# What Tractors Are You Guys Using



## MidGAOutdoor (Apr 7, 2011)

What tractor do you guys use for lifting the big logs? I have a Mahindra 4025 with the 233 FEL and I met a lot today that we could barely lift. 3 grown men standing on bush hog and an operator on tractor. we got it done but it was a 3047# log on a loader with a max capacity of 2800#. Thinking maybe an older backhoe?


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I'm using a 1959 Case 210B.


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

No log hauling tractor, but we have a lawn tractor, craftsman T3000.. 2 years, zero problems so far.. a lot more grass and bushes than trees.. I need to build a lawn cart someday soon.. that might be my winter project..


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*really?*



allpurpose said:


> No log hauling tractor, but we have a lawn tractor, craftsman T3000.. 2 years, zero problems so far.. a lot more grass and bushes than trees.. I need to build a lawn cart someday soon.. that might be my winter project..


The question was about a big enough tractor with a FEL (front end loader) to move heavy logs, and you post up about a lawn tractor...? HUH?:surprise2:










I have used my John Deere 4710 for some logging, but I don't think it would lift 3000 lbs based on these specs:
http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/001/7/8/1782-john-deere-4710-attachments.html


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## MidGAOutdoor (Apr 7, 2011)

yea I didn't have a trailer at the time the Mahindra was purchased big enough to haul anything larger than the Mahindra. now I do and wish I had the bigger one. nit doing tractor work for hire I had to go with what I had stuff to haul it on. think I'm going to end up buying a used backhoe off craigslist.


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## holtzdreher (Jul 20, 2016)

well a few years ago, I had the chance to buy a John Deere 4wd 210C backhoe loader. I can lift 5,000 pounds with the loader and about half that with the rear bucket. I can stack a 1/2 cord of wood in the front bucket. I use the rear boom and bucket to lift and stack smaller logs on an old running gear wagon with a cradle built on it. (I have about 20 acres of woods here on the farm. )


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## TimPa (Jan 27, 2010)

I mostly skid. my '49 8n with a 3ph scoop works well. put the end of the log into the scoop and chain her in. haven't had a log yet she couldn't pull. for lifting, I have a ford 3600 w/dunham lehr loader, doubt it would lift over a ton though, running off of internal hydraulics. 


will have a challenge coming up soon, maple about 40" dia from neighbors. can't skid through their yard, have to trailer will have to keep them short.


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## MidGAOutdoor (Apr 7, 2011)

I figured out that I can lift easier by taking off the forks or bucket and use chains in such a way that it doesn't damage the loader. this takes the weight of the forks off completely and gets the log closer to the tractor so its not way out there making leverage to raise rear of tractor.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*I used chains*

I bolted some hooks to the ends of the bucket and then used chains wrapped around the logs. This puts the weight closer to the tractor, increasing the leverage.


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## grnspot (Feb 5, 2017)

My main "using" tractor is a 2004 JD 790, I use the forks mostly in the timber. Bought the forks w/top & bottom bars off ebay & built my own frame.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I bought a new John Deere tractor one time and the company screwed me over so bad I'll never buy another one, new or used. The transmission was defective and the front loader the bucked wouldn't lock where you could back drag with it. Despite taking it back to the dealer several times they never did any work on the tractor, they just kept it for a couple weeks and gave it back to me.


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## TimPa (Jan 27, 2010)

sounds like you experienced a very bad dealership, most aren't that way. what tractor do you have now?


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## Catpower (Jan 11, 2016)

I have a 5520MFWD John Deere but don't have a picture of it.

I have had very good luck with my John Deere dealer, when I was looking for a tractor he talked me into a 5205, it was quite a bit cheaper than the 5520 but he said it would do what I wanted, well it was built on a Friday or something, I had a bunch of minor problems but it was always something, I got POed at it and told him I wanted the 5520, they credited me every dime I spent on the 5205, and just by rearranging the numbers the 5520 is twice the tractor the 5205 was

One thing y'all need to check into is the ballasting of the machine, and heed it, the 5520 will pick up more than the ass end weighs, and that is with fluid in the tires, that is very dangerous, and really is tough on the front axle, after telling the dealer about it (they didn't even pay attention to it) they got with Mo Deere and the engineers said it wasn't ballasted enough, so we got out the manual and it said there needs to be at least 3200 lbs of weight on the 3 pt plus the fluid in the tires, but the loader will break away about 6000 lbs

Without the ballast box it is like balancing about 15,000 lbs in the front axle


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## grnspot (Feb 5, 2017)

I'll agree, sounds like a dealership problem! 

I grew up with John Deere, have five now. The 790, a 755 that I bought last fall to mow at the farm, my 1953-40S, used for snow pushing & shows, 314 garden tractor for shows & leaf cleanup & backup mower at home. 70 I (the yellow one) shows & light towing. And the 1980 Power King that is for shows & yard work.


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## Catpower (Jan 11, 2016)

grnspot said:


> I'll agree, sounds like a dealership problem!
> 
> I grew up with John Deere, have five now. The 790, a 755 that I bought last fall to mow at the farm, my 1953-40S, used for snow pushing & shows, 314 garden tractor for shows & leaf cleanup & backup mower at home. 70 I (the yellow one) shows & light towing. And the 1980 Power King that is for shows & yard work.


I have a 40T, also a 38 A 23D, 720 D CE and a 730 D Electric, had an 830, but was offered $15,000 so it went down the road

This is my wife's lawn mower


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

TimPa said:


> sounds like you experienced a very bad dealership, most aren't that way. what tractor do you have now?


I bought the John Deere to replace a Kubota tractor that I bought in 1987 and worked to death. I've since rebuilt the motor but left the front loader off of it. Just use it for mowing. To replace the John Deere I bought a 1959 Case 210B and restored it.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Green tractors 17, others 1*

My Green tractor at work in the snow:


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## grnspot (Feb 5, 2017)

Catpower said:


> I have a 40T, also a 38 A 23D, 720 D CE and a 730 D Electric, had an 830, but was offered $15,000 so it went down the road
> 
> This is my wife's lawn mower


I grew up on this 1958 720D ES, bought the 520 when we bought our current property 30+ years ago, both sold later.


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

*Behind every Good log.....*

Is a GOOD tractor...GREEN that is!!!! I don't usually take pics of the tractor....sssssssssssssssssssoooooooo they're limited!!! This is a 5300 and I use a Farmi 3 pt hitch logging winch, WONDERFUL!!!! piece of equipment EVERY farm should have....HANDY!!!! Uniforest makes a great one also.

This is a 36" split off a 72" crotch of cherry.....after ageing a while I sawed some BEAUTIFUL slabs from it.

Tractor first...


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Looks like the most unprofessionally stacked wood I've ever seen. Any professional saw mill would randomly sticker the wood to where you couldn't find but one or two straight boards in the stack.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*You had better be kiddin' .......*



Steve Neul said:


> Looks like the most unprofessionally stacked wood I've ever seen. Any professional saw mill would randomly sticker the wood to where you couldn't find but one or two straight boards in the stack.


You're gonna get some flak on this. You should put a :wink2: at the end if this is a tongue in cheek comment ...just sayin'

Very nicely stacked there Tim. :yes:


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

woodnthings said:


> You're gonna get some flak on this. You should put a :wink2: at the end if this is a tongue in cheek comment ...just sayin'
> 
> Very nicely stacked there Tim. :yes:


Did you ever see a saw mill they stickered the wood in line with each other? In the area I grew up in there were several including Bruce Flooring and they all made skis out of the wood from the way it was stacked. Even when I was a small child I wondered why they didn't align the sticks while they were drying the wood.


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

Steve Neul said:


> Looks like the most unprofessionally stacked wood I've ever seen. Any professional saw mill would randomly sticker the wood to where you couldn't find but one or two straight boards in the stack.


:lol::lol::lol::tt2::vs_unimpressed: It's called "organized K-aus" (however that's spelled). That's funny...I tell most "I don't cut straight lumber....like the box stores, I like SHAPE!!!!....anyone can cut square"...."BORING!!!!"

No hard feelings....just a sign of, now what were we talking about????


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## TimPa (Jan 27, 2010)

Steve Neul said:


> Looks like the most unprofessionally stacked wood I've ever seen. Any professional saw mill would randomly sticker the wood to where you couldn't find but one or two straight boards in the stack.


sorry, saw TRACTORS and had to look!!

i know, old thread. just saw this comment and thought i would offer, this is called a _boule _lumber stack. a (very prominent) lumber yard a few miles from here do it often. there are woodorkers who like to buy it that way, so that there is a very continuous grain and color pattern from board to board.

umm, unprofessional, no. Smart, yes!


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

I have a 2016 John Deere 2032R, generation one, year before they put all the epa stuff on them. I have a grapple, loader, backhoe, brush cutter, landscape rake and box blade. Does a tremendous job. I cleaned out 2 acres of overgrown woods, dead ash trees, pricker bushes, wild grape vines and Hawthorne trees with the big thorns. Made easy work out of it. Pic of the wood green was before, other pic with leaves turning is after. Planted grass in the woods too.
Mike Hawkins


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## holtzdreher (Jul 20, 2016)

firehawkmph said:


> I have a 2016 John Deere 2032R, generation one, year before they put all the epa stuff on them. I have a grapple, loader, backhoe, brush cutter, landscape rake and box blade. Does a tremendous job.


I have a 50 acre farm and a 55 hp 4wdr Mahindra for mowing hay and baling.. It had a little over 1,000 hours in 3 years. It is not my only tractor. I have an old Ford 8n and a John Deere 210c backhoe/loader. ( a yellow machine not a puny ag machine) Home owner's 20 or 30 hp subcompact tractors seem like toys. Then to my wife's cousin out in Minnesota, with 1700 acres and a couple huge 240hp tracked ag tractors and a $200k combine, my 55 hp Mahindra is a toy his tractor could carry around so he can run home for lunch.


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