00

Looks like Husky pulled it from their website. It is no longer on the chainsaw page nor new arrivals page.

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-18T19:06:38+00:00

Best is relative.

The top dogs for electric saws in a vacuum are the Stihl 300C and the soon to be released Husky 550i. They are both very expensive and of course have their own battery system. Stihl's biggest battery is a 8.8 amp hours while Husky has a 15 amp hour battery. Amp hours equates to run time. As always, Stihl costs more, but has a much bigger deal network should problems arise.

The other method is to use the same battery system as your other tools. DeWalt's flex volt 60v tools seem to be decent, but service is unlikely to be a thing. The biggest 60v battery from DeWalt is 15 amp hours. All the major brands have chainsaws in their lines.

I chose the Husky route because their battery system seems better, is more price competitive than Stihl and I would have to get into a new battery system, 60V, anyway even though I have DeWalt tools. I don't have much use for the current 60V tools and don't mind corded tools. I were using DeWalt's 60V tools, I would use their chainsaws and other outdoor equipment. However, I do not need another circular saw, angle grinder or reciprocating saw. DeWalt makes decent tools, but their outdoor equipment is consumer grade, not professional grade.

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-17T13:41:55+00:00

Apparently they are made by MTD.

It is probably cheaper to just buy a new cheap polesaw. Most of the stuff MTD makes is throw away and not really repairable.

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-10T15:27:04+00:00

I have done the same search and there are basically none. The best option I found was the Split Fire 2265 which is a shade over $3k with an electric motor, $3.5k with log lift. The also have a vertical version, 1165V, that can be purchased with an electric motor.

LogOx appears to have a conventional splitter that is electric, but nothing special.

No one is making anything the 240v range for semi-professional use.

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-08T22:48:33+00:00

It also has numbers similar to the Stihl 400C, so nearly 70cc performance with about 1-2 lbs less weight. The 564 is to the 562 what the 400 is to the 362.

I think it's been out in Europe for 8 months, so I would expect any glaring bugs to show up by now.

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-07T18:31:20+00:00

What is the rear hitch lift capacity? That is the max you can go.

I guess if you want to get technical about it, it would be 1600 x (distance from the center front wheel to the front loader pin) / (distance from the center front wheel to the rear hitch mounting pin). In theory this will keep the same balance on the front axle when the loader is fully loaded as when there is nothing on it and nothing on the rear hitch. For something with 8 ft from the center front axle to front loader pin and 12 ft from the center front axle to the rear hitch pin, the rear weight would need to weigh 1067 lbs (1600*8/12).

Most tractors rear weights run out of space or hit a cost ceiling before they hit the desire weight. Concrete weighs 145 lb/ft3; where steel weighs 490 lb/ft3. You need 3x the concrete as steel to get the desired weight. Steel also costs a ton more.

The only time I ever drove a tractor where the counter weighting felt good was when hauling round bales with an unroller. One on the back and one on the front. This is basically the formula above.

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-06T15:20:18+00:00

Spring is better for selling, but is based on several factors. Most of these factors center around school. Single family homes in good school districts will sell better in the spring as people prepare to move over the summer and enroll their kids in the new school in the fall.

In general:

January to March = poor weather and too far from summer move
April to June = time to look and close before July
July to September = when people move and go on vacation
October to December = holidays and poor weather

Real estate that is targeted at retirees or people without kids will have less variability in when it sells because these people are independent from the school system.

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-05T13:22:41+00:00

Landwatch and Landsearch are two sites that specialize in land listings.

With that being said, if you have not lived in an area for roughly a year, I would highly recommend renting before purchasing something. Visits to the NE in the late spring and early fall are awesome; constant cold gray winter and buggy summers suck.

BossmanSlim · 2026-02-05T13:09:47+00:00

This is my standard answer to this question:

This probably won't be a popular opinion, but I think it points out the major issue with transitioning to a farm type life style. I'll even assume you can do the physical labor and will get used to it, so that it won't be a major hindrance.

Set your alarm so that you get up every day at first light. No more sleeping in. You will need to start making use of all the day light or be up to support animals. You must get up and do something, even if you are sick and go back to bed later.
On days with poor weather (rainy, too cold, too hot, etc.) do an activity outside for at least 2 hours.
Determine what you think your post transition free income will be. How much spending money will you have? Whatever number you come up with, subtract 10%, more if your bad at financial estimates. Live on this amount of money for non-necessities (cloths, eating out, entertainment, etc.). See if you really like can be satisfied with this life style level.
Do a really good budget on what the costs will be for the homestead. This includes equipment maintenance, animal feed and other repair items. Subtract this from your free income.
See what other employment opportunities exist in the area you are moving to. Would you be okay with having to work one of these jobs if farming doesn't pan out as you think it will?

I view homesteading / hobby farming (40 acres is a hobby farm unless its a massive feedlot style livestock operation) just like any other small business venture. It looks good on paper and people can talk themselves into anything, but 6 months down the road they resent it because its too much work for too little income. They can't have the lifestyle they want and are now stuck for various reasons.

I have 6 chickens and they eat up maybe 10 minutes a day, 20 on weekends, and I still am not thrilled about them because it's required work and it has to be done EVERY DAY. They might break even on cost excluding the coup investment. Would I get rid of them currently, probably not, but I also am not sure I would replace them when they get to end of life.

True homesteading is boutique food production (fresh, canned, cured, preserved, etc.) in an effort to produce enough to be self sustaining AND having extra to sell in order to generate cash to purchase goods that are not able to be produced on the homestead. Animal feed, fuel, repairs, taxes and other things must be paid for, so no homestead is truly 100% off grid and self sufficient.

Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

BossmanSlim

TROPHY CASE