Light or heavy tractor for soggy ground ????

[Maineman]

Hope to soon buy a 28 to 30 hp tractor with fel and backhoe. Have about 15 acres of wooded, poorly drained land. Want to be able to dig drain ditches, convert a couple of acres of wooded area to lawn and do a number of landscaping projects for a new house to be built this summer. The ground to be worked on is often wet and typically consists of 6 to 8 inches of matted organic matter over clay.

I’m wondering if tractor weight should be a factor in my decision. I realize the heavier the tractor, the better the traction but also the deeper the ruts. Have looked at Kubota B7800 (1741 lbs), MF 1428 hst (2345 lbs), John Deere 4210 (2675 lbs) and Kioti ck 30 hst (3055 lbs). The difference in weight between the Kubota B7800 and the Kioti ck 30 seems huge to me.

I’m interested in knowing if the difference in weight would translate into difference in performance for my situation. If so, would I be better off with the light one or the heavy one? I would appreciate hearing from voices of experience.

 

[JJT]

Go light, keep the 4wd engaged and chains for the rear tires.

 

[RedDog]

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After you dig your drain ditches is it still going to be wet?


RedDog

 

[Maineman]

I expect the drainage ditches to help dry the area out. However, most of the area is fairly flat and just a few feet above sea level. Enviromental rules prohibit bring in much fill. So, I expect I'll always have to deal with wet ground.

 

[Cliff_Johns]

There has been some disagreement on this question in the past. Personally, it makes sense to me to get a solidly built tractor to which you can add wheel weights and ballast box and even front weights if you are doing something that requires extra weight. If you buy a very heavy tractor, you can't make it lighter. If you want some extra semi-permanent weight, you fill the tires.

Cliff

 

[keeney]

If the sogginess is just the surface layer, you will want narrow ag tires to cut deep ruts down to something firmer underneath (think flooded rice fields).

If the sogginess is bottemless or you don't want deep ruts, you will need "flotation". This means big wide tires (but still with an agressive tread pattern) and less weight. Check out the R1-W style tires.

A tracked machine might be a better choice to deal with really squishy stuff.

- Rick

 

[Freds]

I'm not sure a tractor would be your best choice, although your way of thinnking is a great excuse to get a backhoe /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I have a very "soggy" area on one side of my property. Clumps of grass and a lot of standing water and puddles. I used to get stuck with my B7500, R4s and unloaded tires and I still get stuck with my L3130, R4s and loaded rear tires. Well, I got stuck once anyway with each tractor, that's all it took for me to leave that area alone.
I was told a mini excavator with tracks was the way to go if I wanted to put in some drainage there. I could probably rent one and get the job done much cheaper than purchasing a backhoe.

 

[Egon]

Have you considered making a few pads so you can go in for the backhoe work to get drainage and perhaps dry up the area a little. These pads would also work best with a tracked machine that can rotate 360 degrees.

The tractor weight might be decided by how much help there is available to get the tractor out. Think I'd prefer a light tractor with wide tires to reduce the ground pressure.

Egon

 

[Maineman]

I'm interested in hearing more about your idea of pads. This is a new concept to me. What would you make them out of? How big?

 

[Bob_Skurka]

I might consider a different approach completely. I am fond of renting the right tool for the job. I am also fond of buying the tractor that fits the long term needs I have.

With what you wrote, I wonder if you could get into the property with a tract machine, possibly a track-hoe (pict of a Thomas track hoe/mini-excavator) and dig the drainage ditches to start to get your property shaped up. The track hoe can do a number on trees too so you can use it to help with that, but a bulldozer is going to do a faster job of knocking down trees, pushing out their roots and making a clearing. Both will tear up your property but will get the jobs done. And they will get them done MUCH faster than any TLB that you might consider buying.

AFTER you get the property draining properly and get your clearing, then you can figure out what your soil conditions will really be.

Most of us need 2 tractors.

First, when we move into our property we need a big heavy beast to tear things up, knock things down and generally do heavy work (in your case think CK30 or L3130 with Ag tires).

Second, we need a smaller long term tractor, one that will mow the lawn, power a snowblower, etc. Some don't mow the lawn with their tractors in this phase so their big brute machine is just fine. For those who mow the lawn then you need to look for R4 or Turf tires on this machine, weight may or may not be a factor depending on soil conditions, PTO hp may or may not be a big factor depending on if you run things like mower decks, tillers, rotary cutters, etc. Turning radius is an issue if you mow around a lot of landscaping and a wide turning radius can add a lot of time to mowing chores. Also turning radius if you work on narrow paths, as is smaller overall size. But if you have (or plan to have) a big open lawn or big wide paths in the woods, then a big tall wide tractor will fit without any problems.

Consider you SHORT TERM jobs and write them down. Consider your LONG TERM NEEDS and write those down. Consider if one tractor fits in the "middle" that is capable of doing both with a "reasonable" level of compramise.

And when I say "capable of doing both," I mean efficiently in terms of the time you have to spare to do both. If a bull dozer rental will clear your lawn area in 2 days and a track hoe will dig your ditches in another 3 or 4 days then you can take a 1 week vacation and get the entire job done. But if it a small (roughly 30hp TLB) is going to take every night after work all summer long to dig the same ditches and clear the same land, I'd say you might seriously consider rental, especially if you have other projects, or a family. IF THAT IS THE REALITY and renting equipment makes sense, then look mostly at your "long term" needs.

On the other hand, if the ditch work is minimal and the trees are small, then your 30hp tractor may make reasonably short work of the project and do it in a few weeks and weekends. IF THIS IS THE REALITY then weigh the needs of both long and short term and buy the tractor that fits your needs the best and is balanced for both short & long term.