New question. 4815Ch or 4820Ch

[CloverKnollFarms]

Price is not a factor... they are similar enough.

We own 8 acres. 6 of it will be tillable for gardening (pto tiller) and pasture for small animals.

I have a 1/4 mile gravel road to maintain, and rarely remove snow from.

I want to use it around the property for installing fences, box blading, running a 6’ flail mower and running a 6’ tiller. I will use it around the apiary as well.

We may move square bales, manure and pull a trailer with it.

I was focussed on the 4820, but I’m pretty sure the 4815 would more than suffice. The difference being size and weight on our moist clay loam soil.

Thoughts?

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Are you keeping the 5520 in your signature? If so, the smaller 15 series chassis might make a good combo to get into any places too small for the 20 you have. You *may* run out of traction (not power) if you try to pull a full box of material on a 6 foot box blade. The heavier 4820 would give you more weight to get better traction. But you could still use the 5520 instead?

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Are you keeping the 5520 in your signature? If so, the smaller 15 series chassis might make a good combo to get into any places too small for the 20 you have. You *may* run out of traction (not power) if you try to pull a full box of material on a 6 foot box blade. The heavier 4820 would give you more weight to get better traction. But you could still use the 5520 instead?

Well, it would be the only tractor

 

[K5lwq]

I have the 4815 and it is the right size for me. However, with moving bales and the other chores you listed the 20 series is probably a better choice for you.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Some more random thoughts, in no particular order...

K5 brings up a good point. Hay bales. When I read "square bales", I was thinking small squares, and not really much weight (my assumption). Do you have another tractor to run your square baler on, or are you running the baler with the one you choose between the 15 and the 20? If you are going to run the baler with "this" tractor, I would go 20 series at the minimum. Without knowing which baler you have, 48hp may well be enough to power it, but depending on which baler again, the baler's plunger could walk you (push-pull you) all over the field. Might even consider a 35 series...

Generally speaking, if you find yourself doing much in the way of heavy loader work, as in near max limits of lifting capacity, or pulling heavy wagons, like stacked high with hay bales, you may wish you had more chassis weight. You can always add weights in the form of rear ballast, filled rear tires, or tire weights. But a heavier chassis will always be more stable. It really depends on how much heavy (as in weight) work you have to get done.

When I was a boy, we used to pull in hay wagons loaded with small squares with a Ford 8N. It was dicey to do, and Dad always warned me not to let it get ahead of me, especially when it came to stopping and making corners/turns. We lived on totally flat ground, so slopes were not a factor. But that was a chassis weight vs. chore combo that could quickly get out of hand if the operator wasn't constantly aware. There was a noticeable difference in stability and control if we pulled in the same trailer load with the old Farmall (bigger and heavier chassis).

But if you have tight spaces to contend with (apiaries perhaps?), a tractor that fits in the space can do more for you than a tractor that can't fit. There's not a huge difference in dimensional size of the 15 vs. the 20, but it depends on how much space you have to get by like a gate, a barn door, or similar.

I think horse power wise, you will be fine with 48hp with any of the tasks you listed.

 

[Torvy]

IIRC, the 4820 has some additional standard features. I am not near my spreadsheet right now, but if the price isn't a concern for you I would lean toward the 20.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Thanks all...

 

[Texasmark]

Price is not a factor... they are similar enough.

We own 8 acres. 6 of it will be tillable for gardening (pto tiller) and pasture for small animals.

I have a 1/4 mile gravel road to maintain, and rarely remove snow from.

I want to use it around the property for installing fences, box blading, running a 6’ flail mower and running a 6’ tiller. I will use it around the apiary as well.

We may move square bales, manure and pull a trailer with it.

I was focussed on the 4820, but I’m pretty sure the 4815 would more than suffice. The difference being size and weight on our moist clay loam soil.

Thoughts?

Neighbor just bought a 4815 because he is like 5'2 and it fit him comfortably. Problem is that with the 15 chassis, 3 point clearance when fully up isn't all that much, just caused him a problem this week, asking my advice, and in using certain implements you need that extra height. He was using a 6' grader blade and had it at a 45* angle for moving product to the side. Problem was that in the full up position it didn't clear the ground without resetting the pitch angle. I know it means a higher stepup but you will enjoy the extra weight in addition to the higher 3 pt lifting.

 

[K5lwq]

Neighbor just bought a 4815 because he is like 5'2 and it fit him comfortably. Problem is that with the 15 chassis, 3 point clearance when fully up isn't all that much, just caused him a problem this week, asking my advice, and in using certain implements you need that extra height. He was using a 6' grader blade and had it at a 45* angle for moving product to the side. Problem was that in the full up position it didn't clear the ground without resetting the pitch angle. I know it means a higher stepup but you will enjoy the extra weight in addition to the higher 3 pt lifting.

Interesting. I have not experienced that problem at all on my 4815 but I do run R1 tires. I even have my 3pt set to the lowest lift position.

 

[Texasmark]

Interesting. I have not experienced that problem at all on my 4815 but I do run R1 tires. I even have my 3pt set to the lowest lift position.

Well it depends on the implement and what you are doing with it. He was repairing his driveway and making the crown at the center for proper drainage. Course if he was running a 4' or 5' blade it probably would have been a moot point but he was using my 6'.

On another implement, he has the the 6' shredder and when you get enough slack in the 3rd member for the tail wheel to follow the terrain (his shredder has the swinging 3rd member connection), its hard to keep the tail wheel from hitting the ground when transporting. A 20 chassis would help to prevent that.

Just a couple of things I noticed when visiting and trying to help a new owner.

One more comment is that the 20 surely weighs more and depending on what you are doing weight helps. That could be desired or undesired, again depends on what you are doing. Yeah you could ballast out the 15 if necessary.

 

[ptsg]

The 3 pt hitch on the 15 and 20 series are pretty similar. I would go as far as saying that they may actually be the same 3 pt system. Both are Cat 1 and have the same 3300 lbs capacity at the ends.

There is two holes on the lift arms, one position gives more lifting capacity with less range of motion while the other position gives less lifting capacity with a wider range of motion, it will go lower and lift higher.

I really thing that the 15 series gets a very nice lift height. Also, hooking up the top link on the lowest hole of the three, will lift the rear of the implement higher.

In this picture it's non even the highest it will go.

 

[Texasmark]

Well the neighbor and I were looking at that yesterday. His 4815 has 3 holes in the left connecting rod for height adjustment. Only question is, how far can you lift the implement vs how far will it drop when all the way down. Maybe it will reach. I commented that if it won't reach, put the implement on a couple of skids to get it high enough for mounting when the lift is all the way down.

 

[ptsg]

Well the neighbor and I were looking at that yesterday. His 4815 has 3 holes in the left connecting rod for height adjustment. Only question is, how far can you lift the implement vs how far will it drop when all the way down. Maybe it will reach. I commented that if it won't reach, put the implement on a couple of skids to get it high enough for mounting when the lift is all the way down.

So you neighbor's tractor doesn't have an extra set of holes on the lift arms?

Not the best picture, but I've highlighted the holes I'm talking about.

 

[Texasmark]

Not that I recall but I may have missed them. The holes are in the vertical arm in and just above your left red circle.

Just as an added tidbit. Pat's Cat I Quick Hitch fits those lift arms. The offset is 2" forward of the pin and that's just enough to get Pat's installed. I showed him how to use them last Sunday and he is tickled.

One of the the things I like about hydro tractors is that you can stand on the ground on the right side and using your hand manipulate the pedals as an aid in hooking up implements. I have had my first hydro tractor for a year now and I love that capability vs regular manual transmission.