Boomer 50 Comments

[Poopdeck Pappy]

Life is too short to drive a tractor you don't like or trust. Congrats on the new one.

 

[Utopia Texas]

I have to agree that the Boomer 3050 has a lot of undesirable qualities and I traded in my 2013 Model after a year and upgraded to the NH T4.75 due to safety reasons. There are too many computer controlled electronics on the Boomer 3050 that try to over ride the operator and I hated having to use a toggle button to speed up and slow down the cruise control on every turn while mowing my orchard. Unlike the Boomer, the T 4.75 has a fuel tank below the door that holds triple the volume of diesel, a manual cruise control lever right near one's right hand instead of electronic cruise control and a free wheeling PTO a you can turn by hand when the engine is off.

Back to the safety concerns on the Boomer 3050. During one instance I had a 800 pound+ Tree limb being lowered after cut from a Pecan tree 8 feet above the ground and the tractor decides to go into " safe mode", puts itself into neutral and no gear movement works until the tractor is shut off, restarted, and the computer re-booted. I was at my wits end for a few seconds trying to figure out what was going on and the safe mode is not even mentioned in the manual.

On a second occasion I was moving brush near a 15 foot embankment where there is 20 feet deep water below. With a load of brush in the hydraulic clamps the slope of the land started the tractor to creep backwards toward the drop off. I quickly switched to " forward" and the tractor once again puts itself into " safe mode" and none of the gearing works. So here I am in a tractor induced neutral, standing on the brakes while I have to turn the engine off, re- start the engine and let the computer re- boot so that the CVT transmission can be put into forward gear. This incident was not acceptable and extremely dangerous. Any time a machine can put itself into a computer controlled safe mode without the operator having control is plain crazy. I have owned 6 Ford New Holland tractors over a 45 year period now and will never own another that is so computer controlled. The non CVT transmissions my not have a safe mode, I do not know.

PS- I realize the T 4.75 is not considered a compact but is ergonomically and functionally a much superior tractor to the Boomer 3050. As I stated above, I have owned both....

Attached is a picture of the day the Boomer 3050 left the property and the T 4.75 arrived...

 

[TSO]

I have to agree that the Boomer 3050 has a lot of undesirable qualities and I traded in my 2013 Model after a year and upgraded to the NH T4.75 due to safety reasons. There are too many computer controlled electronics on the Boomer 3050 that try to over ride the operator and I hated having to use a toggle button to speed up and slow down the cruise control on every turn while mowing my orchard. Unlike the Boomer, the T 4.75 has a fuel tank below the door that holds triple the volume of diesel, a manual cruise control lever right near one's right hand instead of electronic cruise control and a free wheeling PTO a you can turn by hand when the engine is off.

Back to the safety concerns on the Boomer 3050. During one instance I had a 800 pound+ Tree limb being lowered after cut from a Pecan tree 8 feet above the ground and the tractor decides to go into " safe mode", puts itself into neutral and no gear movement works until the tractor is shut off, restarted, and the computer re-booted. I was at my wits end for a few seconds trying to figure out what was going on and the safe mode is not even mentioned in the manual.

On a second occasion I was moving brush near a 15 foot embankment where there is 20 feet deep water below. With a load of brush in the hydraulic clamps the slope of the land started the tractor to creep backwards toward the drop off. I quickly switched to " forward" and the tractor once again puts itself into " safe mode" and none of the gearing works. So here I am in a tractor induced neutral, standing on the brakes while I have to turn the engine off, re- start the engine and let the computer re- boot so that the CVT transmission can be put into forward gear. This incident was not acceptable and extremely dangerous. Any time a machine can put itself into a computer controlled safe mode without the operator having control is plain crazy. I have owned 6 Ford New Holland tractors over a 45 year period now and will never own another that is so computer controlled. The non CVT transmissions my not have a safe mode, I do not know.

PS- I realize the T 4.75 is not considered a compact but is ergonomically and functionally a much superior tractor to the Boomer 3050. As I stated above, I have owned both....

Attached is a picture of the day the Boomer 3050 left the property and the T 4.75 arrived...
<img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=414456"/>

That's a very informative post ... I had heard complaints from the CVT users, but that does sound dangerous! What were the things that you "liked" about the CVT?

And just FYI ... He's talking about the BOOMER 50... The LS built ones, not the Shibaura CVT one like yours.

 

[Utopia Texas]

One of the better points of the CVT transmission is that there are three ranges you can toggle into with no actual gear selection, but the tractor has to be completely stopped to toggle into another range. Once in a "range" you just stepped on the go pedal until you were at your preferred speed and the transmission would adjust instantaneously to the torque needed. If, for example, one was cruising along while mowing in the medium range and a patch of weeds became thicker the CVT transmission would immediately respond to the added torque needed to cut the thicker brush without having any gears to change. I believe the safe mode is only on the CVT transmission and is there to protect the engine from excess torque beyond it's capabilities. There is a toggle switch to turn this safety feature on and off....but big deal. With the switch on the whole transmission goes into a safety neutral when stressed, and with the switch off the engine stalls. Neither position is safe in my opinion. Naturally there is no physical clutch pedal on this set up!

I really do not know if the CVT set up is more fuel efficient as claimed, because it adapts to the torque needed. Like the OP, I was not impressed by the small fuel tank mounted up high behind the rear window. To mow my place I was having to fill up twice a day (6 Gallon Tank). With the T 4.75 it is once every two days. (24 gallon Tank) Because my T 4.75 has the eco-PTO option I can mow moderate pasture at 1500 RPM rather than 2300 RPM and still have good ground speed and the PTO at 540 rpm.

 

[Utopia Texas]

Another downside to the CVT and its safe mode which I found irritating was when driving into a pile of dirt or gravel with FEL. If you drove into the pile and did not let off of the accelerator pedal at a exact time the CPU would try to decide to go into safe mode or not and the tractor would "buck" violently for a split second. At that point if you had not let off the pedal it would go into safe mode/neutral and you would have to turn the unit off and then on again to re-set the computer. If you did let off the accelerator too soon naturally you could not get a full bucket load of dirt or gravel.

All in all, and after using the CVT for a year, my opinion is that it is a good system for constant rpm use as in mowing or plowing or using a disc but for stopping and starting, and back and forth work with peak stress times not so great. Naturally a larger tractor with more HP might be another story. For the compact tractor the CVT would not be my choice.

 

[Rudyalozano]

I have to agree that the Boomer 3050 has a lot of undesirable qualities and I traded in my 2013 Model after a year and upgraded to the NH T4.75 due to safety reasons. There are too many computer controlled electronics on the Boomer 3050 that try to over ride the operator and I hated having to use a toggle button to speed up and slow down the cruise control on every turn while mowing my orchard. Unlike the Boomer, the T 4.75 has a fuel tank below the door that holds triple the volume of diesel, a manual cruise control lever right near one's right hand instead of electronic cruise control and a free wheeling PTO a you can turn by hand when the engine is off.

Back to the safety concerns on the Boomer 3050. During one instance I had a 800 pound+ Tree limb being lowered after cut from a Pecan tree 8 feet above the ground and the tractor decides to go into " safe mode", puts itself into neutral and no gear movement works until the tractor is shut off, restarted, and the computer re-booted. I was at my wits end for a few seconds trying to figure out what was going on and the safe mode is not even mentioned in the manual.

On a second occasion I was moving brush near a 15 foot embankment where there is 20 feet deep water below. With a load of brush in the hydraulic clamps the slope of the land started the tractor to creep backwards toward the drop off. I quickly switched to " forward" and the tractor once again puts itself into " safe mode" and none of the gearing works. So here I am in a tractor induced neutral, standing on the brakes while I have to turn the engine off, re- start the engine and let the computer re- boot so that the CVT transmission can be put into forward gear. This incident was not acceptable and extremely dangerous. Any time a machine can put itself into a computer controlled safe mode without the operator having control is plain crazy. I have owned 6 Ford New Holland tractors over a 45 year period now and will never own another that is so computer controlled. The non CVT transmissions my not have a safe mode, I do not know.

PS- I realize the T 4.75 is not considered a compact but is ergonomically and functionally a much superior tractor to the Boomer 3050. As I stated above, I have owned both....

Attached is a picture of the day the Boomer 3050 left the property and the T 4.75 arrived...
View attachment 414456

I find this post near and dear ot my heart, I just took delivery of a boomer 47, i have 98 hours and with loaded tires i would agree it feels "tippy" even with just a load of loam. it is currently in the shop for a blown loader valve, and the front loader support (cylinder to disconnect plate) sheared causing the bucket to drop quickly and the rear window rapidly opened shattering the rear glass. I have had a half dozen hydro leaks from things just not being tight. I am very disappointed with the build quality, performance and saftey of the machine. Has any one had luck swapping out in a short period of time due to dsat?