Discover Versatile Compact Tractors
(Page 2 of 9)
April/May 2006
By Bryan Welch
This article will discuss some of the many uses for a compact tractor and the features and attachments that might be most useful to you. Shown in the image gallery are the eight models we evaluated. They were built in the United States, India, Korea and Japan, and range in price from about $15,000 to $25,000. They included at least three types of transmissions, and we tested a half-dozen different implements on them to make sure we understood their capabilities.
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You don’t want a green tractor, a red tractor, an orange tractor or a blue one. You want a tractor that does the work you need it to do, maintained by a conscientious dealer who’s backed by a competent manufacturer. Whatever color you choose, you’ll come to love it. The “red tractor” people became red tractor people because they owned one that did its job well. Ditto for green, orange and blue. And don’t fall for styling: Beautiful is as beautiful does. Any tractor is beautiful when you’re lounging on the porch with a cold drink and admiring a good day’s work finished early.
Most of today’s compact tractors are equipped with four-wheel drive. Unless you live where it seldom rains, never snows and the sand is never soft under your wheels, then you’ll probably want a four-wheel-drive tractor. Older two-wheel-drive tractors were primarily designed for work in plowed fields, and farmers didn’t do any fieldwork when the soil was wet. Therefore, such tractors seldom got stuck.
On today’s diversified small farm, you’ll work in more varied situations, so you’ll run a greater risk of the tractor getting stuck. And, of course, you’re likely to get your pickup truck stuck, in which case you will need the tractor to pull it out. The additional cost of four-wheel drive in today’s compact tractors is relatively reasonable. Four-wheel drive makes the tractor safer in all conditions and less likely to slide sideways under a load. Tractors that slide around tend to tear up buildings, fences and other vehicles. They also can pose a hazard to people nearby. (For more on tractor safety, see Tractor Safety is No Accident, April/May 2005. — Mother)
TRANSMISSIONS
There are substantial differences among today’s tractors, and you have many options from which to choose. One of your most important decisions will be the choice of transmission. There are “retro” tractors on today’s market that use manual transmissions and lever-style hydraulic controls your grandfather would have been comfortable with. If you grew up using a 1948 Ford and want to replicate that experience, there’s a new tractor out there for you. The Farmtrac brand (see photo) offers tractors based on venerable Ford designs and transmissions that will look and feel familiar to people with a farming background.
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