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Yikes! I don't like snakes one bit. There are always bees and mud hornets making homes in my stuff. Keeping a can of spray near takes care of them. We have a similar problem, but so far just shedded skins that close. No eye ball encounters up close sitting next to me. We do get them a few feet away, just inside the shop door. I keep an axe and an 8 foot piece of pipe right in the corner where you open the door. If I see them first, I pin them down with the pipe then behead them. Not easy on the floor or axe but i can live with chipped concrete. I chased one to the back once and he went in my floor drain to the dirt bottom. A small amount of barbque fluid squirted on him and a match took care of him. I think gas on their skin will poison them too, and it will kill bees but you wouldn't want to risk fire. I think I have got the population down. After 3 kills in one year, I have killed one in the past 2 years. A good snake is a dead snake! Also, got some shop cats - they bring the little ones home frequently, but those are just garter snakes. Maybe they are getting the bigger variety too before they get to be adults.
I am going for this dry clutch machine. It has a winch, power steering, 6-way power blade, rebuilt turbo diesel engine, full ROPS with limb risers, and resealed HLR shift on the fly transmission. The PTO needs to be fixed, the dry clutches and a C- frame crack and transport are the only causes for concern. There are no other machines with these options around for 9K! Hopefully there won't be big surprises after purchase. I believe running the machine correctly, digging out around stumps instead of trying to just push them out will avoid frame cracks. I may be wrong but I think those frame cracks come from running a 450 like it is an 850.
The stainless steel plates are a great idea, that should take care of half of the problem. Along with keeping the gaskets on the covers in good shape or maybe cutting a piece of waterproof canvas to fit over the covers and points of entry so rainwater runs off instead of sitting in voids. The other potential I can think of for water getting in there would be condensation forming inside when the clutches are hot and the air outside is cooler at shutdown. Not sure if anything can be done about that. What about a waterproof clutch material? Does such a clutch exist? How about Kevlar? Does anyone know if they make the stainless plates for Deere 450? Thanks for all of your ideas, input and opinions. I hope someone can answer the above questions and the discussion can continue. Maybe an enthusiastic after market company will read this and develop parts like high performance parts are made for factory flaws in autos!
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