Now in my 7th decade on the farm, I finally went out and bought a tractor that wasn't green. As with many others on this board, it came from Somerset, KY. Steve and the gang loaded my neighbor's gooseneck with a low-hour M8540HD, FWA with FEL, and home we came. Forget suspense: I couldn't be happier with the deal and with performance so far.
First chores have been pulling a 15' batwing and loading a pair of spreader trucks with 100+ tons of poultry litter. Now a lot of folks seem to feel that the smaller M chassis is OK in front of a 'wing, but we have a fair amount of steep and bumpy terrain, and my management plan is to avoid herbicides wherever possible. When decision time came, Brady made it easy by offering this 8540 for several thousand less than a similar 7040 with cab. And the 85 feels just as solid on my steepest banks pulling the 'wing as a demo 7040 felt just pulling itself. A lot of this surefootedness is probably due to the bigger front tire; interestingly, it's easy to see the 10-15% front wheel slip angle that's needed to pull the mower across our hills. It's also easy to see when one has applied too much front slip and is just chewing up turf. Stay within bounds and there is no discernible disturbance to the sod. Of course this is done with 4wd engaged.
To fill the optional 7' bucket, one has to spin all 4 tires a bit when hitting the litter pile. It all feels right here, too: the hydraulic reverse lever is there at the fingertips of the operator's left hand, leaving the right hand on the joystick, right foot on throttle, and left foot free or acting as a stabilizer. It was easy to keep up with the spreader guys until one of them got stuck on one of our many rock ledges. To pull him off involved going up and across a moderately steep hill and dislodging about 35,000# of truck and litter. It just did not seem possible until we hooked up the heaviest snatch strap I've ever seen and I got a flying start in 5th. Popped loose the first time.
The icing on the cake of this deal was that Brady didn't tell me the M8540 was equipped with a complete front 3rd remote valve system. Now I can hardly wait for next winter to attach a grapple thumb and do some serious logging.
Just call me a happy camper.
enfield
First chores have been pulling a 15' batwing and loading a pair of spreader trucks with 100+ tons of poultry litter. Now a lot of folks seem to feel that the smaller M chassis is OK in front of a 'wing, but we have a fair amount of steep and bumpy terrain, and my management plan is to avoid herbicides wherever possible. When decision time came, Brady made it easy by offering this 8540 for several thousand less than a similar 7040 with cab. And the 85 feels just as solid on my steepest banks pulling the 'wing as a demo 7040 felt just pulling itself. A lot of this surefootedness is probably due to the bigger front tire; interestingly, it's easy to see the 10-15% front wheel slip angle that's needed to pull the mower across our hills. It's also easy to see when one has applied too much front slip and is just chewing up turf. Stay within bounds and there is no discernible disturbance to the sod. Of course this is done with 4wd engaged.
To fill the optional 7' bucket, one has to spin all 4 tires a bit when hitting the litter pile. It all feels right here, too: the hydraulic reverse lever is there at the fingertips of the operator's left hand, leaving the right hand on the joystick, right foot on throttle, and left foot free or acting as a stabilizer. It was easy to keep up with the spreader guys until one of them got stuck on one of our many rock ledges. To pull him off involved going up and across a moderately steep hill and dislodging about 35,000# of truck and litter. It just did not seem possible until we hooked up the heaviest snatch strap I've ever seen and I got a flying start in 5th. Popped loose the first time.
The icing on the cake of this deal was that Brady didn't tell me the M8540 was equipped with a complete front 3rd remote valve system. Now I can hardly wait for next winter to attach a grapple thumb and do some serious logging.
Just call me a happy camper.
enfield
