Go BottomOne Boomer vs a JD318 Hydro and a Ford 641 - My story and conclusion
 | cdcole
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 66 Saukville, WI 
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2002-09-04 42016
OK let me ramble for a minute or two. I spent 8 years aquiring and building what I thought was the ultimate setup to maintain my 6 acres. Went through several garden tractors before settling on a JD 318 unit. It was awesome - hydro, tight turning radius, individual rear brakes, hydraulic lift for mower, hydraulic snow blade- fully hydraulic, power steering, ONAN 18HP fully pressurized engine. It is awesome but I needed more. Found a Ford 641, 30HP, 3Pt hitch - put about 2 summers of work into it- even split it to put in a new clutch, mated it with a modern FEL, added a 72" grooming mower to the back. It was friggin awesome. Strong, tight with rebuilt steering, electronic ignition, 12V 60Amp alternator. Then I saw the Boomer at the county fair. Like nothing I have ever seen. With the articulating front axle it looked so cool-turned so far it looked like it was broke. I know tractors pretty well. But the Boomer stood out. One problem, make that two. I could not afford a new tractor and two I could not bear to part with my other "children". My wife took a picture of me atop the unit at the fair. 3 years later I bought a TC25D - in 2 weeks I proved that it could replace the other units with one ultimate power tool. I will write up a separate review. Bottom line - I am very happy. Still have to sell the JD. Ford sold last week. :)
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| MRETHICS
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 190 Star City, Indiana
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2002-09-06 42098
You saw it here first folks.............one very happy man.
And women say they don't understand us......when it is all very simple!!!!!
Best of luck CD!!!!! ....
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| cdcole
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 66 Saukville, WI
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2002-09-06 42111
Graded the driveway. Noticed two things about the Boomer. The 4wd does make a difference. The hydraulic lift leveling box is not adjustable from the seat. ....
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| lpdcac
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 21 Marion County, Florida
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2002-09-14 42384
I echo your thoughts on 4wd on the Boomer. We've got a 33D with 4wd that we've used in part to clean up after some land clearing and rock removal. I've had the FEL loaded with enough rock that the back tires lost traction. The fronts were a great help in moving the load.
I don't understand your comment on the hydraulic box leveling. Do you have a hydraulic adjustable link on the 3pt? If so, where can I get one? I have a couple of swales to cut and having a hydraulic link would make it a whole lot easier to tilt the box from the seat. ....
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| cdcole
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 66 Saukville, WI
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2002-09-16 42477
The leveling box is on the right rear 3 pt lift arm. It is used to level the rear connected implement. All I am saying is that on my old Ford 641 I could level it from the operator seat. You can buy a hydraulic cylinder kit for this - allowing remote operation - but for me it would be overkill. When I referred to "hydraulic" I was simply referring to the Hydraulic 3 pt Lift. ....
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| MikeB
Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 37 CT
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2002-09-16 42496
Hydraulic top line for my 33D from NH dealer, installed, $200.(I already had the rear remote hyd. add a bunch if you don't)
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| MikeB
Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 37 CT
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2002-09-20 42712
top line = top link ....
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| TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley 
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2002-09-21 42719
Most talk about hydraulic links refers to top-links. That’s what I have. Some people do have hydraulic tilt as well, and sometimes I wish I did, but I have a crank side-leveler so there's isn't enough aggravation to motivate me into hydraulic tilt.
I will say that I use the top-link almost entirely to control action of my box and seldom touch the 3ph. For cutting crowns, swales etc. the side-leveler can be used. However, it's handy to know if the 3ph floats laterally or not. I think most do, but some model JD's can select lateral float on or off. I've never figured out exactly how mine works. Sometimes I think I can lift one lower link arm manually and sometimes I think I can't.
The way I cut a new crown is to crank the leveler nearly to a max tilt, hold the box off the ground and lower the 3ph until one side of the box is on the ground and then some. I have done this with one scarifier extended as well. I then make a pass and the box end will cut a bit of a swale. The endplates do get in the way, and a blade with tilt probably would work better. Additional passer extends the width of the swale until it's the entire width of the blade. If I start by lowering the box too much, pretty much the whole width of the box ends up on the ground, and it doesn't cut a side-grade very (that's having lateral float I think). Of course, as the width of the side increases, the tractor ends up on the new angle and then less tilt on the box is needed.
All of this reminds me that I need to cut several swales before freeze-up myself. I'm getting tired of water on the garage and shed floors during spring thaw because the drainage isn't adequate over a bank at the back of our place. Of course, I'd probably still have to chop ice out of the swales, but it's easier than chopping frozen ground. Nothing's really easy I guess.
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| cdcole
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 66 Saukville, WI
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2002-10-09 43603
Update - now sold the JD318. Boomer can do everything. Can't get as close to the trees as the small garden tractor - but still good enough. Also - had to trip some lower branches so ROPS would not break them off. ....
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| lpdcac
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 21 Marion County, Florida
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2002-10-20 44015
I can appreciate your problem with the overhanging limbs. I had a used Yanmar 195 that the previous owner had equipped with a ROPS and sunshade. Even though I tried to limb back all the trees where I expected to be cutting close, I overlooked one limb that dangled just 2" too low. Scratch one perfectly good sunshade! Our TC33D doesn't go near any of our trees without first checking clearances all around. ....
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 | Peters
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 3034 Northern AL
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2002-10-20 44028
The limbs on some of my trees need to be checked through the season as they appear to grow down. For this reason I will wear my old straw hat rather than the sun shade. ....
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 | Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 6898 Waterville New York
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2002-10-23 44104
Took a tractor out to a fellow once to see how he could do on his lawn. I watched as he headed out back with not a problem, came back by this great big old maple, cut right up to it, I'm yelling and he couldn't here me for the distance as the roll bar caught the limb and picked up the front of the tractor as he pushed the foot petal down putting the nose right into the side of the tree. I think I was just as excited as he was as he couldn't figure out what the heck was going on! ....
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