L345DT w/ Loader and 5' brush hog

[design]

Re: L345DT w/ Loader and 5\' brush hog

Thank you all for the feedback.
Last year we moved to a 5 acre lot. 1 acre of grass, and the balance has been untouched for about 8-10 years. They logged the property in the middle 90's. There are a fair number of downed hemlock trees that need to be cleaned up. We also plan on increasing the yard in the future.
In terms of tractor usage, I plan on dragging the decent size logs to a pile to have cut. I tried to do this last year with the 25 HP riding lawn mover I thought I might have a bit of luck /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif [we concluded the lawn mower is good for cutting grass, and everthing else will need a real tractor] the balance of the junk wood laying around needs to be dragged to a pile to burn.

We have a 200 foot dirt driveway and a 200 foot u-shpped driveway that need a fair amount of work, (blade and rake type repair)
Also, I plan on plowing with a tractor verses a truck in the winter.

As this is NH, I hope to build a stone wall in the front with the rocks that are all over the yard. I will need to be able to go through the woods with some ease. Also, I would like to drive across the front yard and not tear up the lawn. If I have AG tires, will this be an issue? Which tires are the better choice?
We also need to regrade some of the yard which I had additional power lines put in; again some move blade/bucket work.

Design.

 

[design]

Re: L345DT w/ Loader and 5\' brush hog

rbargeron ,
How could you tell the tires were not the originals? How much wear should I expect on tires for 800 hours?
Design

 

[rbargeron]

Re: L345DT w/ Loader and 5\' brush hog

Just a guess really. The front ones have tall ribs and are square cornered. It's possible 4wd was rarely engaged - but the tractor looks more experienced than that. Front tires wear faster - especially with a loader and 4wd. My 345 had Goodyears on it when new - they were about 50% worn at 800 hrs if I remember right.

 

[rbargeron]

Re: L345DT w/ Loader and 5\' brush hog

Reading about the jobs you are planning, I would still think the 345 would be more versatile. You could get some forks for the FEL for moving logs & brush. The Ag tires will not tear up your lawn if you are reasonably careful about sharp turns on the grass. (the sod will usually lay back down if you forget a couple times and scuff it. The Ags would be a lot better in the woods than turfs - even Ags need chains if you are in the woods a lot. I noticed the muffler is bent back - it's easy to catch it on a tree limb or something so this is not unusual - but inspect the exhaust manifold for cracks - at the 4-bolt flanges - and particularly where the manifold is bolted to the engine - I had to replace my manifold once - was reasonably cheap then but might not be now? Good luck - let us know how it goes.