What tractor are you using in your vineyard?

[Robert_in_NY]

Thanks all for the thoughtful responses so far.

The Krawler is out since we have quite a bit of road pavement (asphalt) to get to some of the vineyards. The Kubota B2320 Narrow is attractively priced but without a cab it won't work.

A friend tells me that the other machines mentioned like that attractive NH - and others that haven't like JD - probably start at 35-40K with cab and AC and may go twice as high. Right now that's all way above budget.

Now, it's great that most are 48 inches wide but since we can go as wide as 60-ish inches in our vineyards, is there something that's lower priced (under 30K, if possible way under) and that has a good warranty like maybe TYM, Kioti, Mahindra, etc. which we may have missed?

Where are you coming up with the idea you can go as wide as 60"? From personal experience, 60" is too wide in 8' rows. Its fine early in the year but when the shoots extend to the middle you will see your too wide. Most Fruit tractors are 54" wide with the ultra narrow vineyard tractors being 48". Case-IH has a narrow tractor that is 51" wide if I recall and all the new tractors are available with cabs. Finding them used is hard as you need to be in an area that sells a lot of vineyard tractors.

There are a ton of options out there. Massey Ferguson, Case-IH, New Holland, Deere, Landini, McCormick and Deutz-Fahr all sell vineyard tractors (I think McCormick sells them in the US), Fendt and Claas also sell vineyard tractors but I don't know if they are available in the US currently.

Buying used you should expect to pay around $25k for a decent used vineyard tractor if your going with a cab and FWA. If you go with something older, higher hours and 2wd you will find them in the $12-$15k for the tractors 10 years old.

 

[LAWALLSTRACTOR]

Check out the TYM T503 Cab tractor with Ag Tires, you should be able to get very close, if not to 60" wide. Good luck with your search.

 

[orgt]

Mahindra has nice, reasonably priced tractors in the 30-40hp range. For example, the 3316HST (33 hp engine, 25 hp pto) has 60" track width and MSRP $17335. You can get a cab for the 3316 from Cab Depot for $5000.

Sims Cab Depot

If you need the FEL for the 3316, cost is about $6200.

BTW: my go-to tractor is a 2008 Mahindra 5525 (54 hp engine, 45 hp pto) with the ML250 FEL (6 ft bucket, 2950 lb lift).

Of course, there are less expensive Mahindra's with less expensive FELs and you can find cheaper cabs from Cab Depot. I'd say with a little shopping you could get something in the $25K range that would satisfy your requirements.

Flusher, wow.. you're just so good at this stuff. Thanks!

FWIW I've long been impressed not only by many things Mahindra builds but also the way they sell them (like publishing MSRP right on their site, a wonderful starting point for negociations and a real deterrent for scum-type salespeople or resellers.)

That 3316 would work fine and I'm no totally ruling out a non-factory cab, but I have very mixed feelings about those from personal experience on my own tractor. To be honest I'm not thrilled with the way Cab Depot describes their AC option either (hookups, ways the unit is powered, possible electrical fires, etc.) That's just one of several reasons why I think that whenever possible it's better to go with a factory-engineered and factory-tested cab.

It's really too bad the 4510 CAB is 64 inches wide, but believe me, Mahindra is on our radar screen!

 

[orgt]

Where are you coming up with the idea you can go as wide as 60"? From personal experience, 60" is too wide in 8' rows. Its fine early in the year but when the shoots extend to the middle you will see your too wide. Most Fruit tractors are 54" wide with the ultra narrow vineyard tractors being 48". Case-IH has a narrow tractor that is 51" wide if I recall and all the new tractors are available with cabs. Finding them used is hard as you need to be in an area that sells a lot of vineyard tractors.

There are a ton of options out there. Massey Ferguson, Case-IH, New Holland, Deere, Landini, McCormick and Deutz-Fahr all sell vineyard tractors (I think McCormick sells them in the US), Fendt and Claas also sell vineyard tractors but I don't know if they are available in the US currently.

Buying used you should expect to pay around $25k for a decent used vineyard tractor if your going with a cab and FWA. If you go with something older, higher hours and 2wd you will find them in the $12-$15k for the tractors 10 years old.

Robert, it's not an "idea", it's from actual experience. The half-broken tractor we've been using is a five-footer. We also had a knucklehead dealer who brought a six-footer in late spring and even that one squeezed through, albeit not with any margin in some spots so there was an awful lot of crawling. Needless to say that trac went back.

Anyway, a lot depends on how you train/guide your vines. On some cases the terrain can be a big factor too, but we're lucky not to have steep or tilted slopes.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Robert, it's not an "idea", it's from actual experience. The half-broken tractor we've been using is a five-footer. We also had a knucklehead dealer who brought a six-footer in late spring and even that one squeezed through, albeit not with any margin in some spots so there was an awful lot of crawling. Needless to say that trac went back.

Anyway, a lot depends on how you train/guide your vines. On some cases the terrain can be a big factor too, but we're lucky not to have steep or tilted slopes.

I know it can be done. I know people who run 6' wide tractors in their farms but their tires are rubbing hard on the shoots. What I do know is that if you go with a dedicated vineyard/fruit tractor it will most likely be 54" wide and available with a factory cab. Then you have plenty of room in your rows to not have to worry. My 60" tractor goes up and down my rows without too many problems but right now it hits the shoots hard and every now and then it catches a shoot with the tires and rips it down. That is why I don't care much for a 60" tractor in 8' rows.

 

[orgt]

I know it can be done. I know people who run 6' wide tractors in their farms but their tires are rubbing hard on the shoots. What I do know is that if you go with a dedicated vineyard/fruit tractor it will most likely be 54" wide and available with a factory cab. Then you have plenty of room in your rows to not have to worry. My 60" tractor goes up and down my rows without too many problems but right now it hits the shoots hard and every now and then it catches a shoot with the tires and rips it down. That is why I don't care much for a 60" tractor in 8' rows.

Understood Robert. By the way, what's your tractor, if you don't mind sharing?

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Understood Robert. By the way, what's your tractor, if you don't mind sharing?

It is a Ford 1920 which is underpowered for my sprayer but is what I have at the moment.

 

[orgt]

Check out the TYM T503 Cab tractor with Ag Tires, you should be able to get very close, if not to 60" wide. Good luck with your search.

Galen, thanks so much for the tip. I lookekd back at our notes and I realize we had the T503 Cab near the top of the list for a while until we removed it because of the width issue. I looked at their web site again and I'm confused, Both T433 and T503 cab are shown with ag tires so we assumed the 62.6 width was it. So, are you saying that this can be adjusted inward as other brands do (a neighbor told me he'd gain over 6 inches that way but I can't remember the brand though, he lost a bit of turning radius but that wouldn't be a problem for me)? Boy, both the fender and the cab appear to be well under 60 inches so that that might just work for us!

Also, if that's not too much asking:
- Where's the intake on the T503 Cab's "dual air filter" located? This was a really attractive item for us because it's not uncommon for the nasty stuff that comes out of the sprayer to make its way back into the cab. The TYM web site is really poor on details, no specs on this, at least none that I could find.
- What does a brand new T503 Cab run, roughly?
- What's the width of the TMF72S/RC mower? Again, nothing I could find on the site specswise.

Have a great weekend.

 

[vineyardkeeper1]

I use a mf 135 in my vineyard and my rows are 11 feet apart. The 135 works good until the vines get about 3 to 4 yrs old. These are muscadines and by setting them at 11 feet apart I have very little damage from the tire pulling on the shoots.Could still use a more narrow tractor.

 

[Savagepike]

I use a Mahindra 2615 for my vineyard, although my rows have 10' spacing. The tractor is 62" wide with R4's but would shrink down to about 56" with ag tires. Plenty of power for the sprayer, posthole digger and 5' bush hog or boxblade.