Thinking of buying my first tractor. TC26DA or TC34DA??

[wild4nature]

I have a 2 acres I mow with a riding lawn mower. I also have a 1/4 mile gravel driveway I plow with a pick-up truck. Thinking of getting rid of both of them and getting a tractor. First thought I would get the TC26 since it is smaller. Now thinking maybe I should go with something bigger.

Would a TC34 do a nice job of plowing snow with a front end loader? How about moving dirt?

Can I maneuver around trees with the belly mower on a TC34, or is it too big?

 

[jbrumberg]

wild4nature:
Welcome to TBN ! Please provide us with additional information on your profile so that the members can provide appropriate feedback. I live in western NE and have had no problem moving snow, manure, or any other materials on my property with my NH TC29DA's FEL (but I do not have a 1/4 mile driveway). Moving compacted dirt is difficult without a FEL toothbar (I am currently "working" "She Who Must Be Obeyed" for a toothbar ). A front blade may be a better attachment for moving snow over that distance as there is a lot of backing up when moving snow with a FEL (There are front blade attachments for FEL's). I have a rear mounted rotary cutter with which I have to ocassionally mow my "lawn" with practice you can get pretty close to trees but you have to watch your rear swing and look out for ROPS-tree limb "interaction" (luckily the DA series' hazard lamps are "knock off's" ). My weighted R-1's tend to chew up the lawn if the soil is damp when in 4WD so I usually use my rider mower. A midmount mower seriously reduces your ground clearance which could be a problem if your property is rough, uneven, and/or hilly. Midmounts can also be a pain to get on and off. Again welcome to TBN and be aware that all of us are more than willing to help you spend your money . Jay

 

[wild4nature]

I was wondering about which tires would be best. The Ag and Industrial tires look nice for snow plowing and moving dirt with the FEL, but I don't think they would be very good on the front lawn, especially if it has rained a lot. What about the turf tire? Would they have enough bite to work in the snow with a 4WD machine?

 

[Parttimer]

I can not help you with how well the turf tires work in the snow (yet). I only have 25 hours on my tc-30 with fel and back-ho. The tires are not loaded, but the back-ho adds enough weight so far for what i am doing. I have dug two small ponds, (25' diameter- 5' deep, mostly with the fel. Cut in a driveway thru the woods and brush. (about 200 feet in length) I have a bolt on smooth blade on the front. A little difficult getting started in the grass, but when I have removed enough to get a bite, it works great. I have taken down 6 trees rangind from 6" diam. to smaller. all with the fel. It is alot more usable than i had anticipated.
My first 5 hours were driving it on my back yard practicing, and It was fine on the grass. As long as i did not drive over the same spot over and over.

I am so far very impressed with what can be done with the machine.

There are people here with far more experience than I, but I figured I would chime in as a fellow newbie to tractors.

ps: welcome, and good luck

 

[MikePA]

I was wondering about which tires would be best. The Ag and Industrial tires look nice for snow plowing and moving dirt with the FEL, but I don't think they would be very good on the front lawn, especially if it has rained a lot. What about the turf tire? Would they have enough bite to work in the snow with a 4WD machine?

I have R4s and you're correct, they are not lawn friendly, particularly when the lawn is wet. This is the reason I stopped mowing with my TC25D and went back to a garden tractor.

I use the FEL to plow snow and have to use 4wd for all but the lightest of snow. When the FEL fills up with snow and begins to act like a plow, the rear tires start to spin when in 2wd.

 

[jwstewar]

I have a 2 acres I mow with a riding lawn mower. I also have a 1/4 mile gravel driveway

Wow you must have a really long skinny lot to be on 2 acres with a 1/4 mile drive.

I have a little over 7 1/2 acres. I have a NH TC24D (same tractor as the 26 just 2 less HP). Not sure what all you plan on doing, but I believe with 2 acres the 26 would be plenty of tractor and the 34 would be overkill. Don't know what tasks you have at hand other than mowing, but the 24 I have as been quite the little work horse. I regulary mow 5 acres or so with the MMM, I then bush hog the other 2 with a 4' cutter. I've dug a little pond for the wife's flower garden, I've built my garage with it - including moving 154 tons of sand/gravel for the floor and another 18 tons of black top chunks for the driveway extension base.

Look at this thread to see some of the projects I've done with my little 24: JimsPoleBarnProject
Take note of the hole I dug when I was installing the water line - and that was w/o a tooth bar.

I have the R4s loaded and if it is wet, they will leave some marks, but with our ground being sandy, they usually bounce back out pretty quick.

 

[Doc_Bob]

I was wondering about which tires would be best. The Ag and Industrial tires look nice for snow plowing and moving dirt with the FEL, but I don't think they would be very good on the front lawn,

I run AG or R1 on my tractor. They will destroy the lawn. But in my situation, with lot's of dirt, etc, the traction is great!
Bob

 

[daTeacha]

Many threads are on here about tires, but the general consensus is that turfs will work okay in snow and that they are better than the other types when chains come into the picture. A lot of your snow traction will depend on the type of snow you're dealing with and whether or not you've driven on and packed it before you plow it. Many of us use rear blades, some have snowblowers. The best bet is a front mounted blade, but those are not terribly common.

Turfs are absolutely best for driving over your lawn. There are basically two types, the Galaxy and the regular turf tire. As I understand it, Galaxies have rounded corners on the "nubs" and regular turfs have sharp corners. I won't swear to that as I don't use turfs and am not a big lawn person.

 

[Typhoon]

I don't know if this will help, but here is my experience. I have a TC29D, and I maintain 50 acres, and a 1/2 mile driveway with NO problems! I have R4's on it, and never have traction problems, even in deep snow. Also, I mow my lawn with it and a finish mower. It is just on the verge of being too big to mow the lawn with because I have some trees to mow around, etc. For my 50 acres, the TC29D has been perfect! Also, for mowing the lawn, I have found that taking the loader off (5 minute job) makes it MUCH easier to mow around stuff. Hope this helps you.
-Brad

 

[wild4nature]

Interesting. Looks like the turf tires will work from what I am reading. Maybe I will have to get chains and weights for them though. Still would probably be cheaper than having a winter snow plowing set of tires and a summer grass mowing set of tires.

Still not sure if the TC34 is too big or not. I have 2 acres I mow, and a couple of acres of woods I want to make paths through. I have walkways now, but want to smooth and widen them. Sounds like a fun job for a FEL, right?

I have about 20 loads of dirt dumped in the side yard I want to mound up to block the noise and view of the Ohio Turnpike, which is next to my property. If I get the tractor I can keep building my own sound wall to block the highway and then plant it with pine saplings.

I like the comment below about the front blade. I'm thinking I should just bite the bullet and get the FEL and a separate front mounted plow blade for snow.

Anyone know if New Holland still has 0 % financing for tractors?