What a difference a large tractor makes!

[rScotty]

SNIP......
I have another neighbor with an old International agricultural tractor, sorry I don't know the model but it's about twice the physical size of my tractor. I called him up, he brought his two-wheel drive tractor over, hooked up a long chain and putt-putt-putt, my truck came out of the hole. Now I'm wanting a big tractor, darn it! There's one sitting in a barn up the road that hasn't moved in years. I wonder if the owner will let it go cheap.....

I gotta laugh out of your story because that's exactly what we did 30 years ago....We had a small 4wd utility tractor & loader, but one day got a chance to buy a perfectly good big old 2WD JD Ag tractor for $1800. Nothing really wrong with it; it was basically worn almost smooth everywhere, but still working and not even leaking. It wasn't worth selling, so the farmer had simply retired it. Best guess was it had 16,000 hours on it. Tires were old but reasonable because they weren't filled, and it ran fine. So we bought it. Driving it home on the road took half a day, but was easier than hauling it. All it needed for the next 20 years was keeping the battery charged. I would start it every few months just to check, but it always started. Nice machine. We didn't use it often, but that tractor sure solved a lot of problems over the years.

 

[Hay Dude]

The other thing large AG tractors have in addition to weight, is power. Another is large AG tires get incredible traction with their bar tires.
My 200HP Massey with 42 rear rubber and big SISU diesel will pull out a stuck triaxle like its nothing.
The little 35HP tractor tires are so small in diameter and the paddles (bars) on their tread are, too.
Just used My smaller Kubota M135x to pull out a Hino chipper truck and a big diesel chipper hooked to it stuck in mud. Guy thanked me and after he left, I realized I never put it in 4WD. :laughing:

I completely understand why many of you buy compact 4WD tractors, they are as handy as tool you can find (I had an L-35), but its ridiculous how cheap you can get a 80-100HP old diesel farm tractor for the really tough stuff. Get the tallest rear tires with the most tread remaining you can!
An old heavy Case-IH, Massey or Deere

 

[BrokenTrack]

From everything I read, Harry Ferguson, the inventor of the Three Point Hitch, figured the optimum balance for a 2-WD tractor is 40% front, 60% rear. Like the Three Point Hitch, 40/60 weight distribution varies only a smidgeon between Three Point Hitch equipped tractors.

Not quite sure if that is exactly the same with 4-WD, which became practical after Ferguson's death, but since the Three Point Hitch virtual hitch point is in front of the tractor, 4-WD may be an irrelevant factor relative to optimum weight distribution for traction.

He was spot on, and today the 40/60 rule still applies even for articulated and four wheel drive tractors.

Skidders are designed for the 40/60 split: 40% over the rear axle, and 40% over the front axle empty, but it reverses when the skidder is pulling wood. I can feel it when I am off on either with either my grapple (525 Cat) or my cable skidder. When the weight of the wood gets sucked in close enough to cause the proper weight transfer, the front tires bite, and out of the woods we go. Before that I am just spinning.

On a big bucket loader it is the same way, but opposite. 40% in the front, and 60% in the back when empty, but that shifts when it is loaded. Again, a person can put a bigger bucket on, but they are sized for that capacity for that weight transfer to take place, and it will only make a loader that struggles more to fill the bucket, and move with it.

 

[CADplans]

sometimes;
View attachment 648336

That fuel tank looks amazingly familiar,,,

 

[BrokenTrack]

Big tractors use a lot less fuel too.

My little 25 HP Kubota would take about 10 gallons of fuel, to till this 10 acre field, pulling its 8 foot harrow, and took all day.

The bigger 400 HP New Holland takes about 7 gallons of fuel, to till this same 10 acre field with its 32 foot disk, and takes 20 minutes.

On 1600 acres of corn, we averaged 3/4 of a gallon of fuel, per acre.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

That fuel tank looks amazingly familiar,,,

Yup, it takes serous traction to move bigger boulders! Especially, when having to pull them out of a low spot, like I had to do with this one.

SR

 

[tmcj]

My guess would be that along with size and weight, comes torque, which is probably more the key to your success with a larger tractor. Think of those large wheels and tires like gears, and the additional weight keeps it planted for traction. Of course it is a combination of things, but the key feature is the resulting torque.

 

[defranks]

"The bigger 400 HP New Holland takes about 7 gallons of fuel, to till this same 10 acre field with its 32 foot disk, and takes 20 minutes."

I couldn't turn that tractor and 32-foot disc around on my piddly little 20 acres! But I'd enjoy driving the tractor!

 

[Cougsfan]

When applied to tractors, in most cases, too big is rare. Too small is more common.

How true. A friend of mine once gave me advice: "The proper way to decide how big of tractor to get is to decide how many hp of a tractor you want, then double it." It took me years to learn that he was right.

 

[BrokenTrack]

How true. A friend of mine once gave me advice: "The proper way to decide how big of tractor to get is to decide how many hp of a tractor you want, then double it." It took me years to learn that he was right.

That is not always true though. I know it is not true for me.

As much as I can justify having a bigger tractor, that being with me having hundreds of acres of land, and a working farm, it just does not make sense. That is because my Grandfather and my father have bought plenty of farm implements, and they were all sized for our former 900 Ford farm tractor.

Buying a bigger tractor is not the issue, it would be the ginormous cost of buying bigger implements to replace all the ones that I have, that would be expensive. But this is just how life works. Having the right tool (implement) at hand, really helps get work done. So while it might take me longer to do something, like plow with a single bottom plow, what is an extra $20 in fuel? I can buy a lot of fuel for what a double-bottom plow would cost. And I could buy an awful lot more in fuel, for what a bigger tractor would cost.

As long as my implements are in working order, or repairable, I am better off to spend my money on buying new, but different implements to make my tractor more versatile, not on spending money on what I can already do.