Tractor Sizing Need advice on the size of tractor to look for

[TSO]

You're thinking too much. I see a wall of green. I'm using the BXpanded bolt on toothblade exactly the way it is supposed to be used on 2" and smaller material. Right before I made the video, as a test I sheared off a 3" pine like it wasn't even there. The stuff you see me hitting repeatedly is a stand of thick poplar. The loader has a breakout force approaching 5,000 pounds and can lift 2900 pounds all the way up. It is a much heavier loader than what is featured on smaller tractors. The whole point of the BXpanded piranha tooth bar is that it has a hardened, serrated, sharpened edge for cutting through material as demonstrated in the final section of their own demo video.

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sqii2mvSgo

That said, bumping things out of the way is both slower and messier than rotary cutters because you wind up with a pile of dirt and unprocessed material at the end of each push that eventually needs to be cleaned up. I've found it is faster and takes less clean up using a heavy rotary cutter.

Additionally, for those who have paid attention to the My NX6010 thread in the Kioti section, you've probably figured out by now that I can likely fix anything at the Tinkerage.

Just a quick correction on your loader specs ...



And, I have no problem with how you're using your tractor. If you damaged your FEL by doing what folks are complaining about in your video, then my tractor should be broken into several pieces by now.

Just one word of caution though (which many people forget)... While your tractor has a 4 (or is it 5 now?) year warranty, the loader typically only comes with a 1 year. So, if you're gonna break it, make sure to do it in the first 12 months.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Yeah but number 44 is unlikely to head off to the dealer unless it is a major warrantee repair and i just don't have the equipment or time to knock it out myself.

Plus I'm keeping them updated on trial and result of mods for their info as well as to pass back up to Kioti corporate since Kioti corporate wants feedback. Things like the filler neck location hanging too far in the wind, the design flaws I've discovered, the suggestions for factory mods to better route things, the warmer T-stat in cold climates and so forth.

What Kioti really should do is 1099 a mechanically inclined tinkerer to develop factory accessories, 'cause then people be rocking their HD projector headlights, top-n-tilt kit, up-rated factory flood lights, chainsaw mounts, extra guards, cold weather package, and whatever else I think up on their tractors.

 

[MossRoad]

Get a room.

Your Ventrac's cute, too.

 

[MossRoad]

I don't mean to rag on Eric (much) but I cannot buy his explanation that he is bumping over skidsteer tracks nor do I accept Moss's explanation.

Look at the video starting at about 55 seconds through 1:20 or so. YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZwojVPmgd4 The ground is smooth and until he hits an unseen object there is no camera jiggle. The tractor jolts to a stop. He then backs up and drives forward again with the exact same result. On the first attempt it sounded like the tractor might even stall and the tractor definitely came to a complete stop, it did not "bounce" over a rut. Anyone who clears brush knows that clumps of "saplings" are often shoots from an old stump so just ramming it without inspecting or even bothering to figure out where the contact point is is just asking for trouble.

I am persisting only because I think a lot of new owners watch these threads to learn how to do tasks associated with land clearing. The CUT can be used to clear land but like any tool there are proper and improper ways of using it. Eric shows us the "don't do it this way" approach. You use a knife to cut and you abuse a knife if you try to turn a screw with it. Same story here. Rather than pretending he was driving a bulldozer (his technique is fine for a real bulldozer with short fat "FEL" arms) he should have more gently explored the poorly visualized clump of saplings with the bucket and once he made contact at low speed and determined that the obstacle was midline on his bucket, he could have pushed slowly or better yet lifted/curled. It can be done safely with either a bucket and toothbar or preferably with a grapple but the key is that you DON'T RAM BLINDLY with a CUT FEL. A bulldozer rams because it is designed and built to do exactly that. A CUT FEL is designed and built to lift not ram. Simple concept. Little saplings are not the issue but anything that stops the tractor dead needs to be 1) properly identified, 2) line up so the object is mid bucket/grapple, 3) use the curl/lift power of the loader to pull the sapling/object out of the ground rather than simply pushing on it.

I think even Eric would agree that the technique he showed in the video is unlikely to be good for the tractor/FEL. A $35K tractor may be a toy that can be abused for some folks but if you want that tool to last and not be in the repair shop constantly, there are more appropriate techniques to use for clearing brush.

On that line of thinking, you walk every inch of every field with weeds higher than your calves before you brush hog it, right?

 

[IslandTractor]

On that line of thinking, you walk every inch of every field with weeds higher than your calves before you brush hog it, right?

Nope, but I do keep a bucket or grapple curled/tilted up and riding about six inches off the ground when I mow tall weeds/grass. My best "finds" using this technique were a complete service station gas pump lying in the weeds and a jersey barrier sized chunk of concrete. I don't walk the fields because I'd need a machete to move more than two feet so I do the next best thing which is to use the upturned grapple as a shield as I drive the tractor. The grapple rides up on the obstructions and gives me plenty of warning to slow down.

Why not take reasonable precautions? I think this is especially true when pushing the limits of what CUTs are designed to do. As noted many times in the this thread, a CUT can clear land if used properly but nobody thinks that is what CUTs were primarily designed to do. It's understandable that having all that grunt available makes you want to push with a CUT but remember these machines have evolved from pulling devices and that is what their main strength is. Pushing is for bulldozers. If you do it with a CUT, you are stretching the design limits and should be conservative. Chuckling away as you ram your $35,000 piece of equipment into brush is foolhardy and will surely end up breaking something. I know Eric hasn't broken his loader yet but then again his tractor is only six months old. To paraphrase an old saying about pilots, "there are old tractors and bold tractors, but no old bold tractors".

 

[murphy1244]

Your Ventrac's cute, too.

Watch it!:laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

Watch it!:laughing:

Something about that articulation just gets me going.... hahahahaa

I've been driving small articulated machines since I was 18 or 19, I guess. Started on one of these Airhorse aiplane movers. You sit on the hood backwards with the steering wheel between your legs. Works great!

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Something about that articulation just gets me going.... hahahahaa

I've been driving small articulated machines since I was 18 or 19, I guess. Started on one of these Airhorse aiplane movers. You sit on the hood backwards with the steering wheel between your legs. Works great!
View attachment 402123

That freaky, little thing looks like it is way more fun and dangerous than the Clark tractors I've used when I was in the Army for ground handling AH-1s and UH-1s. :laughing: Has the governor been removed? :thumbsup:

 

[TJP89]

Nope, but I do keep a bucket or grapple curled/tilted up and riding about six inches off the ground when I mow tall weeds/grass. My best "finds" using this technique were a complete service station gas pump lying in the weeds and a jersey barrier sized chunk of concrete. I don't walk the fields because I'd need a machete to move more than two feet so I do the next best thing which is to use the upturned grapple as a shield as I drive the tractor. The grapple rides up on the obstructions and gives me plenty of warning to slow down.

Why not take reasonable precautions? I think this is especially true when pushing the limits of what CUTs are designed to do. As noted many times in the this thread, a CUT can clear land if used properly but nobody thinks that is what CUTs were primarily designed to do. It's understandable that having all that grunt available makes you want to push with a CUT but remember these machines have evolved from pulling devices and that is what their main strength is. Pushing is for bulldozers. If you do it with a CUT, you are stretching the design limits and should be conservative. Chuckling away as you ram your $35,000 piece of equipment into brush is foolhardy and will surely end up breaking something. I know Eric hasn't broken his loader yet but then again his tractor is only six months old. To paraphrase an old saying about pilots, "there are old tractors and bold tractors, but no old bold tractors".

Same here. I mow with the loader just off the ground, thinking I'd rather hit a rock once with the loader a 2 or 3 mph (or whatever speed) than with the mower. Although running over items like IT pictured would probably give sufficent warning, there are plenty of rocks that won't.

One look at the loader arms on any CUT shows they are meant to lift, there is no support behind the bucket where the majority of the force from pushing is going, so far below the lifting force of the loader, it will give somewhere. FEL are not even meant for serious digging below grade. much less pushing heavy loads horizantally. If Eric continues to use his tractor as he does currently, there is a very good chance that he will have a reincarnation of the CK loader problem on his NX.

 

[MossRoad]

That freaky, little thing looks like it is way more fun and dangerous than the Clark tractors I've used when I was in the Army for ground handling AH-1s and UH-1s. :laughing: Has the governor been removed? :thumbsup:

Nope. You run it at full throttle. Its hydrostatic. Direction is controlled with the lever by your left hand. There is a brake pedal on your right heel. If you push the brake it moves the direction lever back towards neutral, and vice versa. So, your left hand and right foot coordinate pretty quickly. You steer with your right hand. Articulation takes place between the rear of the tractor and the fork. The fork has jaws that open and scoop up the nose wheel.