Is 4WD necessary?

[powerpace]

Tractors primarily were used for mainly farm work. Not tinkering with five or ten acres. Serious farm work. I grew up on Farms, Ranches and Dairys. Eight-hundred acres of row crops and orchards requires many different sizes of rolling stock. Crawler for clearing land, loaders for stacking produce totes on trucks, 2wd Tricycle for cultivatiing row crops on more or less level ground. 4wd for harvest time in wet fields and orchards or otherwise low traction areas. Maintaining gravel roads and pads requires 4wd. 4wd drive for all high traction needs like ground breaking and preparation.
My landscape business required 4wd as well my 10 acres currently owned. Hills and slick clay are not friendly to 2wd. I have been to several fatalities and injuries causes by loss of rear wheel traction with a FEL while on slopes and even on a gravel road. No brakes on the front you know. Dropping the loaded FEl can't be fast enough sometimes.
Get a 4WD. General all round use requires it. Using a tiller is much easier with 4wd.

 

[Cubbison]

I own an 1816HST and use it on 10 acres with a variation of terrain and 4WD is what makes it unstoppable on hillsides, creek bottoms, and pulling trees. However you're looking at larger tractors and depending on it's intended job it may not be nescessary, but if the difference in price is minimal I would go for the 4WD...It is the total package...I figure it'd be mighty tough trying to unstick a big heavy tractor and diminish confidence in your equipment...I couldn't do half of what I do without 4WD.

 

[cartod]

I try to stay in 2wd as much as possible because I am cheap or maybe Im afraid it will wear out..... Every time I take my tractor out, I end up using 4wd. Whether its for FEL use going down hill or muddy conditions, or having to back up a hill, or needing to push into that pile of dirt twice as hard, or.............you get the point.

 

[DavesTractor]

The 2wd Mahindra utility tractors are far heavier than the average tractor for it's HP. So with loaded rear tires, they do a fine job on relatively flat ground. Better than you would expect. On a lighter tractor with a loader, 4wd is nearly a must. But as the tractor gets heavier, you will find a 2wd still does a fine job. Having said that, the ability to flip a lever and go into 4wd would be on my list of important things to have.

If the PTO HP isn't critical, go with a 4025-4wd. Heavy, simple, strong, 41HP. If a higher HP fairly simple compact tractor works for you, the 5010 is a bargain. As far as a premium large frame compact, it is hard to beat the 5035, but the features come at a price. But hey, it's only money....

In our area, we have a lot of orchards. We never run the tractors in the orchards when the "floors' are wet. It just makes a mess that you have to fix. A 2wd works fine in these applications for mowing, spraying, harvesting, etc. If the principal use of the tractor is loader work and pushing brush and such, 4wd gets the nod.

 

[xlr82v2]

I agree with Dave above...

I've got a Mahindra 3525 2WD with FEL, and I have very little trouble doing all I need to do with it. My ground is flat in parts, quite hilly in others. I loaded the rears on mine with beet juice, and I have no trouble at all pulling up to a pile of rock or dirt and filling the bucket full with nothing on the back of the tractor. If I do find that I need a bit more traction, I'll put the box blade or the bushhog on the back, and go to work. In 6 years of ownership, I can only recall 3 or 4 projects or situations where I really wished I had 4WD... but I still got the job done with 2WD on all of them.

If you notice, most all the people pushing that 4WD is a MUST HAVE own smaller, "light weight for their horsepower" Compact Utility tractors that have a really difficult time putting the power to the ground... and I agree, for tractors like that, 4WD is a must have... they are literally helpless without it, especially with the big floaty R4 tires that are so en vogue. But when you climb out of the Compact Utility category, and up into the regular Utility category, the rules change a bit. Utility tractors (such as my 3525 or the 5525 (I think it was) that you were looking at) are MUCH heavier built, and have much greater traction than the lightweight CUT's. Obviously, a 4wd version of the same 2wd tractor will be more capable, but is spending the extra $7000 to buy extra capability that you won't really use a wise decision?

I'm planning on keeping my 2wd 3525 for quite a while... 4wd would be nice to have every once in a while, but I certainly don't NEED it.

 

[chin]

Chains on a 2x2 work wonders in snow but you may have to brake steer some times. Nice place.

2x2? Like a bike or something huh. Lol
Anyway, you don't need four wheel drive to run a loader. Some of the older case 580 backhoes came as 2 wheel drive models and worked great.

 

[GBOUTDOORS]

No 4wd is not necessary but as stated is nice to have and a must for sub comp units like mine. As a teenager many years ago I dug a foundation with my neighbor using a bulldozer. After a lot of work we had it done and someone came by and told us you can't dig a foundation hole with a dozer so we filled it in and rented an excavated to get the job done right. Us what you have or can afford. But have fun doing it.

 

[GBOUTDOORS]

No 4wd is not necessary but as stated is nice to have and a must for sub comp units like mine. As a teenager many years ago I dug a foundation with my neighbor using a bulldozer. After a lot of work we had it done and someone came by and told us you can't dig a foundation hole with a dozer so we filled it in and rented an excavated to get the job done right. Use what you have or can afford. But have fun doing it.

 

[cowsmowmygrass]

With my 6500 4wd, I was able to dig out my pond during the drought getting ready for the next rain. The 4wd was absolutely necessary to back up the grade with a full bucket. I think FEL work benefits from 4wd. Heavy uphill backing, like digging any big hole, will need 4wd.

 

[Jimmy Joe]

If you are keeping for the long term get 4x4, the older I got the less I enjoyed wrestling with putting on chains in the winter. I understand the money saving part but after four or five years you will be looking at the 4x4 and saying I should have bought it, just like me not buying a cab tractor. Good luck on whatever you decide.

JJ

 

[3v0]

I grew up with 2WD farm tractors. Where they really sucked was deep mud with weight in the FEL bucket. Not uncommon with cattle.

With a field tractor at about 150HP a 2WD even with duals has a hard time getting the power to the ground.

And as some people said the SCUTS work better with 4WD.

My next door neighbor farms a few hundred acres of potato and grain. He says absolutely no need for 4WD. What say you?

He is correct. Now if you want to ever want to move snow.

For me I do not care for liquid in the rear tires mainly because of nails etc.

 

[DavesTractor]

With my 6500 4wd, I was able to dig out my pond during the drought getting ready for the next rain. The 4wd was absolutely necessary to back up the grade with a full bucket. I think FEL work benefits from 4wd. Heavy uphill backing, like digging any big hole, will need 4wd.

Your 6500, just like the new 30 series and 60 series, have massive front axles and planetary gears, etc. So you can get away with this, but we actually see people breaking front axle parts if they do this a lot. What happens is when backing up hills with a big load in the bucket, your back end is light due to the angle and the load, and you are asking a front axle designed to be only assistive to move the entire tractor with a load, up a hill, probably in soft soil. If you pop the clutch carelessly, then one of several things must happen. 1) Everything holds (like on your 6500) and you just simply back up the hill but put a huge strain on the front wheel assist system 2) The front tires spin, and they won't want to with all that traction 3) the clutch slips, and that is not likely 4) you break an axle shaft or driveshaft couple or gear in the front end.

Even on a compact tractor, a rear axle might be 2" in diameter, the front will be half that. Likewise on the ring and pinion. They are designed for the rear axle to do most of the work moving the tractor.

We all do this sort of thing, but I'd recommend to folks that they be gentle when asking the front axle to take those kind of loads.

I think one huge advantage of 4wd is brakes. When going down a hill in 4wd and you hit the brakes, the front axle is mechanically connected to the brake system in a round about way and you essentially get front brakes. That is a huge advantage. It's a scary thing going down a hill with a full bucket load with a 2wd and realizing that your rear tires are barely touching and you essentially have no brakes.

 

[aczlan]

I grew up with 2WD farm tractors. Where they really sucked was deep mud with weight in the FEL bucket. Not uncommon with cattle.

I agree. Dad had a Massey Industrial 35 (50HP Perkins, 6' wide bucket, big machine), it could move a barn IF you had enough traction. It rarley had enough traction even with chains, loaded tires and wheelweights. He "downsized" to a Kubota L3650 (~40HP, 4x4 with a cab and loader) and it would in most cases outwork the Massey.

Aaron Z

 

[bindian]

It's a scary thing going down a hill with a full bucket load with a 2wd and realizing that your rear tires are barely touching and you essentially have no brakes.

Dave,
Loaded buckets make great drag anchors when brakes fade.
hugs, Brandi

 

[DavesTractor]

Dave,
Loaded buckets make great drag anchors when brakes fade.
hugs, Brandi

Until you swap ends halfway down a hill....

 

[aczlan]

Until you swap ends halfway down a hill....

As long as the wheels stay on the ground, you then have a "sea anchor" type drag anchor...

Aaron Z

 

[bindian]

Until you swap ends halfway down a hill....

I don't go that fast on hills. Besides, the only hills around here are made by me. A friend of mine had a JD 310TLB that didn't have any brakes. Bucket on the ground was it.:laughing:
hugs, Brandi

 

[Jimh4662]

Greetings : I've been looking far and near on the cyber treads trying to find 4wd specifics. Been a 4wd drive owner for 40 of my 60. Truck and tractor. All been get wet and lock to the toggle from the cab lock. Up to this point I have known the do's and wish I didn't do's. Well I cannot determine whether the new JD 758 4wd will be able to cut grass while turn and return on dry pavement. It appears it is full time. Any you folks have any suggestions or comments. I am posting this in a couple threads. Thanks