A One-Project Need Becomes an Indispensable Tool
Simon in Chisago City, MN, purchased a Little Buck Loader for his JD 425 in May 2021 and shared his recent experiences.
“Overall I am extremely pleased. I have used the loader to move at least 70 ton of material over last summer. I had purchased a small house on a half acre lot and I needed to regrade the entire thing, it had 1-2" landscaping rock beds surrounding it. I used the loader to remove all the old rocks, haul in all the dirt, haul in all the new rocks. So much better than a shovel and a wheelbarrow,” he said.
Simon explained that the house also has a walk out basement that opens on a huge patio under a deck. The soil is clay and the cement patio was 40 years old and had been heaving up and down; inches every winter, for who knows how long.
“I busted the cement up with a jack hammer, popped it loose with a pry bar, and piled it by hand and small to medium sized pieces of cement rubble. I then used the tractor loader to move that 15 yard pile of cement rubble. No problem. I wanted to give the above mentioned patio a good base, so I got a tooth bar for my Little Buck Loader and started trying to dig up the compacted clay that was underneath that cement. I was knowingly beating the hell out of the machine, I kept checking the loader bucket for damage, thought I was ok, turned out the lower attachment point for the lower ram was the weak spot. That ended up tearing out of the crossbar, after taking a lot of abuse but long before I was done digging that clay out, which I ended up doing by hand. I fabbed up some reinforced angles and straps, had a local lifelong welder (who is an awesome guy) come over and show me how to do it, we pounded it all back pretty straight, he charged me $100 for his time. I painted it all back JD green. That spot will not break again. I did sell the tooth bar, I don't think I will break the loader again, I will stick within the bounds of what it is meant to do,” he said.
He then used the loader to haul 15 yards of class five down to that patio to a lay a solid base.
“We have a local construction supply company that sells a very fine compactable sand appropriate for paver base and lake front beaches. This house I have has a beautiful beach on a large lake chain. When I ordered my paver base for my new patio I just got a full truck of sand, I used the loader to haul 10 yards of sand all the way down to my beach. Now even my natural beach is perfectly graded.”
Simon felt he was done with landscaping his house, and had intended to move on to new toys.
“My plan was to sell this tractor/loader once I was done and buy myself a little residential zero turn brand new. But...I have been enjoying moving snow with my Little Buck Loader. I sold my snow blower; this tractor is the best thing ever. I use this tractor to clear snow from my ice rink out on the lake, I have a huge ice rink, this little tractor and loader does the job!”
Simon’s tractor and Little Buck Loader combo turned out to be useful in many contexts.
“I am just going to deal with using a tractor to mow my yard (even though those zero turns look fun) because I don't ever want to be without the use of this Little Buck Loader again. I'm getting older and this little loader is a very useful thing to me in my little suburban neighborhood,” he said.
He purchased an early nineties, two wheel drive, two wheel steer JD 245 for $1900.
“It is exactly what you would expect except for that it has proven to be extremely reliable. It came with a 46" mowing deck, which works, and I will probably tune up this spring, and it came with wheel weights. I purchased my Little Buck loader for approximately $2,400 (I don't remember exactly). When I picked up the loader on the pallet at Fastenal, it was obviously wonky (not square); it tilted to one side. I needed it right away, it attached to the tractor and turned out it operated just fine. Five months later I had put it through the ringer anyways,” he said.
He did buy stiffer front tires for the tractor.
“With wheel weights, this 2wd tractor did just fine traction-wise, running buckets of sand out onto my sugar sand beach was an adventure involving osb sheets and mad unbalanced runs, but that was a lot to ask. Weight-wise the loader was capable of lifting more weight than the tractor could safely carry with just the rear wheel weights. I never filled the tires and I never added a rear weight box,” he said.
He compacted some soil with all of his runs though the yard, but nothing an aerator and reseeding can't fix.
“In the winter and out on the ice I use rear tire chains in addition to the rear wheel weights, with this set up I can go plow the lake. It can be a little rough at first, but I don't get stuck and once I get an opening, the tract can move some snow,” he said.
Simon says he’s into the entire set up under $4,500, and he’s confident that his resell value today is an easy $3,800, maybe more if he is patient. And that’s after all of the use.
“This loader was a large part of this last year. I'm keeping my shop but I'm done with the constant construction. I am tired of being miserable. I think I'm gonna get a sailboat. I'm just keeping the loader now because it is fun and I want to take care of my back for the future. It was definitely light, for what I did with it, but my use of it was part of making myself 20-30 grand in equity last summer. I saved at least that with the work I've done with it,” he said.