Arena Drag

[wwalkersd]

Do any of you owners have a feeling for how accurate the horsepower requirements for the TR3 are? I've got a line on a good used 6.5' TR3 for a great price for the therapeutic riding program where I volunteer, but the tractor I'm buying for the program is a Ford 2N. The Ford's rated 23 HP, and the 6.5' TR3 is listed as 27 HP minimum. No go? I guess I could put an 8N head on the 2N and get 27 HP, but that's still just scraping by. In my previous experience at my own place, overloading the tractor resulted in a lot of repairs.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Do any of you owners have a feeling for how accurate the horsepower requirements for the TR3 are? I've got a line on a good used 6.5' TR3 for a great price for the therapeutic riding program where I volunteer, but the tractor I'm buying for the program is a Ford 2N. The Ford's rated 23 HP, and the 6.5' TR3 is listed as 27 HP minimum. No go? I guess I could put an 8N head on the 2N and get 27 HP, but that's still just scraping by. In my previous experience at my own place, overloading the tractor resulted in a lot of repairs.

The TR3 is multi purpose. Some tasks take more HP. Arenas drag easy because you are always keeping them "loose". Even a 15HP BX1500 will pull a 6' arena drag. 27 would do fine unless you are talking other uses such as highly compacted earth.
larry

 

[wwalkersd]

Thanks, all. I bought the TR3. As it turns out, the Ford 2N had no problem pulling the TR3 (lifting it was another matter, lifted fine when cold, not at all when hot. I'm seeing a pump rebuild in my future). The TR3 did an awesome job on the dirt arena. I did two sets of passes, one in the long side direction and one in the short side direction, and the result was a nice, cushy arena with no ruts. We definitely need the blade teeth, or a landscape rake, maybe, to pull the rocks out of the arena after the TR3 stirs 'em up.

 

[wwalkersd]

P.S. The director of the therapeutic riding program for which I bought the TR3 reported that the TR3 does a far, far better job than the Parma unit that the adjacent stable has. She previously had them doing her arena (at great expense). The TR3 will pay for itself pretty quickly.