970 weight

[pgtractorman]

The tractor will be here this week, I'll let you know what happens, hopefully I won't be complaining.

 

[chriswheeler]

4wd does indeed make a difference here. This 970 has much more guts than my 950, 4 cyl VS the 3 in the 950, and quieter to work on and around. With 9 foward speeds, never a task so far that couldn't be matched to the engine. Reading your posts, glad I was a hold out for 4wd.
Chris

 

[JD15302155870]

I think my 1070 is a good machine. I bought it for a good price and it probably wasn't taken that good of care of but I have done a few small things to it and it is pretty reliable. Most issues I have had have been electrical- bad connections at some of the plugs. Some I still haven't addressed completely, the fuel and temp gauges work when they feel like it, again bad connectors. It seems pretty bullet proof mechanically.

My only complaint is that while it has plenty of power, it has real wide turfs and is 2wd so is not a real great puller. Not the tractor's fault and this will hopefully be solved if/when I switch to loaded r-1's. With the wide tires also, I need to get wider attachments than is practical to cover the tracks. I am about 78" wide so really would need a 7' box blade, but with those tires I don't think I could pull it well. When I switch to the r-1's I will be right under or at 6'. This is one reason I would have reservations about an 870 or 970 is that they are physically the same saize but with less power, I wonder if that would make to low of a power:weight ratio. I bush hog with a 6' mower and don't think I would do it with much less power, however a smaller mower would be too small for this machine I think.

I have an 870 2wd that I've had since 98. I think you will find the R1 tires will make all the difference. My 870 will pull a 5 shank all purpose plow nicely as well as a 5 ft bush hog. A six foot hog is too much especially because of the weight. I do pull a heavy duty 7 ft finishing mower with it and it can keep the RPMs up in some relatively heavy grass. Again, the weight keeps me from transporting it while lifted. I love the tractor but it's not suited for everything I want to do so a larger (2155) is necessary. Of course, the 2155 isn't suitable for what the 870 does.

 

[mikehaugen]

I don't think my tractor is really much heavier than the 870, but I have 8 suitcase weights on the front and it can lift either mower- a 6ft woods brush cutter that around 800lbs and a 90" woods finish mower that is around 1000lbs. Just out of curiosity I took the weights off one time with the finish mower lifted and I could lift the front of the tractor with 1 hand so I got to look like the hulk for one day.

 

[mikehaugen]

One question that I have always had and maybe someone here knows. I don't have anything to compare to so how would you rate the fuel usage with these compared to other comparable tractors? It doesn't seem like I use a lot, but again I don't have much to compare to.

 

[pgtractorman]

Have another question, I will be doing mostly logging work with this tractor, would it be worth changing the tires to r1 or use chains l, I currently have turfs on the ol'girl

 

[mikehaugen]

If you are logging, I assume you mean driving around in the woods. The turfs will fill up easily and I am not sure that chains will do much for you in the mud. I would think the r-1's would be the way to go, not to mention the r-1's should be narrower which would be an advantage when driving through the woods. This is assuming that you have the turfs that I have (44x18-20) which are very wide.

This is quite an expense though, as you will have to get different rims if you have these turfs. The 70 series have a strange metric bolt pattern being it is a yanmar tractor and I found it very difficult to find compatible rims at a reasonable price (without going through deere) so I ended up finding a used set. Not sure where you are located but I got mine from a tractor graveyard in Indiana (McGrew equipment) and they had a few 70 series tractors at that time. Bought the rims with crap tires for $300. Then of course the tires are gonna be $400-500 each, so if it's worth the money or not is up to you. I did try out the rims on my tractor and drove around a little with the crap r-1's and they really seemed like they would do 100 times better in the mud. Can't wait till I can get new ones to try on there.

 

[pgtractorman]

Please let me know how it goes, big investment

 

[pgtractorman]

It's here

 

[pgtractorman]

does anyone know how easy it is to get old curtis cab parts?