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central WI | Burk,
It seems the thread got a little off track, so here are answers your questions directly. These are from our experience on our farm in our soils and weather comparing our 4wd JD 8560 (~235hp) to our JD 8410T (~235hp).
1.
The track machine has a significant advantage in tillage applications, unless you're always running on hard surfaces. Most often, only parts of our fields are what we would consider hard. Here's a real-life example (and the reason we bought the T). It was planting season and we had one field left to run our finisher over, however, it had rained 2 days prior so the field was still somewhat saturated....not wet, but not dusty either. I pulled in with our 4wd (20.8s all the way around) and was sinking in about 4 inches and could hardly pull at 4.5mph. I wasn't happy about this at all, so I went back home to hook onto the T that we had just received the day prior on demo. (this was, afterall, the reason we wanted to demo it) Nobody in our area runs a track machine, so we were very apprehensive about them. Anyway, went back over to the field and had no problems pulling it at about 7.5-8mph on poor belts (about 25%). after that field we were all sold on how important this purchase would be to our operation and being able to get on fields without rutting them up or compacting the soils.
2.
We have never owned a larger HP machine, but the track machine will pull the same load in the same condition with more ease than a wheeled machine. I believe the track machine can perform slightly above its paygrade in HP due to the increased traction it provides. It definitely has a much better bite while providing reduced compaction.
I know a lot of guys may say it's all about the right tires and you may need huge duals or triples, but this was based on our situation with the normal 20.8 duals. If you are considering purchasing a track machine I would also like to point out that they are very versatile compared to a large 4wd. Most notably, it can be used for spraying. We now run a 3pt mounted sprayer and can fly across fields without rutting them up. Not as nice or fast as a SP sprayer, but not nearly as expensive either. Other than that, you can use them for planting and grain carts. | |
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Drawbar horsepower tracks vs. wheels
