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Re: live power take off
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Posted by Gerald on December 08, 1998 at 11:42:42:
In Reply to: live power take off posted by Sarah Hoffmann on December 08, 1998 at 09:04:56:
I think the 8N is too light and too small. Sure it was better than a team of horses, but there's better. Its only 18 or 20 hp, not 30. Live PTO is very handy for roto tilling and mowing. I've have an 8N. I wasn't successful in plowing gardens with it, if I got the plow beginning to work the 3 point lifted the rear wheels and I lost traction. That was with a Dearborn 2-14 plow which came with the 8N. Then a MF-135 doing organic row crops (corn, beans, alfalfa) and while the 135 was a fair match to my 25 acres, it was too low for good cultivating. Especially with loader brackets attached it only has about 8" ground clearance which restricts the crop height at cultivation. And organic farming needs lots of cultivation. Its hydraulics were a bit small for 6 row 30" equipment too. But the MF-135 plowed nicely with a 2-16 case plow. As deep as 9 or ten inches in 7 year old alfalfa. Like changing from a toy (the 8N) to a real working tractor. And with the wider tires it didn't pack that I noticed. I did put much wider front tires (11L-16) to get more floating under the loader. An important consideration for a large garden tractor is the minimum ground speed at PTO shaft speed. You generally want something slow for roto tilling. I don't know how slow. The MF-135 does about 1.2 mph in its slowest gear with the PTO shaft doing 540 rpm. The JD-4020 that I bought last winter did a much better job on the crop ground and was still not outrageous for mowing and raking hay. And with the oversize tires (11.00-16) I've put on the front didn't seem to pack the ground badly, and when I bought a gas version that wasn't running well (needed a thorough tune up) I paid less than the value of the MF-135. I'm working on the MF-135 rocker arms, and need to do some hydraulic adjustments and then I'll be wanting to sell it. Might not get it done until spring now that a little hint of winter has arrived. And with a bigger disk and plow, I did more field work, made better seed beds, and got a better yield with the 4020 in about 1/3 the tachometer hours. Might be that I'm learning how to select varieties, plant, and cultivate that had nothing much to do with the bigger tractor. Gerald
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