Why don't tractors have suspensions?

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Freeheeler

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My mower has awesome suspension, it's a commercial Ferris ZT. I use it to mow, and use my tractor to do tractor work. If I want to go racing thru the woods I'm in my Jeep LJ or on a dirt bike. Different tools for different jobs. Tractors with plush suspension would be comfy but quite useless as far as tractor work goes.
 

goldenpsp

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BX 23S
Nov 25, 2017
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I definitely dont agree with pulling as the reason, the rtv could out pull the bx easily, especially on rough terrain, or up hills. Ill test your theory, the bx 23s with the front loader and weighted tires has roughly the same weight as a rtv, ill see which pulls better. My money is on the rtv even tho my rtv has crappy atv tires.

I will get a big log, attach it to the tow part on the bx 23, where you can put a ball, under where the back hoe hooks up, and to the ball hitch on the rtv, and pull it around till one of them gets stuck.
I don't know that I would say towing is the reason, but the sheer change in weight from implements is more likely. On my BX23s, the overall weight of the package about doubles when I hook up the FEL and BH. Sure you could engineer adjustable shocks, maybe, but how much more cost would they add vs the value? You don't even find user adjustable suspension on cars until you get into a pretty high price point.

Then look closely at the tractor, where would you put said suspension without increasing the tractor size?

Sure I would agree, when I have my BX loaded down with implements and put it in high and floor it to get to the other side of my yard, I can get thrown around a bit. However the same path when I'm going at mowing speed or even hauling stuff around speed it's fine.
 

BAP

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If you don’t like your tractor’s ride and according to your other threads you don’t like the tires and probably other things, then maybe you aren’t suited to having a tractor. People these days have become too soft and expect cushy rides instead of a machine intended to work.
 

Makasoul

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Rtv x 1100c, bx 23s
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If you don’t like your tractor’s ride and according to your other threads you don’t like the tires and probably other things, then maybe you aren’t suited to having a tractor. People these days have become too soft and expect cushy rides instead of a machine intended to work.
Has nothing to do with chusy, as i suspected the bx 23s failed pulling a tree up my lawn, because its tires couldnt stay on the ground. The rtv pulled it mind u i had the tree backwards to for extra hard pulling. A tractor atleast bx only use in my mind is because the loader and backhoe, it sell point as a mower is bad, or pullimg trees. I pulled that tree down from the woods at 15 mph, the tractor cant even go that fast, and its top speed of 5mph in low is way to fast for the bumps.

So yep a rtv is a better tractor for mowing and pulling. The bx is better for its attachments. Now if they put a front loader on the rtv, with a back pto, the bx would be useless. So yep i still stand behind a tractor with a frames and adustable shocks is way way way way better than a tractor with soild axles.

Shame they dont make a front loader for it, and a back pto.
 

Makasoul

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Rtv x 1100c, bx 23s
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I don't know that I would say towing is the reason, but the sheer change in weight from implements is more likely. On my BX23s, the overall weight of the package about doubles when I hook up the FEL and BH. Sure you could engineer adjustable shocks, maybe, but how much more cost would they add vs the value? You don't even find user adjustable suspension on cars until you get into a pretty high price point.

Then look closely at the tractor, where would you put said suspension without increasing the tractor size?

Sure I would agree, when I have my BX loaded down with implements and put it in high and floor it to get to the other side of my yard, I can get thrown around a bit. However the same path when I'm going at mowing speed or even hauling stuff around speed it's fine.

I dont mean have the tractor look the same, it would look like the tractor with shocks already, the rtv. The etv has adjustable shocks on it, though ur right it is a 23000 dollar machine. If they added a back pto, 3 point hitch, and front loader it would be up there to 30000, than with a backhoe 40000. A rtv with a front loader, pto, 3 point hitch, and back hoe. With camera's for view would make a bx useless. The rrv would be better at everything. A rtv and bx 23s is already 40 grand, so having it all on one and superior would be better in my opinion. :)
 

dirtydeed

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Right. put a loader /BH on an RTV? Just how long do you think that RTV would last?

Anyway, perhaps you should sell the BX as it appears that it's ill suited for your use/applications.
 
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goldenpsp

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BX 23S
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I dont mean have the tractor look the same, it would look like the tractor with shocks already, the rtv. The etv has adjustable shocks on it, though ur right it is a 23000 dollar machine. If they added a back pto, 3 point hitch, and front loader it would be up there to 30000, than with a backhoe 40000. A rtv with a front loader, pto, 3 point hitch, and back hoe. With camera's for view would make a bx useless. The rrv would be better at everything. A rtv and bx 23s is already 40 grand, so having it all on one and superior would be better in my opinion. :)
Yea except you won't get one doing it all.

The RTV has a max payload of 1058 lbs. That isn't even enough to hold the BH and FEL. Add to that the FEL can then carry an additional 500 lbs. The RTV Cargo bed isn't even rated to carry as much as a BX FEL.

They are built for completely different purposes.

The point of my post is that it simply isn't worth the engineering and expense to try and put suspension on a BX tractor, especially since you would need to lock it out in some fashion 90% of the time you are using it (for say FEL and other implement usage).
 

Mister

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Jul 13, 2018
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Your tractor is small enough that it is more comparable in size to your RTV, so you're looking at throwing money in to tractor attachments for your RTV, but what you really should be doing is getting a larger, more capable tractor with proper implements. Us it as a tractor, and use your damn RTV as an RTV. Or you can go ahead and dump money in to the RTV, and you'll quickly realize it isn't very capable as a tractor...

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 

Ramos

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Boys, to borrow an old saying.... You can lead a horse to water, but you sure can't make him drink. The OP has his mind made up. How about we let this thread die a natural death?
 

troverman

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On some of the larger M-series tractors, Kubota already offers a front suspension called "Kubota Shockless Ride" (KSR) which is an option. It uses a nitrogen accumulator to absorb bumps and does improve ride without sacrificing loader capacity.
 

Makasoul

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Rtv x 1100c, bx 23s
Sep 15, 2018
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Right. put a loader /BH on an RTV? Just how long do you think that RTV would last?

Anyway, perhaps you should sell the BX as it appears that it's ill suited for your use/applications.

Its not ill suited, it has a loader and a backhoe. That is it use. No idea how long it would last no one made one. They have plows and 3 point hitches for them, i doubt that made them brake in 50 hours.

The bx has it use, i just think tractors are garbage, and are a horrid design from a long time ago, i mean a 2018 bx is to the t the same design as a 1950 ford 8n, with some improvements to placements of things, and a better transmission. The design is the same though, shit straight axle on a pivot in the front, and straight back.

Its like using a car from the 50s they are legit garbage compared to a modern car and are nothing alike. You take a 8n though and if it was kept in good shape it literally is just as useful as a bx.

You take a 1950 car and even if it was never used would still be trash compared to a modern car. Especially say a suburu. If you took a 2018 suburu outback, and a 1950 ford, the ford would flip off the road within the first 30 mph turn hit at 50, while the suburu would be fine. If you hit them together in a head on crash at 50 the person in the ford would be dead.

So yep im gonna still say tractors are legit dumpster trash, but there is nothing else for 23 grand new that can do what it does, because no one designed anything better, and there are no regulations on forcing people to a safety standard. So since tractors still sell they will never make them better.
 

armylifer

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Man, you took your thread way off track. You went from asking why tractors don't have suspensions all the way to comparing 1950's cars against 2018 cars. You got your answer why there isn't a suspension on a tractor so do you need any more information on tractor suspensions? If not, please just let it rest.
 

Treckerzeug

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Carraro tgf 7800 taijfun 4,5 t winch, trailer with crane, double bl saw
Apr 17, 2015
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Bavaria South Germany
Hello,

Sorry i donot agree
In Europe trucks are heavily taxed, so farmers tend to use tractors for transport tasks.
Larger tractors have blockable spring systems for the front axles and suspensions on the cabs,
Blockable because for ploughing and front loader work the suspension would not work well together with the draft control etc.
An early bad example was the mb trac, you couldn t easily keep the depth of your plough correct.
Todays system have either long arms so one end fix one hydraulically with a nitrogen damper movable and the fixation of the axle somewhere inbetween or via parallelogramms.
The latest in the game ist the vineyard range from same deutz fahr with a parellogramm quadlink suspension system,
Plus another nivelty for a narrow tractor:
A flat cab floor

Regards

Robert
 

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goldenpsp

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BX 23S
Nov 25, 2017
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6
Baltimore MD
Hello,

Sorry i donot agree
In Europe trucks are heavily taxed, so farmers tend to use tractors for transport tasks.

Regards

Robert
Was in Ireland for summer vacation with the family. I LOL'd at the number of ancient tractors driving through some of the rural towns doing errands. Now I better understand.
 

BAP

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Beginning to think the “T” word. Troll
 

troverman

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Jun 9, 2015
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...The bx has it use, i just think tractors are garbage, and are a horrid design from a long time ago, i mean a 2018 bx is to the t the same design as a 1950 ford 8n, with some improvements to placements of things, and a better transmission. The design is the same though, shit straight axle on a pivot in the front, and straight back.

Its like using a car from the 50s they are legit garbage compared to a modern car and are nothing alike. You take a 8n though and if it was kept in good shape it literally is just as useful as a bx.

You take a 1950 car and even if it was never used would still be trash compared to a modern car. Especially say a suburu. If you took a 2018 suburu outback, and a 1950 ford, the ford would flip off the road within the first 30 mph turn hit at 50, while the suburu would be fine. If you hit them together in a head on crash at 50 the person in the ford would be dead.

So yep im gonna still say tractors are legit dumpster trash, but there is nothing else for 23 grand new that can do what it does, because no one designed anything better, and there are no regulations on forcing people to a safety standard. So since tractors still sell they will never make them better.
I'm very confused by your arguments. For one thing, a Ford 8N is much larger and heavier than a BX and even today can perform more work than a BX. Of course, the BX is the nicer machine to operate.

As for comparing an old car to a modern car...yeah, the modern car is better in most respects. But why compare a Subaru? It surely is not some exceptionally great vehicle. I'd wager if a 1950's car hit a Subaru at 50 mph, occupants in both vehicles might be dead, not just in the old car. Subarus, contrary to their flowery marketing campaigns, are not heavily built or extremely safe. That is just marketing.

And tractors are very nice these days. They cost a lot because they last a long time. The basic design hasn't changed because...it works.
 

armylifer

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Thurston County, WA
Out of curiosity I googled Makasoul's location (Sidnry center) and could not find it. Where is it? I was going to make an offer to buy his "legit dumpster trash" tractor if he lived close enough to me but I cannot find the location that he lists.
 

goldenpsp

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BX 23S
Nov 25, 2017
69
0
6
Baltimore MD
Out of curiosity I googled Makasoul's location (Sidnry center) and could not find it. Where is it? I was going to make an offer to buy his "legit dumpster trash" tractor if he lived close enough to me but I cannot find the location that he lists.
I guessed a typo, possibly Sidney Center NY. Either way...
 

armylifer

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I guessed that it was a typo too but I wanted to be absolutely sure. The BX23 is a powerful piece of machinery that I would be very happy to own, if I could afford one. I figured that since he seems very unhappy with his BX23, that he might let it go for a price that I could afford. However, I am not going to make a 6000 mile round trip to buy one, if he lives in NY.
 
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