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Tractor HP Calculations

F

FarmerZeb

Member
i've been using the data in the below document to figure my HP requirements for the past few years.

http://www.caes.uga.edu/departments/bae/extension/pubs/documents/farm%20tractor.pdf

It seems to be pretty accurate (and generally tracks with what my neighbor farmers are doing) but I wanted to bounce a few of my calculations off the vast knowledge here.

according to the numbers with a 45-50 HP tractor one could:

pull a 10' disk 4" deep
pull a 4 row no till planter
pull a 2 bottom plow in heavy soils or a 3 bottom plow in moderate soils
and pull a 5' brush hog easily - a 7' brush hog a little slower

thoughts ??

-Paul
 
Well, the first 3 are... 'depending on soil conditions'? a 10 foot harrow that gets churning in a wet clay is going to give 70 horses a run for their money. The old rule of thumb was '15 horse per bottom' but again, its up to your dirt, not the sales pitch. As for a 7 foot bushog, I would feel sorry for 70 horses in a patch of saplings. The most I have now, or ever had is 65HP, and that either does the job, or the job don't get done today.
 
never tried to calculate it out but my ford 4000 is about 46 pto hp and i pull an 8ft wheel disc and a 3-14 plow and a heavy duty woods 6ft bush hog i have pulled a 4 row planter and a 7ft box scraper and 7ft rear blade. never had any problems pulling any of them i can run my heavy bush hog in saplings with 3 ft tall over grown mess that had been neglected for years and had no problem ran it just fine. I wish i had more weight for tillage stuff and some front end weight when running the bush hog.
but that is my experience.
 
I think you are right on. I have a NH3930 4wd 45pto hp.

2-16 plow is all it will handle in my heavy clay.

6 ft brush hog, no sweat in 6 foot tall weeds. Works hard in brush.

8 ft disk, w/cultipacker, just right. If the soil is a little wet it doesnt need any more.

6 ft box blade is plenty if ripping, grading is fine.

8 foot rear blade will stop the tractor if it gets a good bite of dirt.

Rick
 
my cousins use a 70hp tractor with weights to run their 4 row no till
planter. They have big hills though. It works the tractor pretty good
tho.

A lot depends on conditions, but I would say you are about right
on.
 
Part of the problem is that most of you think your lawn tractors are real farm tractors. 1938 F20 (20HP) does a fine job with 2-16s or an 8 foot tandem disc. 1958 Case 800 (50HP) has no trouble with 4-14 or 3-18 plow or 12 foot tandem disc with 13 foot spike harrow behind, or 8row no-till planter with dry fertilizer. 1948 Case SC (25HP) pulls 10 foot drill with 11 foot cultipacker in tilled ground.
 
You do know what a 3930 is, right? About as far from a lawn tractor as a 45 hp tractor gets. As far as what you"re able to pull depends greatly on your soil type. HP and implement width aren"t everything.
 
Yes a 3930 is an 8N with a nice little 3 cylinder diesel. Not a farm tractor, the little diesel has a lousy torque curve and virtually no lugging ability. Same horsepower so would you guess that it could pull/lug like an Allis WD45. The Allis is 40 years older and is still a real tractor compared to the lawn tractors the young wannabes think are farm machines.
 
Go to the nebraska tests of any brand and do a comparison of your lawn and yard tractor to ACWD45,CaseDC,IHM,JDG,Oliver88,MMUB, or MH44. All of these 40 plus year old tractors will have out pulled it in the test where all are under equal conditions. They are farm tractors
 
Gotta love the three point point hitch, live pto, comfortable seat/controls, wet power brakes,power steering, rops, halogen work lamps, live hydraulics , generators etc on those old machines.
 
Not a thing wrong with all the modern amenities, just looking at what the post started as and thinking they sure don't plan on using the tractor very hard or don't know what they are doing to think a 2-16 plow or 8' disc is a load for a 45HP 4WD tractor. Helped dad farm 200 acres in two counties with F20 and SC.
 
Well aware of the difference soil can make, we have from glacial till to river bottom gumbo. But the N series was far less than 45 HP and only 2WD. Weren't they rated for 2-14s? And again a light utility tractor trying to do real farm work, they were better than a horse and cheap but when you got over 20 acrees you needed a "real" tractor. Just my opinion of course.
 
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