By
Alex175
So after I purchased my C-195 at the end of last year, and got it up and running smooth, I have decided it's time to start putting it to work. I've had a handful of projects, including another thread on here where I have received a lot of help in figuring out what I need to convert one of my trailers into a hydraulic dump that will be powered off of the tractor. I am still waiting for my hydraulic cylinder to be deliver, so in the meantime I've been working on some other projects for the tractor I have affectionately nicknamed "Sloth".
One of my main goals with the C-195 is to get more landscaping done around the property. When I bought my house it was in foreclosure and the previous owner hadn't done much in the way of yard maintenance outside of basic mowing for a few years. Areas under trees were getting overrun by saplings, especially where the previous homeowner had planted sassafras trees as a sort of privacy fence. The problem was they had now propagated uncontested and had begun taking over the woods line, and the older trees that had originally been planted for privacy were now so big that all the yearly growth was now at a height of 5+ feet, thereby no longer performing the task they were originally planted for.
Knowing cleaning this up was going to be my first task, I needed a way to get these saplings out of the ground with relative ease, and getting roots and all. So my first purchase was a new 3,000 lb winch that I could mount up to the 3 point to pluck the saplings out of the ground. The picture on the left is of the initial setup after I first got the winch. After running it a few times, it did the job fantastically, but I found that I hated the original metal cable. My main issue was I would pluck out one sapling, go to the next one, but by the time I had the spool of remaining cable had loosened itself up and created a birds nest. That and walking back and forth to the tractor between each pull gave it more opportunity to do so, so I decided on a few upgrades (right picture). First I switched over to a synthetic rope which doesn't have the "memory" a metal cable has, so it doesn't unspool itself. While I was doing that I also ordered a wireless remote system for the winch, so now plucking out all the damn sassafras trees I have will be a lot quicker. Got it all set up where none of the electronics are bolted to the tractor, they are all a part of the hitch setup to keep things cleaner, and the tractor unmolested. Got a quick disconnect cable running back from the battery, so now it's just a matter of hook up the power, and start pulling!
While I was working on the winch, I found two CAT 0 attachments on Facebook Marketplace, having had trouble finding much of anything that is CAT 0 so far for this machine I jumped on them, so now I have a good old plow and disc harrow. They are real nice, heavy duty steel with a good patina, so now the question is, do I clean them up and throw some red and black paint on them, or do I keep them as they are? Either way, they look real nice on the back of the beast, and I'm sure they will work really well.
So now I've got these items, and I've got the proper equipment to mount my mower decks and snowblower onto the C-195, I guess it's time to get to work. But while I am doing that it's also a good time to think of what my next targets are going to be. I'd love to find a D Series 56" plow, and maybe a grader blade, or....too many options to choose from
By BMW1
By Alex175