FarmTrac vs. Mahindra

[Ryan03]

I have 8 acres , 6.5 wooded and 1.5 cleared, my land is mostly heavily wooded and sloping. My tractor is a Farmtrac 270 with a fel. It is used to clear paths, brush hog, grade, move firewood and clear snow in the winter{ 120+ inches of snow per season}. My attachments consist of a King Kutter 6 ft. landscape rake, 6ft. backblade, 6 ft. box scraper, 900lb 3pt. counter weight, a 8 ft back blade, a 5 ft brush hog, and a grapple [ under construction]. 27 hp. is plenty of hp for what I do most of the time, I will say that it would be nice to have a higher capacity loader offered on 40 hp machines. My total investment in my machine is around $16,500 including my implements, tractor with loader was 13,800. Be sure whatever you buy to think long and hard about your tire selection, this will make or break any tractor regardless of size or 2 or 4 wheel drive.

 

[Nissan197]

Thanks for the responses. I also looked at the 270 and the 320. Price was about the same as what you paid for the 270. 320 was almost 14K. Is that transmission a shuttle drive, partial synchromesh? What is the difference between that and the full synchromesh offered on the 300 and 360? Seven more days and the dealer will be back from vacation. Am I being patient on this or what.....I know he should still have a few 360's on his lot. He said very rarely will he have a 300 because for less than 1K you can get the 360 with 9 more hp and usually customers want the extra hp. Mahindra dealer was very nice and did a follow-up call wanting to touch base. I was not able to talk with him, but will probably call him back next week to let him know my plans. I will keep him informed, cuz you never know.

 

[Ryan03]

The 270 is a shuttle shift with partial syncro, the shuttle box, [ forward neutral reverse , seperate lever ] is syncronized, so that you can shift from forward to reverse and vice versa easily without stopping the tractor comepletely. the primary box, [ 1st 2nd 3rd 4th gear ] is not syncroed, so you are supposed to stay in whatever gear you select because if you try to push the clutch on the fly to up or downshift, you will grind gears. I however shift mine on the fly by double clutching and it falls into gear without grinding every time, however this takes some practice, it comes easy to me because I am used to driving a IH. wrecker with a 13 spd and a 400 cummins

 

[BobG_in_VA]

Back in the mid '60's John Deere (among others) started experimenting with the practical limits of 2wd and high horsepower. (project X60) The concensus was 200 hp was just about the limit. And that required ballasted weights in excess of 18,000lbs, dual wheels, dual BIG wheels at that. Even with that combo, implement size (tillage equipment) was limited. Relatively moderate implement size with higher ground speed was the only way 200hp 2wds could show any degree of efficiency. When Deere put their knowledge gained on the production line, the result was the 6030. "Rated" @ 175hp, the 6030 would usually dyno above 225hp. They were known to spin the wheels inside the tires, causing them to deflate suddenly when enough weight was applied to give good traction. The same engine was the heart of the 4wd 8630. Not that great of a tractor over-all, the 8630 still made MUCH better use of all the power the big 531cu. in. 6-cylinder had to offer. What all this seems to prove is, more than "enough" hp is best served with more than 2 driven wheels, regardless of "big" or "small".

450hp would be a total waste for anything other than pto work with anything less than 4wd. You won't see a great deal of pto jobs for a rig of that size either. That's why a lot of those STX450's are QUAD-TRAC's.

Sorry, but both of you guys have missed the original posters question. He has 10acres and was looking at up to a 39HP tractor...Geez where did this 450HP stuff pulling 20 yard pans come from?? I was relating someting like a 25HP CUT with 4 wd to something like a 5000 Ford....He could use either, but if he was going for less HP get the 4WD vs a 6000 lb 2WD that can still pull a 3bottom plow....sorry I'm out...BobG in VA

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Sorry, but both of you guys have missed the original posters question. He has 10acres and was looking at up to a 39HP tractor...Geez where did this 450HP stuff pulling 20 yard pans come from?? I was relating someting like a 25HP CUT with 4 wd to something like a 5000 Ford....He could use either, but if he was going for less HP get the 4WD vs a 6000 lb 2WD that can still pull a 3bottom plow....sorry I'm out...BobG in VA

I'm addressing Dargo's post in this thread and never intended it as a direct reply to the ORIGINAL post, hence my quoting Dargo. His comments were adressing another poster who was expressing his opinion on the lack of need for 4wd as tractors got bigger. I was simply agreeing with Dargo's thought's, trying to add a little history to the debate. I'd venture a guess that 75% or more of the post's on TBN go to the fringes of the subject in the original post, which in this case was the merits of 4wd, of which we were speaking.

 

[Dargo]

I was simply adding my personal experience observations that 4wd sure seemed to make a big difference in the biggest tractor I've ever used. As noted, it is sort of at the fringe, but still on topic to a point. No harm nor foul intended. FarmWJ added factual to my personal experience observation. Again, no intention to ruffle feathers or degrade anyone's posts. I learn a lot from reading and I also learn a lot from doing. This place sometimes helps the learning by hearing of technical facts and hearing of how someone else has experienced certain things.

 

[Ryan03]

I would see if your local Mahindra dealer and Farmtrac dealers would allow you to demo each machine you are considering for a day or two, that way you could get a real good idea of how much tractor is enough for your particular application.