Buying Advice 4x4 or 2x4

[whistlepig]

Brush hogging with a 5' brush hog is about an acre an hour for a decent cut. Finish mowing is about two acres an hour with a 6' RFM. Depends on the roughness of the ground and thickness of what's being cut. My figures are not sealed in stone but I have brush hogged and finish mowed a little more than some.

 

[aczlan]

I live on ground that is pretty flat. The only time I use 4WD is when using the loader. For loader work the 4WD is worth it's weight in gold. For snow removal with a loader I can't see where 4WD helps as much as tire chains on the rear. A 2WD tractor with tire chains will push far more snow than a 4WD without tire chains.

I will have to disagree on this.
Dad had a Massey Ferguson Industrial 35 (50HP Perkins diesel, industrial loader with a 6' bucket, chains on the (loaded) tires, a beast of a machine). When clearing snow with that machine, you ran out of traction quick, even with a 55 gallon drum full of rocks in the 3 point.
He replaced that with a Kubota L3650. Smaller tractor, but has 4wd and 4 loaded tires. That tractor does a MUCH better job at loader work WITHOUT any extra weight on the back and in the snow, it will push and push. It doesn't stop for anything until you tell it to.
It also has a Laurin cab with heat which makes it MUCH more fun to work in during the winter.

Aaron Z

 

[whistlepig]

I will have to disagree on this.
Dad had a Massey Ferguson Industrial 35 (50HP Perkins diesel, industrial loader with a 6' bucket, chains on the (loaded) tires, a beast of a machine). When clearing snow with that machine, you ran out of traction quick, even with a 55 gallon drum full of rocks in the 3 point.
He replaced that with a Kubota L3650. Smaller tractor, but has 4wd and 4 loaded tires. That tractor does a MUCH better job at loader work WITHOUT any extra weight on the back and in the snow, it will push and push. It doesn't stop for anything until you tell it to.
It also has a Laurin cab with heat which makes it MUCH more fun to work in during the winter.

Aaron Z

This isn't an apples to apples comparison. My brother had a Ford Industrial tractor 2WD with a loader and loaded tires that I have used. This was a 50 HP+ tractor. My 30 HP Kubota 4WD will do more dirt work, with out rear weight, than this Ford could ever do. The newer tractors have a much better transfer of the power to the ground. The newer ones are simply better tractors. When you lift a loader you can feel the weight being lifted off of the rear tires. A rear weight just allows the tractor to compensate for the offset weight of the loader.

 

[aczlan]

This isn't an apples to apples comparison. My brother had a Ford Industrial tractor 2WD with a loader and loaded tires that I have used. This was a 50 HP+ tractor. My 30 HP Kubota 4WD will do more dirt work, with out rear weight, than this Ford could ever do. The newer tractors have a much better transfer of the power to the ground. The newer ones are simply better tractors. When you lift a loader you can feel the weight being lifted off of the rear tires. A rear weight just allows the tractor to compensate for the offset weight of the loader.

That is essentially what I said. I was disagreeing with your statement of "For snow removal with a loader I can't see where 4WD helps as much as tire chains on the rear" We went from a 2wd tractor with chains to a smaller 4wd without chains and the smaller tractor does much better than the larger one ever did.

Aaron Z

 

[jlsmith]

Funny how people say a 2wd tractor with a fel is crippeled. All of my tractors are 2wd and i dont have any problems moving a FULL load of dirt or 2200lbs round bales. I have both flat and hill land and the 2wd works great and i dont tear up my land when driving around.

 

[TripleR]

You "can't fool mother nature" and the laws of physics are universal; works the same for all of us.

When my father in law retired, he bought a 2WD 70 HP Massey Ferguson with a FEL because he was told it would work fine. "It works fine for me" doesn't mean it will work fine for someone else. After about six weeks of getting stuck and poor performance, he took the financial hit and bought the same model with 4WD. We still have it twenty five years later.

I "believe" tractor for tractor, you will be able to do more with a 4WD than 2WD, now you have to decide if you "need" to do more. We have both types depending on our needs.

 

[Pushing_Tin]

There's no way I would own a 2WD tractor.

 

[MBDiagMan]

There's no way I would own a 2WD tractor.

Yes, in the size tractor that you use, a 2WD tractor would be a mistake for almost any usage. With heavy tractors, there are many situations where 2WD with R1 tires will serve very well.

 

[jlsmith]

It all boils down to the type of work your are going to be doing. I bale hay mow pasters and all around ranch work and have yet had the need for a 4wd, i personaly wouldnt put one in a hay field. Put for people up north that have snow and ice i can see where one might come in handy.:thumbsup: Just saying in my line of work a 2wd is better IMHO.

 

[LaVerne]

a 5055E and a HX6 cutter - you'll not regret either. On hilly ground, 4 wheel drive gives 4 wheel brakes. It's expensive but this is machinery you only have to buy once. The HX series cutters will cut anything the tractor can run over, and more if you back over it. Both machines are iron that you'll work with, and not work on too much. I bought a 709 cutter some years ago, and it has about a 3 1/2 inch solid output shaft. I think it has 3 or 4 inch rated capacity of cut, and that's published diameter! I cried over it, but I only cried once.