CT 36

[rebel46th]

Thanks all for sharing your knowledge on this forum. I am a long time (1 1/2 year) lurker/reader, first post.......

Finally test drove a CT36 yesterday. Have tested NH, JD, Bobcat, Kioti, Massey and Kubota. Was very impressed with McCormick's standard features and specs, including the loader specs. With the free loader deal going on, I was quoted $15,900 plus tax and that's the most hp and features for the dollar I've been able to find in my market. I've been looking at 28-31 hp, mainly smaller frame, due to budget. But this deal opens up a whole new hp class and pto hp. You can tell I was impressed, it made me make my first post !

I had read the other posts, MAKA's information has been very instrumental in my decision to test this unit. Until yesterday, it was the MF1532.

Anyone have the CT36 or can tell me their experience with it or the complany, pros or cons?

Regards,
Reb

 

[teg]

It amazes me how much "power" TBN has over people buying tractors... a friend just bought another tractor, sight unseen, based on what he read on TBN. He never plans to post on TBN like you did... to be honest, I had to look up the CT36... Looks pretty darn good. I wish I spent a little more time with my purchase... I don't think I would have ended up with what I bought. Sorry, I can not answer your question... but welcome to the posting side of TBN.

 

[sdd1jmc]

New to this site as well I bought a CT36HST in September after months of research in CUT. I have not had a single problem with my tractor, it currently has 32 hours on it. I have used it to pull a finish mower, move dirt, cut. rake, and bale about 6 acres of hay. Not much else to saw it has performed better than advertized.

 

[rebel46th]

Thanks for the reply sdd1jmc. Glad to hear you're happy with the CT36. This part of the forum is apparently pretty quite .

After I get my CT36 next week, we can compare notes ourselves

Reb

 

[rebel46th]

Sorry it took so long sdd1jmc, but here it is.......already got dirty .
Reb

 

[koopster]

How is everyone's CT's holding up? My CT55U is a bit over 1 year old and about 145hours so I haven't put too much time on it yet but it is working well. Not crazy about a few misc. things but overall a good match to our Mahindra 6000 . I did hear from a factory rep that there is a solinoid issue that needs a reostat installed on some first gen. Mcs such as mine and your(s). If the PTO stops turning, it is the little electrical pigtail line on the left side of the tranny. THe replacement is a plug and play. Mine was built before the problem was discovered so he replaced mine for me before an issue arose. Chances are yours are all fine.
I also made some nice brackets to mount the utility lights on the arm over the front blinkers so I can see where I am going in the dark, and mounted a remote on the front bar of the loader for the hydraulic grapples, etc. Loaded with Rim Guard I think the back end is still a bit to light for me, wish the loader arms were a bit back farther or the front axle forward.
We use this machine for haybale loading with the hay grapple, moving logs out of the woods with the WildKat root grapple, and moving my firewood crates in and out of the barn, all light duty jobs.
Good luck with your machines!

 

[Tractor Shopper]

Thanks Koopster,

I haven't got my new machine delivered so don't have any stories to share and why I haven't got any pictures up yet. Got a question for you though Koopster, do you have a Box Blade? Just wondering what size to buy or what size my machine can handle as i have zero experience with them. And I only got a CT50U so I got a few less HP than you have, have a great day and can;t wait to get the new toy!!!

 

[rebel46th]

Thanks for the heads up Koopster. I wish I had more time on mine to give some input, but we've had mega rain, snow, slush, more rain and more snow since my pics I posted so my tractor has just been sitting...

Come on springtime

 

[koopster]

TS- I wouldn't worry too much about the brand. Do you plan to use it often? Do you need it or can you get away with a scraper blade and york rake? You have a lot of rocky-rubble type soil up there in Canada, don't you? I would stick between a 5' and 6' box if the soil is good. If you plan to break new or hard ground, stick with a 5' with scarifiers. A smaller box typed to dig is worse on the tractor than a 6' or 7' that is set to glide and scrape. You will have to play with the settings. Tractor Supply doesn't have a bad looking unit. King Kutter, Argo, they are all in the same ball park.

PS- Do you have a standard or hydro tranny? THis plays into the usable power the CT will have.

 

[koopster]

Rebel...all work and no fun...well, you know how it goes. Here are the kids having a ball doing something we refer to as TractorBoggin. No, it is not ever going to be an Olympic sport! Yes, the chains may seem like an overkill but they are between 12'&20 ' long and tend to drag more than ropes, giving a more controlled pull. The end ropes give a cushion to the pull and keep them away from the chain itself. The lengths are staggered to allow cornering without crashing. I made a bar that goes across the platform carrier to attach the chains to so the sleds are at a distance from each other.
I put a lot of hours behind an old IH 504 as a kid, a found memory with my Grandfather and Father. Now my kids have a blast. Sometimes we can't wait for a bit of light snow to have an excuse to play with the equipment instead of thinking of it as work only. My two and their 3 friends had a blast in these photos. Their face tells all.
The toboggins follow the rear tire troughs, allowing a controlled but fun ride through the fields and wooded paths. See.... it is not all about box blades, rakes, FEL's, etc! Have fun!!! Perhaps there is a gold medal out there for the biggest smiles afterall. If so, these kids are all contenders!

 

[rebel46th]

I can tell they had a ball there Koopster. I'm envious I'll have more time next year. I've been restoring our old 1820's farm house for the last three years (Army of 2) and we're close to moving in, hopefully April. My tractor is at this farm and I live an hour away.....Two of everything right now - house notes, electric, water, insurance and on and one. I'm looking forward to some play time and some extra money.

Reb

 

[Tractor Shopper]

Hey Koopster, that does look like a fun day with the kids, I'd love to do that around my house here but I'm in a prime snowmobile area right here and if your caught on a snowmobile trail with a tractor or ATV tou'd probably end up in jail, snowmobiling is a practically a religion up up here and you don't mess with it......lol. Next year when i get my acreage cleaned up though it will be an option.

On the box blade note my tractor is a 47hp with a 16 x16 shuttle so i think I can handle a 6 foot now problem, my buddy only has about a 35hp Case with hydro and he seems to do fair around here with the 6 foot on so mine should work a little better. Really like the new toy so far but haven't got to do much with it yet, just waiting for spring to get here!

 

[koopster]

I hear you, T-S. Snow machines are a lot more fun anyway. We sold ours as there is not as much time to use them down here. I put the MC in 4th & 1st and tow the kids nicely at about 1600 rpm. It is enough of a woods/field ride to keep them covered w/ snow. What is your soil like up there?

Just filled the oil tanks today. 320 gallons for the entire 12 months, including oil fired hot water. Wood is a pain but glad I have it! 8" of snow due today. Split a half cord or so and now it is tax prep time.....Gotta make sure Uncle Sam gets a piece of the play money!

By the way...I just zoomed into your photo and saw the plastic is still on your seat....Didn't take you long to get the camera out, huh!!! LOL

 

[koopster]

Rebel, post a few photos. I still have our old family homestead, the main portion is 1789 era. I went through two years living while renovating. We heated and cooked on my grandmother's old farm house cast iron cook stove, Every time we wanted to use dishes we had to wash the old horsehair plaster dust off them first... I do not miss it one bit!!!!

 

[Tractor Shopper]

Hey koop,

Our soil up here is a little bit of everything, we are notorious for glacial till which means we have sand, gravel, clay, silt, rock you name it we have it. Sometimes its mixed up and sometimes you only have one to deal with. On my 125 acre lot the front 100 acres mostly nice sandy materiel with at least a foot of good loam on top, here I have a red pine plantation that is growing well but could be doing a bit better, the old man may have missed the call on this plantation. The back 25 is a clay, silt, loam mix that we let go naturally and have grown like wild fire, our forests respond well to natural regenration.

My other 50 acres is also a till of clay, silt, loam, gravel and sand but it has about 6 acres of wetlands that is just swamp, the front 10 acres by the river is great farm land and the back is decent forest growth but you never know what you'll get, a friend of mine has 70 acres in the same area and it seems to have a tonne of ledge rock in it, so i guess it's luck of the draw.

Yeah those pics of the tractor were when it was being delivered and the plastic is still there.....lol.

I also burn some wood as well but only a few cord a year, built a brand new house this year and went with all the extras to make it a cheap heat house, so just electric base board and a wood stove keepss my heating pretty reasonable.

 

[koopster]

Sounds really nice up there T-S. Are you maintaining only woodlots or do you plan to seed down a piece? I wanted to get a cab on the CT55 but was afraid of wrecking it in the woods....been there on other occassions!

 

[Tractor Shopper]

Probably just keep it mostly woodlands, I came from a family of loggers and we never really had the knack or desire to farm much. Saying that once i get a camp built on my river lot i would like to have a healthy garden. I was approached one time by someone looking to buy the Red pine plantation for a blueberry farm, and he said he was just going to tear down a 30 year old plantation so it must have some potential but i wasn't interested in selling, matbe something to look at in the future, but I'm not a farmer.

My father would probably have a heart attack as well and my grandfather would roll over in his grave if I destroyed that plantation.....lol

Thats my biggest worry with the cab, it will be a pain in the rear in the woods, but i will have to do alot of snow removal in the future so this tractor will do that work, may have to look in the future for a better woods tractor, for now I'll just have to be more careful and cut my trails wider.

 

[rebel46th]

koopster, check your pm.
reb

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Hey Koopster, that does look like a fun day with the kids, I'd love to do that around my house here but I'm in a prime snowmobile area right here and if your caught on a snowmobile trail with a tractor or ATV tou'd probably end up in jail, snowmobiling is a practically a religion up up here and you don't mess with it......lol. Next year when i get my acreage cleaned up though it will be an option.

On the box blade note my tractor is a 47hp with a 16 x16 shuttle so i think I can handle a 6 foot now problem, my buddy only has about a 35hp Case with hydro and he seems to do fair around here with the 6 foot on so mine should work a little better. Really like the new toy so far but haven't got to do much with it yet, just waiting for spring to get here!

Tractor shopper, your tractor looks very nice. A 6' box blade will be no problem for you. If you can swing it, get a heavy duty BB. Should be around 1000lbs or more. Maybe check on one with rippers that are raised and lowered with hydraulics. Something else to consider is Top & Tilt hydraulics, especially the top link hydraulic. They make the use of the BB soooo much better.

I'll throw this out there not knowing what all you are wanting to do with the BB. Depending on what your uses will be, you might consider a rear blade, if your main uses will be plowing snow and maintaining your road.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

On the box blade note my tractor is a 47hp with a 16 x16 shuttle so i think I can handle a 6 foot now problem, my buddy only has about a 35hp Case with hydro and he seems to do fair around here with the 6 foot on so mine should work a little better. Really like the new toy so far but haven't got to do much with it yet, just waiting for spring to get here!

Tractor shopper, your tractor sure looks nice.:thumbsup: You will have no problem with a 6' box blade. You should consider a heavy duty BB, and that would weigh about 1000lbs or more. You may consider one with hydraulic operated rippers, makes life a lot easier. You should also consider Top & Tilt for your tractor, helps out a lot when using implements for grading, especially the hydraulic Top Link with a box blade. Depending on what all you are planning on doing with the BB, you might consider a Rear Blade if your main use would be plowing snow and maintainance of your road.

I hope that some of this may help.