All things tractors thread

Rented a 45 HP Kioti to pull my new RS15 ripper. Was the largest tractor the rental place had and it struggled to pull it in virgin ground. Took 2-3 passes to get full depth, in low gear. Recently purchase 40 acres that has some rocks and a 2" clay layer down about 14 inches. Spent the whole day yesterday working it where Im planting trees next spring. Currently its just prairie… Couple pics of the tractor with ripper, sorry didnt think of taking any ‘action’ pics. RS 15 is supposed to go down 24" inches, I didnt measure the exact depth, but it got down pretty far. Only sheared 1 pin the whole day also, probably because I was going SO SLOW! Definitely would benefit from a little larger tractor for this device, at least in compacted/clay soil.

4 Likes

I’m needing to change the oil on my John Deere. I was wondering what brand and weight of oil you guys like to use. I was at Tractor Supply the other day and it seems like 15W-40 seems to be the most prevalent weight for diesel motors. Mine has a 2.9L three cylinder diesel.

Thanks.

Im going to need a tractor sometime, recently purchased 40 acres and Im in the process of planting a bunch of trees. Need to keep grass down, use for moving snow and dirt, id like the ability to disc and subsoil and plow with it also, between rows and for new plantings. I rented a 40hp for a day and it works, but seems a little too small for what I want, I have a single claw subsoiler and it really struggled to pull it through the dirt. Im thinking something in the 60hp range might be ideal, but the frames seem to get bigger fairly fast at that size. Anyone have a recommendation as to a specific brand/model that does what I need without breaking the bank and not getting too large to use in an orchard? Planning to grow berries mostly, haskap, canadian cherries, currants, etc… How old is too old?

Buy as big as you can afford. I bought 32 horse, 55 horse and ended up with 75 horse. I have 52 acres and just found I couldn’t do the work I needed to. Unless of course you are just mowing? Less is fine then. If you have a Front Loader, or any substantial equipment on it get as big as will be feasible and you can afford. You won’t be disappointed…My 75 horse pulls a subsoiler just like that with ease. Rips all roots out and will pull some stumps as well…

1 Like

I find that odd, that a 40hp tractor struggles to pull a single subsoiler through the soil, unless it’s really rocky, heavy soil. My JD is rated at 40hp and it pulls a 14" double bottom plow pretty easily. But, my soil is not real heavy either.

I use mine also to also disk, bush hog and sometimes some grading work, and it has no issue with those implements.

I wouldn’t even consider a new tractor, way too expensive. Mine is over 30 years old, I paid about $7K for it and does all I need. I think most guys on here like JD, Kubota, Massey Ferguson and old Ford tractors. You should be able to find a good used one under $10K. Fastline.com is a good site to look for a used rig.

2 Likes

Buying used is kinda scary as Im not really a mechanic and dont have a lot of tractor experience either. Id hate to end up with someone elses expensive to fix problem… Maybe some places do used tractor inspections like car dealerships do for used cars? If you know what I mean. Here is the subsoiler that I bought, it goes down 24+ inches. With the tractor I rented I had to go over several areas twice to get full depth. Trying to go deep on first pass on several occasions left me not moving or moving at a snails pace.

2 feet is a great depth. Mine goes 18". I didn’t know they made one 24 inches. Can you tell me who makes it? I have clay a few feet down and i do all of my acres i plant every spring for drainage…

Its land pride, I got it new at a good price. Evidently the dealer ordered one for a customer but company only sells them 2 at a time, so they had the extra one setting around for a while and I was able to negotiate them down a bit. Its nice and heavy duty. I only sheared one bolt while I was using it. I have a clay layer also thats down about 16 inches that I really wanted to break through before I planted trees and stuff.
https://www.landpride.com/products/826/rs15-series-ripper-shanks

I had a Landpride Bush mower. It was a beast, I sold it all beat up with new blades, 4 years old for $750.00…That was actually more than i was hoping for. Great equipment

1 Like

I understand, it can be a gamble. Two years ago, mine had its water pump bearings go out, which caused the fan to go wonky, and that caused it to impale itself into the radiator (see post 75 above). It was a big repair job, but thankfully I was able to do it myself. I’m not trained in mechanical work, but am a technician, so that helped me a bit.

Well, I don’t know about that, but if you are going to look at some used rigs, maybe you could ask someone with tractor experience to go with you and check things out.

The brands I mentioned are known good ones, but it’s really about how much you want to spend and go from there. If you weren’t going to do any subsoiling work, a 50hp should be able to handle the chores you listed, including pulling a plow.

It’s nice to have one, but to be honest, I probably only use mine maybe 10 times a year- once each for plowing and disking, about 3-5 times for bush hogging and once or twice for some grading work. So, it sits most of the year.

2 Likes

Probably best to check (online is fine) to see if the manufacture has any specific recommendations, either for viscosity or oil grade. In general though you want to be sure to use only a good diesel oil in a diesel engine. Gas rated oils (and dual rated, IMO) do not have the ability to hold the carbon that diesels produce and will cause greater wear in a diesel. Also, depending upon age, your tractor may require a synthetic oil (likely if it has a turbo). There is some controversy about using synthetic in older engine which were not designed for it (can cause seals to leak).

Everyone has their favorite brand of oil, mine is Rotella for diesels. But you should be fine with any major brand diesel specific oil.

2 Likes

Thing to keep in mind when sizing a tractor is what jobs you will be doing with it regularly vs rarely or only once. Ripping the soil with a sub soiler may be the sort of thing you would only do once, and if so do you really want to buy the extra HP needed to do that if that is the only time you are going to need it? Might be more economical to rent or pay someone with a big rig to do that work, and get a smaller tractor for your regular chores.

3 Likes

Personally I use Rotella for diesel synthetic. It’s 5w 20 I think

Thanks. It isn’t a turbo, just a normal diesel. I saw Rotella (Shell) there (Tractor Supply), that’s probably what I’ll get. I checked my owners manual and 15W-40 would be a good oil for spring-fall use. Doesn’t say it needs synthetic. I’ll need about 8qt with a new filter.

TS has this on sale for $30 for 2.5 gal. Is this a good price for this?

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/shell-rotella-t-triple-protection-15w-40-diesel-engine-oil-25-gal?cm_vc=-10005

I’ll also need to change the inner air filter, and maybe the outer as well. Probably wouldn’t hurt to go ahead and change the transmission/ hydraulic filter and fluid. Any suggestions for that fluid?

Do you recommend that the fuel filter should be changed, or is that a wait and see thing?

All this is gonna be costly, but need it done.

Mine only needs transmission/ hydraulic fluid every 1000 hours. I do my fuel filter every 100 hours. That is a good price. You might check shell for rebates. I always wait until I can get one but you might be where you need to now. I do my hydraulic fluid filter every 500 hours . Mine says I only have to do oil and filter every 500 hours but I do those every 200 hours. You can probably find a manual on line if you have exact model and access to internet.

Thanks, I have a manual reprint, ordered it when I bought the tractor.

That seems too early, don’t you mean 1000hr? That’s what my manual rec’s.

That sounds like a decent price on the T4. As dutch-s suggested you might check online for rebates going on now (Shell seems to run them quite often). Also I generally find Walmart has the best prices on oil, but not always.

Not sure what tranny/hydraulic fluid your tractor would take. Those can vary quite a bit depending upon if they share the same oil/fluid or not. I’d check with JD and get a name brand of whatever they recommend.

How many hours on your fuel filter? Any bad/questionable fuel recently. If not that many hours and no bad fuel probably OK on that. My ancient tractor has a transparent bowl on the FF, lets me see how dirty it is as well as if there is gelling. If no dirt I typically only replace it every few years (2-300 hrs).

2 Likes

I do every 100. I have a very dirty atmosphere of work and work mine quite hard. I’m moving dirt. Tearing down trees, building a road. Mine says every 500 but it’s easy and I’m OCD…lol…

1 Like

I just talked to my bro-in-law, he has a JD 2155, kinda like mine, but larger. He said he uses Chevron Delo oil, he said our local general store had it for $30 for a 5 gal bucket last time he bought any.

I did some reading about it and it appears to be maybe a synthetic oil? I don’t know if all Delo oil is synthetic, though. I’m leery about using it, considering what Steve said about it. I’ll have to run down there to check it out.

I just back from the store, they have a 5gal bucket of Rotella T3 oil for $70. They had 1gal jugs of T4 for about $18. For tran/hyd fluid that is supposed to go in JD tractors for $35 for 5gal bucket. So, not really any good deals.