Tractors and Backhoes...advice

rubber tracked rigs ON SNOW THAT'S PACKED AND HILLS is when we see theses machines in the ditches , they slide till the bucket is dropped , if going backwards most likely due to counter weight bucket slides until you jab the leading edge down hard (if your quick enough)
Sloth

 

If you get a Mahindra,, try and find one of the older ones that had the 4 cylinder diesel,, the newer ones are 3 cylinders.

 

I know guys who drive stainless spikes into their rubber tracks for slick conditions, but I wouldn't recommend it! You might check Into having a set of sno-trax made for it, I know Goodyear and others can do this, they use Sno-cats track bands bonded to an old set of rubber tracks and then you can add cleats or more aggressive tread to them! Might be worth looking into! My Super Imp cost about $2000 per track to have new tracks made from scratch, there is a company in north central Colorado that I use, Two Track Mind, who custom make tracks for all sorts of rigs! Might look and see if they can help you, or direct you to another resource! BTW, Yanmar make their own tracks ( exclusively sourced likely) for their equipment, so you might want to see if they are a "Universal fit" or something else!

 

Got it. I'm learning...so while tracks these wide tracks are good to not tear up the ground as bad the downside is during winter. I assume tracks are a real PIA to change for winter? I'm trying to do less work not get more work LOL!

 

On Skid Steers , Myself on tires , not to chew up the grass / gravel / dirt , Raise bucket right up and backup then go froward to "wheelie" it on rear tires and now it turns without tearing up the ground .
Tracks this CANNOT happen !
Tractors , remove out of 4wd to have rear only , then grass is not chewed up .
Sloth

 

I think your decision NOT to buy a tractor backhoe is very sound.

Most of them are way under powered, have a short reach (requiring you to move the machine frequently), and so on. Either rent a decent sized machine for the job, or do what I did....find an older small excavator for digging. I bought a mid-90's model IHI 35J, which is around an 8,000lb machine and it does all the digging I need to do here on the farm. Previous owned a BushHog backhoe unit on a 33hp 4x4 tractor, and it was a piece of crap. It went with the tractor when I sold it, and I don't miss it one bit.

While a backhoe on the back of a tractor 'seems' like a good idea, I seriously doubt most users ever recover the purchase price in terms of work done with them. The people that buy them (like I was) have the notion they will do a lot more than they will actually do. An honest assessment for most after the fact would be "wow....was THAT a bad move !!"

 

As for tractor size, I started with a 22hp, (Yanmar) then went to a 33hp, (New Holland) now have a 41hp (Yanmar) (all of them 4x4) and finally feel I have the right size for my place. The 33hp New Holland model 1925 was a real disappointment for me as it was simply built too lightweight. I broke things on it all the time, the last one being the bell housing between the engine and hydrostatic unit.

Also, I find gear drive with shuttle shift on my current tractor to be something I like a LOT more than the hydro on the previous tractor. First Yanmar was straight gear drive. So I've owned all three transmission types, and I recommend what I have now.

I do a LOT of front end loader work with mine (moving logs, lumber, dirt, gravel, mulch, round bales, etc) and the loader on my current one is MUCH more beefy than the previous one...which was the source of most of my provlems with it.

 

@TnAndy Do you have counterweights or filled tires on your machine?

 

Tires are fluid filled. No counterweights....don't need them on the front, on the back I often have this skidding winch which weighs 500lbs and is close to the 3pt on the back. Shown on previous tractor (1998 New Holland):