Tractor Sizing First Time Tractor Buyer . . . need some advice!

[IndyIan]

I wouldn稚 bet on that.

I suppose I have loaded rear tires and set out wide too. But on level ground going slow my tractor isn't going to do a nose wheelie and flop over on its side with a 4x5 on the front unless I have the bale way up high and I'm in a hurry... Probably then you could tip it with 1000lbs on the 3pt too, but I still don't drive with the bale high doing turns. No size of tractor is idiot proof and its the responsibility of the operator to have some idea what they are doing.

 

[4570Man]

I suppose I have loaded rear tires and set out wide too. But on level ground going slow my tractor isn't going to do a nose wheelie and flop over on its side with a 4x5 on the front unless I have the bale way up high and I'm in a hurry... Probably then you could tip it with 1000lbs on the 3pt too, but I still don't drive with the bale high doing turns. No size of tractor is idiot proof and its the responsibility of the operator to have some idea what they are doing.

My L3240 exceeded your 4000 pound base weight if you’re counting the loaded tires as base weight. And I highly doubt it would have lifted a round bale without tipping without additional weight. My M59 is probably 6,000-7,000 pounds with the backhoe removed and it’s about useless like that. It would probably lift a bale but that would be it.

 

[IndyIan]

My L3240 exceeded your 4000 pound base weight if you豎*e counting the loaded tires as base weight. And I highly doubt it would have lifted a round bale without tipping without additional weight. My M59 is probably 6,000-7,000 pounds with the backhoe removed and it逞ｴ about useless like that. It would probably lift a bale but that would be it.

Tractor data has mine at 4100lb bare, then maybe 8-900lbs for both rear tires loaded(R1's don't have the volume of R4's), then the loader is 900-1000lb with bit of a subframe. It works for me anyways for 4x5 round bales in the 8-900 maybe 1000lb(wet one?) range, even pops them off the ground if they've frosted in abit. If you are putting a spear on a bucket then you start to get the weight way out front which is not what you want, but with a ~100lb ssqa spear on it doesn't seem to be a big deal. The last bale on the load of the trailer is always put on with only the bare 150lb 3pth spear on and I can manuever around in 2wd no problem with only a bale on the front.

Having a tractor big enough to load and unload a trailer like this would be useful IMO, and really for hay the only thing my tractor can't do that 65hp MF can, is run the round baler. We tried but once the bale gets to 4' I'm running my tractor too hard just to turn the bale in the machine.

 

[Peter 315]

I use my L47...

 

[IndyIan]

I use my L47...View attachment 683220View attachment 683220

Very nice! My bale spear only has 1 point so I haven't tried two 4x5 rounds with it. In theory it should do it but I've only seen 4x4 rounds handled two at a time on a two spear fork.
Did you buy the L3800 first and find you were maxxing it out often? That's why I recommend going to the next size up, as you can do most of the big tractor jobs with it.

 

[Peter 315]

Very nice! My bale spear only has 1 point so I haven't tried two 4x5 rounds with it. In theory it should do it but I've only seen 4x4 rounds handled two at a time on a two spear fork.
Did you buy the L3800 first and find you were maxxing it out often? That's why I recommend going to the next size up, as you can do most of the big tractor jobs with it.

I did buy the L3800 first but we were buying small square bales off the field.. It's just the two of us and getting to hard..So I bought the L47 and we started buying 3x3x8 large bales.. And its a nice toy to play around with..

 

[Egon]

One of these should do nicely.

 

[coobie]

...might be due to spread/frequency of different dealerships. Personally I'm more familiar with Kubota and JD as they're what I'm more familiar with and have seen more of ....where on the other hand I'm not sure I've ever even seen a Kioti tractor in person though there's a dealership a little more than 30 miles away ...and almost every other brand has at least one dealership with a 20 mile radius -- JD actually has three(?), Kubota two (both multi-brand dealerships), and NH, Case, MF, LS, Mahindra, and even RK all have at least one (usually multi-brand) dealership as well.

So really what hasn't been said yet is that the dealer makes the difference. Personally I'm not sure I'd buy a JD in my area just because the nearest JD dealerships are part of a large chain and have (from what I've seen) the stereotypical large chain employee attitudes. Just me, but I'd much rather deal with either the smaller chains or family dealerships that put more emphasis on quality support. For me one of the Kubota dealerships is located on my drive between work and home (makes buying parts/new implements really convenient), is a customer-focused multi-generation family-owned dealership -- which just made it a simple choice since Kubota also manufactures a tractor that had the features/performance I wanted.

Sooner or later everything breaks or needs replacement parts or even just routine maintenance parts and unless it's a disposable item that dealership support or availability of parts is something worth considering. ...especially since not all tractors have the same maintenance intervals. From what I've seen buying oil or hydraulic fluid (and other parts) in the quantities needed for a tractor can also offset initial savings when the tractor is used heavily/routinely.....

No brand loyalty here (last I checked none of them had any to me) - just things I've observed and the things with which I'm most familiar from past interactions.

New wave of the future most of the mom & pop tractor dealerships around here are being bought out by the bigger dealers who own 8-10 tractor dealerships.

 

[Peter 315]

New wave of the future most of the mom & pop tractor dealerships around here are being bought out by the bigger dealers who own 8-10 tractor dealerships.

The same here. Big dealers buying the small guys out...