Total Newbie with Mahindra Questions

[BubbaBillyBob]

jeff9366--

Only the steep ledge rock is rock-rock. The rest is top-of-the-ridge Ozark country. Some of it is rocky, meaning that it may contain rocks the size of an egg up to a softball and now and then, a show-stopper.

Knowing this, can an operator still use a box blade with caution? I am concerned about damage to the 3-point hitch if I hook it on one of those show-stoppers. This is me speaking from total ignorance: Can you go slow and hold the blade rather high?

I will hit the link and watch the video you sent. Thanks!

--Bill

 

[jeff9366]

So often, local conditions rule what is possible at the margin. Discuss your conditions with your local dealer.

"Some of it is rocky, meaning that it may contain rocks the size of an egg up to a softball and now and then, a show-stopper".

Sitting here in rock-free Florida, I think you need a bulldozer. Designed to PUSH a humongous blade, low center of gravity, tracks provide maximum traction MUCH better than pneumatic tires.

Mr. Natural says: "Get the right tool." B-U-L-L-D-O-Z-E-R


If you had a 150-horsepower tractor, pulling a Gannon (brand) Box Blade, with a weight of 250 pounds per foot of width, you could possibly do this work with said Box Blade. ~~~But a bulldozer would be better.

Consider this: You can try the SHOWSTOPPERS with a light tractor and a light Box Blade and do $2,000 damage to the equipment in ten minutes, with all the job still ahead of you. Or, you can have a skilled operator do this work with a Bulldozer for $2,000 and have a nicely completed job and your tractor still in pristine condition.

Then you have to tell your spouse.

 

[otherpinz]

"otherpinz, At this time, I'm upgrading to the 5545. What do you think?"

The 5545 is, in my opinion, one of the best deals out there. But......It is still a basic tractor and is also big and powerful enough that it can destroy less expensive small implements made for CUTs.

 

[SPYDERLK]

All--

I am a total newbie both to this forum and to tractors. All my questions will reflect that status.

Currently, I am looking at a new 4025 4wd with bucket and backhoe. But, I read that the 4035 has more flexibility in regards to the 3 point hitch adjustment making it easier for one person to change implements. It is difficult for me to determine the advantages of the 4035 over the 4025. Ignorance plays a big role in this difficulty. (But, that's why I'm here asking questions.) Will you tell me the differences between the two?

I have 80 acres deep in the Ozarks. About 30 acres of it is level, with the remaining being vertical. The level acreage is covered mainly in pine with a few oaks and lots of oak underbrush. There are many things I want to do with a tractor, but clearing the underbrush ranks way up there. I need a brush hog that will let me maneuver in the forest. What diameter of oak undergrowth will the 41hp tractor handle?

I understand that getting in between trees will be an issue. Is a 5' cutter significantly easier to maneuver than a 6' cutter?

The soil is rocky. (It's the Ozarks!) Is a narrower backhoe bucket more suitable to excavation in rocky soil than a wider one? (This seems like a really dumb question, but I gotta ask it.)

Thanks and I am sure I will have more questions.

--Bill

You will do best with a strong 5 foot cutter that does not extend outside the rear wheels. The 5' size is the sweet spot for single spindle cutters. Most any of them are capable of treating up to 2 inch saplings as grass when driven by ~40ptoHP. The heavy duty 5' bushogs will cut 4" trees. ... Going forward I have personally cut many 4-6"oaks and other trees up to 8" using a JD 127 Gyramor driven by 45ptohp. The cutter is rated for 4" but with the tractor bending it over will do more. -- If your 40hp tractor is heavy enuf to run over trees forward you should have no problem on 3" trees if you get a mid to heavy duty bushog. With care you will be able to cut larger.

 

[BubbaBillyBob]

Jeff9366--

Thank you for the words of box blade wisdom. I will definitely seek advice from the dealer. I also have contacts in the area that have been in the same situation. I ALSO have a contact with a bulldozer! In fact, bulldozer-contact-man built the original "road" for the owner of the section from whom I bought the 80 acres. He does not know why the owner wanted him to build over the ledge rock, other than it was the fastest route. He knows another route out south, around the edge of the ledge. His D6 is not a big enough horse to tackle the ledge, either. I imagine it would take a very healthy 9 with a ripper. Or, dynamite. Probably the latter.

Hey! You have rocks in Florida! We will be down in your neck of the woods in a couple of weeks . . . we go out to Anna Maria every year. I see those funny little rocks you have washing up on the beach all the time.

--Bill

 

[jeff9366]

I am twenty-five miles inland from the Gulf Coast.

In five years here I have encountered exactly ONE rock in the soil. Dixie County, on the north, lower bank of the Suwannee River, make have rocks.

The Florida aquifer is only thirty feet underground, so we have NO mud. After a heavy rain our sandy loam has perked all surface water in thirty minutes. Almost every tractor in my area has R4/industrial tires.

Downside: Irrigation is required to grow almost everything, except jungle. And water permits tighten periodically.

Our winters are divine. No SNOW.

Kansas City has much better BBQ than our local stuff.


When your new tractor arrives be extra cautious the first 200 hours. Put up the ROPS. Use the seat belt. Everything having to do with tractors is heavy and tractors are not stable machines.

 

[k0ua]

I bet you folks can drive ground rods. Anywhere on my place you hit shelf rock in about one foot deep. Grounding around here is a joke. Ground rods are driven horizontally.

 

[dickfoster]

All--

This video is the "road" I need to improve. The video is long and I certainly do not expect anyone to actually watch all of it. However, if you watch a little bit and then skip ahead to where we get out of the truck and walk over to the cliff, you will see why we want to build on that site.

Warning: Not of interest to many! Bill and Barb's EXCELLENT Adventure - YouTube

--Bill

Yeah with that much road to maintain you might want two rear remotes anyway. A box blade to help get the road in and a rear grader blade attachment for after the road is in. Top and tilt along with another for blade rotation maybe. Just depends oh how much climbing off and on you want to do. Don't know about you but I'm old, fat and lazy.

 

[mike69440]

All--

This video is the "road" I need to improve. The video is long and I certainly do not expect anyone to actually watch all of it. However, if you watch a little bit and then skip ahead to where we get out of the truck and walk over to the cliff, you will see why we want to build on that site.

Warning: Not of interest to many! Bill and Barb's EXCELLENT Adventure - YouTube

--Bill

Save a tractor, Get some construction equipment, Like an excavator and a dozer. Then sell them after the heavy work is done.

 

[BubbaBillyBob]

All--

Dozer Man will work his D6 for a hundred bucks an hour. After reading what many of you have written, I may give him some work on that road. After that, I can maintain it with the tractor.

My builder says he can get all the stuff in he needs to build the house if I fill in the washouts in the steep, ledge-rock part. I can easily do that with the tractor. That bad part is only about a thousand feet from the county road and it washes out with a heavy rain. Quite frankly, after the house is built, that washed out portion is a FEATURE as it keeps the unwanted away from our place which lies another mile+ down the road.

--Bill