Lawn mower/Tractor Advise

[RedRam1]

Seasons Greetings, Everyone! I have started getting into the holiday spirit, and am contemplating buying myself a Christmas present. I need some advise from the experts, here is the situation:



I have got to buy a new lawnmower, my old Honda 3813 lawn tractor is worn out, it has been a good machine, but is starting to nickel and dime me to death. I have around 5 acres of grass to cut around the house, which was nearly too much for my 38" deck Honda, even in it's beter days.



I would like to have a compact tractor, with a loader, and a 5 - 6 foot belly mower. I've got a couple larger tractors but have always wanted a small 4wd loader tractor for cutting grass, and various other chores. What I'm looking for is the most tractor I can buy that could also double as a lawnmower. It would have to be fairly compact/manuverable since the wife has lots of flower beds, and other landscaping around the house, I realize that once clear of the house, then the bigger the better. I just don't want to spend around 12 - 15K for a tractor, and still have to break down and buy another lawn tractor.



I have been looking at a Kubota B 7500 hst 4x4 loader tractor with 60" mowing deck.

Can you all help me with a few questions?



Is this machine a good choice for a grasscutter?



Is a comparable sized JD/Yanmar an appreciably better or worse machine?



Finally, Will the 'R4' industrial tires available on the Kubota tear up the yard? I know ag tires will eat it up, and hesitate to go with turf tires although I know will be best for mowing, but don't work too well for anything else.

 

[TPCDrafting]

I see you don't want to spend 12-15k on a tractor. You'll likely spend closer to 20k for the JD. I may be wrong, but if I'm thinking of about the size your talking about, that's the prices I've found around here. Take the JD name off and paint it like a Yanmar, the prices come down quite a bit.

Good luck, Tim

 

[RedRam1]

Tim,



I realize I'm going to have to cough us somewhere in the neighborhood of 15K for a tractor, what I don't want is to wind up having to buy another 3-4K riding mower because my new tractor is really not suited for cutting grass in close quarters. I'll have to rent or Borrow one of these rigs & see how it works before spending that kind of dough.



I have always lived on a farm, and have bought/used lots of equipment in my day. I have found out the hard way MANY times that a new piece of equipment will not do what I expected of it - you can tell in the first 5 minutes when you have screwed up. That ticks you off on something like a D&R mower, Troybuilt tiller, or power polesaw - knew I wasted my money on those before the engines were fully warmed up. Can't afford to have that happen to me with a tractor.



You're right on the JD being higher. On their website, I priced a 'naked' JD 4115 compact, this looked like the JD equivalent of the B 7500. The bare tractor was $12,239, I couldn't get the 'accessorize' feature to work, so I don't know how much the deck and loader would add, but based on the price of the tractor alone, looks like the JD would be around $2 - 2. 5K higher. We don't have any Yanmar dealers in the immediate area, so I hate to get one wearing Yanmar colors - although the tractors are the same, it can be hard to get the right parts from a JD dealer.

 

[illflem]

Used to mow the 4 acre lawn with a Kubota B 7500 and belly mower. It did good but left quite a bit around the edges, beds and trees that had to be done with a walk behind mower. It also took half an acre to turn around. Still have the Kubota for other light farm work but use a 52" cut JD F525 three wheel, zero turn radius mower for the lawn only. It does a better job in a third of the time it took the Kubota and doesn't require any hand touch-up at all. Best of all it's fun to run! The JD was sort of pricey though, a little over $5k. My suggestion would be to buy a high quality 48" minimum width zero turn rider and a used 40 hp tractor with loader. If the lawn tractor is small enough for tight work it will be too small for anything else. If you do go for a mower be sure it has hydrostatic drive.

 

[RedRam1]

illflem,



Thanks a lot for your input. Can't beat hearing from a guy with experience using the exact machine I was considering to cut essentially the same amount of grass!

I have also considered the three wheel, zero turn radius mowers. My wife's uncle just bought a slightly used one (he bought it from the gal who used to play Marcy on Married with Children, believe it or not!) His is a Kubota 3cyl hst diesel, I don't remember he model, but he just won't quit raving about it. I may have to look into one of these, I'm sure it can't be beat for grass cutting, trouble is, that's all it will be good for. I was hoping to kill two birds with one stone, but sounds like the compact tractor with belly mower may not really be practical for cutting around the house. We have lots of trees, and the wife has a ton of flower beds and other hard to cut around landscaping. I've got plenty of tractors already & don't have to have another one. Guess I'll start another thread on who makes the best zero turn mower!

 

[TPCDrafting]

RedRam1,

Check out this thread:

https://www.turbodieselregister.com...s=&threadid=42145&highlight=riding+lawnmowers



This may help some. BTW I know exactly what you're talking about when you buy a piece of equipment and two seconds after it cranks over you know you bought a pos.

 

[QRTRHRS]

RedRam1



I never tried a belly mower with my Massey 1260 4x4 40HP, 33ptoHP, but I could pretty much say it would be to big. Your a tractor guy so you already know changing attachments vs one more piece of equipment to maintain equates to this; if you have the money and the room to get it out of the weather, go with more equipment.



I don't know squat about ZTR's but if I had the money, I would drive my Scott's (pre JD) over the bank and buy one. Some of those ZTR's have a flip up mower deck for maintenance. I don't know if they work well or not so someone with experiance please chime in. I know about dragging a 48" deck out and I know about crawling under brush hogs and it "ain't" much fun. Anyway, I would suggest you at least check the flip up decks.

 

[Gizmo 007]

The newer Kubotas are pretty nice tractors. Very compact / pretty maneuverable. A LOT cheaper than JD. A JD 4210 4x4 with front loader and belly mower will run in the neighborhood of $16,500. Not cheap. Matter of fact, I just finished setting one up for delivery today (I'm a service tech. for John Deere). They're both tough if you take care of them. Both are agile in small places, it's just a matter of "Do you want to pay more for green paint and a little more comfort?" It's really a matter of opinion when it comes down to it. What do you like?



Kris

 

[bmoeller]

are you wanting something faily new or brand new? My boss' grandpa has a 1980 J. D. 850 (approx. 24-30 horse Yanmar 3 cylinder diesel) utility tractor with a 60" mid-mount deck. Has only 1600hrs. on it. Has required not much more than routine service work. Put a new clutch/turned flywheel/reman. pressure plate in this past summer along with replacing the original radiator hoses/accessory drive belt. He put in a new transmission input shaft in several years ago. The only disadvantage with this one is that it doesn't have live PTO like the later 850's do. Most ads I've seen they still are asking about $4500-7000 for them. Very fuel efficient little tractors.

 

[Bill Lins]

Originally posted by RedRam1

(he bought it from the gal who used to play Marcy on Married with Children, believe it or not!) Guess I'll start another thread on who makes the best zero turn mower!

How 'bout starting a thread on Marcy- she was HOT! Oo.

 

[Hummin Cummins]

www.steinerturf.com



I have the 430max... ... ... soooo sweet



Bill... ... ... ... . I never noticed Marcy... especially with Kelly standing beside her

 

[Shovelhead]

Originally posted by Bill Lins

How 'bout starting a thread on Marcy- she was HOT! Oo.

Take a cold shower... . you ain't her type.

As Robin Williams used to say she could best be described as

"a woman in comfortable shoes"

 

[jpolston]

I've had the JD 318 Hydostatic drive with a 60" deck; it cut great but was to small to be used as a tractor, even though I had all of the small implements. I then bought a JD 770 with a 60" finishing mower ( 3 point hitch, pto driven ). It was to big to cut close and meneuver and it was to small to work as a tractor. I now have a JD 5400 as a tractor and a TORRO zero turn mower with a 60" deck.



If I were buying now, I would look at the Dixie Chopper or Bobcat zero turn with a 48" deck.



Depending on the deck design, a 48" deck will allow faster cutting than a 60" deck; this is due to how fast the grass is evacuated from under the deck.

 

[Bill Lins]

Originally posted by Shovelhead

Take a cold shower... . you ain't her type.

Lessee here... lesbians like girls... I like girls... ergo,...

 

[The patriot]

Originally posted by Shovelhead

Take a cold shower... . you ain't her type.

As Robin Williams used to say she could best be described as

"a woman in comfortable shoes"

I have a couple of them down the block.

Eric



PS How come they never look like Christina Aguelerra, or Brittany Spears?:-laf

 

[RedRam1]

Thanks, everyone for lots of great advise. I've been away from the computer all weekend, and am just now reading all the new posts.

It looks like a ZTR mower is the way to go, I'm going to try out the Kubota my buddy got from Marcy sometime over the holidays. By the way, he did not get to meet Marcy; she was the owner of the mower, but her dad handled selling it for her. And Bill, as others have already stated, I'm afraid she's not your type!



I stopped at the Kubota dealer over the weekend and checked out his ZTR mowers. He carried Skag, and Kubota. A 60" Kubota was around 9K, and a 48" Skag was around 6K.



I won't have to worry about cutting grass for a few months now, so I have plenty of time to shop around and maybe find a good off season deal on a new, or low hour used machine. I'll keep y'all posted & may solicit more advise after I do a little more shopping.



Thanks again for all the help.



Jim