small tractor questions

[BarryG]

I am thinking about getting a small tractor but know nothing about them. Need some basic help before I even start looking. What size should I be looking for. It will be used on 10 acres to plow or blow snow 400 ft driveway, haul wood, trenching might be nice as I need to have about 500 ft of trench for the power and water lines one trench for each as well as getting power and water out to a barn (200 feet), post whole capability would be nice as well need to put in a fence all the way around. Scraping and front loader needed. No need for a mower though. rear tiller could be very handy for the garden also. I know I can get by with a smaller one but how small can I go. It needs to be 4wd. I have looked at few on the web the kubotas look very nice and certainly can do what is described above but as I said I know nothing about tractors any recommnedations?

 

[fbaurley]

You are probably want something around 45 to 60 horsepower. The 4wd is nice especially on a loader tractor, but you will pay for it. A four wheel drive tractor, compared to 2 two wheel drive is not quite the comparison, as between a 4 wheel drive truck to a two wheel drive truck. The 4 wheel drive or (Mfwd) Mechanical front wheel drive) is really nice in mud or deep snow, but your turning radius will suffer some when compared to a 2 wheel drive. Try www.ironsearch.com to search dealer databases for used tractors, or new ones. This will give you a ball park retail price if buying used in your area.

 

[TPCDrafting]

I have a similar setup as you do; 20 acres, barn, fence, water lines, power lines, drip systems, tree holes to dig, etc. I searched high and low for an all around tractor. I borrowed a few tractors from friends hoping to find the one. The smaller tractors that were within my budjet just didn't cut it. The smaller JD's and Kubotas were slow digging and weren't worth my time. I've decided to not buy and rent instead. It will take a long time to spend enough rental money to equal the initial cost of buying a tractor. Then their is a maintanence issue and always not having the right attachment for the job. I just call the rental co. and they deliver the bigger stuff right to me, maintain it themselves and if I break it, I call and they bring me another one. I do agree, it would be very nice to have one on hand. A neighbor has the little JD 4x4 with a loader. It's basically a Yanmar with green paint, it's not too bad for around the house work, but even if it had a backhoe, I'd be surprised if it'd dig deep enough for water line, especially around here. Good luck in your search.

 

[Rman]

You need to find some auctions. You can pick up these very tractors you speak of for a small investment. My father-in-law is an auctioneer and makes his living buying and selling tractors and farm equipment. I've started to pick up on the business and help him out when i can. For about 4500 bucks you can get into a nice setup that will do everything you need. This is 2wd though, 4 wheels are more. Massey-Ferg's are nice i have a liking to them, Deere's, Kubotas... the list goes on. Ford has a ton of small and capable tractors. Local auctions has deals to be had. If you can fix tractors i've found incredible deals for 1500 bucks. Warning however, parts are outrageous. In fact I've looked into opening a parts warehouse and running it. Start working for myself and fix up tractors, thats how much money is made off of tractor parts.



Oh yeah, that 4500 was without the attatchments. Those get spendy. I just meant that buying a retail new tractor is going to be expensive and for substantially less you can get a 10 year old used one. Becareful, it takes a knack to spot a good deal, because tractors truelly get abused and beat up and left for dead.



Good luck, I noticed you live in CO... Montrose has a good sale that we go to. It was 2 weeks ago i'm pretty sure.

 

[Royk]

Barry,



I was in your position a few years ago. I have 13 acres, mostly wooded, a 1/2 mile driveway to maintain, horses, small pasture, etc. I researched and shopped all over the state. I was just about to sign the paperwork on a new Kubota when I took a look at the New Hollands (Ford). The NH I bought is 29 hp diesel. Does everything the Kubota would have done and is better built. I was a little dismayed that it had a fiberglass body until I remembered all the rusted-out used Kubotas I saw at the various dealers. I've been beating on it for 4 years and so far there is only one 2 inch scratch in the fiberglass. Otherwise it looks like new. I have a front loader, 8' stone rake, 6 foot 3pt mower, and a backhoe The nice thing about the NH backhoe is that it is a frame mount and not 3pt. I've heard horror stories of 3pt backhoes.



One thing I have to mention: I would never have any tractor that wasn't hydrostatic and 4WD.



The model # of my tractor is TC29D. They also make 21, 25 and 33 hp models in the TC line.



-Roy

 

[skobylenski]

We use a New Holland TC30 for our property. It's 3 cyl. , 30hp diesel, 25 PTO HP (I think), and has a 5' bucket on the loader. It has the R4 industrial tires, which I find to be a very good compromise between the ag. and turf tires. They have almost the float of turfs, but decent traction, except on our rather steep driveway in the winter. Chains help there. We plow the driveway with a 7' rear blade (going backwards is kind of annoying, but you get used to it), and we have a 6' JD light duty brush hog.

My only complaints are that the transmission needs to be synchro-shift (I think larger NH's are), and the engine takes forever to warm up when the air temp. is under about 20*. When it's this cold, the loader doesn't cycle too fast either. If you are planning on rototilling the garden, I wouldn't get too large a tractor, considering anything larger than the tiller width (about 5' typically) will make it hard (or impossable) to till the middle of the garden with plants on either side. As for the post-hole, tractor size doesn't matter too much, just choose wisely on the actual size of the digger frame and the size augers it will take. I can't explain much about the trenching deal, but I'd personally leave that to someone with a Ditch-Witch, or you can get a back-hoe attachment, but those are difficult because you only get so far before moving the tractor, and they are rather expensive ($5k-$8k depending on size). It also takes a while to remove them, so it's not a practicle thing, unless you are a landscaper who will use it all the time.

Our tractor, with loader and "Woods 72" blade came to about $15,000 brand spankin' new.

Sorry to be long winded, but a tractor purchase is something that needs to be considered like a car purchacse, look at all your options and talk to lots of people before making any final decisions.

I hope this helps you,

Good luck in your search,

Scott

 

[fbaurley]

As stated above auctiions are the best way to buy farm equipment, but you have to be carefull. If you do not Know much about equipment it is best to find someone that does , and take them along. You can by a 25 year old tractor that is in good shape ,bout 50 horsepower, for around $5000 here in Indiana. Even though it may be two wheel drive a 50 hp tractor will do a lot more work than a 30 hp 4 wheel drive due to more weight for traction

 

[Royk]

In regard to the backhoe...

It also takes a while to remove them

Yea, I guess technically 5 minutes is a while.



Sometimes it can be a PITA to put it on. The big thing is to get lined up just right. When I'm not using I leave it in a hidden clearing in the woods and if I don't drop it on level ground it makes it a little harder to get it back on next time. If all goes well I can pull up, mount and drive away in 5-7 minutes. If not, it may take up to 15 minutes. Takes practice.



The biggest pitfall of it in my case is I can't use a belly mount mower, because of the backhoe brackets in the way.

 

[Rman]

Hey RoyK,

You mentioned the fiberglass issue. To me thats a plus, the metals on older units tend to rust out at an alarming rate. The fiberglass may look cheap, but it is practical. Just don't break it!!!! its not cheap to replace. We've welded a large bracing steel structure around around front-end loaders radiator. Loading trailers with junk farm equipment that thing has seen some abuse. The steel ended up helping a lot and i would suggest it to anyone that wants to ruggedize their rig.



Most of all for Barry he needs to study up on what he will use it the most for and find the tractor with the most bang for the buck. You can really get in deep with a new one and if it isn't what you want then you'll suffer. New rigs can be a nice investment though, 30 years of care and that thing will still be cranking. I like old tractors though, cheap and proven not bashin the new ones, they're nice. but for movin dirt and loadin stuff i prefer the 25 year old farmall.

 

[illflem]

I don't know much about the smaller tractors but do know that a 6 foot snow blower on my 80hp JD stucks quite a bit of juice, of course it is moving at a good ground speed also. I've known guys with blowers on smaller Kubotas who hated them, ground speed was about as fast as a ditch witch.

 

[daveshoe]

Thinkin' outside the box

I cannot think of any job that you described that cannot be done easier with a Bobcat loader and their attachments . For example dig a hole. Three point mounted post hole diggers on tractors have no down pressure. hard to get digging, then suddenly she sinks like a stone. Dang thing caught on a rock-- cannot lift it #^%@$#&!!. Same scenario with a Bobcat. Control downpressure, dig at nice rate. catch a rock,you just reverse rotate and out she comes.

I own a bucket and pallet forks and a set of bolt on bucket teeth. I built a quick hitch adapter so I could buy category 2 three point tools cheaply at the farm store. I also made a hydraulic clamp that carries brush on the pallet forks.

I have a 6600 Lb Bobcat and a 13000 Lb backhoe and the bobcat will always outperform the front loader of the backhoe-- what it will do to a small lightweight tractor is embarassing.

Just my . 02 Look for more at Bobcat.com

 

[QRTRHRS]

No machine does it all.

Just one machine will be a compromise. With ten acres, I would say around 20-30 PTO horsepower would be adequate but forget the snow blower. I use a 7' Land Pride 3pt to do my ~1500 foot driveway. I only have to push it backwards when it is wet and deep. Buy shoes so when the surface is soft, you don't make a big mess. Most of the small stuff has a manual angel so you need to get off the tractor. Power angle is worthy especially with a landscape rake.



Like Royk said, if you get a backhoe attachment, get one with a subframe. Many will mount either way but the 3pt puts a lot of stress on things. I have seen transmission/rearend cases broken $$$$. I have a MF 1017 made by Woods I think. No, it is not the fastest but it saved my back many times over.



My small tractor is a 1260 MF with 30PTO HP. The bucket is a bit slow especially the roll. I could speed it up with a second pump but never got around to it. True, a skid loader would out perform for lift capacity and speed. I bought it used five years ago and never did more than routine maintenance. I am amazed how much it does and how well it has held up.



My six foot brush hog will make it work. I have to rinse the dirt out of the radiator pretty often else it will run hot. I also have a 3pt auger. The auger's uselfullness correlates directly to depth and hardness. Sometimes it is useless. Sometimes it does get stuck and I need to put a four foot pipewrench on it to back it out. When I want to fence in a big area, I have someone pound in the posts for me. Sometimes though, I need to make a small or temporary changes and then for maybe ten holes, the auger will get me through it.



My neighbor has about a five foot tiller for his Kubota. It works okay but not in a tight spot.



In my area, I find the summer auction prices to be better than spring for small tractors.