Best Tractor for wooded mountain land

   / Best Tractor for wooded mountain land #21  
Does VENTRAC make anything that big??
They have dual wheel kits and such too.
KO
 
   / Best Tractor for wooded mountain land #22  
Ventrac tops out in at just over 30hp but is a small frame size. Nothing big enough to suit his needs.
 
   / Best Tractor for wooded mountain land #23  
I use my JD 4310 on all kinds of crazy grades. I have the R1s which give me great traction. But the big thing is that they can be set full wide for great stability. There has only been once or twice when it has felt unsafe.

Like several have said the turbo models would be the way to go....
 
   / Best Tractor for wooded mountain land #27  
Vas

Beautiful property. I've been working on a similar type of project (restoring an old New England village-that I now call my "farm). I've had several sizes of tractors over the years and am in the process of selling my TN75D with only 198 hours because it is too big for this type of work and makes too much of a mess. I also have a 2120 (equilavent to current New Holland TC 48/TC55 frame size that I have been using since 1987. 2 years ago I purchased a "old" 1986 Hitachi UH083LC 44,000 excavator. What a difference... on an excavator you can really get some serious work done in a short period of time. I am selling the TN to get a 8,000 class compact excavator (on rubber tracks with a 6 foot dozer blade)... Kubota 91 or Hew Holland 35B (made by Kobelco and Yanmar powered) I ran the New Holland the other night for a couple of hours on the dealer lot adn was I impressed. With the compact excavator, I think I will be able to get done what I can't with all my other machines combined. All for less than $40,000. Many smaller models available. NO problem at altitude or on slopes. BTW, diesels are routinely recalbrated to run at altitude. Turbo will help, but normally aspirated ones can be made to run. And do not be fooled by 3% power loss. You probably never notice it. Years ago when I was designing consumer electronic equipment, people were all hung up on power. Many people do not realize that a 3dB loss in sound pressure level ( a level change detectable by most peole as a loss in volume) is infact half power. If you look at a dyno while a diesel is working during a normal day, you would suprised to see how little power is being called for. Certain types of usage are not included (like brush hogging, and wood chipping -even those uses are not where near steady full power) Ground engaging equipment, especially draft equipment can require heavy power)

Good luck in you decision, mine would be 1) compact excavator, 2) tracked skidsteer, 3) nontracke skidsteer, 4) Power Track, 5) Compact Tractor 4WD- forget the power, the issues I see are stabuility and more important just the ability to get the machine to where you want to work. If I wasto choose a compact tractor, Iwould give serious consideration to a Kubota L39 or one of Kubotas smaller TLB's

Good luck with your decision.

Andy
 
   / Best Tractor for wooded mountain land #28  
Wow, Vas, that is incredible land! Raised my estimate of New Mexico, for sure. I can't add to the excellent information you've gotten here, just felt compelled to thank you for posting the pics.
 
   / Best Tractor for wooded mountain land #29  
Andy, excellent answer, and while I don't have the conditions or the heavy work on my property I will second your opinion on the usefulness of compact excavators. I've used them before and last year rented a Thomas 35 for some work on my property. Work that was estimated to have taken me 2 full weekends and a few nights after work was done in a matter of hours with the excavator. I was stunned with how fast it did the job I required and easy it was to get around. The Thomas is a rubber tracked unit with a dozer blade of about 5' it easily climbed a slope that I got a couple truck stuck on (although it was a scary ride from the drivers seat the machine never seemed to slip, I think the fear came from me not knowing what it was capable of).
 
   / Best Tractor for wooded mountain land #30  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( One thought that you should aslo consider is the ground clearance of the tractor. If you plan to add a backhoe then you need to see how much clearance you will lose with the sub frame.
)</font>

There are some new subframe designs out that can really help with that. For example, Woods has one out that they call their 4 pt hitch. The subframe stays on the tractor full time, but the design is such that you lose little or no ground clearance. I just had one installed on my NH TC33D and love it.

John Mc
 
 
Top