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Super Member
You don't need to tell me about tractor weight getting things done, my 3215 weighs in at 5000+lbs, my 7520 weighs in at over 12,000lbs. I have these tractors ballasted to get the absolute maximum performance possible out of them for my working conditions. But I don't have those tractors with the smaller HP engines that were available in each of their frame sizes either. I wanted a certain size tractor, I got that tractor with the most HP available at the time and I then ballasted to be able to get the maximum performance out of each machine that was possible.
So, do you feel that 12hp tractor made full use of that 4000lbs? If the tractor would have had 40hp, how much more work could it have done in an 8 hour day? I'm not saying that this stuff can't be done with a smaller HP unit like what you use to have, and if you have all the time in the world then I guess that is fine. But there is a reason for the larger HP tractors and one of the reasons that it is so often recommended even here on TBN, get the most HP in the frame size that you are getting.
My personal opinion is that the OP has too small of a tractor for what he needs to do and get it done in what I consider a reasonable amount of time. I hope that I am wrong for his sake. What he got is all that he could afford and that's fine. At least he got something that should not run out of power for him.
Everyone operates differently, some just poke along and get stuff done at a slow even rate. Other people need to get things done at a faster rate for various reasons, so they need something with a little more power than the guy that can take his time.
Just my :2cents:
This raises a good point Mtn. Speed of work with a tractor is like speed of work with a larger welder. The 4000 lb 12 hp tractors were faster than a horse so for comparison sake, that's all people had to compare back then. This is the op's first tractor. He's going to be tickled pink because basically…he never had one so there is nothing to compare to. Whether you or anyone else thinks he's plodding along but he thinks "this is the cat's meow" becomes only pertinent to the op's experience. I hope he simply has a **** of a time on his new tractor.