# When did 4wd tractors become common?



## wirenut (May 23, 2013)

I live on 12 acres of wooded land and I need to get a tractor. The primary duties will be pulling/ lifting dead trees to be cut for firewood and then hauling the firewood down to the woodshed. Also, in the winter I would use the bucket or possibly a blade to clear my gravel driveway of snow. Occasionally, for my work, I need to unload a pallet weighing 1,500 pounds off the back of a truck.
My land isn't steep, just some up and down thru the woods but the low areas do get muddy. It seems like I would need a 4wd tractor for hauling wood in the forest and plowing snow. I'm looking for something old (cheaper) with a loader that will lift 1,500 pounds. From what I'm seeing that requirement puts me in about a 30 to 40 HP tractor. It seems the older ones don't have 4wd and all the 4wd ones are pretty new and expensive.
Could I get by with a 2wd model?
How big of a tractor do I need to lift 1,500 pounds?
I know JD and Kubota are good. Some cheaper brands like Kioti, Mahindra, and Branson I don't know much about. When I was a kid I always wanted an Allis Chalmers for some reason.
What should I buy?


----------



## Thomas (Nov 1, 2006)

4WD would fit your all around needs...least chance of getting stuck and better traction hauling,bucket use,plowing compare to 2WD,not saying 2WD couldn't do what your asking just take more time etc.

Hyd. lift,think you find older 2WD are slower and need BIGGER tractor compare to some 4WD today.

....Check out tractordata.com specs....

Plus todays 4WD tractors start heck of lot easier than yesterday's 2WD,also better on fuel useage.


----------



## wirenut (May 23, 2013)

I've been finding that '80s and '90s model tractors with 50 or more HP seem to be less expensive than 2000ish tractors of 20 or 30 HP. The larger ones are certainly capable of lifting 1,500 pounds. Many of these have 3,000 or more hours on them. 
It sounds like something with that many hours is considered totally worn out then.
I may have to try 2wd tractor just to get it in the budget.


----------



## ben70b (Aug 29, 2012)

You could always make your own 4x4 like this guy did!


----------



## bontai Joe (Sep 16, 2003)

You are looking for a "utility" tractor as opposed to a "row crop" or other more specialized farm tractor. Lots of them around at least in my neck of the woods (northeast PA and northwest NJ) In the early days of mechanized farming from 1920 to 1940, all tractors were farm tractors designed to plant, cultivate and harvest and not much else. Farms were small and the tractor was replacing a team of horses. After WWII, farms got bigger and tractors got bigger, and more versatile with the arrival of hydraulics, 3 point hitches, etc.
As farms got bigger, the need for a utility tractor to move hay bales, bags of fertilizer, pull wagons, use a bucket loader, etc grew to where manufacturers made machines for that purpose. The first tractor that came to my mind for what you want to do was a Deere model 2020 from the 1960's. Also an Allis Chalmers WD45. Used to be that all the dairy farms near where I grew up had one or the other. I don't know what was popular or currently available in your neck of the woods.


----------



## film495 (Nov 1, 2013)

I haul wood and clear my driveway with a 1973 - 12hp garden tractor - two wheel drive. 

If I had a larger tractor, I would not be able to fit the machine into areas of my woodlot, it would just not fit between rocks or existing trees to get where it would need to go. Although, now that I think about it, a larger machine might make it through some of the rockier terrain easier with biggers wheels and more clearance. 

This doesn't help you unloading pallets from your truck, but it is food for thought.


----------

