Forget Your Tractor Tool Box. Use The Tractor Caddy

I want to tell you about the Tractor Caddy, a new product I created.

Take a Look at the Tractor Caddy

Recently, one of my YouTube viewers asked me to list what I thought you need to carry in your tractor toolbox.

That brought up a really sore subject with me – these little bitty toolboxes they put on all these tractors. You can’t carry hardly anything in them! About the only thing there’s room for is stuff you can use for a fix in the field. And let’s face it, there’s not really a whole lot on a tractor you can fix in the field.

So I’m going to tell you what I have in my toolbox, and the Tractor Caddy, the solution to the tractor storage problem I’ve come up with.

First off in my toolbox is some baling wire and twine. Now, probably every toolbox in every farm pickup truck and every tractor I’ve ever been around has baling wire off a wirebound bale, and twine off a bale, too. Generally, you look more “farmy” if you hang it from the roll bar or tie it around the three-point links. But these are things you need, because if Hooterville is ever in danger of a flood from the dam breaking, well, a farmer can go in with these two items and shore everything up and Hooterville will be saved.

Okay, seriously, I do occasionally need my twine or baling wire for fixing fence and other small emergencies.

Second thing I carry is a strap with a loop on both ends, and I use it all the time. You can move a log with this with pallet forks. You can move implements around. Straps are handy to carry and a lot more compact than chains.

I generally also keep a couple of extra hitch pins handy, a thick one and a thin one. They come in handy when you need them.

Any Room Left for Tools?

You probably know that the only thing you can really fix on a tractor is something you can do during your routine maintenance: checking the gearbox oil.

When I’m checking my brush hog and my posthole digger, I use Allen wrenches that fit a socket. I carry the little box of sockets and an adjustable wrench. I also store a pair of wire cutters and a set of needlenose pliers. That’s because the only maintenance you can really do on a brush hog is fix a snapped shear pin by changing it out with a spare. I keep a Gerber baby food bottle of shear pins, so I can make a quick repair and get back to work.

Now, I do carry a level, and I always check my brush hog before I go to the field. I want to be assured that it’s level for a nice, even cut. I also keep a couple of extra linchpins (I’m always losing those.) And I always pack a pair of hand pruners because if I see a multi-flora rose, or a rosebush that needs to die, I jump off the tractor with those and take care of business.

Other than that, there’s a few spare parts down in the bottom of the box, and some dead leaves.

A Lifelong Struggle to Store Stuff on My Tractor

All my life I have struggled with where to store stuff on my tractor, especially in the fall when I’m getting ready to go to the forest and cut firewood. Where do I put the dang chainsaw? I’ve heard some stories…

One good friend put his chainsaw in the loader bucket and then forgot it was there. He went to push some brush, and flattened the chainsaw with the brush. Another friend snorted his on the brush hog, then bounced it off without noticing. He was doing some brush hogging and ran over the saw. A ball of fire came out from under the brush hog, and of course killed the chainsaw. It really didn’t do the brush hog any good, either.

So it’s a common problem.

I usually keep my chainsaw down on the operator platform, but I don’t like that. If the chainsaw bounces off, I’ll probably run over it and kill it. And I’ll possibly ruin a tire in the process.

Then, about a year ago, I came up with the idea of a roll bar-mounted tray to carry stuff on a tractor.

I named it the Tractor Caddy, and took the idea to a local machine shop that does really good work. They liked the idea, and they built a prototype. Then they built two more, and they were all different, and not a one was quite right.

Finally, we came up with the idea of a solid front and mesh on the back, and it works. But I still really wasn’t all that happy with the visibility to the back. Then my neighbor Chuck looked at it, and he came up with the best idea ever.

He said, “You know, if I had the Tractor Caddy I would like to be able to take it off and use it on my four-wheeler.”

And that’s when it hit me! I thought, “Let’s make it detachable. We send it with clevis pins so all you have to do is pull four pins and the caddy comes right off the tractor.”

This way, if you’re going to do a lot of brush hogging and you don’t want to have it right where you can’t see around it, you just take it off real easy. You can put it on your four-wheeler and go to the deer woods that way if you want.

I think this is a great product. You can carry a chainsaw, you can carry a leaf blower, WD-40 AND a small toolbox. You won’t have to worry about losing any of them or running over them.

One  thing I do need to mention is that if you have a fuel tank mounted behind the driver’s seat on the tractor, it may make fueling a little bit difficult. You may want to funnel, or you may want to remove the pins and take the caddy off when fueling.

Fits Virtually Every Roll Bar

Now, we’ve tested this caddy on as many tractors as we can find, and I’m sure sooner or later we’re going to encounter a roll bar that doesn’t fit the caddy. But we’ve included multiple holes in the brackets, so it’ll adapt to most roll bars. And if it doesn’t fit yours, shoot me an email and we’ll try to figure out how to develop one to fit your roll bar. We’ll do that at our expense and and get you a bracket that works for you.

Just remember: it’s not designed for pets or humans, so don’t put a kid up there! And and secure your items in place, in case of a tractor rollover. You sure don’t want all that stuff coming down on you.

Here’s the link if you want to order the Tractor Caddy. Right now it’s only available in the lower 48 states – I’m sorry to my Canadian friends and the folks overseas.

Shameless Pitch for Self-Promotion

I survive on web traffic, so I’d be honored if you’d subscribe to my YouTube channel, and like my Facebook page. Share this video with other tractor enthusiasts, and if you have questions or comments – especially about the tractor caddy – let me know I’ll try to get back with you.