Didn't read all the replies, I can guess what they were.
I farm, drive tractors for 40 years now, small to large. About 1/2 of my 8 tractors are narrow front, others are wide front. Been through it all.
I got a compact Ford tractor with loader a couple years ago, 27hp, 4wd, with loader.
That is the SCARIEST!!!!!! thing I ever drove in my life. I was pulling an epty wagon down the driveway hill, & it about shoved me down the hill & over on my side. I have never driven anything else on the farm that scared me so much in 4 decades.......
Of course, no fluid in the rear tires. I called the very next day & had the coop come out & fill (75% is considered 'full', need the small air cushion....) the tires with calcium cloride.
What a difference! Very useful & safe machine now. I just used it this very evening, to pull 400 bu of oats in a big gravity wagon into the shed. Works with full wagons now.
I can't believe the dealers are allowed to sell these things to inexperienced people without fluid in the rears. They are horribly unstable without it.
Some folks don't like the calcium cloride. It can rust things if it leaks. But, it is by far the best option. It weights over 11lbs per gallon depending how it is mixed. It doesn't freeze. It is not poisonious (it'll kill grass if it spills out, but it won't kill your pets like antifreezes do...).
Antifreeze weighs less than water - around 7 lbs per gallon. You only get what, 60% the weight????
You want weight on the back of that tractor. Get some good fluid in it. When not exposed to oxygen, CC doesn't rust anything. You just have to watch for, flush off, & fix leaks. Normal maintenence....
Rim Guard costs more, made from beet juice, if you don't want the CC.
My coop would be pretty mad at me if I used washer fluid or antifreeze & contaminated their supply of CC when they come to service my tractors.
I'd want no part of these off fluids.
Your call, of course - it's your tractor.
When I really use the loader for a hard day's work, I have a weight box I hang on the 3pt. This makes it very stable, even with a big load on the loader. I don't rely on just the weight in the tires..... This weight, extended behind the rear axle, helps take a little weight off the front axle. It acts like a teeter totter, weight hanging behind the rear of the tractor pulls a littlew weight off the front axle.
You do not want to widen the front wheels. This puts extreme stress on the front joints - your whole tractor is balancing on that front axle, lot of weight & stress there - it would be against the warrentee. Since your (and all) tractors pivot on the front axle anyhow, it wouldn't make any difference anyhow.
I know, so often folks are tld how unstable oan old narrow front tractor is, and a newer wide front end is safer. But that really isn't the big deal it's made to be. All tractors pivot in front, so it only is a small stability thing, not a big deal.
The loader tractor I grew up on and used - and still have - is a Farmall H tractor, narrow front. Dad made cement wheel weights for it, 200lbs on each side. For heavy work, we put a platform & another 500lbs on the back of it.
Never felt unsafe on that tricycle tractor - because it is balasted properly.
Wow was I scared on the compact before it had fluid in it. Can't believe they can sell something like that.
Put some good fluid in the tires - CC or Rim Guard - and have a weight box or weights to go on the 3pt for real hard use.
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Today's Featured Article - The 8N and the Fox - by Zane Sherman. Dec. 13 1998, Renfroe, Alabama. Last niht I dreamed about the day that I plowed the field of about 10 acres over on what Jimmy and Dandy called the Ledbetter field. I was driving the 1948 8N Ford tractor that Jimmy bought in 48 new This was prebably in about 1951 and maybe even befor the house was built. This would have made me to be about16 years old and I drove the tractor for nothing and would have paid to drive it if I had had any money which I didn't, but neit
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