4100 for grooming sand?

[keeney]

I have recently purchased some lakeshore property and one of the new chores that comes with it is grooming a large sandy beach at the lakeshore on a regular basis.

I am considering a JD 4100 (and also the Kubota BX2200) since they seem to be the smallest "garden" tractors with 4wd. A 4' or 5' rear-mounted landscaping rake seems like it should make short work of this task assuming the tractor doesn't just get stuck in the sand. I am also worried that it might just plow a deep path through the sand that needs to be leveled afterward anyway.

I am also hoping such a machine will be useful for some other operations on the sandy beach like seasonal installation of docks and boatlifts as well as the occasional launching and retrieval of a fishing boat or jet-ski from a trailer.

For mowing the < 1 acre lot and clearing the < 50' driveway, I know this class of machine is total overkill for those tasks. Even with MN snow my old Toro 24" walk-behind snow thrower clears the driveway painlessly, and a 38" Toro rider gets the grass cut in less than an hour.

Tire choice is also something I am having a hard time deciding. I would prefer the turfs since most of the time the machine will be used for mowing, but the R4's sure seem like the right choice for use in the sand.

The new x500's Garden Tractors with 4wd sound like a good fit for my situation but I was hoping to find a less expensive used 4100, and I doubt that there will be any used 500's on the market anytime soon.

I would appreciate if anybody with experience using compact tractors on a sandy beach could give me some advice.

- Rick

P.S. Is there a towing spec on the 4100? One other thing I need to do from time to time is to move a 5000lb boat&trailer combo around the yard to and from the lower garage where it is stored. There is an apx 12% grade at steepest point.

 

[TresCrows]

For grooming sand and gravel you might consider a Furest flexible tine harrow. Very useful, you will see. Neither the JD4100 (especially) or the BX2200 ( somewhat less so) is a Garden Tractor. Both are rightfully called Utility tractors--UT's and either would do what you need to do. I would not attempt to stop a 5,000 lbs boat on an incline with either tractor mentioned. On level or slight inclines yes but unless you use extreme caution a runaway is inevitable on a hill. Both tractors simply lack the weight and braking traction to stop 5,000 lbs once moving. Ever see a Boeing pushing a huge, massive, gigantic tug along helplessly once it gets rolling and gathers some momentum--not a pretty sight. J

 

[jfakerj]

Rick
If it's soft sand I'd go with turfs. You want to stay on top in soft sand. The r4s may just dig down. Once when 4 wheeling with my brother we found that the aggressive tires in sand don't work as well as a less aggressive tire. The key is wide and stay on top. Turfs.

Jerry

 

[keeney]

From some of the other posts concerning towing I figured I would probably still need to stick with the truck to move the larger boat, but that removes one of my justification points to the wife on why I _need_ the tractor so as not to drive on the lawn with the truck (it is a bogus argument anyway since the 5000lb trailer does just as much damage to the lawn as the truck does).

As far as the sand goes, I would want an implement that can pull out all the weeds that wash up and grow on the beach. Will the flexible tine harrow you mention pull up the weeds and drag them to one place, or will it simply shred them and leave them laying where they were?

- Rick

 

[GaryK]

I have a 4100 HST, found it to have enough power for what I want around the place although at times I could use a little more HP. Like was mentioned , the 4100 is not a garden tractor but a compact utility tractor with a 3pt hitch and hyds to run a FEL, two PTOS etc. You might be better off with the r4 tires. I tow a travel trailer around the yard (25') with my tractor, but I am careful, handles it easily. I also have front end weights on when I do this or the FEL. Perhaps your local JD dealer would let you test drive the 4100 with r4s on the beach.

 

[DFB]

Landscape rakes are used to clean and groom the beaches around here. Lately most of the tractors I've seen out on the sand have been equipped with the R4's.

I have a 5ft rake with gauge wheels I use with my 4100. Consider having the rake wide enough to cover your tracks even when its angled for windrowing. The wheels are good when you want to uniformly adjust how deep the tines can dig in.

Another implement that might be useful to help remove buried debris packed in the sand is an inexpensive "C" tine single row cultivator such as KK sells. I have one. Works pretty good too! Been pullin rocks up with it. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

A while back this information was posted for the 4100.

"Drawbar Tongue Weight Capacity 570 lb."
"Towing and Stopping Capacity...Equal to the ballasted weight of the tractor with the operator"


DFB

 

[JBell]

As far as tires go, I agree with the earlier post that turf tires would be best for sand. R-4s will dig in, while the turfs will stay on top of the sand. My experience with snow (14") indicate that the turfs still have plenty of pulling power.