Will the CK27 be "enough" tractor

[Gittyup]

Great price! Worth the 4 hour drive. Good luck.

 

[miramadar]

I'd go for the Bobcat too. That's a good price.

I'm late to this thread. I have a CK27 gear. I admit that the loader seems a little underpowered at times. But the tractor itself is a beast. I couldn't see spending any significant money on a different CK tractor. DK, yes...CK, no.

I have to agree with Giddyup that once you get used to using the shuttle shift, the absence of HST with loader work isn't a big deal at all. Sometimes I worry about wearing out the shuttle shifter...can that happen??

Regarding stalling/spinning, I've had mixed experiences. Most often, I will start spinning. But sometimes, when I dive into a pile, curling, lifting and tramming forward, the machine will bog and would eventually stall if I didn't hit the clutch. I don't know. I've learned this though...dirt work takes practice. I've got nearly 400 hours on my CK27 and now feel that I am fully competent. But it did take some time...like 150 hours or so.

Regarding speed, I like doing things slowly...for a couple of reasons. One, my land here in the Appalachian mountains is seldom flat. Slow is SAFE. I don't want to flip. Second, travelling at slower speeds is easier on the tractor. Last summer I spent a couple of weeks, off and on, filling in my sewer's leech bed with #4 gravel. The delivery guy wouldn't put the gravel any closer than about 70 yards away from the pit because of the terrain. So I ended up tramming the gravel (about 100 tons!) across the 70 yards and dumping into the leech bed. A bucket of gravel is pretty heavy. I had my tractor in 2nd gear, low. It was slow, but with that kind of weight on the front end, I didn't want to go any faster fearing that it would put unnecessary wear on the front end/loader. I could have travelled in 4th gear, but I probably would have broken something.

I have a 6' box blade too. My CK27 has never bogged down with the teeth down unless I hit a huge rock or root. I agree with other posters that the CK27 gear is the best bang for the buck in the CK lineup. I've been very pleased with my machine and would buy it again in a heartbeat.

Good post all!

 

[Gittyup]

I ferried over 1000 tons of dirt and 140 tons of gravel. I used 1st low to dig into the pile, then 1st high to transport. Worked great only having to change ranges at points where I had to stop anyway. Not hard on the clutch either; in low digging into the pile was a breeze. Got my range lever broken in pretty good too.

 

[Fastpitch]

I just wanted to say thank you for all of your advice on purchasing a tractor. I did buy the Bobcat CT230. It only had 2 hours on the tractor and I could not tell the difference between it and a 2012 model. I am having dual remotes installed and they are supposed to deliver it to me next week. The only thing that it did not have is the quick attach bucket, but for what I paid for the tractor I can add the quick attach and I still would be spending $2,000 less. I know this is the Kioti forum but I will post some pictures after it is delivered. Again thank you for your input.

The bad thing about reading post on this site is that when I first started thinking about buying this tractor, all the attachments I thought I wanted was a tiller, mower and a box blade. Now I want a tiller, box blade, top n tilt kit, grapple, bucket hooks, a garden package, and a flail mower. The good thing about reading post on this site is that I have learned about these attachments, read reviews by people who have purchased and actually used them and I know where to purchase them and hopefully stay within my budget.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I just wanted to say thank you for all of your advice on purchasing a tractor. I did buy the Bobcat CT230. It only had 2 hours on the tractor and I could not tell the difference between it and a 2012 model. I am having dual remotes installed and they are supposed to deliver it to me next week. The only thing that it did not have is the quick attach bucket, but for what I paid for the tractor I can add the quick attach and I still would be spending $2,000 less. I know this is the Kioti forum but I will post some pictures after it is delivered. Again thank you for your input.

The bad thing about reading post on this site is that when I first started thinking about buying this tractor, all the attachments I thought I wanted was a tiller, mower and a box blade. Now I want a tiller, box blade, top n tilt kit, grapple, bucket hooks, a garden package, and a flail mower. The good thing about reading post on this site is that I have learned about these attachments, read reviews by people who have purchased and actually used them and I know where to purchase them and hopefully stay within my budget.

Sounds like you caught tractoritis. :shocked: Irreversible 99 out of 100 recorded cases. :cool2: Once you adapt, you will most likely move on to stage 2 or even stage 3. Just as a side note, stage 2 & 3 are irreversible. :thumbsup:

Oh yeah, your "TnT" kit will run you $530 + shipping and worth every cent.

 

[miramadar]

A tractor is just a slow mode of transportation without attachments! The longer I own mine, the more attachments I want. Currently I have a BB and a couple of plows, and a set of bucket forks. I have borrowed a neighbors bush hog and think that will be the next attachment I purchase. I'd love to have a grapple, but that's a bit more $$ since I'd have to change the plumbing a bit.

 

[IslandTractor]

A tractor is just a slow mode of transportation without attachments! The longer I own mine, the more attachments I want. Currently I have a BB and a couple of plows, and a set of bucket forks. I have borrowed a neighbors bush hog and think that will be the next attachment I purchase. I'd love to have a grapple, but that's a bit more $$ since I'd have to change the plumbing a bit.

Cheapest grapple solution is to add at least one set if remotes. Easy to control a grapple with rear remotes.

Wildkat economy 48" grapple is the current best bang for the buck. If you install the rear remote yourself, you could be fully operational with the Wildkat for a total of just about $1000 if you already have quick attach. Fantastic implement if you clear brush. if you don't have QA you can convert your bucket to a bucket grapple which is still great.

 

[ddb123]

Well I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread. I have been considering a smaller and lower HP tractor for some time now, and brought up similar questions in a different thread. I think a smaller tractor would actually be MORE useful in many cases, and the loss in HP would make little or no usable difference (for my purposes). It was really interesting reading through all of the different points of view on this topic.

Great thread, thanks to all who contributed. Here is the other thread where I posed my original question, if anyone is interested: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/237787-has-anoyne-ever-traded-down.html

 

[tman1020]

just finshed reading this interesting thread but noticed that no one mentioned that the hst ck 27,30 and 35 all use the same relief pressure on the hydro drive. so the only advantage to more hp should be at the pto for the hydro models. plus acording to spec sheet hp difference between ck 27 and 30 is less than 2 hp. i don't think that that would even be much of a noticeable difference. that being said anyone use a 6 foot finish mower on a ck 27 hydro?

 

[IslandTractor]

just finshed reading this interesting thread but noticed that no one mentioned that the hst ck 27,30 and 35 all use the same relief pressure on the hydro drive. so the only advantage to more hp should be at the pto for the hydro models. plus acording to spec sheet hp difference between ck 27 and 30 is less than 2 hp. i don't think that that would even be much of a noticeable difference. that being said anyone use a 6 foot finish mower on a ck 27 hydro?

I used a 5ft finish mower on a CK20 and it did just fine. Unless you are trying to cut foot high lush grass quickly, I don't see why a CK27 wouldn't handle a 6ft finish mower.