Tractor Sizing How much HP do I really need?

[IslandTractor]

Hi Broke farmer John,

Thanks for the reply, but I do strongly disagree with that statement. High gear is for traveling, traveling includes hills. if you want to drive over the road to another property you need to be in high gear. If it can't climb a hill you can't drive over the road. Even at max speed it's still a slow moving obstacle on the road, forget low range. I hoped to be able to drive this over to my brother in laws house less than 1 mile away, but no way with this thing. I think you guys are imaging some mountain I'm trying to climb, it's steep, but not that bad. It's nothing out of the ordinary and this tractor feels over stressed in mid range dead empty.

OK, but aside the hills and Living in New England this is hard to do. This winter my truck got stuck while snow plowing so I pulled it out with the tractor. The tractor was on level, plowed, but still wet slippery pavement in low range (no impliment or additional weight) trying to pull out the truck. On slippery pavement in low range with only 1 front and 1 rear drive wheel since my diff flock does not work. The tractor would stall or nearly stall trying to pull out the truck meaning even in low range this tractor on wet snowy pavement this tractor has more traction than power. It did finally get the job done, but this tractor is clearly under powered! As far as I'm concerned, you should never stall in low gear, the tires should spin first, ESPECIALLY in the SNOW! I'm also used to having lots of power, from my 73 Camaro, 5.7 Hemi Jeep, 7.3 Turbo diesel F350. Even my log splitter has a 300CI 6 cylinder engine, so perhaps My idea of enough power does not align with everyone.

All of that being said, I can totally deal with these limitations and I love having the tractor. I think it's the perfect size for my needs. Heavy enough to have some decent lift, but still super maneuverable for a small piece of property like mine. Just add a turbo and it'd be great! I would love to try a L2501 on my driveway or perhaps I don't want to!

I can see that for some (?few) people that being able to travel up hills in high range would be important. Maybe Vermont or similar areas. But for most parts of the country and for most CUT uses there just aren't enough "big hills" to make that a major selection criteria. The vast majority of tractor work is done in low or medium range. Unless you know you will be traveling miles on hilly terrain regularly, I'd argue that your better off getting the tractor that is appropriately powered for the actual work you do and just accept that some road travel will be slow.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Hi Broke farmer John,

Thanks for the reply, but I do strongly disagree with that statement. High gear is for traveling, traveling includes hills. if you want to drive over the road to another property you need to be in high gear. If it can't climb a hill you can't drive over the road. Even at max speed it's still a slow moving obstacle on the road, forget low range. I hoped to be able to drive this over to my brother in laws house less than 1 mile away, but no way with this thing. I think you guys are imaging some mountain I'm trying to climb, it's steep, but not that bad. It's nothing out of the ordinary and this tractor feels over stressed in mid range dead empty.

OK, but aside the hills and Living in New England this is hard to do. This winter my truck got stuck while snow plowing so I pulled it out with the tractor. The tractor was on level, plowed, but still wet slippery pavement in low range (no impliment or additional weight) trying to pull out the truck. On slippery pavement in low range with only 1 front and 1 rear drive wheel since my diff flock does not work. The tractor would stall or nearly stall trying to pull out the truck meaning even in low range this tractor on wet snowy pavement this tractor has more traction than power. It did finally get the job done, but this tractor is clearly under powered! As far as I'm concerned, you should never stall in low gear, the tires should spin first, ESPECIALLY in the SNOW! I'm also used to having lots of power, from my 73 Camaro, 5.7 Hemi Jeep, 7.3 Turbo diesel F350. Even my log splitter has a 300CI 6 cylinder engine, so perhaps My idea of enough power does not align with everyone.

All of that being said, I can totally deal with these limitations and I love having the tractor. I think it's the perfect size for my needs. Heavy enough to have some decent lift, but still super maneuverable for a small piece of property like mine. Just add a turbo and it'd be great! I would love to try a L2501 on my driveway or perhaps I don't want to!

What elevation are you at? Just by implying that it won't spin the tires in low range indicates that there is something wrong.

 

[Roger66]

I can see that for some (?few) people that being able to travel up hills in high range would be important. Maybe Vermont or similar areas. But for most parts of the country and for most CUT uses there just aren't enough "big hills" to make that a major selection criteria. The vast majority of tractor work is done in low or medium range. Unless you know you will be traveling miles on hilly terrain regularly, I'd argue that your better off getting the tractor that is appropriately powered for the actual work you do and just accept that some road travel will be slow.

Again it's not just the hills. Even in low range on level ground pulling my truck out of the snow it did not have enough power to exceed the traction of 1 front and 1 rear tire in the snow! That is seriously limited pulling power and clearly not "enough" IMO. Again certainly I can live within this tractors limitations! I was just trying to round out this thread with my experience after the purchase. The weird part is Brian above posted that the 1526 he drove zipped right up the hill. Starting to make me think there is something wrong with mine besides just the Diff Lock, although it appears to run perfectly. I guess I can't expect pulling power like my 7.3L Turbo diesel truck out of a 1.1L non turbo tractor. I've got an extra 460 Gas motor hanging around, wonder if it could fit? :laughing::laughing:

 

[Roger66]

What elevation are you at? Just by implying that it won't spin the tires in low range indicates that there is something wrong.

My elevation is a whopping 62 ft (19 m). So that's not it! Need to organize a tractor Dyno day!

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

My elevation is a whopping 62 ft (19 m). So that's not it! Need to organize a tractor Dyno day!

The not spinning tires was a red flag for me as well. If your absolutely sure you were in "Low Range" and not in "High Range" the tractor should break traction long before power. Even in mid range it should break traction unless you have loaded R2s with chains, it might not spin then lol.

Lots of guys have bragged about hills the 1526 zips right up in high range where the 1533s and 1538s have to drop down to low range.

A 26hp tractor won't be balls to the walls instant power also, it might "feel" weak but in the tractoring world does quite well.

As far as not spinning rubber, low range is like a tank crawling, takes a lot to bog down a tractor in low.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Idk if this really proves anything but you can see the rears breaking traction on dry pavement. On a EMax 26

Oversized lawnmower? Not the eMax 22... that's the power of Mahindra! - YouTube

The way the video jumps, looks like it took a few attempts lol.

 

[Roger66]

I'm really starting to think there is a problem with mine. I called my dealer last night and he suspected there might be a fuel restriction, either filter or blockage in the tank. The tractor is new with only 15 hours. I pulled the filter last night and it looks clean. I'll likely need to haul it back to have them check it out. My dealer is 100 miles away so I'd prefer to prove or better solve the issue myself. It seems to diagnose this I would need to insert a fuel pressure gauge and check the fuel pressure under load vs at idle. Any ideas where the best place to insert a gauge would be in the fuel system to check this myself? I'm thinking the best place would be right before the injection pump.

Again the tractor appears to run perfectly. It revs up to max no problem, but when it gets a heavy load on it the revs quickly drop way down and nearly stalls the tractor. It could be a fuel restriction where it starves for fuel when it really needs it most under heavy load. This problem would make it appear as a well running, but weak engine.

Thanks!

 

[coldsteelva]

My 25hp MF GC1720 will break traction in 4WD with R4s and all the similar size models should do so as well.

 

[Musdalen]

My 25hp MF GC1720 will break traction in 4WD with R4s and all the similar size models should do so as well.

I'm not really sure the point of all of these types of statements. ALL of the tractors I have used, with all their different tire configurations will "break traction". They were all considerably more capable than any 25 hp tractor.

 

[coldsteelva]

I'm not really sure the point of all of these types of statements. ALL of the tractors I have used, with all their different tire configurations will "break traction". They were all considerably more capable than any 25 hp tractor.

On a given surface, if locked in position, any tractor should be able to spin the rubber. Above it is stated that with no load, this tractor does not have enough torque to spin the rubber.