Time for a new tractor

[Al_Smith]

I've seen some big hoes hook something to the hoe and pack it off .You can get the front of a big hoe in the air with a big enough load .

[Al_Smith]

Oh I suppose I can pack out about a 3,000 pound log if I can get the weight up on the 3 point . Problem is I can't steer it .

There's some big ones ,dead ash that need to come down but I think I'll fire up the Oliver crawler for that job .Those I'll probabley roll the fronts up on a "stone boat" .I hate dragging with the front of the log digging a furrow .You have a little ditch that lasts forever plus a muddy log to deal with .

[flyboy16101]

The best option for ballist that I have scene is Beat Juice in your rear tires. Its really heavy and non-corrosive. The only problem is the price

[beenthere]

the dealer told me to add iron, not liquid to the tires, as the vibration from the water going back and forth will wear out your gears

That advice doesn't add up. IMO 

[Al_Smith]

They tell me they squirt beet juice on the roads sometimes in place of salt .

I also have never heard of ballasted tires causing problem with the drive lines . Oh you can hear it sloshing around in the tires some times until the muffler gets some age on it and burns out about half the baffles .I think they make the darned things out of old tin cans no longer than they last .

One of these days I'm going to get fed up with them and make a whole exhaust out of stainless steel and that will end those problems until the end of time or the end of Al which ever comes first .Most likely the later before the former .

[thecfarm]

Gee Al I've never heard it slosh around and that old Ford is mighty quiet with a muffler on it. I grew up around that tractor. Notice I said around and not on. If it was moving my Father was on it and I was walking beside or behind it. There are many of those old fords with calium in those rears tires. Not many rear ends went on them critters.

[Al_Smith]

You about have to run them out of oil to ruin them .They can get a little loosely goosey in second gear but that is just a shim on one of the gear shaft bearings .Problem is you have to split the tractor to get to it .It's just caused by 40-50 years of wear on a Timkin type tapered bearing .

What happens is it binds up so bad if you stall it you can't get it out of gear with out pulling the darned thing backwards to "unwind " the gear train  . That tip came right from a service manual the location of which I'm not exactly certain of at the moment but it's floating around here some place .I only had to do it once in my life time --so far .

[DaleK]

Depends how much liquid you put in them I guess. The tire guys here won't let them get below about 85% full. They don't slosh much when there isn't much empty space. If they were only 30-40% full sloshing might be an issue

[jcbrotz]

the dealer told me to add iron, not liquid to the tires, as the vibration from the water going back and forth will wear out your gears

That advice doesn't add up. IMO

It don't add up for me either except that the dealer prolly makes quite abit more on weights than he does on fluid :

[Satamax]

Guys, on my beastie



Tyres are full of liquid, or nearly, by the sound of it, may be four to six inch have air on top.  And they weight a ton (realy!)  ;D

I think it's along windscreen liquid, or something like this. I've never cracked one open thought to see if there's any rust. I've bought this last year.

[flyboy16101]

I have never heard of the the drive line problems either. I can vouch for what happens when you get the tires rotating a little to fast going down the road  ;D never thought a International 504 would hop but it will.

[r.man]

Tractors are as bad as 4 wheel ATVs in that people think they are unstoppable and untippable. The truth is they get stuck, tip over, tip backward, slide like toboggans on the right surface, go into speed wobbles and any number of other dangerous non stable maneuvers. Don't know why I am still alive. 

[gwilson]

We farm full time as well as log and fill all of our radial tractor tires with water and antifreeze to keep it liquid. the big tires will hold a 1000 pounds of water and that helps traction a whole lot more than bulky steel weights although we do run them on the from from time to time.

[JERICO]

We farm full time as well as log and fill all of our radial tractor tires with water and antifreeze to keep it liquid. the big tires will hold a 1000 pounds of water and that helps traction a whole lot more than bulky steel weights although we do run them on the from from time to time.

Yep, water/antifreeze preparation in my rear tires also. The calcium preparation causes too many problems, or so says the dealer who put in the liquid when the loader was added on.

[Al_Smith]

Tractors are as bad as 4 wheel ATVs in that people think they are unstoppable and untippable. 

Well a lot think that way about dozers too .I almost did at one time until I swamped one so deep the fan was throwing water in my face . They will slid sideways too .

[OlJarhead]

I thought about green until I realized just how much GREEN I'd have to fork over so I went with the No.1 selling tractor in the world!  Mahindra!  I love this 50hp beast and it yanks the logs out for me as is.

I put in Les Schwabs 'biogaurd' or whatever they call it (something like beat juice) which while something like $700 to do (3/4s full each tire) it added enough ballast that I NEVER even notice it.  In fact, my rear chains are too big and rolled into the grooves in the tread, so basically useless (I was just too lazy to remove) but I never even slipped on solid ice going up and down this hill!  The weight in those tires also keeps the strain off the frame and 3-point and puts it all right on the ground.  Best way to go IMHO.

Oh and the green?  A lot less then what JD wanted so I saved a LOT of GREEN not going green ;) :P

[thecfarm]

Looks good,how many hp??

[OlJarhead]

The Mahindra 5010?  It's 50hp

Mine is also gear rather then hydro and I love that too!  I debated Shuttle shift and hydro but if you want to run a baler etc then you better not go with hydro etc as I'm told the bailed beats the crap out of them.  So mine you actually have to shift ( so what, I've shifted vehicles all my life anyway) and I'd have it no other way now :D

[thecfarm]

I have a manual too. No big deal to me,for what I do. I Only work mine in the woods and digging rocks. It does not see any field work and as you said it's no big deal to shift. Much less to go wrong with a manual too. I've looked at those tractors many too. They do look good.

[GDinMaine]

I have a hydro tractor and it works great. I mow grass, use snowblower, woodsplitter, tiller, loared, logging winch and a few other things.  Hydro is very handy for mowing, snowblowing and tilling when variable ground speed is useful yet maintaining PTO speed is important.  I never owned an automatic car but I do like the old hyro tractor.  If I were mostly yarding logs I would want a gear machine tho.

[OneWithWood]

I used to think standard trans were the only way to go with tractors.  Then I used a e-hydro out in the woods hauling logs and doing other clearing chores.  My land is comprised of ridges and gullies.  I can hold the tractor in place on a slope or close to the edge better than I ever could with a clutch, plus I do not need to fear slipping the clutch inadvertently and taking a dive.

[beenthere]

Same here, and whatever task is at hand the hydro tranny is way out front in convenience and safety, IMO.
Leaves a hand free from changing gears and a foot free from clutching. And plenty rugged to stand whatever test put to it.

[thecfarm]

We have two tractors,the 40hp as I explained above and a 30 hp,with a hydro that is used just for mowing and snowblowing. I have the best of both worlds,2 tractors and two diffeant trannys.  They both work good for what we use them for.   ;) I really work my 40hp digging rocks and working it in the woods. Those two things are just about all that poor tractor does, the only time it gets a break is when I'm not on it. I put ALOT of hours on the 40hp and the wife puts just as many mowing on the 30hp. I can put 700-800 hours a year on mine.

[flyboy16101]

Thats a nice machine OlJarhead, you wont be disapointed. Mahindra actually builds Deere's tractors in that size range. The only difference is the paint, the price, and the green tractors have cheeper bushings (at Deere's request)

[OlJarhead]

Thats a nice machine OlJarhead, you wont be disapointed. Mahindra actually builds Deere's tractors in that size range. The only difference is the paint, the price, and the green tractors have cheeper bushings (at Deere's request)

really?  I never heard that before but I knew Deere's are also built by Yanmar so it's not surprising.