Can a loader really load?

[IthacaJeff 151]

Okay guys, need some honest insight here. I could really use some sort of a loader,

got gravel to spread, piles of dirt to move, etc, etc. Year in and year out its been

a wheelbarrow. It would really be nice to have a loader on hand, but money and

time to maintain a "real" loader is out of reach.

Thus. . . can a garden tractor loader do real work? Are they maintenance heavy?

I'm assuming my 416-8 can handle one, but am I going to wear out the tractor?

Of course, you are going to ask what I'm going to use it for, and I can safely say

moving a lot of dirt and rocks. Also scraping off topsoil, and as best I can do, dig.

(Yeah, better job for a backhoe, but gotta start somewhere).

So, can you convince me that a loader (used) for my WH is worth the investment,

and is it just a cool little plaything?

Thanks,

Jeff in Enfield NY

[can whlvr 993]

i too pondered this before,so i made a homemade johnny bucket,it worked ok,but i could feel the extra strain on my tractor and it didnt dig that good,yes they are cool and im sure very handy and a whole lot better than a wheelbarrow,i decided to get a skid steer that is more appropriate to moving material and it saves my horses too

[Roger from southern Iowa 1]

I use mine all the time, almost to a fault.

Mine doesn't dig well at all.

To name a few things I've used mine for:

pushing and piling snow, moving engines, trans axles

ect from one place to another,

moved 15 tons of dry clay from a pile and put it in horse shoe pits at the local county park.

The list is endless.

For me, mine is very much a tool that I use nearly every day.

My loader is on a 18 AUTO and I feel it has done no harm to the tractor at all.

With the angle iron frame tractors, I would be sure to use common sense in how heavy of a load I hauled at a given time.

Just my experience........ :banghead:

[stevebo-(Moderator) 8,330]

IMO ANY loader is limiting. I loved my Auto 18 with the ark loader however I could not dig !! I ended up selling that and buying a Terramite which I love !! You can pick one of those up for low money if you look. The average wheelhorse with a good loader set up will run you anywhere from $2500-$4000 +/-. For a bit more you can get a good Terramite. The Terramite can dig almost 9 feet deep and will lift over 900lbs in the bucket. You will be limited to about 300-350lbs max with a wheelhorse loader. Good luck-

[rockbuilt 7]

WHEELBARROW!!! WHAT THE %&*K is that ?

I have used many loaders of all different sizes and types so I will try to shed some light on your dilemma. To effectively dig into a pile of loose material you need two things weight and power. For a small loader, such as one you can operate with your tractor for best results use tires with good traction wheel weights and a weight box. To dig effectively with such a small tractor you are going to need teeth, you can by a tooth bar that bolts on so you can remove it if you need a stone bucket. remember no matter how great these tractors are they are small so you will have to take your time and move small amounts to not over tax your tractor. IMO wether to get a different machine or to get a loader for your WH would depend on how much work you intend to do, if you can do the digging and moving you need to do by hand and just want to make things easier on yourself, then a loader for you WH is going to be more than you will ever need. and it will save you from having to use that archaic devise you mentioned (I dare not say the word) if you have a lot of moving and digging to do you may want to invest in a skid loader as they are amazingly strong and durable. for my purposes a 550 ARK loader would be just what the doctor ordered. Fixing my stone driveway and moving some dirt around the yard to fill holes, but when I have the money I can't seem to find a good deal on one. when I find a good deal on one I don't have the money good luck to you I hope this helps

[jtmoyer 1]

i had a kwik way on my 520... don't ever plan on taking it off and putting it back on, you will never do it more then once. it will not do things as fast as a skid loader but it will get the job done. you will lose traction before you can get the bucket full. if you are not going to lift things high and if you cant keep it on the tractor all the time i would look at a johny bucket.

[wildman 205]

I used mine last year to move a total of 20 tandem loads .Only holds a wheelbarrow load but, it beats pushing a wheelbarrow.

[876wheelhorse 46]

i like that who made that ? what size tractor is that

[bitten 134]

Something to remember is that these garden tractors are designed to make life a little easer, on a smaller scale. You can put a plow on them and do your garden but you wouldn't want to plow a field with them, you can put a sickel bar on them to do your ditch but you wouldnt want to do all the township roads with it, you can put a snowblower on then and do your driveway but you are not going to take care of the 10' drift on the road in front of my house with them.

Are there better loaders? Yes there are. Does it beat a wheelbarrow? Yes it does, any day of the week. I would love to have a loader for one of mine as I would have lots of uses for one but I know that when it comes to heavy duty tasks that I will have to look else wear.

[IthacaJeff 151]

Good advice gents. . . .here is my dilemma. . .

There's a C-series blackhood for sale nearby with a loader (unless one of you

NY guys grabbed it already), hasn't run in a couple of years, and the poor

pic shows it in rough condition. Don't know the model as the owner has not

gotten back to me. The cost for all would be about the same as a new

JohnnyBucket, $1100. (Assuming no haggling).

There is also a Terramite loader/backhoe for sale in a nearby town for $5500.

That is out of my budget, but highly tempting as I could use it to dig the

foundation for a garage we hope to build in the next couple of years (but the

$5500 would go a long way toward concrete!)

Farm tractors with loaders, e.g., Ford 8Ns, IH 454, etc., are easy to come by

and prices vary greatly from about $2K to $6K. The last thing I need is a

working tractor that turns into a "project," especially a project in which I have

little knowledge about fixing.

Chime in if you've got some more advice. Pros, cons, and whatever.

Jeff in Enfield, NY

[MalMac 1,331]

I agree with everything that has been said so far. I have a C-141 with a Ark loader on it. I use it for everything from piling up snow to hauling bags of salt for the water softner. Like said before you must remember just what the piece of equipment was designed for. It is great for light use such as I have used it for loading a pickup full of compost. moving piles of gravel, sand and dirt that was loose or in piles. If you want to scrape or dig a big hole thats just no going to happen. Oh you can work away at digging, I have done it. It takes practice. As far as scraping the machine is just too light. I have done it after I loosened up the turff by tilling it down an inch or two. In short it's a great labor saver it's just not a heavy machine for excavating. It is really easy to overwork the machine and cause all kinds of repair headaches and maintance nightmares. If you keep that in mind and use the machine what it was designed for it a great labor saving fun machine to operate.

[baerpath 517]

Heres another one Jeff in Bliss NY this ones on a Raider

[edit forgot no craigslist posts sorry)

I've owned 5 loader garden tractors great toys you can have a lot of fun with them but as Steve said leave the work to better built stuff.

Also for less than that price I bought a 23hp farm tractor with loader, if you keep watch there out there

Duane

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,313]

My neighbor used to have a loader on a 520-8 speed and we used it to move a 1055(I think) with a locked up tranny. It was a major time and back saver that day!

Mike..........

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,313]

Heres another shot.

Mike............

[C-Series14 15]

I will agree, these loaders have there limits but it has saved me pain and discomfort many times over.

Mike, I can add to that one...

Or this to add to Nick's pic...

Yea, they can dig...

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,313]

:banghead: A bit off topic here but isnt it nice to see a bunch of pics in a thread with NO SNOW !

Mike........

[Ken B 3,164]

A bit off topic here but isnt it nice to see a bunch of pics in a thread with NO SNOW !

Mike........

That is so funny as I was thinking the exact same thing.

[TT-(Moderator) 1,131]

Yeah.... you never see many pictures of guys mowing, so what's up with all the snow pictures? :banghead:

[Raider12puller 1]

If your going to be moving a lot of material at one time I would go bigger than a garden tractor. Have a loader on a Cub Compact(size of a small farm tractor) I like the 4 way valve for the bucket. Whats that saying bigger is better :banghead:

[.5racer 14]

If I may give my two cents . ANY loader or BACK HOE of ANY kind sure beats a shovel ,bucket ,or wheelbarrow . I'd sit all day on a 6"bucket, back hoe, on a garden tractor, as apossed to a hand shovel.

[WheelHorse_of_course 99]

Search the site for "Load Ranger" and look at the video there!!!!!!

Sorry, but it is bed time or I would find the link for you!

:thumbs:

[refracman 167]

I have had 3 Whs with loaders.

First one was one I built and by far the best one for workin. It was on a GT14. It was way over built and could lift 2-3000 pds. Snaped the fron axel on it I picked so much up. Wish I never sold it

Second is on another GT14 its OE and its on loan to my brother....... well because its no match to one I built.

Third is a Sears self leveler on a C195. It is truely worthless except for its self leveling feature once I get the forks made for it.

If you expect it to dig it will not. If you plan to move stone/ dirt, the piles will have to fresh or you'll have a hard time of it and abuse both tractor and loader.

Yes they are a great back saver if you work within thier limitations.

my trio

[kj4kicks 151]

Since you're thinking of building a garage, a FEL is also handy for raising walls when you can't find any helpers:

No, you can't really dig packed soil, but once it's loose you can play all day!

[squonk 41,040]

Good advice gents. . . .here is my dilemma. . .

There's a C-series blackhood for sale nearby with a loader (unless one of you

NY guys grabbed it already), hasn't run in a couple of years, and the poor

pic shows it in rough condition. Don't know the model as the owner has not

gotten back to me. The cost for all would be about the same as a new

JohnnyBucket, $1100. (Assuming no haggling).

There is also a Terramite loader/backhoe for sale in a nearby town for $5500.

That is out of my budget, but highly tempting as I could use it to dig the

foundation for a garage we hope to build in the next couple of years (but the

$5500 would go a long way toward concrete!)

Farm tractors with loaders, e.g., Ford 8Ns, IH 454, etc., are easy to come by

and prices vary greatly from about $2K to $6K. The last thing I need is a

working tractor that turns into a "project," especially a project in which I have

little knowledge about fixing.

Chime in if you've got some more advice. Pros, cons, and whatever.

Jeff in Enfield, NY

Did you buy that tractor in Danby? Here's why I ask. A friend at work saw it and I told him to go get it. He called and made arrangements to go buy it Wed. night. The guy who owns it sounded like he wasn't all there. He called his wife at noon on Wed. and said he would come after work. He calls again just as he is about to leave and the guy answers and says there is someone coming for it. So he doesn't go. The guy's wife calls my friend at 7:00 Wed night and wants to know when he's coming. My friend replies, your husband said someone was coming for it. She says I know it was you that was coming. For some reason he couldn't go Thurs. night so he had today(Friday) off to go get it. We called him at noon. He said it got sold. He was pisseed!! :thumbs:

[squonk 41,040]

I'll add my 2 cents about a loader. I wanted one bad. There was Wh for sale a block away with one but I didn't have the money. Plus the loader looked way too big for the tractor witch was a 300 series. I found a heavy duty Economy Power King nearby and since I had a friend who is a fabricator and out of work I hired him to build one. This last storm we only got 6 " but lots of ice on top. I plowed with the C-160 as much as I could. With what we had before now frozen I had no place to put it. I could have gotten out my 210 H with the blower but then I get covered with snow and the wind was gusting. The Power King picked up the snow and I put it where I wanted it to go. I didn't get all cover with snow and had a blast doing it!