3520 vs 3220, turbo or no turbo
- Thread starter Bessemer
- Start date
bota7800
Gold Member
You don't say where you are from. A turbo (among other attributes) really shines as you go up in altitude. I was looking at a 3520 at the National Western Stock Show today (Denver , CO) At least for the moment, I am drooling.
tuolumne
Gold Member
Killer_B said:
Because it's not available with power reverser
O.P. I have a 3520 and I'm very glad to have the extra HP. We have 24 acres with some steep sections and I can surely hear the turbo doing it's thing under a load. I have driven the machine between our current home and the one we're building, which is 9 miles of very steep roads. With the backhoe and loader snow plow on I had to drop into third gear for some of the hills. That goes really smoothly on the fly with the synchro. I too went around and around between the 3320 and 3520. One reason I went with the 3520 was its smaller displacement. When I'm not under heavy load, this machine is sipping less fuel. My lifetime average (180 hours) is less than .5gallons per hour....a lot less than the manual indicates. About half of those hours were chipper time at full RPM, around 40 hours of backhoe time at around 2300 RPM, and the rest is snowplowing, loader work, etc. at around 1500 RPM. I usually run that low to maintain could steering pressure, and override with the foot throttle as needed. Good luck with your purchase.
If you want to do a lot of PTO type work with larger equipment - get the turbo.
But, that being said....I have a 3320 (with loaded tires) and live at 5,000 feet altitude. The tractor can easily spin all four wheels if I fill up the box blade heavily - turbo won't buy you extra traction. Granted, I don't live in an area with heavy soils or clay - and, that may be different.
Secondly, the load match feature is in one word - unbelievable. I had a 60-inch rotary cutter on the back of the tractor; and was cutting down large 4-wing salt bushes. I was in the middle of one that was about 5-feet high, 6-feet wide, and had 1-inch and larger branches. I had forgotten that I had put a bail of straw near the bush at one time that I was using as ground cover in seeded areas.
In the interim time period, the bush grew over the bail hiding it. I hit the straw bail with the cutter while I was in the middle of the bush. The tractor automatically slowed down, diverted power to the PTO - and I cut the bush and shredded the bail simultaneously.
I'm sure the turbo and a cab would be great...I just don't plan on doing a lot of PTO work beyond doing a bit of rotary cutter work. After two other tractors of the same PTO rating - the JD load match system just blew me away.
But, that being said....I have a 3320 (with loaded tires) and live at 5,000 feet altitude. The tractor can easily spin all four wheels if I fill up the box blade heavily - turbo won't buy you extra traction. Granted, I don't live in an area with heavy soils or clay - and, that may be different.
Secondly, the load match feature is in one word - unbelievable. I had a 60-inch rotary cutter on the back of the tractor; and was cutting down large 4-wing salt bushes. I was in the middle of one that was about 5-feet high, 6-feet wide, and had 1-inch and larger branches. I had forgotten that I had put a bail of straw near the bush at one time that I was using as ground cover in seeded areas.
In the interim time period, the bush grew over the bail hiding it. I hit the straw bail with the cutter while I was in the middle of the bush. The tractor automatically slowed down, diverted power to the PTO - and I cut the bush and shredded the bail simultaneously.
I'm sure the turbo and a cab would be great...I just don't plan on doing a lot of PTO work beyond doing a bit of rotary cutter work. After two other tractors of the same PTO rating - the JD load match system just blew me away.