Tractors

[NDSportsman]

I wouldn't put fluid in the tires I'd get a set of wheel weights or use a ballast box on the 3 point.

 

[Wall-eyes]

My advise is go buy a good set of tire chains and put fluid in the tires. I have a cabbed CT445 with about 300 hours and my biggest complaint is the ass end was too light when using the loader anywhere near capacity. I always had to put a 3pt implement on to keep the ass end on the ground. Fluid in the tires helped immensely. I would say chains for the rears are less necessary especially with the FWA however when doing snow removal with either the 3pt blower, loader, or snow pusher, you can do damn near anything you want in 2wd with chains. Without, you have to run FWA all of the time with the R4 industrial tires. If I ever buy a brand new one, I may consider turf tires for what I use it for, which is primarily snow removal, food plot, and general yard work.

Not sure if yours came with one but I did add a second hydraulic to the rear which is nice for the blower for spout control so you and spin it and run the deflector. Also works nice to add a hydraulic top link or if you do a lot if box blade or angle blade work or go with a top and tilt kit for that. I may at some point add the tilt kit but that's less important to me.

Otherwise, knock on wood, mine has been flawless. Between the last tractor and now this one I have accumulated quite a few attachments which make living in the country a hell of a lot easier than I used to do it with the Old Allis D17 . Have bucket, pallet forks, and 98" snow pusher for the loader. For the 3pt I have a 72" tiller, angle blade, 72" box blade, a 84" snow blower, and cultivator & harrow. overall, I wish i would've bought one 10-years before I did, I had no idea what I was missing out on! To move snow with a cup of coffee in hand, in a t-shirt, and with the blue tooth radio is pretty damn nice.

Same with brother in law got great deal on CT445 with cab vs big names has been very happy need weight in rear for any heavy lifting

 

[1lessdog]

Same with brother in law got great deal on CT445 with cab vs big names has been very happy need weight in rear for any heavy lifting

The way the loaders are made, with light material I would be worried about welds breaking. If you put a bunch of weight on the 3 point or fluid in the rear tires.

 

[SupressYourself]

I could be wrong, but wouldn't the hydraulics run out of power before you start breaking steel when you're trying to lift something heavier than the tractor / loader is rated for?
These compact tractors are pretty light and have short wheel bases. They need some counter-weight to be able to lift what they're rated for.

 

[svnmag]

Juanner was correct. You can get gonorrhea from a tractor. I thought it was chlamydia.

 

[1lessdog]

I could be wrong, but wouldn't the hydraulics run out of power before you start breaking steel when you're trying to lift something heavier than the tractor / loader is rated for?
These compact tractors are pretty light and have short wheel bases. They need some counter-weight to be able to lift what they're rated for.

I have seen more loader welded up. And them are well built loaders. The loader arms stop lifting. But the bucket hydraulic cylinder has so much camming action that they will keep lifting.

Right Jaun, you know about the bucket and how much they will lift.

 

[Eatsleeptrap]

I finally pulled the trigger on a tractor... Not sure if I should put fluid in the tires or not. What do you guys think? got a bobcat 2040, 2022 with warranty, 80 hours, hst, quick hitch, ballast box, pallet forks, regular bucket and snow bucket for 18k, still under warranty. had to drive to mn to pick it up. gonna add a piranah tooth bar to smaller bucket for digging I think...

NICE!!

 

[Tymurrey]

We had a Bobcat CT335 on the farm (not a farmer) for a few years. Handy little tractor and the AC and Heat were really nice. I miss the hydrostatic drive the most out of everything though. I wasn't impressed with the lifting capabilities of it, struggled with anything heavy and just wasn't enough for what i wanted. When it came time for the family to divide everything up and sell, I couldn't justify paying the $28,000 it appraised at with snow blower so i bought the old john deere 4320 with loader and snow blower for $12,000 and picked up a 1980's JD 1050 with loader for $8,000. I use the 1050 on the small 3 point equipment like tiller and mowers. The 4320 i used for the heavy lifting and for planting larger food plots and pulling slightly larger implements. I also picked up the families old farmall H for $300 (needs new tires) and a farmall M for $750. The M sat for a lot of years but a new battery and fresh gas and she fired right up. Put new front tires on it and changed oil and the kids have been driving it around the farm and it's ready for work for another 70 years hopefully. For less than the cost of the bobcat i was able to buy all the attachments and 4 tractors. Might not have all the comforts and fancy things but I have everything i need covered.

 

[SLE]

..........................These compact tractors are pretty light and have short wheel bases. They need some counter-weight to be able to lift what they're rated for.

This is the biggest issue. These compact tractors are simply too coupled up and frankly they are light in comparison to the iron of years past. Without rear weight, I would be surprised if you can can get to half of the rated loader capacity. without any rear weight a 1000 lb pallet of fertilizer was sketchy on my CT445 which has a loader rating of 2,600 lbs at full lift at the pin. a ballast box works best as it provides better balance and leverage than wheel weights or fluid, the downside is your 3pt is then tied up with the ballast box. I just about always have something on the 3 pt so I went fluid which definitely helps.

 

[Allen]

Yeah, these compact utility tractors are handy as hell, but there are limitations on them. My 4120 weighs about 3,700 lbs itself, and around 4,800 with the loader. The loader is rated for a little over 2,300 lbs, and it's fine so long as you are on level ground. If you have even just a couple degrees of slope to the terrain, one must add weight to the rear for safety's sake and you best be really careful. I've lifted a single rear wheel several times as I pushed its limits arguing with trees or sod, usually when one has the load on the bucket far off of center. I can reverse the rims to get a wider footprint, and I am sure that would help a bunch, but then the tractor would be wider than the bucket, blade, or tiller.

 

[Tymurrey]

I used to leave the snow blower on the 4320 almost all year as ballast and we filled the tires. I hate having fluid in the tires and wish i would put weights on instead. Stuck a dear bone through the tire this year and its all just added cost. Also had a few valve stems leak so ended up having to park with them at the top and chloride is so corrosive, beet juice is the way to go now it seems. I also wasn't impressed with how far the bobcat compact tractor and bobcat snow blower through snow.

 

[SLE]

The tractor is likely fine, you just need a different blower. I've a couple Lorenz blowers and they always impress me.

 

[wslayer]

I used to leave the snow blower on the 4320 almost all year as ballast and we filled the tires. I hate having fluid in the tires and wish i would put weights on instead. Stuck a dear bone through the tire this year and its all just added cost. Also had a few valve stems leak so ended up having to park with them at the top and chloride is so corrosive, beet juice is the way to go now it seems. I also wasn't impressed with how far the bobcat compact tractor and bobcat snow blower through snow.

Beet juice is corrosive as hell wouldn't that eat away the metal on the valve stems? Just asking, because I know it played holey hell with my metal trailer pulling it on interstate these last couple of ice fishing seasons. Rusts the shit out of everything.

 

[Davey Crockett]

They must blend beet juice with salt for roads because it's non corrosive.

 

[NDbowman]

Yeah, these compact utility tractors are handy as hell, but there are limitations on them. My 4120 weighs about 3,700 lbs itself, and around 4,800 with the loader. The loader is rated for a little over 2,300 lbs, and it's fine so long as you are on level ground. If you have even just a couple degrees of slope to the terrain, one must add weight to the rear for safety's sake and you best be really careful. I've lifted a single rear wheel several times as I pushed its limits arguing with trees or sod, usually when one has the load on the bucket far off of center. I can reverse the rims to get a wider footprint, and I am sure that would help a bunch, but then the tractor would be wider than the bucket, blade, or tiller.

I have no experience with compact tractors but I do have experience with bigger tractors on our farm. I'm surprised by the 2300lb lift capacity of your loader. I know we have an old IH 5088 tractor with an eze on loader. The tractor itself must weigh 17000lbs. I believe the loader cuts out around 2750lbs. It handles heavy loads well but you know you have a load on it. I have a slightly smaller Case Ih 5240 with a miller loader. I'd guess it weighs around 15k lbs with fluid in its rear tires. It'll lift as much as the bigger 5088 with a loader if not a little more. Thats not to say it should because I've seen Dad lift a rear wheel off the ground on one side trying to lift a too heavy of load. My point is I can't imagine a compact tractor even managing to lift a 1000lb load safely. Just because it can doesn't mean it should. I highly doubt those loaders on those compact tractors are built anywhere near as heavy as the farm loaders we use on bigger tractors.

 

[NDbowman]

I recommend beet juice over calcium chloride for weight. Chloride just rusts the hell out of everything.

 

[Davey Crockett]

You'll find out if you ever overload those little guys , they have all sorts power and traction but not a lot of iron to hold it all together. My boy has a JD compact with loader , 3pt and cab. I'ts ok for blowing snow and small projects around the yard but he tied onto a bigger tree than he should have with the loader and tried to drag it backwards and busted the housing between engine and hydro. I can usually fix about anything so I offered but after one look I said no way I'm going to tackle that.
I didn't dare ask how much it cost to fix because I knew it would hurt since I had tried talking him out of buying it in the first place.
If I owned one I'd also have something for bigger jobs or I'd have it busted up in no time.

 

[Tymurrey]

That little bobcat ct335 had a decent loader lift capacity rating but would struggle with a normal sized round bale and never seemed to lift even what i thought it should. I maybe read the lift capacity wrong on it as i believe some are rated 24" behind the lift point or pin and i don't know if the bucket weight is figured into it as well. I just know moving some bigger trees around, bales, or even a couple 55 gallon drums filled with water was a chore for it. Thats why i couldn't justify the price or cost to keep it when i knew i would need something bigger. figured i would keep the old tractors for now and with the money saved put it towards a decent skidsteer.

 

[Allen]

You'll find out if you ever overload those little guys , they have all sorts power and traction but not a lot of iron to hold it all together. My boy has a JD compact with loader , 3pt and cab. I'ts ok for blowing snow and small projects around the yard but he tied onto a bigger tree than he should have with the loader and tried to drag it backwards and busted the housing between engine and hydro. I can usually fix about anything so I offered but after one look I said no way I'm going to tackle that.
I didn't dare ask how much it cost to fix because I knew it would hurt since I had tried talking him out of buying it in the first place.
If I owned one I'd also have something for bigger jobs or I'd have it busted up in no time.

That wouldn't have been a 3032E or 3038E, would it?

That "E" designation pretty much meant it was a tractor built to a lower standard. There were a number of complaints about structural failures on them as people thought they were built a little more durable than they were in reality.

I specifically shied away from the 3000 series of tractors for that very reason even though they were attractively priced. I too have a tendency to use things to their fullest at times and wanted the larger, heavier framed tractor.

As far as the loaders on JD compact tractors, you can also choose a lighter weight loader such as the 400X compared to the 400CX. They are very close in specs, right until you look at the weight of the respective loaders. The 400CX weighs 1100 lbs, whereas the 400X only weighs a little over 900 lbs. I'm going to guess the 400X would be the one with all the welds on it after 20 years of use.

I love tractordata.com as a resource for specs on all the different platforms out there.

https://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/001/5/6/1560-john-deere-4120-attachments.html

 

[Davey Crockett]

I don't recall the model number, I'll pay more attention when I see it again. All I know is that a used housing was hard to find and it looked like a lot of hours/days to change it out. +1 on tractordata , the serial # lookup for old tractors is invaluable to me .