[music]
- Neil from Messick's here.
We're out today to have a short conversation
about sizing implements to your tractor
with skid loader couplers becoming very common
on front loaders and category one three-point hitches
on even the smallest of tractors.
There's all kinds implements
that can fit on your machine
but even though they fit doesn't necessarily mean
it's a good idea to put them on there.
We're going to have a short conversation today
about why you should not put an 84 inch skid loader bucket
on your BX Series tractor.
We are huge proponents of industry standards
you haven't noticed things like three-point hitches
have created a huge variety of implements
in the tractor market because of their universal nature.
We're starting to see the same thing happen here
with skid loader couplers as well.
This coupler has been used on skid loaders for years
and years and it's part of the reason
why there's such a healthy industry for all kinds of attachments
for construction equipment.
Now we're starting to see the same thing happen
with compact tractors also where years ago you only ever
really saw a loader bucket pinned on the front of somebody's tractor.
A skid loader coupler is becoming an option
that we had nearly a 100% take rate on.
Almost every person will opt to purchase this coupler
because of the huge variety of stuff that we can find put onto it.
That said when you have attachment made for skid loaders
and small tractors using the same thing it doesn't necessarily mean
that just because it fits on this coupler it's a good idea to put on your machine.
When we start talking in terms of lift capacity a skid loader like this
can lift upwards of 3,000 pounds or more
and really heavy-duty attachments can fit
on this machine and still work very well.
That 84 inch skid loader bucket
that we just picked up weighs several hundred pounds in and of itself.
The BX Series tractor though on the flip side can lift
in the neighborhood of about five to 600 pounds.
When we take those implements
and we put the implement onto the hitch
we really have to watch the weight of the implement itself.
The implement is too heavy then all that weight
is being lifted when that loader goes up
and down and not available to lift loads.
We always want to be watching that we're picking
an implement that scaled down to the size tractor that you have.
Whether that be a BX series tractor or an M series tractor the loader
can only lift so much and we need to pick a duty
of the implement whether it's a light duty
medium duty heavy duty whatever to fit the tractor
that the attachment is going on to.
We also want to watch the width of the attachments as well
so typically when we're sizing say a loader bucket
or a grapple for a tractor like this we're sizing that piece
it just covers the width of the tires.
That's one area where I really don't always trust manufacturer spec sheets
there could be a lot of variation in the width of the tires
from one machine to the next so that's why
we always carry with us our trusty tape measure to go out
and actually pull a whip across tires
in order to see how wide the machine actually is.
Typically this BX series tractor is going to measure
to somewhere in the neighborhood of about 44, 46 inches
across the tires and we're generally going to equip it
with about a 48 inch loader bucket.
Let's say you wanted that loader bucket to go do snow right
you could at that point really kind of justify a light material bucket
something that might be maybe 54 inches wide and a little bit higher capacity
because you're manipulating those light materials.
Application we talked about application a lot here
when we talk about tractors
application is really important
when we talk about our attachments
because the materials that you're handling
are really important in determining the material handling attachment
that you're going to put onto your loader.
In order to fully operate a lot of skid loader equipment many
many of these tractors including even the BX series
are being offered with factory third function hydraulics.
Third function hydraulics will add an extra set
of couplers out here on your boom in order to plug
an additional hydraulic function into a front implement.
Years gone by we always put hydraulics out the back of the tractors
but frankly anymore it's becoming almost more common
to be putting hydraulics out the front.
Those hydraulics are typically used more often
than not for grapples but we also will see a lot of guides wanting
to run the full suite of skid steer implements on the front of a tractor.
It's a guy sees a skid loader coupler and a set of third function remotes
and thinks heck I can do whatever I want with it right and I can tell you frequently very
very frequently we're getting asked to run say snow blowers out
in the front of a loader because it's a very convenient place to put one.
Applications like that are just typically not a good idea
because none of these tractors are going
to have enough hydraulic flow in order to properly run
and implement with a spinning motor on it.
You really got to watch things like hardly rakes
snow blowers, brooms those things.
These small tractors don't have
quite enough flow in order to pull off a skid steer implement.
Even though you could pin it on and plug it
in it's simply not going to work for you real well.
The one exception to that can be post haul hoggers[sp]
we can get some low flow post haul hoggers
and it could do a really nice job on the front of a lot of these tractors.
That is a hydraulically driven implement
that you can actually get away with
but for the most part when we talk about third function remotes
unless we've got some really specific applications
for the most part we're talking about grapples
and things with cylinders that were operating out on the loader.
We're standing out here in our rental lawn today
and we can take a quick walk around here look
at some of the attachments that would work
on a tractor and some that won't.
A hammer here for instance you know we could take this
and put a skid loader plate on it and it will pin up
to the front of the tractor not a good idea.
The hydraulic post haul hogger over here this is a McMillan 1975 typically
usually needs in the tins to high tins to low 20s for flow.
An M62 can about manage that but none
of the other tractors are going to have enough flow
to run this particular hogger.
And like I said there are some low flow options for these
that you can actually spin a small bit
but my preference in a huge way over doing
on the three-point hitch.3. post haul hoggers are a pain.
We keep on moving over here we've got some front brooms
and we go back talking about that hydraulic motor again.
Right over here there's a hydraulic motor in order
to spin that broom you really don't have enough flow
and enough pressure to really run and implement like this properly.
Thumbs down to doing it on a compact tractor
this is a really stout heavy blade over here
but this is something that we do on compacts quite a lot.
Infact Kubota even has some stuff in their own product line now in order to do this.
More and more rather than putting belly implements underneath
of a tractor guys are choosing to put those implements out
on their loaders because they're much easier to install.
Kubota actually offers now some small snow plows
and stuff that can be hydraulically operated
so we can use those third function kits in order
to operate those cylinders out on the snow blade
in order to push our driveways, that's really nice.
Back here is a preperator we got another implement here
with a big hydraulic pump up here on the top
to run it this is a lawn pret piece
that will go through and grind up the the topsoil
and stuff in order to make a nice smooth seed bed not going to work on a tractor.
A grapple though it's something that we sell quite a lot
on a tractor anymore more and more all the time now this obviously
is a really heavy construction piece
but there are some really lightweight grapples that Kubota and Lamb Pride
actually have themselves to fit on tractors starting at BX series machines and up.
Becoming a hugely popular thing for brush cleanup way
and clearing and those kinds of things to be able
to take your tractor drive into something grab a load
and go haul away with it somewhere else, really popular application.
You can see with the huge variety of implements
that we got out here there's a lot of things
that could potentially pin to the tractor
but it's simply not going to run it properly.
In the back of the machine is another place
that we sized our implements and we typically start here with a tape measure.
If you take a tape measure across the back
of your machine measure across the width of your tires
you're going to come up with the distance
in this case here right about 48 inches.
Whenever we size and implement to a machine like this
we want to make sure that we're always covering
at least 48 inches of width
because we want our working area here in the back
to match the track of the tractor.
In the terms of say a rotary cutter
or a brush hog you know you use a 48 inch mowing implement
behind the machine at very least.
Sometimes we can get a little bit bigger.
If you sized a rear blade or a rear landscape break.
Typically we're going to size those a with the implement angled sideways
that we're covering the track of a tractor.
If you're 48 inches across here generally
you need about a 60 inch implement across the back
that when it's angled sideways you're covering the track of the machine.
Take care of snow clearing and those kinds things.
If you put a snow blower behind the tractor
and you back up with the snow blower the last thing
that you want is for the snow blower
to be more narrow than the tractor
because then you're driving over snow on the outside edges of the snowblower.
Always have a good idea exactly
what the width is across the back of your tractor.
Know too that this is a place that I never trust manufacturer specifications
if you need to be down to say two or three inches
or so always pull a tape measure on a tractor.
There's too much variation between tire options and many machines say
in the M-series where we have 12 and 15 options for tires
and who knows how those rims are dished
and those kinds of things
checking with a tape measure
is really the only way that you can be sure.
Another thing that's back here on the three-point hitch is to specification
there's the size of the pins based on here the size of the hole.
Most compact tractors under 50 horsepower
are category 1 when you go over 50 horsepower
you'll see some machines move to category 2
and that's basically a bigger pin denoting more bulk in capacity
in the three-point hitch to handle a larger implement.
When we get up into really large eggs tractors
we've got category 3 and some other specifications too
for heavy draft implements and stuff
but in compact tractors typically category 1 and category 2.
In some very small subcompact say the original BX series there's a specification-
called limited category 1 and generally what that means
is that those attachments can't lift very high up off the ground.
They typically would actually pin up to your tractor
but you're not going to get enough lift height.
If you have a limited category 1 hitch
you need to look for limited category 1 implements.
You'll notice on all of your spec sheets there's usually
a specification for the lifting capacity of the three-point hitch.
In my experience I've never seen a properly sized implement
that a tractor could not lift.
Our actual three-point lift capacity in my opinion
is pretty not relevant most of the time.
We're really needing to look more at the width
of the tractor and making sure we have the right pins
and if you've done that part more than likely the tractor
is going to lift your implement just fine.
When we do get into some of those really heavy implements
in my experience of cedars and those kinds of things
you can have a very, very heavy implement
we have to watch how much weight we have up on the front of the tractors.
Say this machine right here
I've got a 48 inch use pre-sitter right now
that would fit on the back of this machine
that you know weighs 1,800 pounds really big heavy implement
but the tractor is going to lift it and manipulate just fine
because it's relatively close to the machine.
What I would find if I pinned that implement up it's because
I don't have a loader on my tractor right now
I've lifted so much weight off of my front tires that it's difficult to steer.
So if you're starting to push near the limits of what your three-point hitch can lift.
Also be thinking about the front of your machine as well.
In those applications we would hang weights across
the front weight block or at least make sure
we've got a loader installed on the tractor
or maybe even put some dirt or a load in the bucket
in order to get enough weight in front of the machine in order
to properly steer and ballast the load that we have behind us.
That's just a little bit about matching and implement to your tractor.
Now in summary we're big fans of the tape measure.
We always want to go and measure across the machine
and pick typically the smallest implement
that we can fit that's going to cover the track of the tractor.
If you keep that in mind 9 out of 10 times you're going
to pick the right implement for the machine even by ignoring
all the other specifications of your loader capacity
or your hitch capacities just picking something
that's the right width most of the time you're going to get it right.
If you have any need for implements for your tractor
or we can help you buy a machine like this give us a call
at Messick's we're available in 800-222-3373 or online in Messicks.com.