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Sunnyside, WA | We use a JD 8410 and 8420, both with 12' Degelman blades and 4500 lbs on the 3pt. Weigh in about 35,000 loaded. They are matched pretty well to a JD 7700 chopper with an 8 row head that our custom chopper uses. Average about 180 tons per hour on a decent day.
I would prefer one large 4wd with one operator, but packing only puts about 275 hours per year on each tractor and its hard to get a 4wd for that few of hours per year since I still need the other two tractors for manure, tmr, and other tillage. They both get 800-1200 hours per year on them. I also like the piece of mind of having two tractors with two blades since one could break down and I could still put another packing tractor or payloader and continue pushing with the other tractor. I wouldn't upgrade tillage equipment for a 4wd since over half of our tillage is done with our 8300 while the other two pack.
I think you would be surprised at how much more an 8420 vs an 8120 can do. We pushed with the 8300 and 8410 for a couple years, and the 8410 walked circles around the 8300. Almost had to upgrade from the 8300 to the 8420 when the 7700 chopper came along.
Biggest reason I will upgrade to a 4wd someday is because we can't keep up with the ever growing choppers, or we put up enough silage to need two choppers running.
I still don't understand a payloader vs a tractor. Our 930G's only weigh about 28,000, and don't push near what either of our blade tractors do. They are also unstable as hell on the pit. We tried a Cat 950B and it lasted about an hour before it scared the crap out of the operator on the pit. I can see where duals are mandatory for a payloader.
Edited by J. Sheehan 10/4/2008 22:22
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Packing silage MFWD vs 4WD
