Re: Why a tricycle front end?

Posted by Shep VA on June 11, 2003 at 06:43:00 from (68.152.9.254):

In Reply to: Why a tricycle front end? posted by Steve W on June 11, 2003 at 06:14:47:

Narrow front tractors were origionally designed for row crop cultivation back before we had the sprays and herbicides that we have today. They were made to get through the corn rows better and not knock down as much crop as a wide front. However I would guess there are very few modern farms that culitvate corn for weed control any more.

We have 3 narrow front tractors on our modern farm and I would not be without them. The narrow front tractors are very good at some tasks but not so good at others. The one tractor is a 1655 Oliver narrow front and it runs the hay wrapper. For getting in and around round bales of hay and backing the wrapper in tight spots to unload hay there is nothing better. I will never use a hay wrapper to a wide front tractor now. I can turn the front of the tractor right up agenst a bale and line the wrapper right up. I also have a front wagon hitch on the one narrow front and I can re arrange the machinery shed very quickly or put hay and silage wagons anywhere with that set up.

So the pluses are tight turning ability, their agility, no tie rods and alignment to worry with, ease of storage in sheds, and probably more.

The bad parts are the front weight all in one spot (you will know what I mean if you hit a hole with the front wheels), They tend to wear the front wheels more, and you get more bent rims, tendency for the front wheels to ball up in the mud, and probably a little less stabiliy because of the front weight placement. I would not want to have a loader on a tricycle front tractor just because of the weight placement on the front end. Now having said that, there are a lot of loaders on narrow front tractors, and they get along well if you know the machine and use your head, but you can easily blow a tire, or tear out the front end with a loader on a narrow front.

In my opinion tricycle tractors have a very useful function on a modern farm, but they are not good for every job, and few tractors are.

Just my 2 cents

• Shep's World

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• Re: Re: Why a tricycle front end? Ben in KY 08:28:34 06/11/03 (0)

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