Buying Advice I need a better wheel barrow!

   / I need a better wheel barrow! #11  
I think u will do great provided there aren't rocks to chew up blades or bend decks or launch them towards a window!!!
 
   / I need a better wheel barrow!
  • Thread Starter
#12  
So anyone have any tractor opinions? I use the Bobcat mostly to carry things around in the bucket. Firewood, cactus, rocks, topsoil, etc. It would be essentially a diesel powered wheel barrow.

I would like start chipping and stump grinding. I think it would be less destructive than pushing over 8 ft stumps and worrying it like a dog with a bone. The burn bans are always messing with my plans.

Some tractors must be better suited. Some must have design problems. I want only one. I am really out of touch with what works today and is available.
 
   / I need a better wheel barrow! #13  
Bobcat, 770 series with all wheel steer is best of both worlds, 90+ hp, so power a plenty, conventional steering so no landscape damage, huge loader lift capacity, and more bobcat attachments than could even be used in a lifetime. Enclosed cab available w/ A/C, dust filtration. NO DPF emissions system, worth a look. Several finish and rotary mower attachment options available.


Jeffy, you have many wierd links in your posts? Are you paid by advertisers to shill for those products? See post #2.

Further, jeffy. You disparage commercial operators. Many are individual business owners who operate the equipment themselves. They also understand that equipment care is essential to their livelihood.

Your uninformed generalizations are personal inaccuracies and biases that are often better kept to yourself.

Arrogance and condescending remarks, which illicited criticism in the forum where the OP was seeking soil plowing advice, is simply unhelpful.
 
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   / I need a better wheel barrow! #14  
It doesn't freeze here but the rocks still rise. Perhaps a deep chisel or one of those spring mounted rippers would be needed.

RE: Spring protected rippers. I have a Dirt Dog All Purpose Plow which I use quite a bit. From your description of your rocky soil I think you will break too many (replaceable) points.
https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/339095-dirt-dog-all-purpose-plow.html?highlight=

Consider a Middlebuster/Potato Plow or a Subsoiler.
(Neither of these implements fit subcompact tractors unless specifically designed to do so.)
VIDEOS: tractor middlebuster - YouTube
tractor potato plow - YouTube
compact tractor subsoiler - YouTube

If you want deeper soil penetration with Middlebuster or Subsoiler move pin to bottom holes on Lifting Rod stirrups. See photos.
 

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   / I need a better wheel barrow! #15  
Some tractors must be better suited. Some must have design problems. I want only one. I am really out of touch with what works today and is available.

Tractors in common weight categories are pretty generic. The Three Point Hitch is to industry standard, although hitch lift capacity and lift height varies. When you get into details compact tractors vary some, which we obsess about in this forum.

Significant "breaks" to me are ground clearance, (9" or less, or 12" or more) and whether or not tractor will fit into a residential garage with an 84" headboard.

Your conundrum is having four acres, excluding other family property, for which a 1,700 pound to 2,700 pound bare weight tractor is appropriate and your desire to unload 2,000 pound pallets which requires a 4,500 pound bare weight tractor to accomplish safely.

VIDEOS: Are Sub-Compact Tractors "REAL" Tractors?? - TMT - YouTube
Kubota B-Series vs Standard L1 Series - YouTube
 
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   / I need a better wheel barrow! #16  
I really don't recommend that you start deep subsoiling to bring up more rocks. Your soil is likely solid rock with a bit of top soil so the more you deep plow, the more rocks you will have and you will never get them all up.
A landscape rake might work for windrowing up the larger surface rocks. The tines are about an inch apart so small stuff will sift thru. Grass will not go thru and will just stop everything up, so that may be a problem for you. A box blade will gather up rocks and topsoil and anything else it goes over. You may not want all your topsoil dug up although the scarifiers set at 6" deep might work to bring up some of the rocks that will naturally rise over time. I wouldn't go any deeper than that.
As for tractor size or brand, as long as you have an established dealer for the tractor brand, you likely wont have any issues. Almost all the CUTs build are reliable but just like automobiles, one is occasionally a lemon, but you shouldn't let some web poster that got one and now badmouths every XXXXX brand as being bad sway your thinking too much.

I don't think I would be looking at any SCUT for your work, not even for mowing. A 25-40 HP CUT would work well, having plenty of lift capacity, weight and power to dig out rocks and lift and carry them away. You can check the specs on just about any tractor made at Tractordata.com
 
   / I need a better wheel barrow! #17  
I never thought of using a box blade. I thought it odd so many people own one. We never used one on the family dairy farm. It will collect and hold rocks? I would've guessed it would randomly drop them somewhere. Plus, I find one hard to use well.

It doesn't freeze here but the rocks still rise. I was guessing some version of a deep chisel or one of those spring mounted rippers would be needed.

If the box blade is set level just touching the ground with the scarifiers down, as you go along the scarifiers pop the rocks up and the box blade will "collect" them without picking up much dirt. Eventually the box blade is full of rocks and you can dump them where you want them.

A box blade is good for grading, smoothing, and grooming. Best tool for maintaining a gravel road IMO. Maybe not much use on a dairy farm. :)
 
   / I need a better wheel barrow!
  • Thread Starter
#18  
I really don't recommend that you start deep subsoiling to bring up more rocks. Your soil is likely solid rock with a bit of top soil so the more you deep plow, the more rocks you will have and you will never get them all up.
A landscape rake might work for windrowing up the larger surface rocks. The tines are about an inch apart so small stuff will sift thru. Grass will not go thru and will just stop everything up, so that may be a problem for you. A box blade will gather up rocks and topsoil and anything else it goes over. You may not want all your topsoil dug up although the scarifiers set at 6" deep might work to bring up some of the rocks that will naturally rise over time. I wouldn't go any deeper than that.
As for tractor size or brand, as long as you have an established dealer for the tractor brand, you likely wont have any issues. Almost all the CUTs build are reliable but just like automobiles, one is occasionally a lemon, but you shouldn't let some web poster that got one and now badmouths every XXXXX brand as being bad sway your thinking too much.

I don't think I would be looking at any SCUT for your work, not even for mowing. A 25-40 HP CUT would work well, having plenty of lift capacity, weight and power to dig out rocks and lift and carry them away. You can check the specs on just about any tractor made at Tractordata.com

That sounds like sound advice. The top 6 - 12" is dirt with scattered random rocks. Below that is solid, pink and white, high manganese and magnesium dolomitic limestone. (My well went through about 60 ft of it without interruption.) It is pretty fractured and I haven't found any shelfs I could chop.

That 90 hp is a beautiful machine but I could never work it hard enough to avoid wet stacking or whatever problems current diesel engines have. My wife would kill me if I took on a bunch of debt after we worked so hard to pay everything off. Plus, I think I would cry when I broke my first piece of glass.

I googled the implements mentioned. They make lots of stuff especially stuff for little tractors. I though I had seen it all when I saw the land plane and the spring loaded job. It looks like there is more than one PTO output shaft?

I wish I had never mentioned lifting 2000 lbs. That was such a piddling small weight with the old FEL . But, Tractor Data says it weighs 9,485 lbs ballasted. The rear tires were filled with water and it had all the axle weights that would fit. I guess it was ballasted. I can use the Bobcat for heavy stuff. I am wanting to build an off road articulating gantry crane anyway. Door height isn't a problem. I won't buy the tractor until I get two hi cube containers spaced apart with a roof between them. The entry end will be 12 - 16 ft tall.

Finding a good dealer is a whole other problem. I have used four of them for other equipment and am not happy. I worry about buying a lemon with some intermittent electronic gizmo and having to haul it repeatedly to some distant dealer who has no clue.
 
   / I need a better wheel barrow! #19  
If I choose one of those tempting Itty bitty tractors, a 48"or 52" MMM will fit everywhere I want to mow. I think it might be faster than a 7 ft shredder! All the other chores would be better done with a heavier, more powerful tractor.

As another poster said, yes you have a conundrum here. A SCUT could handle most of your chores. But running a stump grinder and large chipper would require a larger tractor.

One option is to hire out your large one-time jobs, and then buy a tractor sized for your ongoing chores. I rented an enormous chipper (and two guys to run it) that you could feed an entire tree up to 6" diameter through and it chipped it in seconds. Only cost a few hundred dollars for the day and took care of all of THAT in one go. I also hired a large excavator and operator to push over my large stumps, put them in a dump truck, and cart them away. Again, just a few hundred dollars and it was done in a couple hours. Cheaper than buying a big tractor, but then a lot of folks want to be able to do everything themselves so buy something big enough to tackle any conceivable job.
 
   / I need a better wheel barrow! #20  
I never thought of using a box blade. I thought it odd so many people own one. We never used one on the family dairy farm.

Many compact tractor owner using implements as Three Point Hitch counterbalance choose Box Blades.

Box Blades do not cut acceptably, at least for me, until weight is at least 100 pounds per foot of width. My Box Blade is 125 pounds per foot of width. Construction Box Blades are 200 pounds per foot of width or more.

Box Blades of at least 100 pounds per foot of width, and widths of 48", 60", 72" have reasonable weight for counterbalance to general FEL work. One hundred twenty to 150 pounds per foot of width is desirable for counterbalance to HEAVY FEL loads.

Photos 2,3: The sopping wet Water Oak weighed around 1,400 pounds. My Rollover Box Blade weighs 630 pounds.
Tractor's rear wheels were very lightly in ground contact. I should have had a heavier implement on the Three Point Hitch.
 

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