I have 45 acres of sand. Nearly all of it has been farmed for the past 50 years at least. We are building a house on the site, we are currently under contract. My #1 priority is to get the driveways set up. We are having to put sand clay over the existing sand to get vehicles in and out due to the lack of any structure or settling of the previously farmed soil. Once we get the clay packed down I'll spread crusher run over top. I've got a box blade, scraper blade, a drag harrow, and a really old, heavy bush hog around 6ft. My dad has a mini excavator, I will be using the tractor to move the piles of sandy muck I dig out of poorly maintained drainage ditches. There is nothing large I need to bush hog, I'll likely borrow my neighbor's finishing mower to cut the around 35 acres of weeds that have grown in the past year since the last harvest. I'd like to get a backhoe attachment for drainage ditches at some point since moving my dad's excavator is a pain. I also need to level the property (from where it has been planted, just a couple inch high mounds for the rows), I plan to use the drag harrow and scraper blade for this. I want Industrial tires so when I plant grass in the future I can navigate around in the yard without destroying anything.
I have used my dad's 1526 to spread sand clay and it did a fine job although it bogged down if I tried to scoop dirt while in M speed. It also was not as effective as it could have been due to traction issues on the sand. Plenty of power but the tractor seemed limited by the amount of traction it had with the ground.
I was looking at Geared 4550's and Shuttle 2445's since they are on sale locally. Being used to the 1526, the 4550 just seems too big for my liking. I love the weight but I feel that it is so big that I wouldn't use it as often or on smaller tasks. I may be wrong but I also am thinking about maneuverability and resale value - I think the smaller frame would be more desirable based on my experience looking at used tractors. Homeowners don't seem to want a massive 4500 series tractor. The 2545 is perfect size wise (I feel like I can see what I'm doing with the loader much better) and is easier to get in and out of.
My concern with the 2545 is that it won't weigh enough to benefit from the added HP. Operating weight of the 1526 is 2459lb, the 2545 is 3285lb. I ran some ballasting calculations and can get 1078lbs with 75% filled tires on the 2545. That is 4363lbs total for the 2545, 1900lbs more than the 1526. I would expect that to make a big difference but I literally drove a tractor for the first time 2 months ago. Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated.
