Who Has a Tractor?

[Bill Dufour]

In Califorina the CARB limits for a small tractor is 25HP. Above that and some of the smog rules are retroactive. I do not doubt these rules will slowly expand to other states. Some of these rules can not be meet except by replacing the engine and fuel system. Some engines have no modern replacement so the vehicle is trash. I am not sure how they know you even own a tractor since there is no license system.
Bill D

[Brent Gamble]

Lots of good advice above. I have a Massey Ferguson 1760M (60 HP) with a cab. I have 50 acres about 1/3 pasture and 2/3 somewhat wooded. I shred the wooded portion at least annually to keep down underbrush. The handiest implement I own is a grapple for the FEL. I've owned the tractor for going on 4 years and I've only had the bucket on the FEL twice. I had a smaller open station tractor previously and I shopped for 6 or 8 months before I bought this one. Some folks have strong feelings about cabs, but I'd never go back. Nice to run the shredder for several hours and not be covered in dust, etc. Biggest problem I've had with it is my glasses fogging up when I get off of it because of the A/C.

[John K Jordan]

... Some folks have strong feelings about cabs, but I'd never go back. Nice to run the shredder for several hours and not be covered in dust, etc. Biggest problem I've had with it is my glasses fogging up when I get off of it because of the A/C.

I've bought the last two machines with cabs. Since I'm elderly and feeble I do like the heat and air and staying out of the dust but I also like staying dry in a sudden rain shower and even more, protection when stirring up a yellowjacket or bald-faced hornet nest! In yellowjacket season I sometimes wear a face net, long sleeves and gloves, and keep a can of wasp spray handy. I've been stung more times than I like to remember on the open tractor.

My favorite equipment salesman told me utilities and construction companies are buying cab machines now, not necessarily for operator comfort although that can improve productivity, but for the health reasons of keeping the dust away.

I think the ideal situation, if I were rich, would be to have three tractors. One, a big honkin' powerful tractor for when you need that power, a medium-sized one for general use, and a compact tractor for tight places! My tractor is close to 40hp and I sometimes wish I had a 60 horse like yours.

JKJ

[Edward Weber]

In Califorina the CARB limits for a small tractor is 25HP. Above that and some of the smog rules are retroactive. I do not doubt these rules will slowly expand to other states. Some of these rules can not be meet except by replacing the engine and fuel system. Some engines have no modern replacement so the vehicle is trash. I am not sure how they know you even own a tractor since there is no license system.
Bill D

Tier 4 final and your good to go until they change the law

i have a 2012 tier 4 interim (which became the final) anything newer than about a 2015 and you probably don't have to worry.
They are talking about changing the rules on off road gas engines but we'll see what happens.

[Lisa Starr]

I wished I had a tractor for many years while I was on larger properties. Of course, I did have my old John Deere model MC. That's a little bulldozer built on the "M" model. It was handy to have, and I moved a lot of dirt with it, despite it being just a 2 cylinder engine. I could always get it to start, no matter how long it had sat since last running or how cold and nasty it was. I even opened our driveway with it a couple of times when it drifted shut in a snow storm and we couldn't get the plow truck thru. I still miss that little tractor as I spent many enjoyable hours on it.

[Alex Zeller]

Rule #1 when buying a tractor is figure out what size/ hp you need and then buy at least one size larger. Far too many people buy one they think is right only to sell it to get a larger one.

[Ronald Blue]

There are a lot of variables and differences within the tractor models. They will all have 3 pt hitch. They won't all have remote hydraulics for attachments. That's something that might be able to be added but not simply. Most have quick detach loaders. That may or may not be a benefit to you. I've never removed mine even though it's possible. You don't want a sub compact utility. That's just a garden tractor on steroids. Climb on and off of all the models you look at to see how easily they are to get on and off. Some have completely flat operator floors and some will have a small hump. You will want hydro and not gear drive with shuttle. Whether you get a cab or not is personal preference but it does bump the cost up a few thousand if that matters. Not knowing what you hope to do with it makes it hard to give better advice. Get a loader with quick attach mounts so you can inter change implements with the skid steer if you want. As a note skid steer mount is a industry standard. John Deere has their own proprietary system. Someone might make a adapter kit but I've never looked into it. Something to keep in mind.

[John K Jordan]

… As a note skid steer mount is a industry standard. John Deere has their own proprietary system. Someone might make a adapter kit but I've never looked into it. Something to keep in mind.

This is not clear. Do you mean JD tractors don’t use the standard skid steer mount or do you mean JD skid steers don’t use the standard skid steer mount? Or both?

My JD skid steer uses the same mount as Bobcat, my Kubota tractor, and my Kubota tracked skid steer loader.

[Tom M King]

Ronald, hydro instead of gear with power shift ( what's called shuttle shift by some, but same thing) is personal preference. I'll take a power shift any day over a hydro. But a power shift transmission is probably not even available on the little tractors.

For those that don't know, a hydrostatic transmission is sort of like an automatic transmission in a car. A power shift is a regular straight transmission, but forward to reverse can be changed with a lever to the left of the steering wheel, that you can flip back and forth with your little finger. You don't have to use the clutch with a shuttle shift/power shifter, and is great for loader work, or mowing around obstacles. With the hydro, much like a riding lawnmower, you step on different pedals for forward, and reverse.

A hydrostatic is constantly wearing itself, whereas the power shift is good for thousands of hours. You find hydros on small tractors and riding mowers, and power shifted transmissions on larger tractors.

[Tom M King]

Get a bucket with a bolt on cutting edge. For a small farm, moving dirt will probably never wear out a cutting edge, but if you're ever going to move snow off of pavement with it, the edge will wear quickly to the point that it won't cut dirt cleanly. With a bolt on edge, which is normally reversible, you can save one edge for snow clearing on pavement.

I have one I need to change now from welded on, and even with all the equipment, it's probably still going to be a days work.


Earlier, I recommended a box blade to fit your tractor, and not too big. With a landscape rake, I'm going the other way with that. I had a 7' one for my 35hp tractor, and it could handle it easily. You're not going to move a lot of heavy stuff with the rake. Now, I have an 8' category 2 one for the 70hp, and only that size so I can get in tight places.

A rotary tiller is a handy thing to have. I still have a 67" cheap Italian one that I bought for the little tractor. I've pulled it Way more than it was ever intended for, even with the tractor that is double the recommended max hp for, and never had to do anything but change worn out tines. I did a whole 2 mile Eventing cross country course with it, included a pass to de-rock it.

Once you stir up the ground down to the depth that the tiller will go, make another pass with the flap on the back tied up. It will then hit all the rocks, tossing them up in the air to land on top. We didn't want horses galloping, and jumping on ground with rocks in it. With the rocks on top, you can then go over it with a Harley Rake, and throw all the rocks over to one side.

[Jim Becker]

With the hydro, much like a riding lawnmower, you step on different pedals for forward, and reverse.

Two separate pedals are not universal for hydrostatic transmissions...some have a "rocker" type pedals for forward/reverse merely by moving your foot. That's how my little Kubota is and is likely limited to small machines that are designed to be very easy to use by homeowers. But most do have the dual pedal arrangement that you mention. Personally, I really like the hydrostatic operation. I can appreciate that for some kinds of "big tractor work", other arrangements might be better. Of course, with big farming, even the largest machines have migrated due to the need for computer control for speed/direction via GPS etc. But that's not and issue for the OP. LOL

[Tom M King]

Even those have geared transmissions though. The appeal of the hydro is that you don't have to use a clutch. There are tradeoffs that go along with that though. Using a clutch and shifting gears becomes second nature quickly.

They are putting hydros in larger tractors. The farmer I buy wheat straw from has what looks to be about a 50 hp Category 1 nice little Massey Ferguson with a cab. His family has been MF farmers for generations. Massey Ferguson has been great about trying to keep one of those tractors under him, but he's on the fourth one they've replaced, and he says it's been great for working around the pumpkins, but he's going back to a gear box model. He was pulling the square baler with the last one the day I picked up a load of wheat straw, and said it was about done too, even though it looked brand new.

[Ronald Blue]

This is not clear. Do you mean JD tractors don’t use the standard skid steer mount or do you mean JD skid steers don’t use the standard skid steer mount? Or both?

My JD skid steer uses the same mount as Bobcat, my Kubota tractor, and my Kubota tracked skid steer loader.

John Deere compact utility tractors have a different mount. They don't interchange with others. I know the JD skid steers use the industry standard mounting. Obviously they would be swimming against a well established standard if they tried to go a different direction. They don't have market dominance in the skid steer industry.

[John K Jordan]

The advice from the pros is if you are doing a lot of back and forth and maneuvering, such as in tight areas or things like digging, moving or loading piles of dirt or gravel or working with trees and logs the hydrostatic transmission will save a lot of time and effort. A friend with a standard transmission is always shifting, shifting, shifting while I just press on either the front or back of a foot lever. For a given engine RPM set with a hand lever or knob, the tractor increases speed as the foot lever is pressed further.

A disadvantage of the hydro is it will steal a little power from the engine. Another thing to get used to is if you start up a hill with a load the engine RPM and ground speed may drop, requiring backing off the control a bit to increase RPM and get back up on the power curve. No problem. I can switch into low/medium/high gears as needed. For use around my farm, the interactive maneuvering advantage of hydro far outweighs the disadvantage.

As mentioned, if I used the tractor primarily in the fields I'd go with the power shift. But another friend who does hay production (thousands of bales/year) has a hydro transmission on all of biggest tractor. Although much use is pulling a mower/balers etc, when it comes to stacking with a 10-bale grapple and loading hay on customer's trailers the hydro is highly useful for precision maneuvering. (I typically get 150 bales at a time which he can load in about 15-20 minutes with the grapple.)

My Kubota tractor hydro transmission has worked flawlessly for over about 5000 hours now. They only hydro motor I've heard of failing was when it was starved for hydraulic fluid due to a design flaw. It is important, of course, to change all fluids and filters according to schedule.

All diesel equipment I have except for my truck, have one or two hydrostatic drive motors: tractor, mowers, track hoe, skid steers, even the little diesel farm truck. The Dodge diesel truck has a stick shift, apparently hard to find these days in a new truck.

JKJ

Ronald, hydro instead of gear with power shift ( what's called shuttle shift by some, but same thing) is personal preference. I'll take a power shift any day over a hydro. But a power shift transmission is probably not even available on the little tractors.

For those that don't know, a hydrostatic transmission is sort of like an automatic transmission in a car. A power shift is a regular straight transmission, but forward to reverse can be changed with a lever to the left of the steering wheel, that you can flip back and forth with your little finger. You don't have to use the clutch with a shuttle shift/power shifter, and is great for loader work, or mowing around obstacles. With the hydro, much like a riding lawnmower, you step on different pedals for forward, and reverse.

A hydrostatic is constantly wearing itself, whereas the power shift is good for thousands of hours. You find hydros on small tractors and riding mowers, and power shifted transmissions on larger tractors.

[Ronald Blue]

Even those have geared transmissions though. The appeal of the hydro is that you don't have to use a clutch. There are tradeoffs that go along with that though. Using a clutch and shifting gears becomes second nature quickly.

They are putting hydros in larger tractors. The farmer I buy wheat straw from has what looks to be about a 50 hp Category 1 nice little Massey Ferguson with a cab. His family has been MF farmers for generations. Massey Ferguson has been great about trying to keep one of those tractors under him, but he's on the fourth one they've replaced, and he says it's been great for working around the pumpkins, but he's going back to a gear box model. He was pulling the square baler with the last one the day I picked up a load of wheat straw, and said it was about done too, even though it looked brand new.

They have put hydros in larger tractors for many years. Google an International 656 Hydro. It came out in 1967. The hydro 100 was their largest. 104 PTO horsepower. A friend of mine has the larger model 100 and he's had people try to buy it from him. Not sure what's going on with your straw guys tractors but it sounds like a design issue. I spent the last 20 years (until last October) dealing with large hydro units on equipment and they were very reliable. Changed far more mechanical components then pumps and motors. Differentials and gear transmissions driven by a drive motor. There are things that are hard on hydraulics though. For instance to high of gear creating a constant bypass (dumping over the relief) overheats a system quickly. If you have never ran a good hydro system you don't know what your missing. You modulate your speed infinitely as the task dictates and reverse almost instantly. Is it perfect of course not? They aren't the right choice in every task either. If you are going to go plow all day long then I'd prefer a gear drive power shift. Many larger tractors have CVT (IVT for JD) and that is a solution in higher horsepower tractors.