MX5000 has landed

[Stackwood]

New tractor arrived yesterday. We got an MX5000 with 4wd, ag tires, and LA852 loader. Spent yesterday and today moving the rear wheels out. Unfortunately the dealer forgot to put ballast in the tires. Fortunately this made them a lot easier to adjust. Saved my back on the second tire & didn't lay it on the ground, just leaned it against the bucket and front wheel. A good torque wrench is a must. The wheel bolts take 160 ft-lbs. A cheater bar is very helpful. An impact wrench would have been great.

Man what a difference from the old MF 165. Everything works and it has bags of power. The limiting factor while bushogging was comfort; while I was bouncing around the tractor never even sounded challenged, at least in the overgrown field I was testing it in. This was at 2000 rpm.

I played around with the FEL, looks like a good unit. Once I get ballast in the tires I'll put it through its paces.

The tractor is very nimble. It turns on a dime. The limiting factor is weight rather than power. Ballast should help a lot.

Stackwood

 

[Gatorboy]

Does anyone believe in Deja'vu?

 

[Stackwood]

O.K., here's an update. Over the weekend I bushogged and cleared stumps out of one of our paddocks. With a little practice the stump clearing went very well. They were cedar stumps, which don't have a taproot, and most of them ranged from 3-6" diameter. Typically I could knock them over going dead slow, double low at idle, then back up, readjust, and push them the rest of the way out. There were lots of cedar stumps because A. There were a high population of them in the first place, and B. Cedar takes forever to rot away. I tried pushing up a rotted, 6" hardwood stump. No dice. Taproot held it in place.

The toughest stump was very old, like 35+ years old, before our time. I'd hit it with the bushog many times and wanted it gone. It took a lot of digging on four different sides, but we got it out. The root ball probably weighed 80# or more. The area was very torn up, but backscraping with the loader took care of that. The float control was very useful for backscraping. After it was all smoothed out I ran over it repeatedly to pack it down with the tire treads. I then scattered spoiled hay over it and the other stump sites. Total elapsed time: 1 1/2 hours.

The MX5000 is no buldozer, but it gets a lot done. You could think of the FEL as a multiplier of your efforts, giving you herculean strength. I guess that's why we like tractors so much.

Bushogging: We've got several acres of pasture on a hillside that's just about got away from us. We plan to reclaim it with goats and bushogging. The new tractor makes bushogging a pleasure. The tractor is very nimble with the FEL off and acts smaller than the old MF 65 (my dad corrected me today. In earlier posts I referred to our venerable old tractor as the 165). The short wheelbase makes it turn very quick and the power steering keeps the effort light. One problem: We're popping shear pins left and right. Never did that before on the Massey. They're 1/2" shear pins. In its defense, the bushog is only rated for 40 hp, too light for the MX5000's 44 pto hp. We've been running it slow for breakin, but even 2000 rpm's is too much. The thing just doesn't slow down when a load is put on it. It's torque, after all, that cuts shear pins. At least they're cheap.

We need a heavier bushog with a 50+ hp gearbox and ideally a pto clutch. Yeah, I know they need periodic maintenance, but I'd like to try one. The catch is that the manual says the max weight for a bushog is 1000#. I'd like to run a 6 or 7 footer for future pasture clipping. Any suggestions as to brand?

Cheers

Stackwood

 

[Bob_Young]

Hi Stack,
Enjoyed reading your MX5000 report. It's a tractor I've considered.

I've have run an 1100+ lb. Woods BB720 medium duty bush hog behind my L4300. The 4300 has 45HP with 37 at the PTO I believe. The manual places maximum bush hog weight at 880 lbs. for that tractor.

The tractor IS challenged by the load of the cutter, but not in the power department. If I hook up the toplink and lift the mower, I've got to have the FEL on to keep the wheels on the ground...even then it seems a bit light. If I'm mowing known safe territory, I leave the toplink disconnected and let the hog's tailwheel carry part of the weight. The tractor seems to handle it better.

But beyond the weight issue, is the tight geometry of the 4300's 3pt. hitch layout. The lift arms barely spread far enough to get over the ends of the pins. Getting hooked up is a hassle and usually involves partial disassembly of one side of the hitch. You can't manhandle that thing into position like you can the lighter models. I've gone to Pat's easy hitch on the L4300 and that has helped the hookups immensely. But the easy hitch has the drawback of putting the mower about 3" further back which increases the moment arm that the mower weight is acting through. That makes the light front-end issue worse when the toplink is hooked up. With Pat's hitch on the lift arms, I'm pretty much restricted to 2-pt. operation on the L4300.

What I've found is that my old Ford 4000 (about 55HP) seems made for the BB720. Power is ample and hookups are easier with the big ag tractor 3 pt. geometry. Lifting the mower off the ground still makes the front end a little light, but a couple hundred lbs. of steel is all I need to cure that.

I have to mow a fair amount of woody trash in the 1 to 2 inch size range. The medium duty hog with a slip clutch is the answer. The old 5' Woods standard duty hog it replaced took a real beating with this type of usage.
FWIW
Bob

 

[Big_Cajun]

Congratulations on your recent purchase!

BC

 

[Stackwood]

Bob, Thanks for the post about your bushogging experiences. How heavy is your 'bota and your Ford? The MX5000 weighs about 3600# not counting the fluid in the tires. I reckon fluid wouldn't make any difference in balance since the rear tires are the pivot point in this case.

On one hand I'd like the widest hog I could get, which means 7', for fast clipping of pastures once we have pastures to clip. A light duty 7 footer weighs about 900# which ought to be ideal. I suppose I could option it with a slip clutch while I'm at it. This scenario works so long as we keep the pastures up in a timely manner; famous last words, eh?

On the other hand a medium or heavy duty hog would really hold up and be good for clearing. A 6 footer would run about 1100#, depending on the model, which could cause problems similar to yours. A five footer would be ideal for heavy work, especially in tight situations, but it wouldn't cut the easy stuff as fast. In a perfect world I guess I'd have both.

What I'll probably end up doing is resurrecting the old, light duty, severely abused 5 footer for tight stuff and buy a new 7 footer for the rest.

 

[Stackwood]

Our tractor came outfitted with the heavier LA852 front end loader. I decided to take it off to make manuevoring easier while bushogging. It was a little intimidating given all the warnings about finding a level, hard spot to dismount it. Here's how it went:

First I picked a nice flat spot with firm ground, just like the book said. Next I scrounged up a couple of pieces of plywood, about 1'x1', to set the stanchions on. Then I simply followed the directions one at a time. One of the stanchions didn't want to drop at first due to the paint acting like glue, but once loose it was ease to pin into position. I had to move the plywood bases closer to the tractor due to the stanchions sliding back as they reached equilibrium. Those stanchions look spindly, but they aren't, it's just that the rest of the loader is so big.

Once the stanchions are down you lower the loader just enough to take some weight off the front wheels. You're looking for equilibrium. The removable mounting pins are smooth, not threaded, so once you find the sweet spot they come out easily. Next you gently raise the loader by rolling back the bucket. This allows the loader to pivot on the stanchions until the mount is clear.

Turn the tractor off. Move the joystick around until all pressure is relieved. The hydraulic hoses pop right off. The caps are color coded, but on our unit the assemblers scrambled the colors so that the tape on the hoses doesn't correspond to the caps on the base. I use a marker to identify them and will come back with my own colored tape for durability.

It was time to back the tractor away, but I got to looking at the clearance between the bottom flange on the loader and the mounting base on the tractor and decided I was cutting it too close. When I first positioned it I only inspected one side. That side was a little higher due to small differences at ground level. My worry was that I'd run into a problem when it came time to reattach it. I popped the hoses back on, rolled the bucket back to about level, and raised the mount another 3". No worries.

I backed the tractor up a few feet, then pulled forward again as if to reattach. Looks like a reasonable amount of precision is necessary, no more.

The loader looks sort of precarious on its stands, but it isn't. There's no budging it. You could do chinups on the crossbar.

One last thing: The book doesn't mention it, but be sure to use the lockout on the joystick assembly whenever the FEL is off. That way you won't get any unpleasant surprises when something hits the joystick.

The tractor is a different machine without the FEL. It looks tiny, and turns on a dime. Just right for bushogging in thick stuff. Incidentally, the FEL base does a good job of protecting the hoses theat remain on the tractor.

 

[n8wrl]

This is one of those posts all newbie tractor owners should read. I haven't taken my FEL off yet but when I do I will definately reference this. Thanks so much!

-Brian

 

[N80]

Yep. Following the instructions step by step is the key. I've only had mine off once. Ground got wet before I put it back on and it took a while. Even though mine is smaller (LA703) it looks very heavy, but I was able to shove it a bit to improve position. Also, when you move the attachment point on one side (I had to because it was no longer level on the wet soil) the other one moves the opposite direction, so a little finesse is necessary when going that route. Finally, I couldn't get my hoses to connect. Turns out there was still enough pressure in the loader side to make them hard to connect. A light tap with a ratchet extension relieved the pressure and they hooked up just fine.

Again, level ground and following each step in the manual is the key.

 

[Bob_Young]

Stack, the L4300 weighs about 2960 lbs. without fluid or FEL. I'd guess that with both of those items, it's close to 4000 lbs. My tires are filled.

The basic Ford 4000, as I recall, weighs around 4250 lbs. Mine doesn't have fluid in the tires nor does it have weights or FEL.

I'll probably rehabilitate the old 5' Dixie Cutter for use in 'safe' areas behind the L4300 with FEL removed. Should make for a nimble little rig. Still, the FEL makes a great grille guard/mine detector. Just the thing for finding a deadfall in the tall grass.
Bob