Back in Newport, Oregon, Steve and his family took on one of the biggest trenching projects possible: Building their own earth sheltered home. These homes, of course, are known for their unique characteristics of being built right into the landscape.
Some are tucked neatly into hillsides while others are dug far beneath the earth. Certain types are sometimes casually referred to as “Hobbit holes,” earning their nickname from the famous Tolkien novels.
The process of building an earth sheltered home took Steve’s family about eight years to complete, but they did it themselves and all with the help of “Dozy,” their MH4800 tractor. Steve said the mid-sized personal tractor worked perfectly in the sticky clay on their property but the equipment was just what he needed.
Although the MH4800 isn’t currently in production, many STRUCK Corp customers find a happy medium with one of the following models: The MAGNATRAC RS1000 and the MAGNATRAC MH8000.
The RS1000 model is designed with every day and rural homeowners in mind, or people who just want to have fun with a small personal tractor. It can be used on everything from building a road to landscaping or plowing snow.
The larger MH8000 on the other hand, is capable of conquering both rural homeowner needs as well as light commercial projects. It costs dual pump hydraulics and 40k tensile strength per track.
How well did the MAGNATRAC MH4800 work on getting all of Steve’s trenching accomplished? You can watch the quick stop motion video of the small tractor digging out his new home quarters, below.
I bought “Steve’s” MH4800 from an equipment dealer in Oregon 4 years ago, with the intention of using the accessories for my MH5000. I ended up swapping the 3-Point lift, improved front end loader and ROPS assembly onto my MH5000 but found that, even though the MH4800 had over 2000 hrs on it and was well used, it still performed flawlessly. I have since purchased another MH5000 with a six-way dozer blade and backhoe and have kept the MH4800 in reserve. All of these machines have been fantastic investments and paid for themselves in saved rental fees. They are really excellent machines.