Mountain Tractor Choices (hills, slopes, pasture, forest)

[MultiMow]

"Avant 635" fiera Villa Vomano Teramo - YouTube

Finland, man. Wow. I call this thing the hand of god.

216 AVANT 42 Wheel Loaders | eBay
The 420 is just a little undersized, but at $30k in new condition, makes me hopeful for finding a used 5 or 600 series. Doubles my budget, but I question how much constant shop time the PT would need to keep it working. Might ultimately make sense. Choices, choices. If someone was selling a lightly used Avant 6xx that came in under $30k, I wouldn't be able to say no.

There are other options as well. MultiOne is another manufacturer. They split off from Avant due to conflicting vision... and Kubota is supposedly coming out with one next year.

I wouldn't go with the TT77. I'm assuming you are looking at buying the one in New York. Your maintenance would be a nightmare, unless you intend on DIY.

 

[sinthome]

Seems like we're at the cusp of some new and exciting things. Hopefully the larger businesses widely adopt these incredible mini loaders and over time they start to "trickle down" to us little guys. At this point I am still feeling skeptical about my prospects.. I will probably just abuse the Gator for one more year, probably burn through a belt, a clutch.. hopefully not the tranny. Maybe I will spot the perfect 20+ year old low sitting tractor and I will set that up for some tasks. Then maybe in a year or two I will see an Avant or similar in the $20k range. Here's hoping!

You'd be surprised at the power that 200 series has.

One of my main goals for a tractor/loader machine would be the safe and effective handling of 4x5 round bales of hay, including transporting and unrolling up to 1000lb bales across a grassy pasture with 15deg slope and hauling up/down a 20-25deg slope. After watching that "hand of god" video of the 600 showing off... it seems like it could almost just teleport bales wherever I wanted them.

The 200 model might work equally well to my 6x4 Gator for hauling, assuming I hitch it to a homemade bale mover/unroller trailer and despite having 1/3 the top speed. And of course it has a lot of capabilities missed in the Gator, but I find it hard to upgrade without the added ability to lift 1ton pallet totes and other similar loads. And, even for towing, I would greatly prefer something at least 1.5-2 times heavier than the maximum tow load, for safer control on downhills. Unless the specs are extremely conservative, I don't think the 200 model will perform well under these circumstances.

Another option, if I had a tractor or other hydraulic 3PH capable machine, would be to ditch the round bale trailer and just mount a standard bale unroller attachment. That would be so cool if it worked, but I worry about trying to navigate that arrangement with a tractor on a slope. Of course, the 3PH adapter for the larger Avant loaders would achieve this very well. And also telescopic bale handling is another pretty incredible option.

I would probably still just use a pallet fork, but this video blew me away! So nimble and the controls are so responsive. A tractor seems oafish in comparison and a PT so clumsy. Ehh.. I should stop watching.

 

[CADplans]

Run over and pick this up,,, perfect for mountains,,, and in NC!! :thumbsup:

784 low pro international tractor

 

[redman135]

Have a look a New Zealand Distributor for ClicDualWheels for ATVs Off-Road vehicles and Ride-On Mowers Increase Safety Double Traction and Towing Power ,they are made in switzerland.
I grew up on country similar to yours and only had 2 wheel drive. I would be looking at a standard tractor in the 60-80 hp ,4x4 front -end - loader, and fit dual wheels at the rear (4-5" between wheels to clear the mud) with an operational width about 10'.
This way I would avoid expensive specialist tractors with possibly poor parts service and probably expensive parts as well .
See Giltrap / G2 A bale on the fork and 1 in the feeder (hay or silage, 2000lb/bale)is standard practice on New Zealand hill country farms. Also I recommend you get the wide front tyre option for loader work.
Driving across the slope you will slide out of the seat before the tyres loose their grip, and the tractor will feel way more sure footed compared to a single tyred tractor.

 

[Turbys_1700]

For many years farmers in the NC mountains utilized Fords with the rears set out as wide as possible for hill stability. I put a ROPS on my 4610SU last year and had to switch the rears to opposite sides in order to facilitate the ROPS. With loaded rears and front weights the tractor weighs north of 6K. The 16.9x24 rears set out at maximum width give it a lot of side stability. I bought it mainly for brush hogging and it has been great thus far.

 

[sinthome]

I saw a really great-looking old Ford getting hauled on a trailer last night. Probably was a 4610! I tried to get alongside it but they turned off before I could get a closer look. It was squatting nice and wide for sure! I like the LCG models, such as the 2910 or 4610.. I assume that stands for "low center of gravity" with turf tires. They are 2WD only, though, and hard as **** to find.

 

[Turbys_1700]

LCG's are hard to find. My SU is pretty low to the ground and the rears are set out to 88". I would have preferred to keep them narrow but could not clear the ROPS. The offset on the rims was 4" vs 10" so once switched the rears are now 12" wider. If my tractor would have had 14.9's on the back I would have been OK. The 16.9's look better and give it a better stance IMHO.

 

[sinthome]

That sounds plenty wide and very stable across a slope. How does it handle without 4wd on the up/downhill? Do you feel it is unimportant? I would prefer a FEL for weighting the front and the added capability. Is it hard to find a matching loader for these Fords? Like CADPlans was saying, it makes a lot of sense to buy it with the FEL already attached.

I wish I had this little guy--

 

[sinthome]

I grew up on country similar to yours and only had 2 wheel drive. I would be looking at a standard tractor in the 60-80 hp ,4x4 front -end - loader, and fit dual wheels at the rear (4-5" between wheels to clear the mud) with an operational width about 10'.

Most newer tractors that weigh in anywhere under 6,000lbs don't seem to be built strong enough to handle the huge additional load on the axle of duals. Do you have recommendations on a tractor that could work for this safely? Worst case scenario is an axle snapping on a 25deg slope. Almost guaranteed game over for the operator. Also, I am curious what your advice would be for running 2wd tractors up/down steep slopes when loaded.

I had never heard of a "bale feeder" attachment that works like that. It is actually pretty cool and might offer some benefits over the "bale unroller" 3ph attachments that are more common over here, which work like this:

There doesn't seem to be any USA distribution for Giltrap. Is there another manufacturer doing the same thing stateside?

 

[sinthome]

Run over and pick this up,,, perfect for mountains,,, and in NC!! :thumbsup:

784 low pro international tractor

But.. you just convinced me its gotta have a FEL already attached.. wasn't that your motto? :confused3: