blehmann
Bronze Member
I'll take the higher horsepower in an older tractor that is 40-50% heavier than the newer offerings. The weight is for traction and my comfort. I've been pleasantly surprised to find that the big diesel engines don't even come close to burning the amount of fuel as published in the Nebraska tractor tests. I don't do any heavy tilling where the tractors have to grunt to get the job done. I have a 50ish horsepower diesel generator that is rated to burn about four gallons per hour. It has three times the KW needed to power my home at full load. My limited, but accurate testing shows that diesel consumption is less than a fourth of what the publications list the engine as using. Same thing with the JD 4230. It is shown to use about seven gallons an hour. Even plowing, it uses in the vicinity of 4 gph. Using it around the yard to move hay is a lot less.