front rear weight distribution ?

[nightdevil]

Hi All, I'm still deciding on which tractor im going to get but I'm leaning towards a B series. Although I would love a BX due to low center of gravity, I have alot of lumps, bumps, and onsticles on my wooded property. So I don't want anything to get caught... and I have no grass to cut.

One of my concerns is that I have a fairly steep incline on my driveway that is about 20 degrees from level. Of course rolling back is my major concern but I'm probably over thinking it as I never had a problem with my riding mower. Although it had me thinking, what is the front to rear weight distribution? Although I am planning to buy weights, if I'm clearing snow I would think I would not want to add rear weights as I'm driving up the hill to ensure my front is loaded (assuming FEL).

If I knew the front and rear weight distribution, it would let me know how much more is being added to the downward force. I didn't find this answer just yet in the forums.

 

[cerlawson]

Explain what you intend to do with this tractor. Remember that for stability you also need width for side hill work.

When deciding on a tractor also check its range of bucket lift height, the up and down range of the rear three point arms, etc. The larger the tractor the better or more range of these movements. What kind of 3 Point elevation control does it have? There are three different ways.

It can be disappointing when hooking up to a tool for three point to find the arms don't have the range you need. Also if you load stuff on trucks, etc. will you be limited as to what you can do. Say you want to load a welder hooked to its lift eye.

I would not worry about horse power. My 18 HP BX does all that my larger guys to as to power needed, except for fully powering a generator rated at 13 KW.

 

[nightdevil]

So what I'm going to do with it...
well I attached a picture to show my biggest concern. Which is a downward hill to my home. Its a gravel driveway that I plan to level in the spring and of course remove the snow in the winter. After this years snow, along with sliding from side to side, we think it may be best to just pave it in the spring.

I do have a cubcadet but its only 16hp and struggles to make it up the first incline hill with a blower. In this case, i could not get it up the hill at all. I actually tried dragging it up the hill but the snow was to high.

The rest of the property is wooded and pretty much has access to flat areas. Right now I have visited a B2920

 

[Bluegill]

Although it had me thinking, what is the front to rear weight distribution? Although I am planning to buy weights, if I'm clearing snow I would think I would not want to add rear weights as I'm driving up the hill to ensure my front is loaded (assuming FEL).

I don't know what the exact distribution is, but these small tractors have too much weight on the front when a FEL is added. It is very important to have substantial 'counter' weight on the 3 pt hitch when the FEL is on the rig. Rear wheel weights will help with traction and stability, but do nothing to 'counter' the weight of the FEL.

Properly ballasted, any of these small tractors will work great. Just pick the size you want.

 

[cerlawson]

For what it is worth I have a friend with an older B type and he has a snow blower on the rear, and bucket on front. Driveways like that are in my area with snow now at 15 inches. He has no trouble with it. Also with a blade it does OK. On the other hand I have two tractors, one a BX and the other blue job with 20 HP, but its weight is 2400 lbs with no attachments. No bucket. I added 400 pounds of steel on front and with a 7 ft. blade it does the job nicely, with hydro in medium, with all wheels with chains and sometimes taking two passes, one not to the ground. That site has a 500 foot driveway in woods. My BX (weighing 1257 with no attachments) even has trouble with the city lot (see thread "Overkill for City lot" with 5 ft. rear blade and bucket for weight) for more than 3 inches mainly due to backing up over a pile to go and get a new forward pass due to clearance, etc. But going backwards it really plows. Bucket mainly for final clean up.

So my thought is that a BX on your driveway would not do the job with snows over 3 inches deep using a 5 ft. rear blade. I also question a blower on front or rear.

 

[cerlawson]

Forgot one thing. As to grading gravel driveway, see the second para of my first note. The type of three point control is important if you use a rear blade. If you use a box type thing (several designs out there) it may not be critical. However, for a blade you need good ability to control that blade up or down or at certain elevation. BX models do not have a good system, in my opinion, unless you are darned patient. Most larger tractors have better systems. lacking a better term, I say look for a system where the position of the lever sets the position of the blade. The three point method mainly is an upward lift, but the "standard" system also has a sensor to adjust depending on where the arms are and adjusts accordingly. For snow plowing, no big deal, but for earth or gravel grading it is important.

 

[cerlawson]

More stuff. I also had (but gave to a step son in law) a similar blue tractor that had rear blade and bucket. Looking at the house you see on the thread about the city lot, I had to do a re-landscaping there. Original landscaping had a 2 ft. wide by 8 inch deep trench all the way around the house filed with gravel to keep grass from growing there. And that filed trench was right up to siding, a bad design. Trench trapped water and the footing drains ran a lot after rain storm. Required was removing all gravel, stripping sod out 10 ft., lowering the grade, yet leaving a slope, replacing sod and only one inch of gravel next to house. I used the larger blue tractor and the BX. BX was relegated to hauling sod, stone and returning same. Blue tractor used bucket to dig and lower grade, and haul earth as needed. It did the fine grading with blade. I tried the BX for some digging and leveling, but the crude three point control was not for the job. If I have had a B series Kubota, maybe that would do it, but the BX definitely had limitations. Step-son in law ran the blue tractor and I used the BX where possible. I also did a waterproofing of surface before relaying sod. Result no water in the footing drains.

 

[gpreuss]

Just to add to what Bluegill said:
The center of gravity of the FEL is somewhere out in front of the front axle. The axle acts as the fulcrum for the vectors of the weight distribution. So if the FEL weighs about 800 lbs the front axle sees 1600 lbs, and the rear end is lifted by some portion of the 800 lbs - probably about half. When you have a load in the bucket, say another 800 lbs - it will again double on the front axle, another 1600 lbs. Since it is farther out in front a larger percentage appears present trying to lift the rear tires, maybe another 600 lbs this time.
Adding wheel weights and liquid ballast to the rear wheels helps out with the traction, but does nothing to lighten the load on the front axle.
When you put ballast on the 3pt hitch it is well behind the rear axle. Its weight effectively doubles on that axle, and also tries to lift the front axle - maybe about 30-50%.
So, weight in a ballast box or implement is more effective than the same weight as wheel weights, and also counters some of the strain on the front end.
I'd think the B would work out for you. I believe R1 tires give you more ground clearance than R4s. I'd tend to go for the model with the biggest tires, they hold more ballast, have better traction, and give you more ground clearance. The R1s are generally adjustable to give you a wider stance.

 

[nightdevil]

Thanks guys, just a plethora of information for me. Yes I think I would stick with the b series over the bx but happy to know to be a little more concerned with weight than the distribution.

 

[MagKarl]

You mention humps, bumps, and obstacles you need to get over, and then you want to keep the tractor CG down low. That's a challenge. I think you will be frustrated on rough ground with a small (low) tractor. Have you considered an L series? Generally get bigger tires, R1 tread, wider stance, more clearance for the same HP machine.

Here's a useful site to look up specs of most models.
http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/tractor-brands/kubota/kubota-tractors.html