Where can I find out about compact tractors? I'm thinking about buying one, since it now costs £500 to get my hedges cut, plus I have a number of other jobs (mending the drive - about 1/4 mile of gravel, moving large quantities of compost & mulch) that it would be handy for.
I'd like one with a bucket on the front (I've now discovered these are called "power loaders") and some means of mounting a flail on a hydraulic arm on the back (dunno what these are called really). It would be nice if it could operate a mower too, then I could sell the ride-on to help pay for it.
I can find plenty of dealers on the web, but the terminology means nothing to me, so I don't really know what I'm looking at.
Well, given that you're going to need your tractor serviced, it might be worth starting with local ag/grounds-care machinery dealers and talk to them about the products they sell/support.
The Rolls-Royce of compact tractors is Kubota (Japanese made
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Their biggest tractor is less than 100hp, which is small-medium by ag tractor standards.
There's a lot of stuff coming out of China (e.g. Jinma
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which is good value, but not best engineering/reliability.
Some of the main ag tractor companies have compact tractors on their line card, but often only a limited range or even just one model.
Tractors are fundamentally classified by the engine power. Compact tractors crossover large garden tractors and small agricultural tractors and have a power range of (say) 15hp to 50hp.
Implements are classified by their PTO power, i.e. the number of horsepower that must be available at the power-take-off on the tractor. The PTO power of a tractor is always somewhat less than the engine power.
Generally speaking, as the engine power goes up, so does the physical size of the tractor. It can be very misleading to research tractors on the web, because you don't get a sense of scale. You do need to go and see them for yourself - agricultural show season is starting, so go and visit a few over the summer.
So, basic features of tractors are:
2WD or 4WD - compact tractors are 2WD in the main.
Three-point-linkage - This is the mechanical/hydraulic system at the back which allows you to connect implements and raise/lower them.
PTO - Power take off - this is a drive shaft at the back, which is used to power implements.
There are a number of variations of PTO, viz the shaft diameter, number of splines on the shaft RPM. Standard speeds are 540 RPM and 1000 RPM. You sometime see 540e or 1000e. The "e" stands for economy and means that there is extra gearing so that the engine RPM is lowered, fuel consumption is lowered, but available shaft HP at the PTO is lowered correspondingly.
Aux Hydraulics. For powered implements such as hedge cutters, you will need auxiliary hydraulic circuits at the rear of the tractor. These are sometimes referred to as spools or spool valves and will usually be double-acting (see below).
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loader. Your tractor will need mounting points and hydraulics for a power loader. Note that there are two sorts of hydraulics, single acting and double acting. Simple power loaders have single-acting hydraulics (power to raise the bucket, gravity to lower the bucket). Double-acting hydraulics power the bucket down. Note that if you only have single-acting power-loader, you can only scrape along the ground surface, you can't "dig in" and you can't use the power loader to raise the front wheels (like a JCB does for stability).
Front weights. If you're having a heavy attachment on the back then you will need to make sure that you can have ballast weights on the front of the tractor. Otherwise, at the least the steering will be very light, and potentially, there will be a front-to-back overbalance risk.
ROPS. All new tractors must have a roll-over-protection system fitted by law. If you buy a used tractor for personal use, you don't have to have one, but if you let anybody else use the tractor, you're liable under H&S.
Mowing. There are loads of different ways to cut grass, including pasture topping, flail mowing, rotary, cylinder, etc. You will most likely find that your ride-on is the better product for mowing your lawns and that a compact tractor which is big enough to operate a hedging attachment is going to be too big for the lawns (unless you've got a large orchard or paddock which just needs rough-cutting).
I suspect that if you have significant hedge-cutting works to do then you will need to firstly find a hedging attachment which is up to the job and then find a tractor big enough to handle it.
The smallest Bomford hedge-cutter needs 15hp PTO, so you're into a
20-25HP tractor which is a minimum of £6k for a Jinma or £10k for a Kubota - plus £2k for the loader, another £1.5k for a hedge cutter, £750 for a mower.
Finally, hedge cutters use flails which will chew up and spit out the larger woody stuff in the hedge.
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can create a mess and flying debris, so you should make sure you have appropriate public liability insurance in place before you go hedge cutting.
There used to be a device which was basically a large circular saw blade on a hydraulic arm and could cut through all sorts of woody growth as the tractor drove forward. Made a marvellous job but the tale goes one blade detached in use and travelled nearly half a mile before embedding itself deeply into a tree. Obviously not a thing to stand in front of!
No problem. I just read it back and noticed a mangled edit which should read as follows:
There are a number of variations of PTO, viz the shaft diameter, number of splines on the shaft and shaft RPM. Standard speeds are 540 RPM and
1000 RPM.
You sometimes see PTO speed of 540e or 1000e. The "e" stands for economy and indicates that there is an extra gear in the drive train which reduces engine RPM (and therefore fuel consumption) at the expense of reduced available horsepower at the PTO.
One thing to watch out for on older tractors is whether the pto is "live" and runs independently of the tractor transmission clutch or not. Running a pto device that stops whenever you declutch , especially a mower, is not useful.
At your local dealer. Ours is a palce called Rafferty Newman and they supply quite a decent range.
Errm... it's not going to cut your hedge. Not without spending as much as the tractor cost on getting a boom-mounted hydraulic flail.
You need something with a PTO, that's all of them. Most of the mowers sold in the UK are absolute rubbish, with parts made of bent tin and tinfoil. I have a flail with forged hammers for my 50hp crawler tractor. I also use it to cut the lawn which it does impressively well giving a close turf finish. If cost me £2000 for the flail.
At the back you'll only get a category 1 four point linkage so any equipment needs to be suitably light to use on a category 1.
For what you describe, you probably want a compact + power loader + back hoe. That will run to about £7000 to £10,000. A flail/mower will cost you about £2000 and hydaulic boom mounted flail for cutting the hedge around £3500.
You need spool valves to control the hydraulic equipment and you'll need at least three of them. As many as you can get really.
It's worh taking a course at your local agricultural college. They're not too expensive and you learn basic safety procedures and how to fit/remove accessories. Given that I've got a tractor and I'm fairly used to it by now, I'd happily come up your way to give some advice if you want.
Well done, and thanks again to Dave for a really useful and comprehensive summary. I have a little Ford 1220 with a topper on loan. Main downside is that it is pretty slow and limited in capacity. I've just had a local farmer chain harrow and roll our (rented) three acres for less than £50 using a standard sized 2wd, and that would have taken me the best part of a day on the little Ford (even if I had the harrow and roller). Best prices seem to be in local farm sales. A fair amount of stuff on eBay where you will find SH dealers posting as well as private sales.
Hmm I'd say Yanmar were also good. IMO the best of the compact tractor range are Goldoni, but they're not that common in the UK. They're very well thought through though and unlike most compacts will take flotation tyres if one wishes to do the least damage to the land and increase stability on steep slopes.
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I'd be surprised. The last hedge cutter that I had a quote for was £13.5K. Second hand Bomfords at £2.5K are worn-out rusty dogs usually with weeping rams. All of the hedgecutters that I'm aware of need more than 50HP, usually 70HP and they need a suitably heavy tractor to operate them. They're not suitable for compacts.
I see McConnel make a lightweight hydraulic cutter - £11,000 ) +VAT. It still needs 30HP+ and a tractor weighing over 1.5tonnes.
A cutter bar hedge trimmer might be more appropriate. They work with tractors down to 20HP but they still cost - £8K + VAT.
At that price, it's going to be crap IMO. I'd budget closer to £2K. I also suspect that not long after purchase the purchaser will start to wonder if they should have bought a a combi-collector mower that can vacuum up the sweepings then hydraulically tip them onto the compost.
If age is not an issue, some of the David Brown range might suit. No longer manufactured but there is a lively spares trade up around Huddersfield:-)
The PTO clutch on the 880 series is two stage on a foot pedal. Around
40hp 3cyl. and reckoned to be an easier starter than the 4cyl. fergie. The 1210 is 67hp and has a separate lever to engage the PTO.
I can't add much to Dave's excellent piece except to say 15hp sounds a bit low for a hedger. I use a McConnel which has a PTO driven 2 stage hydraulic pump and mounts on the DB1210 I doubt it would be happy on a smaller tractor.
Getting a contractor to do your hedges may not be that expensive particularly if you are not constrained by the cross compliance rules prohibiting hedging prior to 31st. July.
I already worked out what a pasture topper and ROPS was from the adverts. It also appears that turf vs. ag(ricultural) tyres is something to bear in mind. The double vs. single hydraulics is worth bearing in mind.
Yeah, I know. The farmer cuts the bits adjoining his field with one. And does my verges if I can rush out and talk to him in time. But I still have to cut the insides and the hedges entirely contained within my property. And the tractor he uses is *way* too big to fit into my garden!
Basically, you the taxpayer, financially support EU farmers through the common agricultural policy (review 2012).
I don't know how this works elsewhere but our government takes the view that there should be some return other than cheap food for this handout. As a consequence we have regulations which are targeted at environmental protection, often pandering to the lobby group currently having the ear of our masters. Clean water, clean air, protected soil are obvious ambitions. Hedges now have their own protective legislation but there are also codes of practice which discourage trimming during the main nesting season for birds. Exceptions are allowed for amenity access and highway safety reasons but generally hedges should not be trimmed between mid February and the end of July.
There is a raft of rules enforced by threat of fines (a reduction in payment) under the heading of *cross compliance*.
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