Compact Tractors are Designed All Wrong

4570Man · Oct 10, 2018

Xfaxman said:
My 6' wide, 1 yard SSQA bucket is from Bobcat:

View attachment 574275 View attachment 574276 View attachment 574277 View attachment 574280

With 17 feet of lift, it has no problem loading a truck. :thumbsup:

View attachment 574278

How does the kioti handle that bucket?

4570Man · Oct 10, 2018

MossRoad said:
Once again, you're comparing a much larger JD 310 to a 1500# PT425 or a NH TC21D.

I didn’t compare the 310 to either of those machines. I compared the 310 to a 40 hp tractor. And xfaxman pretty much confirmed what I said. No 40 hp tractor came stock with a 1 yard bucket. My 1 ton dump takes 4 scoops of dirt from the backhoe and that’s about all the weight it can handle but there’s room left. I probably could haul 6.7 yards of mulch. I only claim to haul 5 yards of mulch.

gladehound · Oct 10, 2018

4570Man said:
How does the kioti handle that bucket?

The Kioti handles the 1 yard bucket better than I thought it would. The Kioti has a strong loader for a CUT. And subtracting the extra weight of the larger bucket, my loader will still lift ~3,500 at ground level and ~2,500 to full height (with enough ballast). The curl cylinders are very strong for a CUT and have no problem with the 38" depth of the bucket. I originally bought it just for light materials, but I now use it for everything (wood, gravel, loose dirt) because it's so much more efficient than the tiny 13 cubit foot stock bucket.

gladehound · Oct 10, 2018

Xfaxman said:
My 6' wide, 1 yard SSQA bucket is from Bobcat:

View attachment 574275 View attachment 574276 View attachment 574277 View attachment 574280

With 17 feet of lift, it has no problem loading a truck. :thumbsup:

View attachment 574278

Mine is deeper but not as tall (also 6ft wide). I like the shape because I can see the front edge of the bucket if I scoot forward on the seat and sit tall. I can't do that with my stock bucket. At 778 pounds, yours is much heavier duty. I weighed mine right at 500 pounds but it is plenty heavy duty for a CUT and the weight savings helps me because I don't have the kind of lift force that you have.

gladehound · Oct 10, 2018

MossRoad said:
Yes, spreading it isn't the problem. It's the distances I had to haul it and the obstacles I had to go around just to get to the gates to get onto the infields. The loads were dumped at the back of the park, not on the infields themselves. They couldn't get the trucks onto the fields. I had to haul it in at 1/3 bucket at a time, so about 180 trips. Some routes were well over a hundred yards in each direction. It was a really poorly run and poorly laid out Little League well before we got there.

So then a CUT with the same size bucket should do the job faster because it has a higher travel speed. If you add a hydraulic top link and a second bucket in the back, you could cut trips in half with the CUT.

airbiscuit · Oct 10, 2018

So, I actually like Moss Road's threads, and a reasonable amount of the time, I agree. The problem with this thread isn't the exchanges, it is the provocative title - Compact Tractors are Designed All Wrong. This is a Compact Tractor Forum ("TractorByNet is the world's largest resource and community for compact tractors, featuring forums, news, reviews, photos, how-to information, and questions & answers."), and Compact Tractors are Designed All Wrong, can be translated as Compact Tractors are Dumb. One could infer from that that Compact Tractor Owners are Dumb. And then the fight started.

unch:

The thing is, I'm not sure there is one universally perfect machine for all tasks and all sizes. The first tractor I owned as a poor newlywed was a 1941 John Deere B hand (flywheel) start. It was awesome to have, and saved me a lot of work. It is a dinosaur compared to my 40hp New Holland CUT. I had a Bobcat skidsteer, that was much better for loader work than my CUT, but I sold it because a CUT better served all my needs. I don't feel the need to say skidsteers are designed all wrong. In fact they are designed very well for their intended use.

I have a small frame CUT, a large frame CUT and a Simplicity Conquest mower (may upgrade to a SCUT if I stumble across a bargain). In my dreams, I would also have:

A Skidsteer
A Telehandler (for the cool factor alone)
A John Deere 3010 Diesel
A Powertrac (for the cute factor alone)

That's my 2 cents. :2cents:

Xfaxman · Oct 10, 2018

You left out a Toolcat.

gladehound · Oct 10, 2018

airbiscuit said:
So, I actually like Moss Road's threads, and a reasonable amount of the time, I agree. The problem with this thread isn't the exchanges, it is the provocative title - Compact Tractors are Designed All Wrong. This is a Compact Tractor Forum ("TractorByNet is the world's largest resource and community for compact tractors, featuring forums, news, reviews, photos, how-to information, and questions & answers."), and Compact Tractors are Designed All Wrong, can be translated as Compact Tractors are Dumb. One could infer from that that Compact Tractor Owners are Dumb. And then the fight started. unch:

The thing is, I'm not sure there is one universally perfect machine for all tasks and all sizes. The first tractor I owned as a poor newlywed was a 1941 John Deere B hand (flywheel) start. It was awesome to have, and saved me a lot of work. It is a dinosaur compared to my 40hp New Holland CUT. I had a Bobcat skidsteer, that was much better for loader work than my CUT, but I sold it because a CUT better served all my needs. I don't feel the need to say skidsteers are designed all wrong. In fact they are designed very well for their intended use.

I have a small frame CUT, a large frame CUT and a Simplicity Conquest mower (may upgrade to a SCUT if I stumble across a bargain). In my dreams, I would also have:

A Skidsteer
A Telehandler (for the cool factor alone)
A John Deere 3010 Diesel
A Powertrac (for the cute factor alone)

That's my 2 cents. :2cents:

I thought you were a peace maker until "for the cute factor alone"!

For me, I think the telehandlers are my favorite and maybe someday I'll have one. But I'll likely keep a tractor if only for hay rides.

I totally agree that the title of the thread is provocative. I like most of Moss Road's posts. I like all machines and think PT's are really interesting and useful. I seriously cross shopped them before buying my second tractor. The fact that I didn't buy one is telling. Refer to Post 273 if you want to know why. I love the visibility on the PT, but not enough to make up for everything else.

A more appropriate title for this thread would be "Viable alternatives to CUTs"

MossRoad · Oct 10, 2018

gladehound said:
So then a CUT with the same size bucket should do the job faster because it has a higher travel speed. If you add a hydraulic top link and a second bucket in the back, you could cut trips in half with the CUT.

Yeah, you and I think it would be faster, but it won't be. Put a full bucket of moon dust in there and try and drive at full speed forward over bumpy ground, turns, stops/starts etc... only one way to find out. We need to get a head-to-head going somewhere.