What compact tractor is safest on hilly terain?

[JerryG]

For stability you really need adjustable wheels. Most manufactures only offer them for the R1 Ag tires. The only company that I am aware of that offers R-4s on adjustable wheels is MF. They still don't offer as much off set as the R1 rims do.

 

[Freds]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( That is the level of confidence that a correctly designed machine can instill. )</font>
Is that a good thing or a bad thing when operating machinery?
/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[MossRoad]

<font color="blue"> My brother, who we forbid from using power tools, </font>

We have one in every family, I suspect. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Bob_Skurka]

<font color="green">
For stability you really need adjustable wheels. </font>

Jerry. . . I agree that adjustable wheels are a big asset, but no matter how you add up their benefits, no level of adjustment currently available on a standard tractor comes close to equalling an oscillating frame for stability simply becuase all 4 wheels stay on the ground even when one of the wheels is on top of a modest size rock. That same rock would lift one side of a traditional rigid frame tractor completely off the ground.

<font color="red">
( That is the level of confidence that a correctly designed machine can instill. )
Is that a good thing or a bad thing when operating machinery?
</font>

Freds . . . I tend to think that you use the right tool for the right job. Would you want to "frame" a house with a 20-oz framing hammer or would you rather do it using the heel of your wife's shoe? We operate fork trucks down narrow aisles here at work, personally when I'm on a unit, I want to know it can get down the aisle and make the turns inside the aisle and lift pallet into the slot it needs to get into. Sometimes you really want the right tool for the job and sometimes you can get by with "close enough" but on hills, I want the right tool.


<font color="blue">
My brother, who we forbid from using power tools,

We have one in every family, I suspect. </font>

Moss. . . we do let him use duct tape for any repairs around HIS house.

 

[Henro]

<font color="blue"> Is there any general rule as to a minimum number of degrees of slope you should be able to traverse. </font> <font color="red"> safely? (implied in overall question) </font>

I don't think anyone can give a 100% guaranteed rule of thumb. I get the impression that "less than 15 degrees" might be a reasonable rule, but don't bet your life on it.

I want to think that on a perfectly flat surface, with enough friction to prevent a side slip, in an ideal world, that many standard tractors might traverse a 30 degree slope. I'm certainly never going to cross anything like that myself, since most of the time I live in the real world.

I know that some Unimog owners put their vehicles on tilt tables and in static tests like that they go well beyond 30 degrees before reaching the tipping point. Static tests like that are difficult to equate to the dynamics of real life though, so I am not sure they do more than indicate the best case, worst case point when it comes to operating on slopes.

Bottom line is that you can tip a tractor over on a flat surface in the worst case, so in the end the true answer almost has to be that there is no safe slope. Even lack of a slope is, or can be, dangerous. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[rockyridgefarm]

Yup, I have travelled the same spots many times without any trouble. But, soil conditions change, and in less than an instant, you have one wheel going up and the diagonal one just happens to find a new sinkhole.

 

[BarryinMN]

I have a small crawler that is far more stable pushing or dragging on slopes than any wheeled tractor.

Another thing to look at is the engine design operating limits. You don't want to starve the oil pump while operating on slopes for any length of time. Machines designed for slopes have this small but important point addressed.

 

[Von]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">(
I know that some Unimog owners put their vehicles on tilt tables and in static tests like that they go well beyond 30 degrees before reaching the tipping point.

)</font>

The sales book I got with my Unimog stated side slopes of 38 degrees and straight up and down of 45 degrees. Not too shabby!

 

[keithym]

Jerry:
Do they also offer this on the mid size 1431?
tnx
Keith

 

[keithym]

I appreciate everyones input! Interesting, the B7500 is clearly a much smaller tractor than the three new ones Im looking at, but it has a wider track than any off them! It is also the lowest in higth and has a relatively long wheelbase. Why are all these CUTs so tall and narrow? Do the designers think everyone lives on smooth flat surfaces?

It looks like the new Kubota B3030 with wheel spacers is my best bet for stability. I would have preferred to get a "real" tractor where the cast iron drivetrain was the frame, and not a ladder!

OK, OK,...Don't flame me..."real" should have been "traditional"! Yes Kubota IS a real tractor, and my B7500 has been relatively free of problems in the 125 hours of operation it has seen.

The Massey 1431 would be a perfect fit for my needs, if the track were 6 inches wider. It's track is narrow, and unlike the TC33 with 15" wide rims, it only has 12" wide rims. Net result, it is a narrow machine.

The articulated machines won't cut my snow and dirt "plowing" requirements. The wheel/tire diameters are much too small.

Maybe I should just mount a small block Chevy in the B7500 and be done with it! Uuuhhh mounted LOW.

Keith