Walking tractors David Bradley, why they are not used more? and other discussions.

The old engines can be problematic. I have had great luck with the predator line of engines. Just switched from a 6.5 to a 3hp engine. The 6.5 was way over powered for the gearing, never had it off idle. The 3hp needs to warm up and is full throttle to plow but still no issues. The lifan was supposed to fit under the hood with out the tank but i got 2 bad out of the box. Im looking at now how to get the predator to fit under the hood. Its a slant cylinder vs vertical, which the original engine was vertical and so is lifan. Custom exhaust and change the motor plate think might work.

Sulkys are the wheels to stand on behind them. You can get some with seats too. Most items will be custom built, they still make those items for commercial mowers.

My david bradleys are all working hard  on the farm.

3hr

I have a BCS 732 walk-behind tractor with a tiller, brush mower, chipper-shredder, and hydraulic splitter. I bought it because unlike a 4-wheel tractor, it works well on a hillside. Our place has no flat ground, our large garden is on a slope that cannot be tilled with a "standard" garden tractor (that's been tried, if you don't tip it over you just dig holes and pull dirt downhill). At this point, it's the only remaining tool we have that burns gasoline, and I would really like to go electric, but I would prefer not to have to replace all the implements. They are all in good shape. Any ideas welcome.

John

In my opinion they make more sense to use at the slope like John mentioned above, otherwise it's for people that do not value their time or money. I used walk behind brush mower - at the end of 2 acre field mowing I was beaten up like I worked in some penal quarry.
Before I purchased my compact tractor I was considering BCS and Grillo, but the price of implements was very high and their availability on the second hand marked extremely limited. On top of that they would never work stone-hard soil that I have.
I'm glad that I purchased a normal tractor (33 HP) - besides soil working I use it for moving logs for my mill, chipping wood, moving building materials, lifting stones, grading.

John Collins wrote:I have a BCS 732 walk-behind tractor with a tiller, brush mower, chipper-shredder, and hydraulic splitter. I bought it because unlike a 4-wheel tractor, it works well on a hillside. Our place has no flat ground, our large garden is on a slope that cannot be tilled with a "standard" garden tractor (that's been tried, if you don't tip it over you just dig holes and pull dirt downhill). At this point, it's the only remaining tool we have that burns gasoline, and I would really like to go electric, but I would prefer not to have to replace all the implements. They are all in good shape. Any ideas welcome.

John

I'm waiting for electric too.  I found this but I'm not sure if they're in production yet.

https://www.koeppl.com/en/produktauswahl/elektrischer-antrieb

Richard Cleaver wrote:I'm waiting for electric too.  I found this but I'm not sure if they're in production yet.
https://www.koeppl.com/en/produktauswahl/elektrischer-antrieb

That looks really neat, but it might be a while for pricing to become reasonable. The small version of the battery is a 48V 150Ah [1] and batteries like that [2] tend to cost as much an entire gas powered tractor [3].

I want to see some one come out with a bolt on 6hp electric replacement motor. With so much equipment out there with gas motors that size. There should be a large market for them, snowblowers, rototiller, minibike, walking tractor, power wagon, lawn mower, chippers, and more. We keep several new in box engines on hand, just to replace them. My son gets free equipment and fixes and sells them, he has it down to about 30m-1h to replace the engine. We have looked but the cost and custom fab is more than is feasible for small equipment. Plus the specs are all over the place, when you look at comparable power.

Hey so Im in semi rural Portugal and they use something similar for everything including a ride to the cafe and grocery store. There are many different types larger smaller engines but all have the attachments, well i think so. It was amazing to see at first now i just want one.
Moto  cultivador its a mini trator walk/ride behind that ataches to a trailer. Some the seat is only with the trailer, some seat is attached all times.
I don'tknow but I think these are pretty cool,not sure why not more popular in all areas.
Here is a link to an old Ferrari, yep there is lamborghinis too!
Ferrari Moto Cultivador

Sorry that link only went to a pic
Ferrari motocultivador
Hope that goes to the site, most are about 2k€ great for around the villages but not highway worthy haha

We just picked up a troy bilt PTO horse rototiller. It has a PTO connection like a bcs, its a 3 dog clutch. Works different but has attachments similar chipper, log splitter, going to look at adapting a mower deck. It also has a mount to attach a snow blade. Can beat it running for 300$, and my son is tilling gardens each spring making money.
We also picked up a trailer with a long tongue for 10$ we are going to put a seat on. Use on the troy bilt or the david Bradley, parades and the farmers market it should get some attention.

Thanks
3HR