Construction (page 1) page 2>

Oct. 10, 2000 Well the first thing I have to do is put together the tractor / mini dozer that I just bought. It's coming in two large crates (56"x76"x55") each weighing in at about 1 ton each. One crate contains the tractor itself the other contains the loader and back hoe attachments. I was in a meeting at work on Tues. Oct. 10 when I got my very first call on my new cell phone (note to self: turn the thing OFF during meetings), it was from the Struck Co. telling me my tractor has just shipped and to give me the tracking #. I'm really excited about getting it! Although I know it's going be be a real job putting it together. Oct. 18, 2000 I get the call on Tuesday the 17th that it's here. I rented a flatbed tow truck and driver to get it from the shipping terminal in Hayward, CA to my parents house in Union city. It wasn't easy but eventually I had both crates in front of the house and was ready to begin work. It was Wed. at about 3 p.m. that I had my first problem. I uncrated the tractor first and tried to start it up... It didn't work! When I talked to the people in Wisconsin at the Struck corp. about the Tractor I had one thing that was very important to ask them "Will it work right out of the Box?". They assured me it would. It didn't. I tried everything I could think of to get it started. Nothing worked! I had to leave it out front in the street the first night. Not a good beginning! The next day I talked to someone at Stuck and the only thing they thought it could be was the seat switch. I had noticed the switch the day before and used a wedge to lock it down while I worked on it. The factory said it was possible it wasn't attached to begin with or it pulled off during assembly of the seat. After pulling the seat and cover plate I found the switch not attached. Sigh...by then the battery didn't have enough power to start the thing! I have a emergency jump starter and used it to get it started. I'm still having problems though. I can only start it with the throttle on idle with no choke (and a long 8 second crank). If I touch the throttle or choke before the engine warms up it cuts out. It feels like Im not getting enough fuel to the carburetor.

Tractor I eventually got the tractor into my parents garage! (shown without seat and cover plate)

Attachments The attachments require some assembly. Heavy too. I ruined my hand truck getting the stuff in the garage.

This is a picture looking down at the hydraulic drive motors. The purple wire is the before mention unattached sensor wires.

Here's a picture of the disc brakes. The tank at left is for gas.

These are the drive controls.

The first pieces to go on is the front guard.

How does it look so far? (Font loader without bucket or cylinders)

With cylinders and plumbing.

Front Loader The front loader is now complete. What does a hernia feel like?

I took it out in the street, turned it around and tried out the hydraulics on the front loader. I think I got to clean before I start on the back hoe.

Here's the main frame for the back hoe.

These are the valves.

The frame mounted to tractor.

Adding parts.

The valves.

mounting the valves to the back of the tractor.

The Backhoe The backhoe completed. A couple of leaks but fixable.

Took off the secondary boom and added roll bar. Getting it ready for transport.

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