Two Questions

[Bob_Skurka]

Power Trac only sells factory direct. No dealers. The company has been building deep tunnel mining equipment for years under another company division. Their Power Trac stuff is for homeowners, landscapers and other business/industrial applications outside of the mining industry. The technology is well proven and reliable. Their tractors have the driver sitting forward, engine in the rear and articulated bodies that hinge in the middle. 4 wheel drive, simple mechanisms, very versitile and high quality . . . odd looking.

Power Trac has the best fence hole equipment in the world, fencing companies swear by PT equipment. They have similar tree planting augers as well. Rear mount augers to fit any other brand of tractor are available, but if you have A LOT to plant or fence, then PT will win a speed contest hands down. PT will probably dig 4 to 6 fence posts for every 1 you can dig with a rear mount auger on a traditional tractor.

Shredding 10 acres . . . by shredding I presume you are talking about "rough cutting" so 30 to 40hp seems about right if you are doing it a couple times a year, but if plan on doing it more often then you could go to a smaller tractor and simply maintain it. It will take longer, but . . .

Finish mowing 3 acres . . . this is too small of a property for a 30 to 40hp tractor in my opinion for finish mowing. I would opt for nothing larger than a NH TC29, Kubota B2910 or similar SIZE tractor. Go much bigger and you will have wider turns making mowing around any landscaping a real chore with lots of wasted time while mowing. I'd prefer an even smaller tractor a lot more because while the deck size will go down, the turning radius will also be smaller making much shorter work around buildings, trees, bushes, etc. So for this, a smaller tractor will make mowing faster.

2000 feet of driveway . . . OK 30 to 40hp sounds good.

Creek to clean out during dry seasons . . . any size will do this, the job is fairly small, no big deal here.

Serious HD PTO chipper . . . why not just burn the piles? I have a chipper. JUST MY OPINION, but it was not worth the investment.

 

[IrTxRx]

Bob_Surka - Power-trac website is down (or maybe I can't access it at work...slow day) but I am interested in something a little out of the ordinary if it is functional and not cost prohibitive. Re: burning - there are lots of reasons for me that burning is not the best... fire risk, you have to burn a cedar pile about four times before it is gone, and I can only work a few hours at a time before other obligations start to interrupt (it's a lot easier to walk away from a large pile of mulch than a large pile of burning brush. However, I agree about limited utility of an undersized chipper. I rented one and it wasn't as well serviced as it should have been, so it was very slow going. Anyway, I had hoped that I could purchase a serious one and sell it in a few years after I had the majority of my big chipping done.

BTW it would also be nice to have one of those tree shears, but I have to be careful not to spend more on implements than i do on the tractor.

Again, thanks for the insight

 

[Bob_Skurka]

I can't access POWER TRAC's website either. It must be down.

Mind you I am not pushing their equipment, but it is well worth a look if you are looking to buy a tractor and implements. The stuff seems pretty much bullet proof and functional.

I will say I did look at their stuff over the past few months and decided NOT to buy it, but that is because I am looking for a small tractor that will be PRIMARILY a lawn mower as I already have other CUTs and implements. PT equipment is basically designed as a versitile tractor FIRST and a lawn mower is one of their options, but not a primary focus. I want an absolutely great lawn mower, and the versitility is a minimal issue for me. But when I first looked at the PT stuff I was NOT impressed. The more I looked at it, the more impressive I found PT to be.

 

[frank_f15]

I am not even going to suggest what tractor/skid steer u should get. I hink the best thing for u to do is visit many dealers, climb on the units and try them out, be they tractors or skid steers.. but from what u stated i think u might be well advised to seriously consider the CUT or UTILITY tractor.

 

[texbaylea]

IrTxRx, Looking at your posts, we have similar problems. I have 30 acres with a lot of juniper and yaupon to clear. About 3-4 acres that I finish mow and a new driveway to build. Now that I have finished my income tax iI will place an order for a Kubota L3130 with a LA723 Loader with Quick Attach option and 1 rear remote valve. I already have a Woods 5000 Chipper/Shredder which works great since I hire manual help to run the cut brush through it. I don't want to burn because of the fire risk and the fact a fair amount of poison oak/ivy is included. I am not alergic normally but the smoke will give anybody a serious case.

I plan to get a Hy-Reach Clipper to use off the FEL to be sold later when I get all the clearing done.

 

[MossRoad]

Welcome to TBN! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I'm partial to finding the frame size that I like, then getting the most powerful engine available for that frame size.