Is it worth buying a walk-behind tractor?

Gardening work, even for so-called fans of the craft, requires time, patience and is labor-intensive. A variety of devices and techniques make them much easier.

The walk-behind tractor can be called one of the most popular devices among summer residents. Depending on the attachments used, this equipment can perform various functions: plowing, cultivation, weeding, hilling, etc. However, despite the seemingly great benefits of a walk-behind tractor, some wonder about the advisability of purchasing it. Is it worth buying equipment that is quite expensive for many? Is it needed on the farm?

When a walk-behind tractor is useless

The advertisement convinces us of the usefulness, versatility and even irreplaceability of this device. But it turns out to be equally effective walk-behind tractor cannot be used everywhere and not always.

The type of soil affects the effectiveness and the very possibility of using a walk-behind tractor. If the area is clayey or sandy, then it will not be possible to process it using such equipment.

In the first case, the wheels of the device spin idle. And it’s impossible to fix this, even with effort. The situation will not improve if you change standard wheels to lug wheels or larger diameter ones.

The equipment can be made to work, although not very efficiently, by placing a load in its front part - up to 100 kg. However, this option can hardly be called a good way out of the situation.

Well, if the soil is sandy, then when you try to cultivate it with a walk-behind tractor, exactly the opposite happens - the wheels get buried in the sand. And even special protective mudguards do not save the situation - grains of sand get into a person’s eyes. It becomes simply impossible to work.

The walk-behind tractor is practically useless for use in the field at high speed. Due to the heterogeneity of the soil, the equipment (and along with it its owner) will be thrown from side to side.

Another seemingly convenient option for using a walk-behind tractor is making hay. For this purpose, the equipment is equipped with a mounted mower. If the field is perfectly level, you can harvest feed from a fairly large area.

However, such fields are rarely found anywhere in the Russian expanses. Numerous even small holes and bumps - including potholes left over from a passing tractor - will quickly render the mower unusable. It turns out that such an option for using technology cannot be called justified.

Where is a walk-behind tractor useful?

You can work with the equipment on soft soils, in small areas where various crops have been planted for decades. When using cutters, it is good to use for cultivating soft soil. If such manipulations are performed a couple of times a year, the engine life of the equipment (2500 engine hours) will be enough for several seasons. And then it will require a rebuild of it and the transmission.

If you have a trailer, which, by the way, can make it yourself, a walk-behind tractor is used to transport something. Of course, there can be no talk of any comfort during the trip, especially in not very good weather.

The cost of a walk-behind tractor seems high for many - from 30 thousand rubles for the simplest models.Plus, for efficient and multitasking work, you need attachments. Well, buying used equipment is highly not recommended: in this case, the summer resident will not get a device that makes his work easier, but a headache.

Based on the above information, anyone who is thinking about buying a walk-behind tractor should make a conclusion about the feasibility of this decision. For many, paying a hired tractor driver is becoming a better and less expensive option.

Well, craftsmen, happy owners of such devices, trying to reduce costs at least on additional devices, find another way out of the situation. They develop and implement ideas for a walk-behind tractor with their own hands from a wide variety of available materials.