Tractor Sizing HP Advice

[TomIre]

Kind of on purpose not saying what size I'm looking at to get this advice - which has been great.

Totally agree about backhoe, renting, etc, but leaning strongly towards it. Not looking forward to taking it on and off to use the Bush hog but I'm thinking I'll get a good bit of use anyway. I don't think I'll be able to use the FEL if I don't break the ground with the hoe, pry some rocks out, etc

On size, 60 hp seems totally excessive for 20 acres. No?

Confession time - I've been bush hogging with a 1951 Ford 8n. Takes forever and a day, have to go the long way round to get to the top of any hill at all, in 1st gear all the time. Worst of all, it's come out of gear going downhill enough times that I'm done with it. That thing is going to kill me if I keep using it!

Thanks to all for the thoughtful replies!

 

[TheMadOne]

If you're primarily doing pasture work, a cab might not go amiss.

You could get by with a larger 40ishHP tractor just fine, as long as you never want to do anything else with the land besides mow it. If you decide you want to do more, plant crops, make hay, etc. I'd look more toward the 60+ side of things and outside the compact realm, into proper utility tractors.

MX5800(no cab option), L6060, or M7060 for Kubota, in order of cost.(Though there's not much between the last two)
Boomers from New Holland, Farmalls from Case. 4R and 5E Deere.(5M if you're feeling spendy). I know LS has the same units as the boomers, if you have a dealer nearby. Kioti is another brand that is solid if you can find a dealer. So is Yanmar.

 

[TomIre]

Never operated HST, but nobody seems to have anything bad to say.
What is your "procedure" for going down hill ? Presume with FEL on the front?

 

[TheMadOne]

Never operated HST, but nobody seems to have anything bad to say.
What is your "procedure" for going down hill ? Presume with FEL on the front?

Um, I go down the hill? IF you have done your ballasting right driving downhill with a load of stone in the bucket is not exactly hair-raising, unless it's a really bad hill. HST acts as it's own brake. When you let off the pedal you should either stop, or if you're on a grade, creep downhill slowly.

 

[TomIre]

Going downhill, what's your throttle set at? If you come off the forward pedal does it "freewheel" or still feel like it's in gear and under control?

 

[TomIre]

And, yes pretty steep hill. When I go down in my 4x4 truck i put on hill descent control which lets the front tires slip enough to keep steering control.

 

[TheMadOne]

With HST your throttle is disconnected from your movement. I usually set it around 2k rpm and leave it alone.

If the hill is that bad, I can't help you. I've never taken my tractor anywhere that bad. I'd put the tractor in 4x4 low and keep the loader as low as possible, but without experiencing your hill I can't say what other tactic to use.

 

[MossRoad]

Going downhill, what's your throttle set at? If you come off the forward pedal does it "freewheel" or still feel like it's in gear and under control?

An HST transmission is a fluid pump.
The higher you set the engine speed, the more fluid it will pump, and, the more you press the directional pedals, the more fluid will flow from that pump to a hydraulic motor that is attached to the drive system.
The pump works with a swash plate. It's at a 90 degree angle when not moving. You step on the pedal a bit, and the angle changes and it pumps fluid. The more you step on the pedal, the greater the angle of the swash plate, the more fluid it pumps and the faster you go. If you let your foot off the pedal, the swash plate returns to 90 degrees and the tractor stops moving. If you step in the reverse pedal, the swash plate angles in the other direction, and pumps the fluid backwards, which turns the hydraulic motor backwards, which turns the drive system backwards.

Fluid cannot be compressed. So when you let off the pedals, the fluid cannot flow through the system, and it effectively locks the machine in place.

So going down a hill, you want your engine RPMs up as high as they'll go, so you have more responsive hydraulics, which = responsive hydraulic braking when you let off the pedal. It won't freewheel down the hill and it shouldn't pick up speed. You should be able to let off the directional pedals and it will stop itself.


In fact, some machines are kinda brutal as to how fast they'll stop if you whip your foot off the pedals. My old IH2500b had a circuit to soften the hydraulic braking effect.

My current machine is all hydraulic and it doesn't even have brakes; only a parking pin.

Hope that helps explain it a bit. :confused3:

 

[TomIre]

That does help a lot. And, I'll work on getting the hang of it for a while before tackling my hills.
Thanks!

 

[MossRoad]

Just remember that if you are in two wheel drive, heading downhill, with even a moderate load in the front end loader, you could hit a bump, the rear wheels could come up a bit, loosing traction, and then you have no braking at all, because, regardless of if its a gear tractor or HST tractor, your driven/braking wheels are off the ground..... down the hill you'll fly. Same thing if you knock the gear tractor into neutral, or the range selector into neutral, you'll have no engine braking or HST braking. Four wheel drive can help with this, as the front wheels will be held back by engine compression or HST compression, but there will be no brakes if the rears come off the ground. That's one of the appealing things about HST and four wheel drive. You'll have hydraulic braking on the front wheels to help slow you down.