Best Mountain Tractor?

[Charlie_Iliff]

Re: You really know how to torture a guy ;-)

<font color=blue>I wish they still made Jeeps with 3-point hitches and PTOs! </font color=blue>
I never saw one with a 3 point. In the 50's, we had several surplus jeeps (one by Ford). A couple had PTOs, but only drawbar, not 3 point. I do not pine for them. They were a lot of fun for us kids, but miserable as utility vehicles. Occasionally, we'd rake or bale with one, but they were down on PTO power.

 

[RoyJackson]

The Degree of slope can be found by taking the rise/run and looking it up in your tangent tables

So, considering the run as the base of a triangle and the rise as the vertical side, this equates to a tangent of one (1), hence an angle of 45°.

I'll go with that since trig used for civil engineering and trig used in manufacturing (my field) are applied differently.
But does it follow that a 48° slope is a 111% grade?

I'm looking for an education here...

 

[Egon]

A 111% grade would be the tangent of 111/100 . Now I'm too lazy to find my tables, If I still have any, but the calculator here says its just a little over 48 degrees.
Trig is trig.

Egon

 

[CSAW]

Re: Has anyone installed 4-equally sized wheels?

Kent

The tractors are designed for the diameter tires they come with. You got the 4wd part not working right. One more reason it would not is that the tractor is designed to sit level with small tires on the front. If you put four tires the same size on a tractor not designed for it you would be looking at the sky. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[ByuBill]

Hi All, guess who is back to see what he stired up /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif. Well my monday is over and three more days until my third vacation this year. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif. Looks like the bees have been buzzing pretty good while I was at work. Looks like that MossRoad and Charlie both love their Power Tracs as much as I love my Subaru. I suggest that they go to work for Power Trac ( assuming that they don't already of course ) that way they could convince all of the TBNers to buy one and cut us a good deal./w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif Sounds good to me. Now if I had a place to use it or if I needed one in a business, I would would love to have a Power Trac. Since my tractors are just toys that are used as a tool once in a while. I guess that I don't need one. Since the Smokey Mtn Natl Part is the most visited Natl Park in the good old USA. I would think that some of the TBNers have visited it. Well, that is the part of the country that wasabi and I are in. If you have visited this area You have noticed the houses way up on the sides of the mountains and prob. wondered how they got there. Very carefully /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif. I must admit that most of the homes way up there are summer homes but some of us do live here year round. ( from another dicussion ) That is why a lot of city folks have SUV's. To be able to get to there summer home. I have learned from these forums that the Power Trac is a great machine and that the Earthforce is awsome. For my personal uses, I don't even need a tractor. In the long run it would be cheaper for me to hire someone to maintain my driveway. I just happen to be an old country boy ( well I was a boy a long time ago ) just don't sound right saying, just an old country man. I guess that old man would do. That likes to play on tractors. So, I now have three of them and barely a place to park them. So, let's not stop now. wasabi needs a tractor and a little help in deciding what to buy within his budget. Maybe the next time he is up this way he can take a few pics so everyone, including myself can see the lay of the land that he is refering to. Looks like I got a little carried away here. Have a goodun. Here's the bottom half of my driveway, that needs gravel,/w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif can't tell much about how steep it is because I was looking down at about the same angle.
Bill

 

[Egon]

Roy:

My appologies as I did not explain the difference in grade and degrees properly.

% grade is the feet of elevation gain in one hundred horizontal feet. [ 3% grade would be a three foot elevation gain in one hundred feet.]

Degrees are just what you learned in school. There are 360 of them in a full circle. They represent a specific angle.

Hope this is clearer.

Egon

 

[MossRoad]

I've been throughout the Smokies many times, so I am familiar with the terrain. It is a beautiful place. One of my most favorite palces to visit. I remember watching a prefabricated house being delivered up one of those hills. The delivery truck could not make the switchbacks in the driveway, so they brought a crane in that lifted the house up to the next level of the driveway. Then the crane went up the hill and lifted the house up to the third level of the driveway. Then the crane moved for the last time and set the house on the foundation. Amazing that someone even saw a potential building site way up their, but they did it.

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Re: Percent Grade

Roy:
When I searched yesterday for percent grade on the net, I hit that one site, on howstuffworks, and assumed there would be a number of others. I haven't been able to find them, however.
As I understand it, a 48 degree slope would be over 100% grade. Although I can't recall the source, I remember something about percent grade first being seriously used in railroad construction, because it is easier to apply in the field than anything requiring trig calculations. Since trains are actually pretty miserable at handling hills, the chance of anything approaching 100% was nil, so the system worked easily, with no thought of big percentages.
Maybe the thread will stimulate a historian in our midst. It wouldn't amaze me to find that the Romans, Chinese, Egyptians or other ancient road builder had a system that forms the basis for the percent grade convention.

 

[RoyJackson]

Thanks to Charlie and Egon for the clarification of grade percentages.

I'm setting here with my Machinery Handbook...but it doesn't discuss this issue.

 

[wasabi]

All this newbie knows is that steep can scare the whooie out of me, especially when headed sideways and having to turn up hill!

 

[Egon]

Roy:

Maybe start thinking in Radians.

Egon

 

[ByuBill]

<font color=blue>MossRoad</font color=blue>
I agree, the Smokies are a beautiful place. Since you have visited here you know as well as I do that there isn't a tractor made that can touch every part of wasabi's 75 acres. With rocks as big as boxcars, and some much bigger, forget it. So we have come to the conclusion that he needs a, very low profile, heavy, fwd ( if not more ), reasonably powerful tractor, and just never attempt to use it on part of his land. Whatever he ends up with, the pucker factor will come into place in the beginning long before it would for an old timer.
I liked the, prefab, crane, mtn top story. I haven't seen that, but most mobiles are put in place using a dozer, sheets of plywood and grease. I have seen it take all week to get one where it was going. Have a goodun./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Bill

 

[ByuBill]

<font color=blue>when headed sideways and having to turn up hill!</font color=blue>
Yep, that'll do it every time. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif Whatever tractor you decide to buy, be safe, be careful. A tractor on a hillside is very dangerous and takes some getting used to. If it feels unsafe, it probably is.
Bill

 

[DocHeb]

Whenever I hear about hills, I think of Switzerland. I know they have safe "hill-proof" tractors. However, I also asked about your budget, so I didn't give you my opinion to the "Best Mountain Tractor" that is sold in the US: <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.aebi-us.com/brochures/terratrac.htm>Aebi Terratrac</A>.

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

DocHeb:
Hard to disagree. I really like my Power Trac, but would have looked carefully at an Aebi had it been anywhere near my price range. I added it to Kent's list of dream machines earlier in the thread. After doing some research, however, I don't think the Aebi is the answer for TBN to advise Doug to get. If you look at his earlier post, he suggested a TBN Hoedown, inviting everyone to bring his machinery and get the jobs done all at once. Since what we're really best at is advice, however, Doug should buy the attached Bombardier machine, and we then can all get together to suggest attachments and modifications.

 

[wasabi]

If I were as good at spending "my" money as you guys are, I'd have the best fleet in the forum! I checked in with Steve Carver about my wish list and he flat out said I'm dreamin at 15K....way to start out hardball negotiations with a poor newbie like me. Doc, your pics remind me a little of the "tructor" I looked at about a year ago...similar claims of hillside prowess...similar price, but a very interesting cross trainer vehicle....

Maybe, with a few more clients as well heeled as you guys with fleets must be and a stock market rally, I'll climb one of those price hills afterall. I'm headed up this weekend to plant a gaggle of fruit trees, so I'll hopefully drag the wife away from antiqueing enough to stop to kick a tire or two.

 

[wasabi]

I agree Charlie, that is some mean machine...bet it has air conditioning and a martini shaker in that huge cab...I just wonder where the satelite dish is for the back of it...that way I could get wireless internet and trade stocks while messing with the hills....and leverage the pucker factor to the Nth!!

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

<font color=red>If I were as good at spending "my" money as you guys are, I'd have the best fleet in the forum!</font color=red>
A talented bunch we are.

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

<font color=blue>that is some mean machine</font color=blue>

Let us know when you get it.

 

[wasabi]

I'll probably sprout mushrooms out of my ears before I spend that kind of jack. Very cool, tho! Doesn't hurt for a person to dream now does it.