Lt CHEG
Platinum Member
I've posted some other things about what tractors I am most closely looking at. I figured the 1652 that I was mostly looking at was overkill, but from the responses that I have seen it appears that even the 1648 may be more overkill than I originally anticipated. So will a 1643 with 120 FEL reliably handle all of the following?
-Run an 84" rear discharge mower while still maintaining good speed with the Air Conditioning on in the summer?
-Run a 7 foot bush hog? - Likely I would run a 6 footer but if I get a good deal on a used 7 footer I'd like to keep my options open.
-Run a 14" two bottom plow with ease?
-Run a 72" or 84" box blade with ease?
-Run a 72" front mount snowblower and/or an 84" rear snowblower?
-How big a tiller or disc could I run with a 1643 cab?
I would be running loaded R4 tires for the tractor. Also I want to be able to do these things without really working the tractor too hard, and I also want to be able to maintain a pretty quick mowing speed, as I plan on mowing 5 to 5.5 acres at least once or twice a week. I really like the 1648 because I like the lifting capacity of the bigger loader that the 1648 offers as I may end up wanting to be able to lift 1 ton pallets of wood pellets off the back of a pickup truck in the future. I realize that I may have to remove a few bags in order to accomplish this task, but I figure my chances of doing this are better with the bigger loader. Also, if I can make a little extra money doing snow removal on the side in the winter, I'd be able to load taller trucks with snow using the bigger loader that the 1643 offers. I don't think that there is too much more that I would want to do besides what was mentioned. Would the 1643 be able to do these things for me? And more importantly would it be doing it easily enough that I could expect a good long life out of the tractor? If I can pull these things off with a 1643 cab, then it just may be the best value for me that I've found.
My other quandry is that I really like the ease and convenience of the HST transmission in the 1648 and 1652, but I'm thinking that I'd probably need 35 PTO horsepower for what I want and I'd be a little short with the HST transmission on the 1643 cab. It's not like this tractor will be used primarily for loader work but I will be putting in a driveway with this tractor which will be pretty loader intensive. I will also be using this for snow removal on my driveway. Also as previously mentioned if I can make a few extra bucks doing snow removal I would use the FEL for that. Would I really miss the HST transmission much if I went with a 1643 and Power Shuttle transmission? I also looked a lot at the Kubota 4240 and was surprised that most people thought that the Kubota 4240 would be way overkill for my needs. My biggest thing is that I don't like being hot in the summer mowing the lawn so I want a tractor with a cab and AC. I know that sucks away some power for running implements and I want a big mower so that i can mow my 5.5 acres or so in as close to 2.5 hours as possible. My whole parcel is only 6.5 acres so I know that a tractor of this size is generally considered overkill for that amount of land but this is about the smallest size tractor that I can get an air conditioned cab with. Thanks in advance for your opinions and advice.
-Run an 84" rear discharge mower while still maintaining good speed with the Air Conditioning on in the summer?
-Run a 7 foot bush hog? - Likely I would run a 6 footer but if I get a good deal on a used 7 footer I'd like to keep my options open.
-Run a 14" two bottom plow with ease?
-Run a 72" or 84" box blade with ease?
-Run a 72" front mount snowblower and/or an 84" rear snowblower?
-How big a tiller or disc could I run with a 1643 cab?
I would be running loaded R4 tires for the tractor. Also I want to be able to do these things without really working the tractor too hard, and I also want to be able to maintain a pretty quick mowing speed, as I plan on mowing 5 to 5.5 acres at least once or twice a week. I really like the 1648 because I like the lifting capacity of the bigger loader that the 1648 offers as I may end up wanting to be able to lift 1 ton pallets of wood pellets off the back of a pickup truck in the future. I realize that I may have to remove a few bags in order to accomplish this task, but I figure my chances of doing this are better with the bigger loader. Also, if I can make a little extra money doing snow removal on the side in the winter, I'd be able to load taller trucks with snow using the bigger loader that the 1643 offers. I don't think that there is too much more that I would want to do besides what was mentioned. Would the 1643 be able to do these things for me? And more importantly would it be doing it easily enough that I could expect a good long life out of the tractor? If I can pull these things off with a 1643 cab, then it just may be the best value for me that I've found.
My other quandry is that I really like the ease and convenience of the HST transmission in the 1648 and 1652, but I'm thinking that I'd probably need 35 PTO horsepower for what I want and I'd be a little short with the HST transmission on the 1643 cab. It's not like this tractor will be used primarily for loader work but I will be putting in a driveway with this tractor which will be pretty loader intensive. I will also be using this for snow removal on my driveway. Also as previously mentioned if I can make a few extra bucks doing snow removal I would use the FEL for that. Would I really miss the HST transmission much if I went with a 1643 and Power Shuttle transmission? I also looked a lot at the Kubota 4240 and was surprised that most people thought that the Kubota 4240 would be way overkill for my needs. My biggest thing is that I don't like being hot in the summer mowing the lawn so I want a tractor with a cab and AC. I know that sucks away some power for running implements and I want a big mower so that i can mow my 5.5 acres or so in as close to 2.5 hours as possible. My whole parcel is only 6.5 acres so I know that a tractor of this size is generally considered overkill for that amount of land but this is about the smallest size tractor that I can get an air conditioned cab with. Thanks in advance for your opinions and advice.