Dave,
That is one very nice tractor! I LOVE IT! More tractors than we can drive. Talk to Dave P about fixing up the lowboy trailer he's got (needs a lot of work), put the water purification camper on that behind your new tractor and, voila, more fun than a (insert favorite Cable Guy phrase here!)
Did you pull that into Winer's? Woulda been interesting to see the comparison between that and the arty tractor!
I never had to work on one with a winch. Any problems getting leverage to pull the hood open?
No I stopped at Winers on the way out there on Friday. Drove the tractor back Saturday. I would love to have a lowboy. Someday. As someone in the GLMVPA said to me, his advise to newcomers to the hobby is to buy a 5 ton tractor and lowboy first, then you got the means to haul all your future projects home!
Unfortunately, I have not even touched the tractor other than to move it out of the way to get a neighbor's car in the garage for some charity work. The only time I opened the hood was to check things out on the drive home. The hood is a bit heavy but not bad. I have nothing that I can compare it to, as this is the first 900 that I have even seen in person.
Not surprisingly, even people that know I have the deuce asked me the same typical questions like "What are you going to do with that?" Which gets the typical answers like "Go to Home Depot for some lumber", or "Drive it to the grocery store", or "It's a lawn ornament". Its funny that one guy that asked me has a GTO on jackstands, with rebuilt motor that has never been fired for 15 years. Umm, what are you going to do with THAT?
Or my favorite, "Where are you gonna drive that?" Answer, "Wherever I want, it's 6 wheel drive!"
Here's some more reasons. "Its an insurance policy, kinda like AAA, in case the deuce breaks down." Or, "The deuce was lonely and feeling out of place, and needed a companion."
And to the question "How much did you pay for that?" Answer, "About what you would lose in equity on your Trailblazer after X years". I love that one! And with most MV's, that number is in months, or minutes after you drive it off the lot!
Now that I am on a roll, the question of "How can you afford to drive that!?" Answer, "It's not my daily driver", or "I don't have cable TV "(about $500/yr here).