Tractor Sizing TRACTOR WEIGHT as ONE (1) CRITERION in TRACTOR SELECTION

[bridge4]

Subcompact and compact tractors under 3,000 pounds bare weight operate in landscape, kitchen/commercial garden or hobby farm applications on one to ten flat acres.


Ten acres?? Of course you are not considering the numerous twenty five or so HP and under three thousand pound tractors that were used to farm 1/4 or 1/2 sections of land are you?

Some guys are trying to make things drag out because they got a yapper in the house that won't give them any peace and quiet, Jeff is trying to help them out :laughing:

 

[jeff9366]

Tractors are inherently unstable operating on sloped ground. Tractor rear wheel/tire spread, sometimes adjustable, is a critical factor increasing compact tractor stability working sloped or uneven ground. Rear axle is the tractor component on which rear wheels/tires mount. A 6" to 10" wider rear axle substantially decreases tractor rollover potential. Tractor width is an approximation of rear axle width.

Larger wheels and tires provide more tractive power pulling ground contact implements and logs, pushing a loader bucket into dirt and pushing snow. Larger wheels and tires permit heavier tractors to bridge holes, ruts and tree debris yielding higher operating speed with less implement and operator perturbation.

When considering a tractor purchase bare tractor weight first, tractor horsepower second, rear axle width third, rear wheel/tire ballast fourth.

 

[tradosaurus]

Where have I heard that before. :laughing:

 

[RugerSAfan]

Why is tractor weight different than tire ballast or wheel weights?

 

[jeff9366]

Why is tractor weight different than tire ballast or wheel weights?

Good question.

Tractor weight is a specification easily found in tractor catalogs and tractor web sites. From bare tractor weight customers option/customize tractor for customer's particular conditions and applications.

Tire ballast, wheel weights and cast iron wheel centers are options ordered by some, not others. Materials used and tire fill proportion vary combined options weight. Tire ballast (water, water-alcohol, beet juice, solid "foam"; 50%/75%/100% ~ foam) wheel weights (iron or concrete) and cast iron wheel centers contribute to Operating Weight. Note: I show bare and operating weight in my T-B-N TRACTOR PROFILE. My L3560 R4/industrial tires contain only air.

Bare tractor weight is a tractor spec with only slight measure variations between tractor brands. Kubota measures bare tractor weight "dry", without motor oil, without hydraulic fluid, without diesel fuel and without radiator coolant. Kubota probably uses dry weight as a legacy because all its early tractors were exported from Japan assembled, therefore shipped across the Pacific dry. I believe Kubota's assembled tractors exports to the USA/Georgia still ship dry. My L3560 arrived dry in 2013. Other tractor brands measure bare tractor weight as "wet" weight.

 

[MossRoad]

...Larger wheels and tires yield more tractive power pulling ground contact implements and logs, pushing a loader bucket into dirt and pushing snow. Larger wheels and tires permit heavier tractors to bridge holes, ruts and tree debris with less operator perturbation.
...

Since this is directed at tractor noobs, that would suggest they put bigger tires on a tractor. That would yield LESS tractive power while increasing top end speed. Smaller tires would put more power to the ground, while cutting top end speed. So you might want to clarify that.

 

[MossRoad]

You are absolutely correct, as usual.

However, larger wheels are factory standard only on heavier, more powerful tractors in my experience. And small wheels drop into holes, disrupting traction, that larger wheels bridge, maintaining traction. Can you provide an example of factory tires so large that tires limit the tractor?

This is not really germane, but in Europe I see large tractors traveling perhaps 40-mph over the highway, with large, equal size wheels/tires front and rear.

That's because they have the gearing that allows those speeds.

Someone that's new to tractors and doesn't understand that you mean bigger machines with bigger tires and thinks you mean put bigger tires on a small machine will be sorry it they go that route. You have to change the gearing if you want to put bigger tires on a smaller machine. You can't easily change gearing on a modern compact tractor.

An example of wanting bigger tires on a smaller machine reminds me of a Power Trac owner that wanted larger diameter tires on his smaller Power Trac machine for floatation on beach sand. But he knew that would seriously reduce his low-end power and raise his top end speed. So he had larger displacement wheel motors installed on all four corners to reduce the speed of the rotation and provide more torque at low end, then put on the larger diameter tires which raised the speed back to stock speed.

There's no way to do something like that on a modern compact tractor. Older tractors could get a gearbox installed, something like the sherman's on the 8N's. But there's nothing offered like that for modern compacts that I know of.

The only way you're gonna run larger diameter tires than stock on a compact tractor is to buy a larger tractor. Otherwise, you'll lose low-end pulling power.

 

[MossRoad]

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[jeff9366]

CREDIT: 'FELIXEDO'

It has been touched on a couple of times, but not directly as a buying factor. Every major make has a machine that will do the job(s) you want. Check out your nearby dealers. Go with a dealer you have confidence in. A great machine with no support nearby is a hassle to repair and maintain. And a good machine can't make a lousy dealer into a good one.

 

[MossyDell]

My experience has inclined me to buy the smallest possible tractor and weight it up as much as possible. Part of that experience goes back 18 years, when on our property in southern Indiana we had a pond dug. Had a great old excavator named Walt Taylor dig it, mostly with his little dozer. He noticed I had a Kubota and to my surprise was a real fan, had at least one he used at home and told me it was his brother who advertised in the paper that he tilled gardens with a "Kubota tractor and tiller."

Well, that pond ended up with a seam in the bottom and we bought a clay sealer that needed to be tilled in, so we hired Walt's brother. He arrived towing his outfit, big HD pickup and trailer and a little B series that was about 24 hp. I had a 2wd B series 21 hp at the time and was impressed because his was about the same size, though 4wd. Well, he tilled the heck out of that pond bottom and it stopped the leak.

When he came back to be paid he was towing his rig again but had a big bushhog on the tractor, said he was on his way to cut for someone. Now, I believe it was a six-footer--at least a foot over whatever the tractor was rated for---and I commented on it. He said the dealer told him it was too big but the tractor would handle it. He said he worked his tractor hard and used straight 50 weight oil. He also had cut the roll bar off because it hit limbs when bushhogging, which I thought was insane and still do. He had made a little shelf out of the rollbar at the height of the seat back.

I wondered why he didn't get a larger tractor. He said he didn't want to have to have brakes on his trailer and a bigger tractor would obligate him legally to do so because he'd go over whatever the cutoff was. I later got a 16 foot trailer with electric brakes and it was no big deal. I wonder if an old coot like that didn't consider electric brakes BRAKES and was talking about REAL surge brakes?

Anyway, I think of those brothers sometimes. Nice guys, good equipment operators, Bota fans, original characters. They gave me a lot of faith in small tractors to do big work, with care. Of course folks overload and can and do damage CUTs, but at least one old feller and his little bota made a big dent in Hoosier weeds and dirt for a while.

Because of my experiences, the constant refrain on these forums to get the biggest possible machine makes me shake my head. Small is beautiful. In know a guy who got a 30 hp+ Kubota for his few acres, a machine fit for 40 acres in the old days. It is beautifully equipped and just sits in his garage. It is too big to maneuver with a mower in his spaces. He uses it in winter for snow removal, and it's wonderful for that. I'd rather have a tractor that was optimum all year and fair at snow removal.