Re: Regarding FWA on row crop tractors

Posted by Joe Evans on October 13, 2004 at 08:02:52 from (209.41.233.229):

In Reply to: Re: Regarding FWA on row crop tractors posted by Indydirtfarmer on October 13, 2004 at 05:48:21:

Amen, John. I have a 2WD Kubota I use on my home property. Nice little rig, dependable as can be, and very nimble on my hilly home acres. At the time of purchase in 1985, and being dumb as a stump with respect to the benefits of FWA at that time, I did not spend the extra $1200 or so to get that option. Never will need it I said.

Last year I put a loader on that machine. What was at one time a very tractable machine is now about half the time a PITA. Without the loader, all attachments biased the weight more on the rear drives. Now the weight bias is flipped 180 degrees to the front axle. Dang near every move has to be planned so that the rear wheels don't get unweighted like traveling forward downhill with about 500# in the bucket. Oh sure, I've added weights to the rear and liquid in the tires. It helps, but that can't get you the safety factor FWA wil give. The biggest problem is attempting to back up a slight grade with a load in the bucket. The tractor is nearly helpless.

Case in point: We need to replace a culvert at Mom's farm. I'm going to take my Kubota over there and scoop out the very small creek to accept a new culvert. I'll be working "nose down". My brother asked if he needed to be around while I do this. I told him "Sure do! Make sure you lash the 504 to my backside to pull me back out of the hole!" What a pain.

I rue the day I went cheap and didn't get FWA. I'm about 2 inches from trading her off for something newer for safety's sake.

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