Tractor Spec. Question

[Arkie1940]

Right off the bat - I know next to nothing about tractors. I am on an airport commission. We have 4 levels of grounds maintenance, lawn mowing (Woods ZTR), brush hogging, hay making (by others), and uncleared woods. We presently have a Massey-Ferguson 255 (50HP?) that we use with a 10 foot brush hog for the brush hogging level. It is on its last legs. If it was a horse, someone would have already taken it out and put it out of its misery. We are going to be going out for bids to purchase a new tractor. What do we need? Primary application is the 10 foot brush hog. We are also considering getting a power broom/street sweeper attachment and a front loader. The power broom would be for sweeping taxiways and ramp (aircraft parking) areas. The front loader would be for very occasional clearing of drainage ditches and possibly occasional cargo loading assistance (fork lift type use). We are also considering adding an enclosure with air conditioning for the operator (How much HP does the Air Conditioning compressor drag off?). The primary question is what size (Horse Power) tractor should we be looking for. The present tractor has two wheel drive and I'm assuming that that is what we need. Any thoughts on that? Any other thoughts and recommendations?

 

[RoyJackson]

For Deere:
Look at the 4xxx series or the 5xxx series. I'm not sure you can get mid PTO to drive that broom on the 5xxx series machines though. These machines range from 40 to over 50 HP.
May as well stick with 2WD since it worked well with your Massey. The only caveat to that would be if you ever need to plow snow.

 

[Arkie1940]

Snow isn't a worry in our location.

 

[sandman2234]

TractorData.com - information on all makes and models of tractors

For your Massey
TractorData.com - Massey Ferguson 255

I would consider a blower for clearing the runways and parking lots, if you have room to blow it to where it won't be blown into the intakes and the operator has a little common sense.. Probably faster than a broom and less upkeep.
For ocassional work like clearing a ditch, I wouldn't think a loader would be the best choice as a loader usually doesn't dig much below ground level by more than a few inches. I would think renting a back hoe would be better.
Cabs are great if you have one, but don't have one here so I will skip that.
The links should help determining your horsepower uses.
David from jax
I am a former Arkie, SW corner. Where are you at?

 

[GreenWannabe]

Arkie, since the airport commission is presumably a government agency, you might want to talk to your street or road department. They use tractors all the time, and probably have preferences for both tractors and attachments and could give you a lot of information. In addition, you may be eligible for buying through a local or state or even GSA contract that could help reduce your cost. At least it would give you another source of information you could use to come up to speed.

In addition to compact and utility tractors, you might want to consider a utility machine like the Bobcat Toolcat. There is a forun here for that machine as well as tractors.

I've also found Muhammad Chishti's book, "Compact Tractor Buying & Basics" a good source of information that will give you much more familiarization. It is written by the moderator of TractorByNet (TBN) and is available for sale on TBN in pdf format.

 

[Arkie1940]

I am a former Arkie, SW corner. Where are you at?

Arkansas River Valley, Russellville.

 

[Arkie1940]

For your Massey
TractorData.com - Massey Ferguson 255

I had been there. It doesn't give engine horse power. Ratioing up from the PTO-HP and other tractor's specs, I assume the engine must be around 65HP.

The main concern with sweeping is getting rid of gravel. Propellers and gravel don't mix. There is sort of a vortex off of the tip of each prop blade. One blade will suck up a piece of gravel off of the ground and the next blade will hit it. The resulting ding in the prop does not make plane owners happy. We have used a sweeper service that did shopping center parking lots and that sort of thing. It was a vacuum machine and didn't pick up the gravel. A plain powered broom does the job and the combination rotary broom and vacuum rigs do the job. I don't know if a blower would or not. We would have to find one to demo.

We can get a backhoe from the county for heavier digging. I guess what I was thinking of for the front loader was more where the ground has been graded for runoff and that has gradually silted up over the years. They are sort of a broad very shallow ditches that can still be mowed.

 

[Arkie1940]

Arkie, since the airport commission is presumably a government agency, you might want to talk to your street or road department.

In addition to compact and utility tractors, you might want to consider a utility machine like the Bobcat Toolcat. There is a forun here for that machine as well as tractors.

I've also found Muhammad Chishti's book, "Compact Tractor Buying & Basics" a good source of information that will give you much more familiarization. It is written by the moderator of TractorByNet (TBN) and is available for sale on TBN in pdf format.

I am getting in contact with the street department and the Parks and Rec. Dept. We (the airport) belong to the city but are a separate entity. We do try to co-operate and co-ordinate with the city departments as much as we can. I'll be checking our your other suggestions also. Thanks

 

[BTDT]

Welcome to TBN arkie. Just curious. Is the MF shot due to operator abuse (like a piece of rental equipment), or is it worn out due to high hours? Will it be auctioned off? Good luck with your equipment search.

Something that might work would be a construction type air compressor (Leroi 185 or larger) on a truck with piping across front near runway with holes pointed down and forward. These compressors make a lot of air that would blow gravel around. You could angle it to the side (like a snowplow) to blow gravel off to the side.

 

[JerryG]

You have to be careful using Tractordata.com. I have found a lot of mistakes on that site. You can't ever tell which numbers are right and which ones are wrong. I still use it from time to time.