Well, I'm a tractor owner now baby!

[Pete Judd]

For ballast in the tires, there is also "beet juice" Rim Guard - Liquid Tire Ballast On my tractor, with smaller rears, was just over a hundred bucks installed at the local tire dealer that I could drive the tractor to.

 

[Car Doc]

Glad to hear you bought that one! We will want all the details of all the projects and pics thanks for the vid always good to actually see and hear whats going on! :thumbsup:

Guys in making the 8n comparison I may well be mistaken but 8n did not have a diff lock yes/no?

I know for a fact it didn't have 15 speeds forward and 5 reverse or powershift that will make a giant killer out of a 2900lb machine in the field. Granted traction is king but lots of gears and a diff lock are hard to beat also jmho.

edit: diff lock the Yanmar has doubles the traction on 2wd and low gears makes that work better was my point. :thumbsup:

 

[clemsonfor]

I think some of the N's may have had a diff lock, not sure about all the 8Ns? I know some older masseys even in the early 60s had no diff lock. And i think the 8n had what 3-4 foward speeds?

For contrast i used winshield washer fluid. Its good to -20F just shy of the weight of water, and it cost me around $1.25/gallon. I bought 30 gallons from Advance auto for a bit over $40 i think. I did put around 2 gallons of water in each tire that will lower that temp a bit but hey i do live in SC! I do my purchases at advance and use online coupons and seperate purchases out as much as possible to that i can use the coupon codes i have that give you 40% off (the way i was able to get $2/gallon WWF for closer to $1gallon). These are codes that are not well published but valid still after i been using them for close to 2 years i think.

Any one interested PM me (dont want them on here) i will get them to you. Especially you CD if you have one nearby. I have 20% off everything, $20 off $50, and $30 off $75, annd a few others inbetween. But those last 2 if you can get your purchase to just @ 50 or $75 it makes it 40% off. I will break orders up if possible to maximize profits! They DONT work on oil, but DO work on batteries!

 

[284 International]

The 8Ns I've seen didn't have a differential lock.

Comparing the Nebraska tractor tests, the 8N weighed 2717 lbs unballasted, with 1582 lbs of it on the rear tires. A Yanmar 336D is 3405 lbs unballasted, with 2050 lbs on the rear tires. Both machines make comparable power, the 8N peaking at 21.95 drawbar horsepower, and the 336D at 22.46 hp in 2 wheel drive.

I think that is about as equivalent as one could ask among machines that are of different design, manufacturer, and generations. I'd look for implements sized to fit the 8N, the Ferguson TE-20 and other similar machines. A 5 foot disk or box blade and 2 bottom 12 or 14" plow (or the disk plow equivalent) should work very well for you, and you should be able to pull them at any reasonable speed with the implement ballasted, if need be, to get proper results.

A 5 foot rotary cutter should be easily handled, and you should be able to power through virtually anything. Other implements should be fine at wider sizes, depending on what you're doing. With the Yanmar machines you have the advantage of using a tiller easily and well.

One thing I have noticed in going through the Nebraska test library is that all of the tests involve tractors ballasted with amounts of weight that are generally unreasonable to achieve for the average person: The YM240 test had 430 lbs of cast iron weight on EACH rear tire, plus liquid ballast.

Car Doc has some harmonic dampers from some massive engines (I don't recall what offhand) that I think weigh something like 350 lbs apiece. They are massive (and awesome!) but still hang out a good distance from the outside edge of the tire. There is no way 430 lb weights on the smaller YM240 would fit cleanly, and weights like that are very hard to find, and handle. The 8N was tested with 450 lbs of iron weight per tire, plus another 217 lbs of liquid ballast in each.

The Yanmar's weights were far in excess of what the operator manual allows, and in contradiction to its requirement that only liquid or iron ballast be used, not both.

 

[clemsonfor]

WOW 284, thats close to an additional 1000lbs on the rear of the 2000!! I bet you could not even use the high gear without about half throttle on take off! Thats REAL weight! I was worried about clutch wear for the additional 300lbs of tire ballast, then again i plan on keeping my tractor where those tests were for say an hour one time! I beleive that on the 8n you could ballast 400lbs per tire easy but i dowbt folks used fluid and weights.

 

[California]

Heaviest ballast I've seen on a small tractor: My neighbor has a MF 135 with cast iron fenders 2.5 inches thick! (flat elbow-high slabs, not a 3 dimensional curve that extends over the tires). This is in addition to cast wheel weights filling the inner side of each wheel. He uses it to set 4 ft cube apple harvest bins up on his truck. I think each bin weighs 3/4 ton and he lifts two of them at a time, stacked.

 

[Car Doc]

Thanks 284!

I remember my old Massey Harris 22k row crop would not pull a 14" fordson 2 bottom plow very well it was rated @ 21 drawbar hp in the Nebraska test also if I remember right?

In my real world experience with it though it flat stalled that tractor in new dirt I might add. I believe it would have done a decent job in new or already worked dirt had it had a low low gear and diff lock fact just a low low gear would have been a huge help fwtw.

It had a 38hp (or thereabouts) continental flat head gas engine but way too high of a 1st gear. It would scare ya at road gear speeds but that was a lesser requirement as far as I was and am still concerned. I do wish the Yanmar had a little higher high gear for that purpose but thats what trailers work good for. :laughing:

My little diesel Yanmar will pull that same plow as deep as I want in the same new dirt and never even really break a sweat it is a load but no where near as bad as the poor old Massey endured or even the 8n's it came with originally.

The 5' rough cut mower worked very well on both tractors. I didn't have a tractor tiller then but can say with certainty it would not have worked well simply again 1st gear was waaay to fast. The Yanmar will pull a 5' tiller very well they were designed for just that after all. My 5' back blade works equally well on both.

I know I ramble but I hope I am helping with attachments decisions I guess what we all agree with is 5-6' attachments will work great with this tractor. :thumbsup:

edit: The Nebraska tests are imho worthless as far as determining real world tractor performance a pulling sled will do the same thing-tell you nothing about the garden or field. ymmv as always

 

[284 International]

WOW 284, thats close to an additional 1000lbs on the rear of the 2000!! I bet you could not even use the high gear without about half throttle on take off! Thats REAL weight! I was worried about clutch wear for the additional 300lbs of tire ballast, then again i plan on keeping my tractor where those tests were for say an hour one time! I beleive that on the 8n you could ballast 400lbs per tire easy but i dowbt folks used fluid and weights.

It's 1132lbs of ballast on the rear tires for the Yanmar, or TRIPLE what Yanmar recommended as the limit for tire ballast. I'm sure it pulls really well, but that doesn't seem realistic for most use. My garden would get really packed down with that much extra mass on the tractor! My 180 lb wheel weights and filled tires on my YM2000 completely changed its performance. I think the manufacturers added excessive ballast to boost their test numbers beyond what was reasonably achievable for the average owner. The fact that Yanmar explicitly prohibits setting up the YM240 as they had it tested supports that hypothesis, I think.

 

[California]

I have oversize rear tires on the YM240. A full ballast fill is 250 lbs of water per side. (I don't have cast weights for it).

After I installed the ROPS (70 lbs) I wasn't quite so anxious about rollover on my slopes. I lightened the tractor by removing half that water. Now I could go uphill in one higher gear. This better speed made the tractor more productive - it had been a nuisance to crawl up grades in a lower gear pulling the excess weight.

This isn't the steepest part but it shows typical terrain in the orchard. There are no level areas.

 

[kenmac]

Congrads on your new to you tractor. In my manual a 336D tractor should weigh 3091 lbs. It also list the 336 as weighting in at 2854 lbs. When I added a loader , grapple and water to my rear tires. It put me over my trailer axle weight. I just bought 2 new axles to up grade my trailer so, I can haul my xtra weight. If you are going to buy a rough cut mower. Buy at least a med duty 1. IMO, a light duty cutter won't last cutting down trees.. I have pulled a 6 footer but, I can cut faster (When the grass is real high) with the 5 footer. The plow will depend on your soil. I have had to use 4 wd when pulling a large plow or disc