What buy 2wd vs 4wd

[Bob1476]

I recently had my L2800dt 4wd stolen. So I'm looking at a replacement tractor. The L2800 was a good little tractor, but was just a little weak in FEL and 3pt lifting capacity, so I'm thinking about moving up just a notch.

I basically have three options I'm looking at. First is a L3240dt 4wd with the L724 loader. It will do everything I need and is a NICE tractor.

Second is an L3240 HST with L724 loader, but it has 50 hours on it (was previously rented).

Third is a 2wd NH TT60A with FEL (and a nice 6' RHINO brush hog, which I need).

All three are the same price (although to be fair, I still need to purchase a brush hog for the Kubotas). The NH has a alot more hp, but is only 2wd and is a pretty basic tractor. But it is the most inexpensive of the 3 and comes with 0% for 60 months. I'm a little concerned about it only being 2wd for doing FEL work. The Kubota's have 0% for 42 months, or some decent longer term financing.

I'm also concerned about resale values between the NH and the Kubota. Between the two Kubotas, I'm leery of a rental unit, even with 50 hours, is the HST worth it? I use this tractor on 65 acres, mostly pasture. Moving/loading/unloading hay, mowing, light discing, etc. I don't do my own baling. Any thoughts?

 

[flusher]

I recently had my L2800dt 4wd stolen. So I'm looking at a replacement tractor. The L2800 was a good little tractor, but was just a little weak in FEL and 3pt lifting capacity, so I'm thinking about moving up just a notch.

I basically have three options I'm looking at. First is a L3240dt 4wd with the L724 loader. It will do everything I need and is a NICE tractor.

Second is an L3240 HST with L724 loader, but it has 50 hours on it (was previously rented).

Third is a 2wd NH TT60A with FEL (and a nice 6' RHINO brush hog, which I need).

All three are the same price (although to be fair, I still need to purchase a brush hog for the Kubotas). The NH has a alot more hp, but is only 2wd and is a pretty basic tractor. But it is the most inexpensive of the 3 and comes with 0% for 60 months. I'm a little concerned about it only being 2wd for doing FEL work. The Kubota's have 0% for 42 months, or some decent longer term financing.

I'm also concerned about resale values between the NH and the Kubota. Between the two Kubotas, I'm leery of a rental unit, even with 50 hours, is the HST worth it? I use this tractor on 65 acres, mostly pasture. Moving/loading/unloading hay, mowing, light discing, etc. I don't do my own baling. Any thoughts?

That TT60A comes with two transmission options:

8F/4R with 4 constant mesh gears and

 

[Mech]

I know there have been many times when I've lost traction and realize I'm in 2WD and when I move to 4WD the tractor pulls the load easily. Don't know where you live but if you get snow 4WD is a must, I have read here that is very important with a FEL and in the case of my JD 790 it is necessary for traction even with loaded rears. I've only had one 2WD and it was a 8N so can't really compare but I would never consider a 2WD for the snow removal and road grading that I do.

 

[flusher]

That TT60A comes with two transmission options:

8F/4R with 4 constant mesh gears and

Oops, hit the wrong button.

As I was saying, that TT60A has two tranny options:

8F/4R with 4 constant mesh gears and 2 constant mesh ranges
8F/2R with 4 (2 synchronized) gears and 2 constant mesh ranges.

IMHO it's the tranny that's more important than 2WD vs 4WD for FEL work. Those two trannies available on the TT60A are fine for FEL work.

I had a Kubota B7510HST (21 hp engine, 17 hp pto, 4WD, hydrostatic transmission) with the LA302 FEL that worked fine also for FEL work, although the bucket capacity and lift capability were small.

I traded the 7510 for a Mahindra 5525 (54 hp engine, 45 hp pto, 2WD) with the ML250 FEL (6ft bucket, 2950 lb lift to full height at the pivots). That 5525 has a very basic 8F/2R gear tranny called a "partial constant mesh" design. It's a simple sliding gear tranny with no synchronizers. It's "partial constant mesh" because only 2nd and 3rd are constant mesh gears; 1st and 4th are simple sliding gears. So it took me a few hours of seat time to get the hang of that tranny on the 5525, but now I'm pretty proficient now with the FEL.

Either one of those two trannies on the TT60A are more advanced than the one I have on the 5525. So I say if you like that NH tractor, go for it.

 

[Soundguy]

The extra large capacity of the NH unit should make up for lack of 4wd for most situations.. the extra footprint and HP should be able to be put to good use. plus.. sound slike it is new.. with good financing.. and an attractive price.... It's be a no-brainer for me... all my tractors are 2wd now...

soundguy

 

[EddieWalker]

What type of soil do you have and how important is traction to you? My loader/backhoe is 2wd and if it's dry out, it works great. 80hp can get allot done, but if it's wet out, it's useless. It just seems to have a magic ability to find those wet spots or holes that swallow up a tire that my 4wd tractor never notices. You will also find that the extra traction of a 4wd tractor will make a HUGE difference in loader work, dry or wet conditions. The rear tires only have so much push in them when getting a load of material. Having that extra bit of traction will make it easy to get a full load compared to not being able to get a full load every time.

Will you be puling anything, mowing on hills or rough terain? HP has it's place, but so does traction. Having allot of power isn't going to get the field mowed if you can't drive through it.

Eddie

 

[Bob1476]

I'll be brush-hogging with it and some light disc work. But the main reason I wanted to go with a bigger tractro was for FEL capacity (moving big hay bales) and the 3pt on the L2800 was pretty weak, which made digging large post holes tricky without getting the auger stuck.

 

[RollingsFarms]

what caught my attention was you mentioned moving hay bales. are these round bales or square bales? i know you said you weren't going to be doing any haying, but moving heavy round bales can get a little tense when using too small of a tractor. it also sounds like you're getting a "package deal" with the NH. i had to make a similar decision as you. mine was get the tractor and fel now, or get a 4wd tractor and a bush hog now. i went with the 4wd tractor and bush hog with the tractor set up for a loader in the future. as for resale between the two you really are going to be about the same with both. NH and Kubota have great reputations. alot of people claim that a 4wd tractor is easier to sell then a 2wd tractor but it's been my experience that it depends on whos looking. some guys i know will buy a 2wd tractor in a heartbeat and never want 4wd, others just the opposite. i can tell you that i traded in a 2wd tractor recently and they gave me a price that was within $1,000 of what it cost brand new back in 1978. notice i said trade in price and not selling price. i could have got more for it if i sold it myself but didnt have time to mess with all that and needed a tractor now.

 

[Bob1476]

This year I have big square bales. The wheat hay is no problem at 550 lb, but the Alfalfa is about 950 lbs and the L2800 would barely pick one up. Getting a bale off the second tier no the trailer was pretty spooky. That's one reason I wanted to move up a notch.

The NH is a package. If I go with one of the Kubotas I can have them add a brush hog for more money. Either way, I have to replace the tractor/loader and brush hog.

 

[RollingsFarms]

This year I have big square bales. The wheat hay is no problem at 550 lb, but the Alfalfa is about 950 lbs and the L2800 would barely pick one up. Getting a bale off the second tier no the trailer was pretty spooky. That's one reason I wanted to move up a notch.

The NH is a package. If I go with one of the Kubotas I can have them add a brush hog for more money. Either way, I have to replace the tractor/loader and brush hog.

the decision is ultimatley up to you, but seems like you're getting a good bit more hp, bigger frame size, and a brush cutter for what HST and 4wd costs. that's the decision you have to make. i can tell you that around here hay farmers are using tractors very similar to the TT-60A you are looking at. the ones i know of are haying some pretty good size fields and round bales.

 

[Dargo]

I'd have to say that a 2wd tractor has a lot of applications where it is sufficient. However, if you plan on doing much FEL work at all, I'd positively never buy a 2wd tractor. I had exactly one 2wd tractor with a FEL and it was completely and totally worthless if I picked up a load of any size in the bucket and tried to back up. If I had to back up any incline with a load in the bucket, it was a sad joke. Unless you're just moving light material around with a 2wd tractor in it's FEL, it has no use to me. Heck, being that I have run across some ruts, needed to backup some inclines and gone down wet grassy hills when mowing I'd still say that I'd never buy a 2wd tractor even for mowing. As I said, I've had one 2wd tractor and that's all I'll ever own in my lifetime.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

A 2WD tractor would maybe be a 2nd or 3rd tractor in my stable for pulling mowing, plows, disks, etc...but I'd never own one unless I had a 4WD to pull it out when I got it stuck.

I know that really large 2wd ag tractors can get a lot done without getting stuck, but most are not used for routine chores. Yes, a 100hp ag tractor with a Koyker FEL will easily lift your hay bales, but not worth a flip for trying to dig unmolested dirt.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I have a 28 HP 4 wheel drive tractor with R1's that will do more pulling than my neighbors 2 wheel drive 50 HP 2 wheel drive tractor. Then again a 50 HP dozer will out pull a 200 HP tractor. It all comes down to if you need the pto HP or traction. For your type of work I would want 4 wheel drive.

Chris

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Tossing in my 2 cents worth I have a medium sized Kubota L3750. When I bought it used about a year ago they tossed in a basically new 60" box blade with it. Using the box blade to tear up lawn and dirt I couldn't have done it very well with 2WD. Putting it in 4WD kept me from trashing the lawn. This is all on flat ground. If I don't want to tear up the lawn just driving around carry things in the FEL I leave it in 2WD. Scooping wood chips or pulling the BB it is in 4WD.

 

[john_bud]

The NH may have more HP, but if you can't use it, what good is it? For front loader work where the weight is moved to the front axle and off of the rear axle, 4wd is about 2:1 or maybe 3:1 more important than hp. Let me further explain. I have a ford backhoe that has loaded rear tires and a 3100 pound 14' hoe on the back and a 3000# lift FEL on the front. The whole sheebang is about 9000#. It's also 2wd. I also have a 4wd kubota L3410 hst that with loaded tire and a 900# boxblade on the back and the 1000# lift FEL on the front weighs about 6000 pounds. There is about 56 hp in the ford and 34 in the bota. Got the picture? The ford is 2wd and 50% larger with 3x the rear counter weight and that weight is 2x farther behind the tractor.

So what? Well, the ford will hit a spoils pile and spin the rear tires and only get a 1/2 bucket. The little bota will move the pile back and get a heaping bucket full. It also moves MUCH faster in the short range. 10-100 ft. The bota will get 2.5 to 3 loads in the same time as the ford gets 1 FEL load. The ford also can't back out of an excavation pit as the rear tires unload and have no traction. The bota don't care.

I would get the 4wd as a first priority. I would put the HST as a second priority. 50 hours of rental use is about nothing. It's harder to abuse / damage an HST than a DT transmission. That said, get the 4wd hst bota and enjoy.

jb

 

[Soundguy]

A 2WD tractor would maybe be a 2nd or 3rd tractor in my stable for pulling mowing, plows, disks, etc...but I'd never own one unless I had a 4WD to pull it out when I got it stuck.

I know that really large 2wd ag tractors can get a lot done without getting stuck, but most are not used for routine chores. Yes, a 100hp ag tractor with a Koyker FEL will easily lift your hay bales, but not worth a flip for trying to dig unmolested dirt.

FEL's aren't great for digging anyway.. they are great for scooping stockpiled material. Backhoes are what you use to dig.

soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

I'd have to say that a 2wd tractor has a lot of applications where it is sufficient. However, if you plan on doing much FEL work at all, I'd positively never buy a 2wd tractor. I had exactly one 2wd tractor with a FEL and it was completely and totally worthless if I picked up a load of any size in the bucket and tried to back up. If I had to back up any incline with a load in the bucket, it was a sad joke. Unless you're just moving light material around with a 2wd tractor in it's FEL, it has no use to me. Heck, being that I have run across some ruts, needed to backup some inclines and gone down wet grassy hills when mowing I'd still say that I'd never buy a 2wd tractor even for mowing. As I said, I've had one 2wd tractor and that's all I'll ever own in my lifetime.

We are of course, all responding to this as how it relates to our own usage.

If you live in a hille wet area like Dargo.. and have alot of need for backing up inclines.. then 4wd would be a clear choice.

However.. on my pancake flat florida land.. 2wd and a fewl get alot of work done.. at quite a cost savings.

to the original poster.. you need to identify your uses, future uses, and match that to the topography and then make your choice with your wallet..

soundguy

 

[Brahmus]

Well my south Louisiana terrain is similar to your FL backyard. I can do more on my L4240 4wd kubota w/FEL than I can with my father's 2wd 55hp Mahindra W/FEL. Both will get the job done, but the Kubota is faster and more efficent. Infact when I compare the 55hp mahindra to my father's other Mahindra (45hp w/o FEL) I perfer the 45hp. The weight on the front of the 2wd kills it with no front wheels pulling. Besides, a 4wd or FWD setup is much beefier for hauling more weight on the front than a 2wd. For all around versitility 4wd is the only way to go. The 2wd is better suited to a particularly simple task. IMO

 

[Dargo]

But you forget, Chris is big enough that he just gets off the tractor and picks it up out of any mud and carries it to terra firma. I heard that one time he got so angry that he threw the NH in his picture up onto the top of his barn!

My old days of competitive lifting are long since gone. Heck, I even broke down a few years ago and bought a forklift. No more acting like a human forklift for me. I think that ended about 2 or 3 surgeries ago.

 

[mlauk]

I'd go for the 2WD, more horsepower. I've never needed 4WD on a tractor, but I've needed more HP. I also think the bigger tractor would be better for moving hay.