Re: Buy front loader now? What to look for....

Posted by B.C. on July 28, 1999 at 07:18:34 from (131.167.75.193):

In Reply to: Buy front loader now? What to look for.... posted by Matt Campbell on July 27, 1999 at 09:49:35:

You would likely be better off to buy a tractor with a loader already on it. The total price may well be better and it will at least be on the machine without having to possibly make up or modify brackets, hoses and the like. Loader mounts are not as generic as RS-232 ports. You might wind up with a different tractor than the loader came off.

As far as N series Fords being light for loader duty, they are good for loading manure. For serious earthmoving there are better choices, like maybe hiring somebody to come in with some real iron if its only an occaisional thing. They still are handy for odd jobs.

For snow removal in areas where they have serious winter, snow fence and a 8 or 10 hp snowblower beats everything for maintaining a driveway up to 100 yards long. This includes road graders or anything else that creates banks which make drifting all that much worse. When we lived outside Duluth one of the neighbors had a 460 Farmall with a front end loader and a PTO snowblower on the back. But that was overkill even there. For occaisonal winter a small end loader is a workable answer if not the most efficient.

Be suspicious of fresh welds either on the loader or the front end of the tractor, or a too-perfect paint job. If you have a choice, getting a loader with double acting cylinders and a powered bucket dump is probably a better idea than the minimalist jobs that Ferguson and others used to make.

Loaders on those size tractors have their place but they do have their limits.

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