Does 4WD Make That Much Difference

[Uncle Hulka]

Here's a review to help you decide.

2015 Mahindra 2540 Shuttle Review

and here's an overall story on the updated 2500 series

Mahindra Updates 2500 Series Tractors | Tractor News

 

[BigTee]

Thanks very much to everyone for sharing your knowledge. I'm going to go back to the dealer and take a hard look at the 2540. It is a lot more tractor for the money.

 

[Uncle Hulka]

Whatever you decide, good for you for considering ALL your options! I know I'm glad I kept researching even after I had decided that the 1538 was the perfect model for me.

Keep us posted!

 

[Navasot]

Thanks very much to everyone for sharing your knowledge. I'm going to go back to the dealer and take a hard look at the 2540. It is a lot more tractor for the money.

Meh tractors just gota fit you.. 2540 isn't ideal for me and what I look for... if I was between the two id like the 1538 but looking at the 40hp size the 4540 is even more tractor for the money...

Id say which ever fits you best go with it.. they both are great models

 

[Garycw]

4wd makes ALL the difference when you start spinning wheels in 2wd.

 

[arrow]

BIL owns a horse farm in Paris KY. I go there during haying season to help out. He has a 5000 series JD purchased for 14K 10 years ago. This is a 2wd tractor that I have never had to be disgruntled that it was 2wd. Usage is much like you have described (bush hogging, hay cutting,pasture tending). He did get it stuck once about 5 years ago when he ventured into a very wet section of pasture to bring in a hay roll for some beef as spring broke. Not certain that 4wd would have prevented this but he was pulled out by a neighbor with another 2wd 5085 (or whatever their numbers are). As someone suggested, size of tractor, climate area and usage of the tractor correlate to success or not with a traditional 2wd drive train.

 

[gladehound]

Keep most the weight on the rears through proper ballasting and a 4wd has little advantage over 2wd. Some task make it impossible to keep the weight on the rears - like heavy front end loader work. So for some uses, 4wd truly is the way to go. But if you have no loader and are doing everything with the rear of the tractor, get the biggest 2wd you can get for the money you want to spend, fill the rears and add wheel weights if you can as well. Keep an implement or weight on the 3pt if it's hilly make sure the heavy end of the tractor is pointed up hill going up and down. It's amazing how much 2wd gear tractor you can get for the price of a smaller 4wd hydro and the 2wd makes sense in some circumstances.

All our family tractors that did not have loaders were 2WD and never had traction problems as long as the tires were good. They were great for mowing, brush hogging, plowing fields, disking etc but NOT snow plowing. We had one 2WD with a loader which was worthless with weight in the bucket. All the others with loaders were 4WD.

 

[npalen]

We had an 8N Ford back in the fifties with a Dearborn 3PH mounted loader. I'm sure it sounds a little unhandy having to look back all the time but it was a little workhorse for cleaning manure out of sheds etc. The whole idea was having the loader weight on the rear tires and also made it very easy to steer. Didn't know there was going to be such a thing as 4-wheel drive (FWA) back in those days.
Having said that, I'm sure happy to have FWA on my Kubota B9200 HSTD. It sure puts the weight of the FEL to work. There are times also that the locking differential comes in handy.

 

[kdm0811]

In my opinion, it should not be legal to sell a 2WD tractor equipped with a FEL.

 

[arrow]

In my opinion, it should not be legal to sell a 2WD tractor equipped with a FEL.

Why is that?

 

[sixdogs]

97% of the time, no. 3% of the time is worth every bit of it. Unless you are sure you will on dry and flat ground during the summer, 4WD is worth it.

 

[SPYDERLK]

In my opinion, it should not be legal to sell a 2WD tractor equipped with a FEL.

Why is that?

Danger of not being able to back up.

 

[arrow]

Danger of not being able to back up.

I would think there are particulars before a blanket statement is made such as "no 2wd should be sold with a fel". There are plenty of milk farmers with 2wd and fels in my parts that would question the veracity of such a statement.

 

[Garycw]

The most important thing to me with a fel is rear ballast. Hundreds of thousands of 2 wd tractors out there with fel's

 

[boggen]

MFWD / 4x4
PROS...
--going into a turn... you keep turning vs front wheels acting like skies and just keep going straight.
--getting you through a "wet patch" if just 2WD, you hit wet patch you are stuck. hopefully with 4WD you can maintain enough traction to keep going.
--more likely keep you going straight... how many times have you had a rear blade, or something else behind tractor and pulling it. and one side gets loaded down... to point it starts pulling the front end around on you? and you are having to turn the front wheels (on 2WD) tractor or perhaps tap split brakes (rear left/right brakes) to keep going straight? MFWD / 4x4 should keep you going.

CONS...
--you may need to change front tires and rear tires at same time. due to "ratio" issues of tires being within a certain tolerance. if tolerance gets out of whack you are at higher risk of doing damage to the drive train / system of the MFWD / 4x4 function of tractor.
--costs more up front
--cost more long haul (maintenance side of things)
--you need to remember to take MFWD / 4x4 out of gear. on pavement / concrete / hard surfaces. or you can damage the drive train as well as tire treads wear quicker when in MFWD / 4x4 and on hard surfaces.

MISC....
MFWD / 4x4 tractors might be ballasted / weighted differently. in order to take advantage of MFWD / 4x4 function of tractor when pulling stuff.

===============
keep in mind what is more important to you.... field work = money making? duals on older 2WD tractor for flotation / less compaction. and larger machine might serve you better?

or is just a general multi purpose machine what you need? more like smaller machine with MFWD option and some additional smaller addon's to make life easier and simplier for you.

===============
goto the various tractor manufacture websites out there and go through there "build a tractor / configure a tractor / what ever they call it" and familiarize yourself with the "additional options" for different make/model of tractors even from same/different manufactures.

www.tractorhouse.com = while a lot of used tractors show up in lists, there are some new tractors as well. more of goal to use as a "research tool" / doing your home work of see what is out there.

SearchTempest: Search all of Craigslist nationwide & more = search multi cities of craigslist .org at one time. some additional things locally normally show up.

Tractor Attachments And Skid Steer Attachments For Any Tractor Or Skid Steer = just "attachments" for tractors. last time i looked they did not hit heavy in larger farming operation equipment. they do have a lot of various equipment. (good starting place to see what is out there) lots of videos / details of what things do / how to use them.

goto a few local dealers in your area. and set in different size machines and test drive each one. for say 15 minutes. if they have something you can hook up to it. or perhaps a FEL you could use to push some dirt around. might be advised. there can be a large difference in how things are laid out as far as controls on tractor. and overall power factor / feel to things.
--most tractor manufacture websites have some sort of "dealer locator" enter zip code and find. (starting point)
--look up in old phone book for "heavy equipment" to "tractors" to "farm equipment" there might be some local mom / pop shops around. that may not show up.

 

[SPYDERLK]

MFWD / 4x4
PROS...
--going into a turn... you keep turning vs front wheels acting like skies and just keep going straight.
--getting you through a "wet patch" if just 2WD, you hit wet patch you are stuck. hopefully with 4WD you can maintain enough traction to keep going.
--more likely keep you going straight... how many times have you had a rear blade, or something else behind tractor and pulling it. and one side gets loaded down... to point it starts pulling the front end around on you? and you are having to turn the front wheels (on 2WD) tractor or perhaps tap split brakes (rear left/right brakes) to keep going straight? MFWD / 4x4 should keep you going.

CONS...
--you may need to change front tires and rear tires at same time. due to "ratio" issues of tires being within a certain tolerance. if tolerance gets out of whack you are at higher risk of doing damage to the drive train / system of the MFWD / 4x4 function of tractor.
--costs more up front
--cost more long haul (maintenance side of things)
--you need to remember to take MFWD / 4x4 out of gear. on pavement / concrete / hard surfaces. or you can damage the drive train as well as tire treads wear quicker when in MFWD / 4x4 and on hard surfaces.

MISC....
MFWD / 4x4 tractors might be ballasted / weighted differently. in order to take advantage of MFWD / 4x4 function of tractor when pulling stuff.

===============

Got most of the cons, but WAY short on the pros. The pros would be broadly based in every motive tractor function.

 

[4570Man]

I was pushing brush down a hill today that was pretty steep. I knocked the tractor out of 4wd and tried to back up the hill. It just spun, and this had the best possible chance of working. I had loaded tires, a backhoe attachment which adds significant ballast, and no load on the FEL. I put the tractor back in 4wd and it backed out without any trouble. If a tractor has a loader it should be 4wd. If a tractor does not have a loader and is going to be used on mostly flat ground I think a larger 2wd would be fine.

 

[dragoneggs]

I was pushing brush down a hill today that was pretty steep. I knocked the tractor out of 4wd and tried to back up the hill. It just spun, and this had the best possible chance of working. I had loaded tires, a backhoe attachment which adds significant ballast, and no load on the FEL. I put the tractor back in 4wd and it backed out without any trouble. If a tractor has a loader it should be 4wd. If a tractor does not have a loader and is going to be used on mostly flat ground I think a larger 2wd would be fine.

Spot on 4570Man! If you HAVE hills and/or FEL... 4WD a must IMO!!!

 

[TomSeller]

For the hobby guys on here that have one tractor, 4WD can make the most sense. They seldom have farmable land, and have lots of slopes, ponds, etc. For the farmers on here that make their living with their tractors and harvest crops mostly on flat ground, 2WD combined with some 4WD where needed makes a lot of sense. No sense a farmer listening to a <10acre hobby guy, who sits inside when the weather is bad, on what tractor works the best. No sense a farmer with 100s or 1000s of acres and a crop and paycheck to bring in, listening to a hobby guy on what tractor works the best. No sense a hobby guy listening to a farmer on what makes sense, The hobby guy does not need a tractor that works primarily on flat ground. To each his own and neither is wrong.

 

[dragoneggs]

For the hobby guys on here that have one tractor, 4WD can make the most sense. They seldom have farmable land, and have lots of slopes, ponds, etc. For the farmers on here that make their living with their tractors and harvest crops mostly on flat ground, 2WD combined with some 4WD where needed makes a lot of sense. No sense a farmer listening to a <10acre hobby guy, who sits inside when the weather is bad, on what tractor works the best. No sense a farmer with 100s or 1000s of acres and a crop and paycheck to bring in, listening to a hobby guy on what tractor works the best. To each his own and neither is wrong.

Well said.