Post #81 -- the horse was dead 20 posts ago but I'll contribute to draggin it out some more I guess...
Mo1 and I could go off in separate room somewhere and talk for hours I'm sure. I never said the big old 2WDs were useless.
1) Pound for pound you cannot pull as much with a 2WD as you can with a 4wd. Period. The physics is obvious. No you cannot fairly compare a 12,000lb 2wd with a 4000lb compact, etc. for pulling. If you need more pulling power, buy a heavier 4WD which does not need to be as heavy as the 2WD to pull the same load. Sure, if the OP wants to he can go buy an old 2WD tractor over 12,000 lbs and probably do most of his work. He will regret it. Picture him putting chains on the rear of the poor old thing at the first big snow storm and then finding out he can only steer with wheel brakes. Meanwhile no FEL and no cab (though I guess the OP does not care about a cab.)
2) I'm 78. The tractor I drove at age 12 (and still drive once in a while for special jobs) was a 2WD MH Pacer. Yes, I broke the front verticle wheel support/axle off it hitting a ditch. No,I have never broken any of the front axles or related parts on a John Deere 4800, Massey Ferguson 2660, 3 Kubota B2150s and a
BX2200 I owned -- all 4WD. I have gotten stuck with every single one of them in 2WD mode and had to shift to 4WD to get out of the often trivial jam.
3) The turning radius on the bevel gear FWD machines (e.g. JD, Kubota, Massey, New Holland, etc. all have them) is just as good as the 2WD models. Only the larger tractors (larger than this OP wants by far) use U-joints at the front wheels which limit turning radius.
4) So far I've never had a leaking front axle seal on any of the 6 4WD tractors in 3 brands that I've had.
5) Loaders can be made to fit a horse I suppose. The Amish can do things that amaze me. But the truth is the older 2WD large tractors suffer from lack of available loaders. The OP probably does not wish to go into fabrication shops to try to get some non-standard loader to work. The OP would be flat crazy not to get a machine with a good standard FEL.
6) Mo1 and I agree on one thing: a BX is too small for what we know of this man's needs.
) for any/all work I do. (grapples, 60" flail. LR, BB, blade, & tiller.) A SCUT may take less space to park, but with less weight/traction and nearly 25hp spinning all four is more likely more often. btw, for bush hog or snow blower w/<25hp I'd use 48" stuff & IMO 'clearing tire path' is highly overrated.
