I admit this little gal is "pretty light." I've actually had the rear wheels off the ground with the loader trying to move something, but generally I'm "fairly" careful I think. I've even seen pictures/ videos of several of the "compact" tractors of various kinds broke in half.
My rears are filled - by best estimate, each of my rear tires is probably 800+ lbs including rims. I've still been up on 2 wheels a couple times when I underestimate the load. I have one log that's about the max my loader can lift that I've been rolling around the property. It's probably 18' long, still pretty green, and about 36" diameter at the base. That **** makes me tippy on the front wheels. Any kind of bump, and the rears lose traction.
I keep saying I need to build a 1500-3k lbs ballast box for the 3pt. Would definitely make moving snow easier in the winter. As it is, I have to manage down pressure on the bucket to keep traction. As soon as I lift the bucket at all, the rears break free. Too much down pressure and the drag is more than the tires can manage and I break free. Chains make little different except to wear me out dragging them around to install them and they tear up my concrete drive pretty good, so now I try to manage without. It's been frustrating enough that I bought a little SxS and put a plow on it - it's 4x4 and we'll see how it does this winter. I have a Bolens Tubeframe mini-tractor with a blower, but it's a single stage and really works best with powder. I tried it year before last, but it was so wet and heavy that I wound up just plowing with it. That, and between branches and pinecones stuffing up the auger, I wound up having to repair the drive chain a half dozen times. A feat that requires disassembling the entire blower to get to. I think my best time is about 6 minutes now.. but I got tired of it. Might make more sense to use if I ever pave the driveway (unlikley).
I've seen lots of those photos too of CUTs (compact utility tractors) broken in half, or the bucket cylinders buckled from back-dragging. That's one of the benefits of using an older machine, they're built stupid heavy. I think my loader assembly weighs as much as today's 20 horse tractors do. My bucket cylinders are massive, not the skinny things that even my buddy's 30horse Mahindra came with. It's just the steering linkage and front end that's lightweight, but my model is meant for pulling not lifting.
One other downside is that either my clutch is done (or about to be), or it has a non-PTO clutch (common cheap swap) because my PTO don't stop with the clutch lever the way it's supposed to. Also, the exposed linkage for the clutch and brakes makes for a dangerous situation when managing slash. I've had wood get stuck in there and jam my clutch linkage so I either can't depress it or can't release it. Either one is bad, but I can yank either shifter into neutral easy enough after killing the throttle. I must've pinched about 4 holes in the seat by now.
