4x4 Vs 2wd forestry tractors

[Richard]

Hi guys

 

Looking to buy a tractor for Coppicing with a skidder grapple on the back.

 

My question is will a 80hp 2wd tractor be suitable for this, mostly on level ground, obviously not to be used in supper wet conditions that we have at the moment.

 

Or shall I spend a bit more on a 4x4 tractor for this type of work.

 

So how many of you guys have 2wd tractors for forestry work and how do you find them?

 

Thanks

Richard

[urbandekay]

In my experience dif lock counts most in traction but 4 wheel drive gives you steering

[woody paul]

With a grapple / tongs on the back of a tractor if It's 4 wheel drive you need weights on the front other wise you may as well have a 2 wheel drive. It's also down to the driver and what weight you ate planing to pull.

[difflock]

With only 80 HP it is not hard to fit sufficiently oversize tyres to the rear to easily soak up 80HP in traction.

Steering with skid brakes was not uncommon in the 2WD drive days of my youth.

Which ground conditions permitting, can make for superb manouverability.

However bytimes the driven front wheels of a 4WD just happen to be on dryer or better gripping ground, when both rears are spinning.

The beauty of 2WD is tyre size does not matter, run whatever you can fit on the rims, or buy other more suitable rims.

Not so simple on a 4wd, requiring to keep the front/rear tyre sizes correct for the inter-axle ratio.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

I love 2wd as you can turn on a sixpence; I actually prefer it to a 4wd when winching, water fill the front tyres or front weights yes. Amazing where you can get a 2wd in to...

[codlasher]

We had a little David Brown 775 with a set of hydro-tongs on the 3 point. There were a lot of Fordson weights on the front to help the steering but this was mostly done with the brakes.

This was a tiny little tractor although slightly bigger than the Winget that we had to tow the trailer and more powerful.

Big is not necessarily best in early thinnings or small woodland because you loose that ability to get close up to the work.

The last machine we used for skidding was a Ford 5000 and it was capable of moving 33' lengths measuring 40 cubic feet. Anything bigger and it would have struggled with grip. I think these were 75 hp

codlasher

Edited February 4, 2014 by codlasher
Addendum

[fergusonforestry]

if you NEED 4wd go for it otherwise save the cash up here in wet boggy rough terrain its a must but if your in fairly flat dry(ish ) conditions 2wd should be fine just make sure you have a good amount of ballast on

[Chris Sheppard]

I love 2wd as you can turn on a sixpence; I actually prefer it to a 4wd when winching, water fill the front tyres or front weights yes. Amazing where you can get a 2wd in to...

 

I'd agree with that on the whole. 2wd with good rear tyres and well adjusted independent brakes will wiggle round a thinning really well, but even with ballast will be light on it's front wheels with a good snig behind it.

 

Even fairly recently, we used to pull our forwarding trailer behind a 2wd tractor for long enough - it was ok most of the time, but that's where 4wd really shone through.

 

Never used a skidding grapple myself but would guess it'll want plenty of weight over the front of the axle to get the best out of it whatever tractor is using it.

[Matthew Storrs]

Gotta love a 2wd tractor just for the manouverbility if anything. Steering with weight on the back is best done through the brakes!

[MattyF]

If your skidding out big enough logs even with weights attached on the nose of the tractor the front wheels don't do a lot !