gladehound
Veteran Member
This thread is so funny! I read the entire thing.
It is valuable to distiquish so that new tractor buyers have an understanding of what they are getting and what it can do. It is valuable to have a common language so I can say to my friend, you would be best off with a SCUT or CUT rather than a lawn or garden tractor. If there is no common understanding of the language, then my advice is meaningless.
Example: I have a friend never lived on more than 1/3rd of an acre. He just bought a house on 22 acres of lawn, field and woods. And now he's asking about tractors and knows nothing about them. It's an important topic because my friend couldn't understand why the department store "tractors" were $2k and looked the same size as the similar "tractors" (actually SCUTs) that were 12K. He had no idea what a 3pt hitch or PTO was or what they could do and to him, the machines look the same. After explaining many differences to him I gave him the guidance below about what is what (before reading this thread). I purposly left horse power out of it because I think it has little to do with what category a tractor fits into anymore.
Lawn tractor - Light and primarily designed to mow lawns
garden tractor - heavier machine that can run some implements but doesn't have a standard style 3pt hitch / PTO.
SCUT - Low profile tractor with Cat 0 hitch and PTO or limited Cat 1. Rear tires < 3 ft tall.
CUT - Cat 1 hitch and PTO. Rear tires 3 - 4 feet tall
UT - Cat 2 hitch / PTO. Rear tires 4 - 7 feet tall
Large ag or row crop tractor - Cat 3 hitch / PTO. Alters the earths rotation when it moves.
As for the power tracs. They are wheel loaders - not tractors. Power trac just uses the term "tractor" so that potential tractor purchases will consider the power trac as an alternative. (certainly will consider one in the future but need to know if a PT-1460 can knock down a tree better than my 19 hp CUT)
It is valuable to distiquish so that new tractor buyers have an understanding of what they are getting and what it can do. It is valuable to have a common language so I can say to my friend, you would be best off with a SCUT or CUT rather than a lawn or garden tractor. If there is no common understanding of the language, then my advice is meaningless.
Example: I have a friend never lived on more than 1/3rd of an acre. He just bought a house on 22 acres of lawn, field and woods. And now he's asking about tractors and knows nothing about them. It's an important topic because my friend couldn't understand why the department store "tractors" were $2k and looked the same size as the similar "tractors" (actually SCUTs) that were 12K. He had no idea what a 3pt hitch or PTO was or what they could do and to him, the machines look the same. After explaining many differences to him I gave him the guidance below about what is what (before reading this thread). I purposly left horse power out of it because I think it has little to do with what category a tractor fits into anymore.
Lawn tractor - Light and primarily designed to mow lawns
garden tractor - heavier machine that can run some implements but doesn't have a standard style 3pt hitch / PTO.
SCUT - Low profile tractor with Cat 0 hitch and PTO or limited Cat 1. Rear tires < 3 ft tall.
CUT - Cat 1 hitch and PTO. Rear tires 3 - 4 feet tall
UT - Cat 2 hitch / PTO. Rear tires 4 - 7 feet tall
Large ag or row crop tractor - Cat 3 hitch / PTO. Alters the earths rotation when it moves.
As for the power tracs. They are wheel loaders - not tractors. Power trac just uses the term "tractor" so that potential tractor purchases will consider the power trac as an alternative. (certainly will consider one in the future but need to know if a PT-1460 can knock down a tree better than my 19 hp CUT)
