What size PT

[toolz_not_toyz]

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How wide of a cut do you get with two mowers at once? Not that I'm ever gonna do it, but I'd just like to see it. )</font>

Ya missed it! He wrote 10'+. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I would imagine that anyone that really wants a PT AND still wants the mower in back could always tow one of those gang reel mower setup that Northern Tool sells or how about a powered finishing mower like they sell for pulling behind ATVs?

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks. I missed the 10' mark.

Hans tows a couple of Acreaze mowers behind his PT425. They are self powered. Was wondering if Charlie uses the same thing.

 

[IrTxRx]

Hey guys,

I am bringing this to the top again. After 2 years of thought i've pretty much determined that I need (and can only afford) the 1430. I also realized, that my 2 year old question was not really answered. I also know that the board has many more PT users now than 2 years ago. So... I'll ask your expert advise again (getting closer and closer to purchase)


Dear PT forum:


I am planning on buying a tractor in the next 6-18 months (generally I buy everything from the first salesperson I meet) and am trying to take my time since this purchase should last the next 30 years. Several TBN members and a couple of dealers have suggested that I need a 35-40HP CUT to do what I want to do on my property (approx 35 acres - rough cut 10 acres sloping down to creek, lots of brush clearing, 1500' road to maintain, narrow pond at bottom of creek to clean out during dry seasons, 3 acres finish mow, many shallow trenches to dig (minihoe) and PTO mounted chipper would be very nice). Question - What size PT do I need???

Thanks again

 

[BobRip]

I have the 422, so I speak in some ignorance, but I think the 1430 is a good choice for your property and task. Good luck and keep the oil cooler clean.

Bob Rip

 

[MossRoad]

Hey guys,

I am bringing this to the top again. After 2 years of thought i've pretty much determined that I need (and can only afford) the 1430. I also realized, that my 2 year old question was not really answered. I also know that the board has many more PT users now than 2 years ago. So... I'll ask your expert advise again (getting closer and closer to purchase)


Dear PT forum:


I am planning on buying a tractor in the next 6-18 months (generally I buy everything from the first salesperson I meet) and am trying to take my time since this purchase should last the next 30 years. Several TBN members and a couple of dealers have suggested that I need a 35-40HP CUT to do what I want to do on my property (approx 35 acres - rough cut 10 acres sloping down to creek, lots of brush clearing, 1500' road to maintain, narrow pond at bottom of creek to clean out during dry seasons, 3 acres finish mow, many shallow trenches to dig (minihoe) and PTO mounted chipper would be very nice). Question - What size PT do I need???

Thanks again

Depends on what chores you have to do and how much time you have to do the chores, I suppose. I have a PT425 that I use to maintain our 1 acre yard(lawn mowing, snow removal and light landscaping) and our 20 acres outside of town. But all I do out there is brush hog the 1.5 miles of trails and haul trees out of the woods as I gradually clear a home site. Our soils are all light and sandy, so no problems just digging in anywhere.

Let's look at your chores a little more closely...

10 acres is a large area to cut.
How often do you want to cut it?
How much time do you want to spend cutting it?
Do some quick math...
There's 43,560 square feet in an acre.
Divide that by a 5' mower means you will need to move forward 8712 feet.
Dived that by 5280' in a mile means you will travel about 1.65 miles to mow that one acre. If you go about 5MPH you can mow about 3 acres per hour with a 5' deck. If you add a tow behind wing mower that is also 5', it cuts your mowing time almost in half. I say almost because of overlap and turning will take a bit more time. Some of the folks here can give you a more realistic number for mowing with the larger machine and a wing mower, as they have that setup.

Brush clearing...
Your version of brush is probably much different than my version of brush. From what I hear about Texas... everything is bigger. I have lots of brambles and roses and tall weeds. Our 4' brush hog can eat anything under 1" with easy, and under 2" with careful effort. If you have anything larger than 2" you may wish to get a machine that can handle a tree shear and can reach a bit higher and carry a bit more weight. Also, a grapple bucket would be great for moving large amounts of brush to a central pile. I have a crummy, home made grapple that still moves 4 times the amount of brush in the time it would with just using the chain and drag method. A good grapple like the one PT sells will probably move 10 times the brush or more. I don't know why I didn't get one when I purchased originally. I didn't have enough foresight and thought it would be easy to build my own.

Road maintenance...
You would probably want a box blade. Again, the larger the machine, the easier it will handle this taks. The road that I put in is 6" of gravel topped by 6" of slag from the steel mills. It requires no maintenance, except for snow plowing, so I can get by with the light material bucket for putting back any slag spoils left over from snow plowing at the end of the year.

Cleaning out a dry pond...
The PT design is pretty good in mud, despite the low ground clearance. They seem to float over the stuff. A large bucket should do well. If the soil gets hard when dry, you may want to consider a ripper, or potato digger, to loosen up stuff fast and then clean out the loose stuff with a large bucket. I have used a home made ripper to break up hard soil at our school, then remove it with the light material bucket, so I know this works well.

Finish mowing...
Well, our PT425 does a great job at this. How long to you want to spend mowing? See above about mower speed. I do not know how the larger machine mow finished lawns, so I can't comment on them.

Mini hoe...
Wish I had one.

Chipper...
Why? Just kidding... but from operating a small chipper when I was a kid, it took a long time to chip stuff up. A large brush pile would take all day to chip. I'm a big fan of just leaving it there to rot for the animals to live in. However, if you want wood chips and stuff for mulch, there are a few companies that make chippers that could be (or already are) powered by a hydraulic motor. That may take some fabrication on your part.

So, if I was in your situation, here's my attachment list...

Large light material bucket.
Mini hoe.
Box blade.
Grapple bucket(it doubles as a smaller, toothed bucket).
Forks(amazing how handy these things are).
Finish mower.
Brush hog.

Extra stuff if you can afford it:
Potato digger.
Tow behind rough cut wing mower.
Tree shear.
Chipper converted for hydraulic operation.
Maybe some type of tow cart for hauling tools like chainsaws and stuff to the other side of your place. I use the large bucket for this, but sometimes a cart is nice.

Hope this helps with your thought process.


EDIT: I repaired my calculations!!! (somehow I multplied 43,560(the actual square footage in an acre) by 3 somewhere and came up with that large number. YIKES! No wonder it takes me less time to mow my lawn than my figures showed. I should have know, as it takes me about 20 minutes to mow my lawn, which is about an acre... what a bonehead!

 

[Piedmont3]

MR.
Just one Question about your calculations...
I think there are only 43,560 Square Feet in an acre.

 

[IrTxRx]

Dang it piedmont... I was beggining to think I had more land than I did

Moss -- A little more info. The 10 acres would only need to be mown twice a year, but needs a fair amount of brush removal (shruuby trees w/ 5-8 trucks the size of your leg...to be cut or sheared...PT would be mainly for assembling burn pile and possible removing stumps) and I would like to scallop the pasture for water retention. Have a 4 acre pasture that need to be mowed 4-6 times a year depending on rainfall. Lawn is now down to 1/2 acre and would like to do some landscaping to reduce lawn size and water requirements. I appreciate your thoughts and concur on the primary attachments needed...BUT ... what size PT???
Thanks again

BopRip- Thanks.. I suspect your ignorance is much more well informed than mine is


PS - where are the emoticons now?

 

[MossRoad]

MR.
Just one Question about your calculations...
I think there are only 43,560 Square Feet in an acre.

I'm a bonehead... I edited my figures in the post above.

 

[MossRoad]

Dang it piedmont... I was beggining to think I had more land than I did

Moss -- A little more info. The 10 acres would only need to be mown twice a year, but needs a fair amount of brush removal (shruuby trees w/ 5-8 trucks the size of your leg...to be cut or sheared...PT would be mainly for assembling burn pile and possible removing stumps) and I would like to scallop the pasture for water retention. Have a 4 acre pasture that need to be mowed 4-6 times a year depending on rainfall. Lawn is now down to 1/2 acre and would like to do some landscaping to reduce lawn size and water requirements. I appreciate your thoughts and concur on the primary attachments needed...BUT ... what size PT???
Thanks again

BopRip- Thanks.. I suspect your ignorance is much more well informed than mine is


PS - where are the emoticons now?

Now that I've corrected my math....

If the tree trunks are that big AND you want to re-shape large portions of your land, I'd seriously look at a dozer( whether purchased, rented or hired), and get it done with in one shot. Then sell, return or pay the dozer operator. Then you could get by for the rest of your happy days with a CUT sized tractor for maintaining the property.

If you want a hobby, like to do things yourself, and don't mind that it will take you a few years, many hours and lots of work, then I'd go with a CUT from the start, but with the realization that it will take you a long time to get things the way you want. From what you describe, I'd eliminate the PT400 series from your check list. I'd start looking at the larger units, and maybe even consider one that is too big to do the finish lawn work, opting for a nice riding mower or ZTR for that task.

You may even consider a very large used AG tractor with FEL and toothbar to do the dirty work and get it in shape to maintain it with a CUT.

It really sounds like a lot of work you need to do.

 

[lowellw2]

Living just southwest of Austin for the past 10 years I think I have a fair understanding of what you are up against as far as terrain and cedar (Ashe juniper) chopping and rock moving and collecting. I think Moss Road makes some very valid points. A lot of the decision on the size of the PT is dependent on how long you are willing to devote to the projects. This is also the case on any CUT you buy.

When I bought the 20 acres I live on, the cedar had already been cleared from amongst the oak trees. The previous owner started out hiring local labor to do it by chainsaw and dragging the cutting into burn piles by hand. When that got to be more expense than he anticipated he brought in a tractor w/ grapple and when that also proved time consuming he had a dozer do the work. The problem from using a dozer is that more "good" trees get lost inadvertantly and the ground gets torn up more and more rocks get pushed into the burn piles which is a later problem to be dealt with. Also, pushing the cedar into piles reduces the precious grasses we have here that hold the shallow topsoil. Less grass equals more loose topsoil and as a result more rocks seem to be able to work their way to the surface.

An option is to hire someone with a hydro-ax in our area. Those things just chew up the cedar and you have no burning to do. I think the bigger ones obliterate up to 12" trunks. If I had to clear my land now I'd go that route. I say this because I think that if you spend time with the "clearing" you will gain that time back later on.

That said, I think a 425 (which you already have) could do a lot of your tasks but could not scallop the pasture or handle the cedar clearing. A 1430 could do the same things faster. A CUT, like a Kubota BX24, would do a lot of the same things the 425 would and with enough time could possibly do the bigger dirt moving jobs. A bigger CUT like a Kubota B3030 could handle most of your jobs and you could even have a cab with air conditioning (something to consider when its 100+). As always, the money is the biggest factor.

I have an old Kubota B7100 w/FEL that can move dirt, spread roadbase and move big rocks if you are not in a hurry. With a boxblade, rockrake and a shredder its very versitile, but not anywhere as convienient as a PT. It may be more durable though. Moss Road also mentioned a ZTR mower. I just got one and can endorse them for the mowing tasks. Once the big rocks are cleared you just set the cut at 4- 1/2 to 5" (to avoid the little rocks) and hang on. 8-9 mph is not out of the question for the smooth areas and the manuverability around my trees is fantastic.

What size PT???? Now that I have a ZTR, I would opt for a 425 and a ZTR for the mowing unless the slopes are too steep. Without a ZTR, I would opt for a 1430 to better handle the larger mowing jobs and road work. In both cases I would opt for hiring cedar clearing with a hydro-ax. In either case you could eventually move enough dirt to make a pond, otherwise a good dozer operator with a blade can contour the land and separate the rocks unless you hit that blue limestone. Then its a backhoe with a rock ram or just bring in soil to make a spillway in a natural drainage area.