Mahindra 4550 three-year review
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Early in 2020 I needed to get a larger tractor to use around the small farm that we have. We were having a house being built that needed groundwork done, There was trees to be burned that was removed for the house to be built on,
I checked out every brand of tractor that was close by and looked on the web for reviews on the different brands. I ended up with a Mahindra 4550. I also got their 8 foot brush cutter, loader with a bucket and grapple. |
The 4550 is a 50 horse tractor and all manual shifting. While a shuttle shift would have been nice to have, I was looking for something that was simpler with less parts to break. I had an older backhoe that I had to go into the transmission every few years to rebuild the valves for the shuttle shift. I also found during my research that Mahindra was an India Company that had at one time made tractors for International Harvester. The 4500’s models was built off of that platform.
The 4550 did not have a cab version offered that would have been nice, but some of the work that I would have been using the tractor I most likely would have knocked the glass out of the cab. Plus, there was a nice cost savings with not having the cab option that I used for other equipment.
| First thing I started doing was the land work around our new house. It was built on the side of a hill and cut out of a wooded area. There was many trees to be moved and piled up, this is where the grapple really was a big help. One down side to this as with any farm type of tractor with a loader is how week the loader arms are. When you are trying to dig in and level an area with the bucket it will roll edge down or on one side making the loader arms twist some. This makes it harder to cut a level grade with the bucket and loader. |  |
If you remember that this is not a construction grade piece of equipment and treat as a farm equipment you will not have any trouble with the arms bending or twisting out of shape. Other users have reported bending the cylinder arms on the loader from when they are rolling the edge down and back dragging with the bucket edge. Backhoe’s can do this, but it can be too much for these loaders with the tractor weight pushing down as dragging dirt backwards.
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The rest of the time it spends mowing around 20 acers of pasture. Dragging and hauling logs for firewood and the sawmill. The one downside to this tractor as with many more compact tractors is how fast the radiator will become covered with seeds and loss pieces of grass, If you keep your ground mowed to where there are very little seeds to fly off there is not much problem. When is taller grass there are times that you have to stop every few hours to clean the Debree away from the screens. I have gotten by with using a water hose or air hose to blow from the back side of the radiator to get much of it off, and this will get you by for a few more hours. But to really clean everything off I have to lift the loader up so that when I pull the pins on the grill guard so it will drop down and then tip the hood forward to get to the radiator better.
What is my over all take after three years and 680 hours of use.
I have been very impressed with the Mahindra 4500 so far. I have used it hard but have not been abusive to it. I have not had any mechanical problems out of this tractor. For its size it is a very strong little work horse. With the two areas that I feel could be better are the screens cleaning for the radiator and the loader arms where they do not flex as much.
The company say that it is as the largest tractor company but the dealers and getting them worked on can be a problem. This is something that you will need to be on the look out in your area. How long has a dealer been selling the Mahindra tractors and do that have mechanics that can work on them.
