Buying Advice 1700 advice

[bkcook]

I am looking at a 82 1700 4x4...

Can anyone tell me what they use theirs for will it use a 5ft finishing mower? Do you have a loader? Will it use a 5ft rotary mower?

How long you think it would take to mow a acre with a finishing mower?

Tractordata rates it at 23hp does it seem to have a good bit of power.

Thanks
Brian

[jbrumberg]

bkcook:

An aquaintance of mine has a Ford 1700 and in many ways it is similar to my more modern tractor. He has to move a lot more snow than I as he lives in the Adirondacks and I live in the Berkshires, but he does not seem to have many problems (He has a ~60" PTO driven 2stage snowblower.). As it relates to PTO HP (23+) it is the same. I have a 58" tiller and a medium duty 60" rotary cutter. I have not had any problems tilling my heavy, clay based, and rocky garden or breaking new turf for new garden areas with the tiller. The rotary cutter (MD) can handle 1.5" saplings easily and can take care of the ocassional larger diameter soft woods as well as my lower field weeds that can get ~6' tall when I finally get around to cutting it. I take my rotary mower field cutting pretty slow due to obstructions, terrain, slope, and the "unknowns ", but I can cut an acre in around an hour. I could do it quicker, but do not see the need. I think you could easily handle a 60" rotary cutter as well as 60" tiller. I do not think you would need a snowblower . I have seen a lot of inconsistent responses on TBN as to whether 23+ PTO HP can handle a 72" rear finish mower. Jay

[tlj87]

The local Boy Scout camp has a beat up Ford 1600 with which they run a now beat up Woods RD7200 (6') finish mower. Cuts fine.

[Turbys_1700]

My 1720 has 23.5 HP @ the pto and has no problems with a 6' Woods RFM. I personally think that it is perfect match for me. I do have one very steep bank that I must back up in order to mow. The bank is soo steep it is diifficult to stand on. My 1720 can back up that hill with the mower running @ 2000 RPM. Does is bog down. Sure it does. But it still pulls it.

If the 1700 in in good shape a 6' RFM will not be a problem. If you have very few trees and stuff to mow around you should be able to clip off an acre in 30 minutes. I mow between 4 to 5 acres in about 3 hours. My ground is very hilly and has few trees but part of that acerage is rough and I run those areas a slower ground speed.

[JC-jetro]

I am looking at a 82 1700 4x4...

Can anyone tell me what they use theirs for will it use a 5ft finishing mower? Do you have a loader? Will it use a 5ft rotary mower?

How long you think it would take to mow a acre with a finishing mower?

Tractordata rates it at 23hp does it seem to have a good bit of power.

Thanks
Brian

I fully concur with all comments made so far. I do have a 5 foot brush cutter (bush/brush hog) and have not problem pulling it, cut up to 2" sapling with no problems. What I like about 1700 is it's compact size but still is made very beefy. It weighs about 2400 lbs with out extra added weight to 2 wheel drive about the same as slightly bigger hp other brands newer vintage tractors, it has a very good 3pt lift capacity (1700 lbs @24" from hitch point), it is very easy to maintain it. I learned it not by choice after I bought my 1700 nine month ago. The whole hydraulic system is perfectly engineered with emphasis in ease of maintenance and repair. had no issues with any parts. Other than a bit pricey seal kit for the hyd pump the part were relatively cheap and available at my local NH dealer. It only sips diesel. I just wished mine had front wheel assist, power steering and fel... That's all . All and all very capable machine, by the way I saw several of them thet totally looked beat up with about 3500 hrs and the owner claimed that hours were on original engine and never been overhauled.. that's a good thing

[AndyMA]

The 1700 is a good tractor. I used a 1710 for years. The only thing I owuld be concerned about is that I've heard that some parts are getting difficult to find.

Andy