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I borrowed a neighbors 4WD 4 wheeler this year and so far I love it. I have an older 4WD Kubota tractor with AG tires. On frozen ground it's great. Once the ground thaws, not so much. Leaves too many deep ruts everywhere, especially through woods trails where you can't take a different track to avoid going through the same area over and over collecting sap. So for me, it's a small 300CC 4WD Quad.
But ultimately, I'd rather have an Argo or Max2, if I could afford either, and had wider trails.
Make sure you get the 4 x 4 on the tractor and ask to have the rear tires loaded. I had this done on my little JD and it makes a world of difference when getting around.
Nice, good tip - I am planning on a 4x4 tractor given I have many hills and slopes on our property. I also plan to use it for heavy duty tasks like moving snow banks and dragging the driveway.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdiamond
When you weighted your tires, did you find that you had any issue with sinking into snow or leaving deep ruts?
I'm solidly in favor of four wheel drive also. It really helps in so many tasks, and when not needed just don't use it.
We have a tractor with four wheel drive with no loaded tires (jd). It does good, including for snow bank moving. We can always use the JD weights on the front to give a bit more traction there if needed. We just call them "the weights" but I think they may be called "suitcase weights" or something like that.
We also have a tractor with four wheel drive, WITH loaded tires (Kubota). It does great too and does much better in a soft field pulling an implement. Not better in the woods, makes deeper ruts. Not better all around the property, makes couple inch deep ruts except when the ground is bone dry and hard.
Just another opinion, others may differ, and your mileage may vary!
take care
Mark
No more than usual and I had the dealership do it. The rear tires are loaded with beet juice. That is what I meant by weighted rear tires, there is nothing extra on the rim.
I have a Massey Ferguson 1735 (36 hp) 4wd and I never loaded the tires and it does fine. Do you guys think the loaded tires make more ruts? Of course when I compared the specs to the same size John Deere the MF weighs 800 pounds more as is. That's why I bought it and had a better price. I have owned it going into its third year and it is a working beast. I had a 1968 ford 3000 2wd for 15 years before that and man it was like a gift from heaven getting this tractor.
I think sizing a sap hauler to the amount of sap you will be moving would be ideal. Our plan this year is to use a small trailer to haul a 275 ibc with the 2wd 1951 ferguson. We've used a grizzly atv in the past but sap volume keeps increasing. If the ground stays frozen we may use the kubota l48 and pallet forks, but thats usually only early season. The kubota also has r4 tires which are useless.
The lighter the vehicle the less damage it does to the ground. At 2800lbs the ferguson chained up goes anywhere and isn't to hard on the trails. Last year we used a carry all on it but the weight of sap hanging off the back so far back(100 gal +3" pump and hose) had the front tires of the ground constantly.
I stopped by the local John Deere dealer (bad idea)...and found this cherry 2018 or 2019 XUV 835M. It's got a power dump, roof front bumper and it looks like both rear and front locking diffs. Anyone have one of these?
They want $14k...seems reasonable. It's got like 100 hours on it.
Attachment 22045
My sister-in-law and her husband have one and they really like it. It seems to have a little more power than our Kubota
Interesting. There was both a Diesel and Gas model...this was the Gas one. The dealer said the diesel has more torque (duh) and the gas has more "top-end power."Quote:
Originally Posted by buckeye gold