Tractor time.

[SoonerP226]

A lot of things would probably get the job done better. But they aren't $200 and 3 miles from the house. And an auger can dig a hole for anything...posts, trees, shrubs, etc... I suppose you could pound a tree or shrub into the ground with a hydraulic post driver but it wouldn't look very pretty.

This is the "little" guy that followed me home today. 1965 (I think) Ford 4000:


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Could be a '65. That was the first year for the 3-cylinder Thousand-series tractors. The '62-'64 4000s looked like the 800-series tractors from the '50s.

FWIW, if you want more power, that 3-cylinder engine will interchange with Ford/New Holland 3-cylinders up through the '90s. My dad replaced the gasser in his '68 with a low-hours industrial diesel from a mid-'90s New Holland backhoe. He got it for a song from the Ford/New Holland dealer in Chickasha because the backhoe's owner kept complaining about it using oil (a problem we never had, BTW), so they replaced it to make him happy.

 

[Okie4570]

I don't know...... Several years ago, the neighbor and I decided to put in a riparian buffer along pole cat creek that had got dammed up by driftwood, left its banks and cut a quarter of one of ours in half.
We planted hundreds of trees with a tree planter along the new creek that was 60' or something on each side, then needed to plant another buffer of native grass outside of the tree planting with another 60' on both sides.
Right before the grass planting we had a rain. A few days later we decided to get the grass planted so I hooked up my 2WD 72HP International at over 9000lbs without a front loader to the planter and almost got stuck.
We changed to the neighbors 45 HP 4wd Mahindra with a front loader that weighed around 3800lbs
and got it done with zero issues.
The 4WD makes a heck of a difference no matter the weight IMHO.

Well more on dry ground. More than 2x as much weight in mud will be a problem yes lol.

 

[cowadle]

Could be a '65. That was the first year for the 3-cylinder Thousand-series tractors. The '62-'64 4000s looked like the 800-series tractors from the '50s.

FWIW, if you want more power, that 3-cylinder engine will interchange with Ford/New Holland 3-cylinders up through the '90s. My dad replaced the gasser in his '68 with a low-hours industrial diesel from a mid-'90s New Holland backhoe. He got it for a song from the Ford/New Holland dealer in Chickasha because the backhoe's owner kept complaining about it using oil (a problem we never had, BTW), so they replaced it to make him happy.

there is a flat spot on top of the housing just above the starter that has all of the model year serial numbers stamped into the cast. no tags just stamped into the cast. probably filled with paint and grime

 

[O4L]

 

[retrieverman]

Well more on dry ground. More than 2x as much weight in mud will be a problem yes lol.

Having had both 2wd and 4wd tractors, contrary to what I used to think, I can get by with a 2wd, but I have to pick my battles more carefully. My current Kubota 7040 2wd is my favorite tractor of all I’ve had. My second favorite was a JD 5410 4wd I sold off 20 years ago when I bought my cab tractor. That was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in buying and selling equipment.

 

[SoonerP226]

Having had both 2wd and 4wd tractors, contrary to what I used to think, I can get by with a 2wd, but I have to pick my battles more carefully.

I think it depends a lot on the size of the tractor. I think I agree with Tractor Mike’s assessment that you need 4WD in loader-equipped tractors under about 40hp, but it’s strictly optional on anything bigger. I never missed it in my dad’s JD 4010 with the big diesel, and I don’t recall ever even trying to use it in the 75hp TYM, but I’ve used it a few times in the Ford 1910.

 

[SoonerP226]

I was brush hogging once when the cutter threw a pretty good sized chunk of wood at my head. Fortunately, I was wearing over-the-ear hearing protection and I had my head turned just right, so it bounced off the can instead of whacking me directly on the noggin. It still got my attention, though.

 

[cowadle]

i guess i am and old felerr but. in my hey day there weren't any fron't wheel drive tractors available and then later the now popular small compact tractors with 4wd became available. i have run both and found that a 4wd utility tractor that has not been properly ballasted works pretty good because it puts traction under the load... if you try to run the same tractor in 2wd without ballast or wide front tires you are in trouble and is dangerous. add ballast properly and a set of wide tires on the front to the 2wd and the differences almost completely go away between the two tractors but not quite. does the added fuel consumption and maintenance on the front wheel drive make sense???? for most work probably not.

 

[SlugSlinger]

I did some brush hogging yesterday for a family member. Decided to track it with my watch.

 

[SlugSlinger]