FFOD334 : Asking Tractor Mike

This week I’m joined by Mike Wiles, better known online as Ask Tractor Mike. Whether you own a compact tractor, an old farm tractor or you’re thinking about buying your first one.. this episode is full of practical advice.

We cover tractor safety, common mistakes, implements, buying advice and a whole lot more. With so many of us spending time working our food plots, farms and hunting properties, I wanted to hear from someone who’s spent a lifetime around tractors. If you’ve ever climbed into the seat of a tractor (or plan to) this conversation is well worth your time. Thanks for listening! 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Fistful Dirt, the official podcast of Mossfield Properties. Whether you're on a small farm, fleet cloud, or just hang it in your backyard. We're all about the outdoor lifestyle and how to get the most from your topics outdoors. Now here's your host.

SPEAKER_04 0:34

For me, the the it's uh I've been spending a lot of time on my tractor the last couple of weeks. And that was my midlife crisis tractor. First sports car not a sports car, not a Hardy tractor. And I don't know if I've told the story. The first one I bought was uh a really old Ford Ford blue. It was a little three-cylinder diesel tractor that I looked and looked at. And when I and it was pretty small. And I'd been doing food plots with a four-wheeler and pulling a mattress box spring to smooth it out. I mean, I felt like when I got that, uh I was like, I'm the man now. I got a tractor. And and luckily, Greg Briggs, the hammer lived right down the road from where our little cabin was. And he's a really good mechanic. He probably stayed on it more than I did turning wrenches. But anyway, it's a special thing. It is and I love I look, I'd rather right now I brought I have I enjoy tractor time more than I do sitting in a lock on or something. I just love it. I get it. And uh I was out there cleaning up on mine the other day. I told you 4th of July is when my switch flips. I started thinking about hunting season for whatever reason after the 4th of July. And I was out there, I was like, no food plot work for a while. I ain't really using it much right now. I'm gonna clean it up and have it ready.

SPEAKER_03 2:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:04

And I got to thinking and I was attaching something. I said, I'm gonna call Tractor Mike. He was one of the first way back. We did a podcast with him. He's got a great YouTube channel called Tractor Mike. And you know, and he, you know, he's not a big farm implement guy. He's not, you know, doing computer planner things and all that. He's a push call, box plate kind of guy and all that. But he's got one of the best channels. He's one of the best communicators ever. And if I got stopped on something, was looking for an easy way, I could go to his YouTube channel, pull it up, get that search bar, and hit that button there's a video there. And he does he does such a good job. I know he's doing the tractor scales, but it's all implements and all that. So he's taking every issue you can have. And I'm telling you, start counting the days now. People are probably on their tractors already. Food five guys, you know, everybody's like well, I'm gonna probably book y'all guys. Anyway, I'm gonna I got some new questions for him, a lot about attachments, because everybody wants to know about quick itches and all that kind of stuff. So we're gonna uh we're gonna go visit with one of my faves. His name is Mike Wilde. He lives in Missouri, but his YouTube channel is called Tractor Mike. And uh, I got some cool questions for him. Whether he's a food plotter or weekend lawyer like I am, uh he's a good guy to follow. So let's go visit with Tractor Mike up in Missouri.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Hi, it's Mike with AskACTractorMic.com. I get a fair amount of questions on my YouTube channel about tractor service issues. And a lot of times it's it's a little more complicated than I can help you with over email, but there are three service issues on factors that are real easy to diagnose and fix. In fact, they can be fixed in under 30 seconds. Hi, it's Mike with AskTractorMic.com. I'm gonna read a viewer letter today and talk about a product that you may not know is available that might be for you and might not be for you. Hi, it's Mike with AskTractor Mic.com. Well, I'm gonna ask for a viewer letter today and talk about a danger that you face from your tractor and from your equipment that you may not know about. And there's a better than even chance that if you don't know about it and you don't take action to prevent it, you're gonna live with it the rest of your life as you get older. And it's something I personally have and I wish I could go back until my 40-year-ago self to prevent this because it's completely preventable.

SPEAKER_04 4:51

Is this Mike? It is. How you doing, brother?

SPEAKER_02 4:55

I'm good, coach. How are you?

SPEAKER_04 4:57

It's it's uh it's good to hear your voice. I gotta tell you before we get started, the the more I watch your channel, the more I appreciate it. I'm for uh for several reasons. It's you know, of course, I'm a tractor guy, and it's one of the few places out there you can get really good information and you're not trying to sell me anything. I just love that.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Well, I appreciate that. I I uh try I try I'm just passing on what was given to me. I've I've not I uh I didn't come into the business with a lot of uh knowledge like I've gained, but I've s hung around smart people and picked up everything I could.

SPEAKER_04 5:38

Well, uh you come across well like you were trained in that. It's uh so many channels out there and so much you get blasted with so much media in yours. And I was telling Lauren, who produces a podcast, I said, I can watch Mike if I have an issue, but I say can I also relax. It's so low-key, you can tell he's a country boy. Yeah. You're in Missouri, right?

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Oh yeah, yeah. I'm in the Ozarks.

SPEAKER_04 6:05

You do uh I saw a video the other day you were talking about how many rocks there are up there.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_04 6:13

That's uh that's tough farming in the rocks. But anyway, I hear some birds chirping. Are you outside?

SPEAKER_02 6:19

I'm outside. I've got construction going on in my house.

SPEAKER_04 6:22

I gotcha. Hey, I like the ambiance, just stay there. You know, you were one of the early people that were kind enough to come on the podcast, and your channel has grown substantially since then.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

Well, yours has too.

SPEAKER_04 6:35

Yes, luckily, so we're gonna be reaching some new people. So uh tell me a little bit, I want to know a little bit about your ab, your, your ag background, how you how you learned all this stuff, how you got into tractors in agriculture.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

Well, I grew up on an apple orchard, and uh part of the reason I part of the reason my my emphasis is on safety is because my dad was kind of a he was he was a little bit dangerous to be around with farm equipment. And so I realized real quick that I had to be paying attention and on my A game if I was going to survive childhood. And I love my dad, but but he was just a little wild with with equipment and a lot of people are like that. And uh so I came out of uh came off the farm and went to college to be a a farm director at a radio station. I I I loved AG and I loved communication and so I got a a degree in electronic media communication, a minor in ag and then I got hired by a local radio station to be a farm director back when that was the deal. For the internet, if you want to know what the cattle market was uh what grain prices were, you tuned into the radio and I was the guy that gave that. And so that's that's kind of my background. I'm born and raised in the Missouri Ozarks, never lived anywhere else. And um then I got into the equipment business.

SPEAKER_04 8:00

Was that selling tractors and implements and to farmers or was it big egg? What kind of gear did you sell?

SPEAKER_02 8:06

Well, um I worked at the radio station for a few years and then realized I was starving. And so uh uh went to the manager and said, I I see that the nice cars in the parking lot are all driven by the salespeople. I want to be one of them. And so he said, Well, you can sell a little bit, we'll give you the the worst accounts and you can see what you can do with them. And so I took a uh a client list and kind of built it over a period of twelve years, and one of my clients was uh AgCo Corporation, uh, which is the old Alice Chalmers Heston. Uh later ended up being Matthew Ferguson and New Idea and just a whole bunch of companies rolled together. Uh the local rep was one of my clients and uh he got moved up the ladder. Um and uh well we were booking his spring advertising and I can't remember what year it was, nineteen ninety, I think. And uh he said, Well you're gonna have to talk to the new guy. I've been moved up the ladder I got to thinking about that. I'm like, oh that'd be a nice career move 'cause I love equipment. And um and so I interviewed with him and got hired and I was uh uh territory manager for Southwest Missouri uh for um actually I can't either ten or eleven years, can't remember now how long it was. And so uh I got into sales in in uh in AG and uh we mostly sold little stuff, uh small tractors, uh small hay round bailers, uh hay cutters, things like that. And uh I I did that for a long time called on dealers and that's that's where I got a lot of my knowledge. And then uh back in 2002, uh one of my bigger dealers, S NH Farm Supply, was getting ready to add a second store and their uh their owner asked me to come in and manage it and then I came in and did that. And I did that till uh 2014. And so I've had three jobs. I've been a farm director, I've been a uh a uh territory man for agco and I've managed a dealership. And uh in the equipment end is where I gathered my knowledge about stuff and I I d I don't think I'm I'm very smart about equipment, but I know who to call and I always hang out with guys that know more than I do and I just absorb information and that's that's what I regurgitate on my YouTube channel.

SPEAKER_04 10:28

Well, you had some communication skills. I I didn't know you were training it, but you were. There's a way to give that information out and a way not to. And well, thank you. And did did you kind of start the channel because there was a lack of good common information? Because a lot of times you if you ask a really good mechanic, especially nowadays, he'll he'll he'll tell you computer stuff that's so far over your head you you can't I can't absorb that. Did you start the channel just to spread good information or was it just kind of a hobby you liked?

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Well, a little bit of both, but um back back when you two came out, um I was managing this store. I had three sales guys, and in the busy season, uh we we'd have too many customers coming in looking at tractors, and we didn't like people standing around. When you came in to get a you know, the shop, we wanted to get right on you and help you. And so I would take the overflow of sales when when the sales guys couldn't get to everybody. And I was I was driving home one night after talking to three guys in a row that came in to buy these small compact tractors who had never been on a tractor and and didn't have any knowledge and and I was just thinking about how the the sales the sales um process is is so long with those guys and they're they're not they're not dumb. They they just they didn't grow up on a farm, they're they're they've not been trained on trackers and you really need to start where the basics, you know, this is what a PTO is, this is what a three point is, and really walk them through a you know, a lifetime of education that farm kids grew up with in in a very short period, and then and then you you start actually telling them this is what you need on a tractor and listening to what they want, trying to fit that all together, and it's a it's a a a lot of the reason if you if you're a first-time tractor buyer and you go into a tractor dealership, a lot of times you don't feel like you're welcome. And the reason is the salespeople know if they're dealing with a farmer, they don't have much training to do. They'll just get right to the sales process with a weekend farmer, a hobby farmer, or or a guy's putting in food plots that's never been around a tractor. They've got to start from the beginning and educate him. And so I was driving home and I was thinking about I wish there was someplace on the internet where I could direct these these folks to get information you know, that that wasn't trying to sell 'em anything, just just the basics. And so I came home that night and I Googled how to buy a tractor and everything I could think of related to that, and there was all kinds of people trying to sell you stuff, but but nobody just trying to give you the basic education. And uh YouTube had just came just come online a little before that, and I'm like, Well, you know, I've got media a media background and I've got this little camera and I can figure out editing. I'll do a I'll do a video about how to take an implement off a tracker or or hook a hook an implement up. It was my first video. And uh because we we have a lot of times we'll deliver the tractor and you train the guy on the lot and then you know, after he gets it home he gets he gets the the bush hog off and he can't get it back on. And I'm like, Well, I'll I'll do a video talking about that and just see what happens. And so I did it and I posted it and forgot about it and then came back in like a couple of weeks and there were seven hundred and thirty five views. And I'm like, Well, I wonder how they're finding this, and then came back, you know, a couple more weeks and there's like twenty five hundred views and it I'm like, There's a demand out there for for this and so I started kinda doing videos just you know, every time I had time. If if I had a a topic it was real easy to do a video, I'd do it. And uh it just kinda snowballed after that. It's uh I started in twenty twelve and and uh by twenty fourteen I'm like I if I'm gonna do this, I've got to do it 'cause I'm old and and uh and I if I if I'm gonna try to make YouTube my career, I need to do it. And with my wife's support, I quit my my day job to make free videos for a living and uh still doing it. Uh I think I'm America's oldest living YouTuber.

SPEAKER_04 14:39

Well, it worked out well. That's what we want to talk about as hobby farmers and food pots. I got a tractor guy I deal with. His name's Dusty Jordan. He's a good guy. He's out at the John Deere place. But I was he's been on the podcast before, and I he made he made a statement to me that I that was uh pretty fascinating because they got a big there's a lot of farming going on down here and the lines are full of giant tractors. And and I was asking him about you know how much you know smaller gear he sold, and he he gave me a date. He said because up to this date, this month this year. He said the majority said 50 percent or 80 percent of our business was 100 horsepower and up. And now 80 percent of our business is 50 horsepower and down. So your time your timing was impeccable. So let's let's talk about that weekend. I'm a weekend warrior too. I uh that's what I do. I plant 10 acres of corn that I'm very proud of. I do it with a drill. I don't have a planner, but anyway, uh in your opinion, where where's the sweet spot horsepower-wise, for somebody that's like this is their midlife crisis, I'm fixing to buy me a tractor or whether it's used or new or wherever. And I got I'm in a hunting club, I may do five food plots, I'm not gonna do a big garden and all that, but I might, but I got a little farm. Where's that sweet spot for horsepower in your opinion?

SPEAKER_02 16:10

Well, uh, it's kind of hard to say, you know, if you're if you're selling a tractor to somebody, you want to ask them a bunch of questions about what you're gonna do with the tractor. And you know, when I'm selling the guy uh his first tractor, I want to know, you know, ten years from now, if this expands, what could you be doing? Because I kind of want to match the horsepower and the size of the tractor to that, if I can. But uh my general rule of thumb, uh my favorite size to sell is about a forty a horse tractor to a guy like that. If you're if you've got five acres or three acres, a subcompact tractor is funny big enough to to take care of that. If you've got I I always go five to five to twenty acres, you can probably a 30 horse tractor will do that. If you're over 20 acres, you you really ought to have a 40 horse tractor. And and and but I always tell people get the biggest you can afford because you'll always want the next size up.

SPEAKER_04 17:05

Yeah, it's just like building a shop. And I had exactly I built a shop and uh everybody's like, what's your dimension? I tell, man, you need if it's 40 by 40, you need to go 40 by 50. Go bigger, go bigger, go bigger. Are you uh we're in that 40 horsepower world? That's a really good number to start at. Gas or diesel?

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Oh, diesel 100%. Really? Yeah, uh all the new tractors are diesel and the the new engines just start, uh, even in cold weather. Um and uh if if you're working a gas tractor, you're gonna use a ton of gas. And the uh the I don't know when the last gas tractor was produced, but they've got so much age on them. And and honestly nobody won I I I won't say nobody, but the bulk of the buyer public does not want gas anymore and they're hard to sell, resell. Now, having said that, if you like to tinker with gas engines, if you've got a a 327 Corvette sitting in your garage and you just love love love the gas concept, you can find a bargain on a gas tractor. Um you want to make sure the parts are still available for them um and they start in the winter, and if you're just if you're on a a real budget, that's the one place you can get a a bargain deal is on a gas tractor. But if you're buying new, you really don't have much choice. I don't think anybody makes a gas tractor deal.

SPEAKER_04 18:35

I I just kind of fell in love with tractors. One of my prized possessions is a 1954 Ferguson. And and I bought it for just just a song, but we me and my grandsons had more fun now. We did some work on it. We put a had to put a tank on it and we switched it over to 12 volt and worked on the gas and put some tires on it. That thing runs like a sewing machine, but you kind of got to be a little bit of a shade tree mechanic on those old gas tractors. And you're right, they those if you if you're looking for a bargain, that's where to go.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

Absolutely. And and I I have to tell you, I'm not anti-gas tractors. Um I am from a resale standpoint. If you're if you're buying one and you're like, I'm gonna use this to put my food plots in and then I'm gonna resell it, you definitely want to get a diesel, uh a good, good tractor, uh late model diesel tractor. But our family on the farm, we we held out till the whole rest of the world had pretty much switched to diesel and we were still running gas tractors. Um and they and they there is kind of a kind of a neat sound of a gas tractor that's that's tuned up and running well. Uh that I I yeah, I I get I get the folks that have got 'em, but uh I I would recommend anybody buying a new one with definitely definitely lean toward diesel.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

My best tractor, I only have two. I hit the I kind of hit the lottery on that. It's a 2006. 5425. And they they shortly after that's when they started adding dev, so I don't have def diesel. Yep. Whatever they I don't even know what def stands for, I just know it's a pain. But uh I I I lucked out on that deal. I want I want to talk about implements. And before I ask you, I want to ask you this question first. How many people when you were selling that would look at a front end loader, didn't want to spend the money and then would eventually come back and get one? What's what's your thoughts on a front end loader?

SPEAKER_02 20:34

Absolutely. If you're shopping for a tractor, get a tractor with a front end loader. And a lot of people will buy a tractor at an auction and think, well, I'll put a front end loader on this or find a used one. And uh that I I've done a few videos on this. Uh that doesn't work. First off, a new loader will cost more than uh you probably got in the used tractor that was a bargain at the auction. And uh and there's very few people making them anymore. Uh there used to be a lot of people had aftermarket loaders you could put on a tractor, but now they're I would bet you they're close to ten thousand dollars or more. And uh and then you gotta pay to get them installed and everything else. So front end loader, get it on every tractor. If you think you'll never use it in resale value, it'll pay you back.

SPEAKER_04 21:23

And we're gonna eventually talk about taking them on and off. I'm I'll get to that. I wanna I wanna get the safety thing out of the way because you brought that up first, and that's a big deal. And I was watching your channel the other day, and you actually had a video of a guy who flipped a tractor over, and this guy, he he wa he didn't seem to be no rookie, and he was trying to pull something like tell me about that video. And I know they can go to your channel and say tell me exactly what happened, because that guy he he's the luckiest fellow in the US right now. He could have he could have got killed easy on that accident.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Yeah, and I really appreciate him sharing that video because um it'll it'll keep some other people safe when you you can explain what happens and until you see it you don't really understand. But on these some of these older tractors, um people like to raise the uh well people like to to chain something to a bar that fit between the um lower link arms, your your lower part of your three point.

SPEAKER_04 22:27

Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

And and uh just about everybody that's ever owned a tractor's got a bar back there with pins on the end of it that goes in between those lower link arms. And the problem with that is those link arms are uh uh attached up high. And so if you're trying to pull something that is gonna resist being pulled, the torque of the wheels spinning is gonna try to lift the front end of the tractor off the ground. And there have been I don't know how many hundreds, probably thousands, of people killed when they would take one of those bars, put it between their, you know, their lower link arms to lift their implements, and then put a chain on that to something else. And this guy was trying to tow a tractor that had been sitting for a while. Well, actually, he was trying to pick up a loader so he could tow a tractor. And he he chained it up high there, and when he and he put it in a really low gear, and when he did, the front of the tractor came up in the air and came over, and he he he just turned out of the way just just before he was crushed.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

He hooked it up here where the three-point hangs on the back of the tractor up above the axle. And if you're ever towing a heavy weight, that's the last thing in the world you want to do. You have a draw bar down here, and it's low for a reason. And when you watch the video, you'll see what happened, and I'll explain it. But here he is, he took the chain to the front loader bucket, and he's all he's trying to do is trying to pick the bucket up off the ground so he can move the entire tractor. And he jerks it, and all of a sudden, here's what happens. The entire front end of the Ferguson tractor comes up and goes over. And had he not had really good reflexes and moved out of the way, he would be dead now. And the really bad thing, his family would have found him. And when they went back to see what happened to him, they have he literally got a drone up in the air and two cameras filming this. They would have had a front row seat to his last minutes on Earth. So it it sends shivers up my spine to watch this, but it's kind of important to watch so it brings home what happens when you hook anything that you're gonna pull up high on a tractor.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

And he he was uh he's a YouTube guy, and he was filming it, and he had a drone up in the air filming it. He had uh two cameras on the ground, and I'm and he shared that video with me so I could show it to people. He said, Yeah, he said, I did a dumb thing here and I know it now, but he said this could save lives. And boy, the first time I saw it, I was like, I'm watching the guy die here, and it still gives me chills to watch because so many people have died that way.

SPEAKER_04 25:16

Yeah, you could tell it wasn't no stunt when you looked at his eyes, and he was he just got out of there by the grace of God. I mean, it was like he was Deion Sanders. That was the fastest move ever, and he was so, so lucky. What are some of the other common injuries if you hear about in your team with tractors? Because here's the deal. I'm the same way I didn't grow up on a farm, I grew up in a neighborhood. And I I fell in love with this, and I um I got some some safety habits I use because you got to realize that thing is big and it's dangerous and all that. What's some other ways you see people getting hurt because they think they've got it figured out?

SPEAKER_02 26:00

Well, first off, if you're ever towing anything, uh uh talking about the guy that's tracked came up on him, always tow from the draw bar. That's below the the the the axle.

SPEAKER_04 26:13

The lowest point.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

Right, right. So that that's number one. The the biggest place people get hurt, um, especially weekend warriors like you and me that that don't farm for a living, are are our tractor rollover. And um you know the farmers kept the good ground, the bottom land and and the and the flat ground, and they sold the the hills to to those of us that like recreational ground and hunting and things like that because they couldn't farm it. And uh and so we've got rolling hills and we're out there with a tractor trying to navigate away our way around it, and you can you can roll a tractor over on you uh on a side hill pretty easy. And uh that's that's probably the most danger that you face. Uh the good news is if you keep your seatbelt fastened and your roll bar in the upright position, there's a 99 better than 99% chance you'll survive a tractor rollover. But first thing we want to do is is not have a rollover. Yeah. And and um oh, I've done I've done tons of videos on that. There's so many things that affect that, the mechanical condition of the tractor, uh, where the load is. If you're if you're running a front-end loader and you've got a load of dirt or gravel in there, uh especially on hills, keep that load as low as you can. Don't don't have it up in the air. And uh if you're if you're uh cutting on a on a side hill like with a disc mower, cut hay, uh you know, be be cognizant when you pick it up of what what that's gonna do. Um you know, but be really careful when the grass is wet because dew can can make a tractor slide. Um but but rollover is the number one and the the other the the other one I would talk about is is uh PTO entanglement. Um we had a customer when I worked at the dealership that uh got tangled up in a three-point post hole digger. And uh I uh this guy is the luckiest human being I've ever known. Uh it messed him up real bad, but he survived and when they got him in they found he had a blockage in his heart and they did emergency heart surgery on him and he came out better than he went in, but most people die. Just just flat out. Uh that PTO is spinning, you can't stop it. If your um you know, your hoodie strap gets hung in that uh or your uh overall uh overalls you've got uh a strap there or your hair, uh you're probably gonna be killed pretty quickly and uh your family is gonna find you, and this is gory, but it it makes people think about it. Your family's gonna find you your body spinning around and uh around a post hole logger out in the field an hour later, and it's it's gonna be the uh they'll never forget that, and that's not the way you want to end. And like I said, that's a terrible way of putting it, and it's a gory picture, but there's been if you talk to first responders, they've been to an accident where there was something like that happened. And uh and so uh always shut that tractor off when you put your PTO on. Always. Um just turn turn it off, put the PTO on, and turn it back on. Uh it's just not worth it. Um and and stay and stay away from it when it's spinning.

SPEAKER_04 29:34

My rule I use for a rule of thumb out here is if I exit, I got a cab on my tractor, yeah, I'm lazy, but uh if I'm coming out of the cab, I turn the motor, I turn everything off. If I'm going to look at something, not much can happen then, you know.

SPEAKER_02 29:50

No. No, no, that I I wish everybody would do that because it keeps people a lot safer. And probably the the last thing I'll say, uh don't don't uh the you get a new tractor out there and the family wants and and the kids want to ride on it, there have been a lot of kids killed when they fell off and dad can't stop.

SPEAKER_03 30:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

And and and so I I you know and your cab tractor is a little different, it's it's safer. And some cab tractors have a buddy seat, which is nice, but uh if you're on an open station tractor, do not carry riders.

SPEAKER_04 30:22

Yep. That's uh common sense, but you know, sometimes that's a superpower. So I wanted to I wanted to touch on that and get everybody to go look at that video because it's pretty amazing.

SPEAKER_02 30:34

It's uh I I'll tell you one one last thing. The thing about tractor accidents is and I've had them, I've I've had some weird stuff happen. They happen so quickly. Uh you you can't you can't react quick enough, and it and it's just dumb stuff that you don't expect, and uh, and you can't get out of the way like the guy did in the video. So just just try your best to be safe and be thinking about that at all times.

SPEAKER_04 31:02

You know, old timer builds knives with durability in mind. They also want it to be a tool that is comfortable enough to work with day after day. Since the beginning, old timers make knives for those who don't rely on others to get the job. I love that. Old timer built it 20 years ago or whatever in 2012 that was on hearing protection. I don't think that's a big deal, but uh you you you had a fairly long video about how important that is. Um tell me tell me about hearing protection and what kind you use and how how and you you you talked about people's voices, this many decibels and stuff. Go over that for me a little bit because it's it's kind of rare to see somebody using hearing protection.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

Very, very rare. Uh long and the short of it, um around 85 decibels is um where there's a problem. And if you've got a phone, you can download an app. And uh if you're out on your tractor, uh just just see what your decibel level is. Now you in your cab tractor, you're probably fine. But you know, if you're out bush hogging and you're bush hogging 20 acres and you're out all day and you're at 90 90 decibels or 89 or up in that area, you're probably doing permanent damage to your hearing. And um, you know, there's um a lot of you know ear ear muffs that you can use or earplugs, and I go into that in all the in in the video. Um I've I've got some, they're they're actually for hunters, you know, they're for uh gun range uh ear muffs that I put on that pretty much eliminate a lot of the sound. But I've lost a lot of my low frequency hearing uh from being around equipment. And um if I'm in a in a yeah, you'll you'll know this is happening to you if you're in a restaurant and your family's all talking and you're you're having trouble pulling out the what they're saying from the ambient noise, uh that's where I am, and I don't want to lose any more of it. So I'm I'm real cognizant of it now, and I wish I had been 40 years ago.

SPEAKER_04 34:25

Yeah, that's a big deal. And here's the thing anybody that's talking about food plots and stuff, they got shooting mugs. All they gotta do is throw them up in. I leave mine in my tractor. So they always got a pair in there. All right. We're gonna get to some implements here in a minute, but I want some tips on shopping or a used tractor. Uh new tractor is not in everybody's budget, but like you say, them them old gas tractors, man, you can go on Facebook Marketplace or wherever you shop, and there's hundreds and hundreds. And if you're not a really good mechanic, you can be a little bit lost. So just quick off the top of your head, what can somebody look for if they're standing there in front of a used tractor and saying, all right, I'm gonna go look at this old massey or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Well, I t I tell you one, when I was in the dealership world, we would trade for tractors. And a lot of times uh I've I've been out to farms and and and places where people are wanting to trade in a tractor and I would evaluate them. Um I I tried to do that a little bit just to get out of the store some. Um I can almost tell you that if you drive up to the person's house, I can tell you what kind of shape the tractor's gonna be in.

SPEAKER_04 35:38

If uh if they if they keep their great point.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

If if they if they meticulously maintain their place in the yards mode and fences trimmed under and everything, they they probably take good care of their of their tractor and you're gonna get a good one from them. If you go up there and there's a dead cow laying in the work in the yard and and there's old old cars in various states of disrepair uh taken apart everywhere, uh you know, we're not gonna put much money in that tractor, uh, regardless of what kind of shape it's in. And uh I I just I think that's the the best rule of thumb I can give you. You can tell so much about a tractor by the person that's wanting to sell it to you.

SPEAKER_04 36:19

Oh, what good advice. I never would have thought of that. That that's a great point. I uh your top five, now this is coming from the sales point. Of of seeing what people need, what people use, your your favorite five implements on a mid-range tractor, 40 horse, 35, whatever it is. What do you think the top five just most popular implements are?

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Well, the number one is a is a well we talk front end loader. We just assume everybody's getting a front end loader, that that's an attachment, I guess. Uh uh second would be a bush hog, or a brush hog, bush hog's brand name, but brush hog, whatever, rotary cutter, rough cut rotary cutter. And um I I try to tell people if you're if you're cutting, you know, back in the woods and cutting sprouts and stuff like that, get a a rotary cutter or a bush hog. If you're wanting to maintain a field that looks like a you know a football field and it it looks like freshly mowed grass and you want a pretty cut, that's a finish mower.

SPEAKER_03 37:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:23

That's a that's a different product and your ground needs to be smooth and everything else. But uh anyway, the the almost I would say eighty eighty percent of weekend farmers may be higher. When they get their tractor, they get a rotary cutter to go behind. Um the next attachment I would not live without is pallet forks. Uh you gotta have pallet forks for your tractor, uh moving around stuff. Um uh there's a better product what I'll mention here in a second for moving brush around, but if you're a poor man like I am, you can get by with pallet forks until you get the next attachment, which is a a grapple, and uh and a grapple mounts on the front of the tractor, and you can drive into a brush pile and squeeze it down and then move it wherever you want to. And um uh you've got to have hydraulic connections on the front of the tractor to do that, and that's something that a lot of people don't understand how that works. But uh you've got a cylinder up there that clamps down and you've got to have hydraulic flow to that to activate the cylinder. And so if you're buying a new tractor, you want to make sure you've got a a hydraulic connection at the front of the tractor if you're thinking about getting gravel. But uh then uh if you've got a a gravel driveway, you definitely gotta have a box blade because you'll you'll get a a crown in the middle of it, and you'll need to drive over that and work it up again. Um and then after that though, you unless I'm forgetting something, there's just a whole myriad of attachments that some people own and some people never have use for, like rock rakes and uh tree pullers, tree shears. Um and then I'm probably forgetting some, but those are the those are the biggies.

SPEAKER_04 39:03

I'm just gonna ask you a question now, and this is the reason I'm calling, to be honest with you. I want you to talk, and look, uh I'm listening to this as much as anybody else. I want to talk about the the confusion around quick hitches. Do they actually work? Is one size at all? Because after all, if you have got something that may solve all that, but talk talk about quick deploy hitches and stuff like that. And do they work on all tractors? Are they worth it? I don't know, I want to talk about that product you came up with, but let's talk about quick hitches because they can be a light, they're just a big time time saver.

SPEAKER_02 39:42

Absolutely. Um, okay, uh uh there's there's two quick hitches, two quick attaches I want to talk about. And let's start at the back. And and one thing you'll notice real quickly when you're hooking it up, hooking implements, if you're new to tractors, it's hard to get that bushhog hooked up. And uh it's it's not only hard for you, it's actually hard for your farmers that have been doing it for years. When growing up on a farm, we traded off a six-foot bushog and got an eight-foot bush hog. And that thing was the hardest thing to hook up. My dad came real close to buying another tractor just to leave that thing hooked up, and a quick hitch would have solved that problem immediately. Um, and what a what a quick hitch is, uh there's there's basically two designs that go on the back of the tractor, and you mount these things on and they stay on all the time. And and one, um, the first one I ever saw was designed by a company called Speako, and it's a big metal frame that hooks on your three-point, and and uh and it's got what I call an eagle claw. Instead of trying to get a a pin and a hole to hook your bush hog up, you're coming up under it with a claw that picks it up, and then there's a locking mechanism that that locks it on. So that that is the I call it the speako design, uh, and you can get them at Harbor Freight, they're really cheap. Um, and and they work they work great if two things. Number one, all of your implements are the same width as that quick hitch, because if you got one that's too wide or too narrow, it won't go on that. And number two, if you're ever thinking about putting a post hole digger on your tracker, a three-point mounted post hole digger, and that's one attachment I forgot to mention a while ago that I've got and a lot of people have, um the the you gotta take that whole mechanism off. And so the the one I prefer is the one you're talking about called, and I wish I'd you said I came up with it, I didn't really come up with it. Somebody in uh Pat, Pat came up with it, uh uh in in uh Kentucky. It's called Pat's Easy Change. And it's a it's an eagle claw that goes on your lower link arms, uh, over your balls, the the and you just you put the put the put them on and leave them, and there's there's uh you you shim them up so they're level, and then you can back up to an implement and come up under the pins and lock it on. Now, the disadvantage of PATS is you still gotta hook up your top length, but if you're getting out to hook up your PTO, you're gonna get off the tractor anyway. Uh but either one of those systems makes hooking up a three-point attachment a whole lot easier. Either one of those systems also you gotta understand, sets the attachment back about four to six eight inches. And if your PTO is too short, that can be a problem. So you've got to make sure that your your PTO shaft is long enough, and most of the time it is, to accommodate that. But the uh the Pats Easy Change I offer on my website, and it's a game changer if you struggle to hook up a bush hog. The other quick attach is on the front of the tractor.

SPEAKER_04 43:01

There's where some confusion comes in.

SPEAKER_02 43:04

And and there's a and and I'll I'll confuse everybody real quick. There's a quick attach bucket, which means a bucket comes off the tractor easily, or there's a quick attach loader, and that means that you pull a couple of pins and the whole front end loader comes off the tracker. Now, I wouldn't give you a plug nickel for a quick attach loader, because I never take my loader off my tractor. But a quick attach bucket I would not be without. And most most of your quick attaches uh are are skid loader compatible. In other words, anything if it's a skid loader will fit a tractor with this on it. And we sell those. If you don't have quick attach on your tractor, my website is where you want to go to get it, because that's that's our main business uh is conversions to convert from a pin on bucket, in other words, there's four pins holding the bucket on, to quick attach, and we can do that. But uh you you definitely I I would not have a track. Without a quick hitch on the back. And I would not have a tractor without a quick attach on the front because you'll change attachments. I go from called forge to bucket to grapple all the time when I'm using my tractor.

SPEAKER_04 44:13

So the adapter you got well if you get it on your tractor, because I I thought manufacturers were different widths and all that kind of stuff, but then you can use all that stuff that they make for skid steers, right?

SPEAKER_02 44:27

Exactly, exactly. If you've got the skid loader compatible. Now let's let's go a little deeper. Um I'm not sure what's on your deer, but deer uh tends to put they've got a system called a hook and pin system that's not compatible with with skid loader. And uh it it works kind of similar, but it's got two little linchpins down at the bottom that keep the bucket on the tracker.

SPEAKER_04 44:49

Yeah, that's what I have.

SPEAKER_02 44:51

Okay, if you wanted to use skid loader attachments, I also sell an adapter that's got the the deer system on the back and skid loader on the front. And a lot of people don't know that stuff is available. We have it, we ship it all over the country, and that's that's what we do. But uh it it just opens up a whole new world for for putting different attachments on a track.

SPEAKER_04 45:15

Yeah, I got a you know, a scoop bucket on front of mine, but I never take it off because nothing else will fit on there. So I'm about to spend some I'm about to spend some money. I gotta tell you, I got some of them uh the Pat's quick hitch on the back of mine, those were life changers for me. Absolutely life changers. And they fit. I didn't have to adjust any kind of all my PTO stuff work. And man, those things are a life changer. All right, real quick, before we move on past this, explain and you can't assume everybody's a farmer and been doing it their whole life. Explain the difference in category one and category two, because we're gonna uh we're gonna get into that a little bit. But I want you to to how how can a guy look um um and tell me where does cat two start and what's the difference in them?

SPEAKER_02 46:02

Well they there there's uh different size pins and I I I I wish I had I can't remember it. It's I think uh I I don't have the exact inches and I ought to have that etched in my memory. But any tractor under forty horsepower is probably gonna be category one.

SPEAKER_03 46:18

Right.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

And they have uh I think it's an inch and an eighth pin. And and then there's there's uh there's a gap there up to forty-five horse where they can be category two which have a bigger pin. And that's a that's the holes in your lower length arms on your three point. And and so on category two they've got a bigger hole. You can put a category one attachment on a category two tracker by putting a sleeve over the pin that makes that bigger, and and and so you can put a category one attachment on a category two tracker, but if you're wanting to go from category two to category one, you can't. Because the pen's bigger than the hole.

SPEAKER_04 47:01

It gets confusing, but I'm I'm telling you, they make pins and adapters for everything. Long as you're putting a smaller attachment to a cat two, it like you said, it don't it don't really work the other way.

SPEAKER_02 47:13

So Yeah, every every tractor dealer, uh tractor supply, all the all those places have got those sleeves that go over your pins to go from category one to category two. But if you've got a category two attachment, you know I have I have had to take the phone call where we sold the category two attachment to a guy with a category one tracker, and that that never ends well.

SPEAKER_04 47:35

I bet. All right, here's something I want to I want to get your thoughts on. I've been digging, digging, digging. I like going down them rabbit holes. I got a fairly long driveway gravel and I work on it all the time. I have a box blade in a what I call a land plane, and I'm just about to pull the trigger on a hydraulic center link. What are your thoughts on a hydraulic center link? Is it worth the money? Is it too hard to adjust? Can it can it be worth its w whatever the price is? What's your thoughts on a hydraulic center link?

SPEAKER_02 48:07

Well, uh hydraulic center links are handy. If you've got a uh the speako frame that that hooks up to the uh quick inch on the back, you can hydraulically move the hook back that gets under the uh the top of the ARM pin. And so it makes hooking up a lot easier. And then when you're when you're using your your box blade, um like if you're doing your driveway, you can manually tilt the uh blade back so your cutting edge is more aggressive on the back. So if you're backing up, you're digging in, it's kind of like a bulldozer track going backwards. And so changing that angle will change how aggressive your attachment is on the back. And so there's the people that have got a hydraulic top link would never be without one because they they love it. Because when they're doing their driveway and stuff, they're gonna angle that attachment to fit the job without getting off the tracker and having to screw that turnbuckle off on your top link around and around. Um but now personally me, I don't I would never use it, so I'm probably the world's worst salesman for a hydraulic top link. But I I just know enough customers that that I sold them to in the dealership world that we would never be without one that there's tremendous benefits to having it. So that's my that's your thoughts.

SPEAKER_04 49:34

I I watched a video the other day on a guy and he and he loved his, but he said it's he said it's it's really hard if you're by yourself, because you know that old style, you can unscrew it and get it right back there where you need it. This one you gotta just hit that hydraulic till you get it just right. So that's the only thing that's kept me from doing it. I I two it's uh it gets that I and I'm always by myself, so that's kind of got me on hold right now.

SPEAKER_02 50:02

Well, and the problem we you got with the top link is is you're if you're changing attachments on the back, it it's never the right length. And and and and so with a hydraulic top link, uh you don't you know if you're using your top link right on your tractor, you you're you get it the right length and then you you tighten those jam nuts up against it so it doesn't go anywhere. And and then if you're out and maybe it's raining, you got just a little bit of rust in those jam nuts while you're out trying to change attachments and you don't have a big wrench, and with a hydraulic you you got the wrench all the time. You could just move it wherever you want it. So yeah, there's some big advantages.

SPEAKER_04 50:40

Yeah, gotcha. Well, Mike, I appreciate it. I really wanted to cover that uh the front end attachment deal, because that's I'm always scratching my head with that. And uh man, I do love your channel. What's the best way to keep up with you? Now, the name of your YouTube channel is simply Tractor Mike, am I correct?

SPEAKER_02 50:59

That's right. If you Google Tractor Mike, you'll find me. And uh I'm I'm not a big social media guy. I my Facebook page is pretty anemic and near death. I I don't do Twitter, I don't do uh Instagram, uh my kids are on me all the time, Dad. You're missing it, but I do YouTube, that's what I do, that's what I understand, and that's all I do.

SPEAKER_04 51:21

YouTube's pretty powerful, I can tell you this, but your kids are right, and that social media, there's good parts to it and there's bad parts. I do a lot promoting the podcast and all that kind of stuff. But I can tell you if you got a question and you w you know, it's just like back in the days when I started planting food plots. If I walked into a co-op and had a question, just a simple question, and people would look at me like your cuz and you don't know how to do that, and it's it can be overwhelming. You you you kinda you kind of get gun shy going to a tractor store and asking, because they assume everybody knows that, but you can go to Tractor Mike on YouTube, get in that search bar, and any topic, you got a video on it. And I just want to tell you, man, you have helped me through some spots and I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 52:11

Okay, thank you. That that means a lot to me. And uh if anybody out there in your audience has a question, um I I I try to get back with everybody that that uh uh asks a question. The best place to to ask a question is on my website. And that's ask tractormic.com. And if you've got a a question that you're embarrassed about, uh I've probably got a video that answers it, and if you don't, I'll answer it. And uh sometimes it takes me a little while to get back to everybody because we get a volume of questions. We do try to get back with everybody and and no questioning is dumb. We we we uh we don't treat you like you're an idiot if you if you don't know the answer because there's I'm learning stuff every day, you know, on tractors. You you you never know at all.

SPEAKER_04 52:54

Yeah, that's right. AskTractorMike.com. Boy, it has helped me and uh man, I appreciate your time. What part of Missouri are you in? Are you in like north or south or southwest part?

SPEAKER_02 53:06

Uh we're between Springfield and Branson. I could be on Table Rock Lake in about 35, 40 minutes if I had time.

SPEAKER_04 53:14

Well, I'm through there a good bit. Next time I come up there, I'm gonna shoot you an email. Absolutely. Try to come shake your hand, brother. Uh, you have helped me immensely.

SPEAKER_02 53:24

We got we got a little Ma and Paw restaurant here in Ozark, Missouri called Rosie Joe's, and I'll buy your lunch when you come through.

SPEAKER_04 53:30

Sounds good. Well, Mike, I appreciate everything. Uh look, I'm gonna go ahead and tell you in about a year we're gonna revisit because I'm gonna be working on some implements and stuff. But thank you for your time. God bless what you do, man. I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_02 53:43

Well, thank you, Cus. I sure it's an honor to be on your channel again.

SPEAKER_04 53:47

Thank you, brother.

SPEAKER_05 53:48

If you enjoy listening to Fistful of Dirt Podcast, then you've probably heard. Give us a rating, leave us a review if you like it. Well, if you like it, here's what you can do. Open your iTunes Podcast app available in the App Store if you don't already have it on your phone and type in Fistful of Dirt. Make sure you're following us, scroll down through the episodes until you see ratings and reviews. At the stars to rate the show, and click write a review if you'd like to leave us a comment. The good ratings help us out and ensure that more people will be able to discover the podcast. Thanks for listening. We'll see you in seven days.

SPEAKER_04 54:26

You know, I had a uh suspicion that he had some media training because he's so good on camera the way. And he he can talk to you about technical stuff and it's not over your head. It reminds me of Grant Woods, who's a biologist, but he can speak to you in language that you can understand and find out that's what he went to school for. Media, whatever it was, but he is a hardcore tractor guy.

SPEAKER_05 54:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:52

And I love getting information. And sometimes it is embarrassing to ask a question.

unknown 54:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 54:58

I can see that.

SPEAKER_04 54:59

Yeah, which I ain't worried about it. I don't really care. I can I'll I'll tell a story on me when we first moved out here, this place was really big with a lot of open ground. And your your husband talked me into let's cut this hay for something anyway, and he borrowed the equipment from his aunt or somebody. And he was laying it down and he showed me how to run the tether.

SPEAKER_05 55:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:22

I hooked it to the That's what fluffs it up. That's what fluffs it up. It's got those round rakes. This didn't have a I think four or five on it. And he said, You think you can do that? And I was looking at him like, Well, yeah. I know how to drive a tractor. Well, I went over there and backed into that thing and hooked it up and took off and it wasn't doing anything. And I was like, Well, you gotta have it hooked to the PTO, so else man. You can't assume you know everything.

SPEAKER_05 55:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:49

And being, you know, tractor stuff, it can be dangerous. And he's a big safety guy.

SPEAKER_05 55:54

I appreciated that part.

SPEAKER_04 55:55

Yeah, and he's always talking about don't don't assume anything. And I don't. Like I say, when I out here, if I get off of my tractor when I'm in the middle of something, I'll power it down, turn it off. Ain't nothing can happen when it's just sitting there not running. So anyway, hope that helped. Think the timing was really great.

SPEAKER_03 56:13

Yeah, I do too.

SPEAKER_04 56:14

Because people are doing stuff. I don't think they're you know, if they've planted a dove field, that's done. But I can guarantee you they're out on their ATVs looking at them food plots, going, okay.

SPEAKER_05 56:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 56:25

Looking at the calendar. So hope you enjoyed your visit with uh tractor mic. Pretty soon I'm gonna do a little recap from the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame. Yep. Paul Butsky's going in. Ted Nugent. Ted Nugent's going in. I'll try to give you a little recap from there. But until then, from me and Lorraine up in the Camo Cave from Mossy Oak and Mossy Oak Properties. God bless you all.

SPEAKER_05 56:50

We'll see you in seven days.

SPEAKER_00 56:57

Find your favorite place. Visit Mossy Oak Properties.