Is a 2 wheel tractor right for me?

[craichead]

Hello, I recently purchased a home with 2.5 acres, about 1 acre is manicured lawn and the remainder woods. The lawn has a couple of small but tricky hills but is mostly flat. At some point in the future, I would to clear additional wooded land and perhaps do a small (1/4 acre?) garden.

My needs/wants are: mowing; brush clearing; pulling a utility trailer; FEL/scoop. I realize I am not likely to get all of them, specifically, FEL/scoop seems to not be an option. (Something I could get with a garden tractor - Johnny Bucket - but obviously give up brush and tilling ability).

I am intrigued by the Grillo and BCS tractors for a couple of reasons; I like that they are simpler (no belts, etc) and therefore likely less maintenance/last longer. I like that I can accomplish multiple tasks with one tool (+ multiple attachments). But since it would primarily be mowing, what is it like to use one of these for primarily mowing?

 

[leonz]

If you do not mind me asking, do you live on the desert side of the State of Washington or the desert side?

Your looking at close to 20K or more if you want the attachments for a Kubota BX model.

If your home occupies 1/2 and acre you will be better off investing in high end/high horsepower riding lawn mower and a trailer and purchasing a good heavy high horsepower snow blower and a small rototiller like a Merry Tiller or renting a Merry tiller locally.

Mounting a snow blower on today's lawn tractors are a big mistake as they are junk-just ask me; I keep hoping that someone steals the lawn tractor and snow blower I have as they are junk.

Brush clearing requires a lot of tools and manual labor even before you start hauling it away. Having someone come in with a back hoe and or dozer will be pricey for a small lot unless you barter swap a firewood deal if the stumpage is aspen or pine that can be sawn into lumber.

With a walk behind 2 wheel mule you can use a riding sulky with a ride on trailer or walk behind it to mow. A Berta Flail mower eliminates
needing to pick up clippings as you can recut them and not need to pick them up with a bagger on a Berta rotary mower.

If you want a garden you will be better off taking some of the lawn and making a raised bed garden with timbers simply
because the rotary plow or rotary tiller will be a large investment.

Decide how much you can afford or want to spend. If you are in the snow belt DO NOT buy a lawn tractor and a snow blower attachment for it as they will not survive cascade concrete UNLESS its a walk behind tractor like a BCS or BERTA with a 2 stage BERTA snow blower.

 

[craichead]

If you do not mind me asking, do you live on the desert side of the State of Washington or the desert side?

Your looking at close to 20K or more if you want the attachments for a Kubota BX model.

If your home occupies 1/2 and acre you will be better off investing in high end/high horsepower riding lawn mower and a trailer and purchasing a good heavy high horsepower snow blower and a small rototiller like a Merry Tiller or renting a Merry tiller locally.

Mounting a snow blower on today's lawn tractors are a big mistake as they are junk-just ask me; I keep hoping that someone steals the lawn tractor and snow blower I have as they are junk.

Brush clearing requires a lot of tools and manual labor even before you start hauling it away. Having someone come in with a back hoe and or dozer will be pricey for a small lot unless you barter swap a firewood deal if the stumpage is aspen or pine that can be sawn into lumber.

With a walk behind 2 wheel mule you can use a riding sulky with a ride on trailer or walk behind it to mow. A Berta Flail mower eliminates
needing to pick up clippings as you can recut them and not need to pick them up with a bagger on a Berta rotary mower.

If you want a garden you will be better off taking some of the lawn and making a raised bed garden with timbers simply
because the rotary plow or rotary tiller will be a large investment.

Decide how much you can afford or want to spend. If you are in the snow belt DO NOT buy a lawn tractor and a snow blower attachment for it as they will not survive cascade concrete UNLESS its a walk behind tractor like a BCS or BERTA with a 2 stage BERTA snow blower.

Thanks! I'm in Western Washington - no snow here. Basically, my needs are, in order of priority: 1) finish mowing, 2) hauling, 3) brush clearing, 4) tilling (maybe).

Budget is around $5k for initial investment (mowing and hauling), I can delay the other attachments until next year. It seems like I could get a Grillo or BCS with mower and cart for that price, but I may well be better served by a garden tractor (would probably be faster for mowing anyway). I'm a bit worried about the slopes, but they are probably manageable. I'd have to buy another piece of equipment for brush clearing though.

 

[coherent]

After buying my first small/compact tractor there are two things I'm really glad of. One, that it is four wheel drive... the difference in traction in loose dirt, sand, gravel, going up/down slopes, etc and when using the FEL etc is huge. Two, hydro static/automatic trans... it just makes things so much easier and smoother, especially when using the FEL. Just my opinion FWIW.

 

[leonz]

Thanks! I'm in Western Washington - no snow here. Basically, my needs are, in order of priority: 1) finish mowing, 2) hauling, 3) brush clearing, 4) tilling (maybe).

Budget is around $5k for initial investment (mowing and hauling), I can delay the other attachments until next year. It seems like I could get a Grillo or BCS with mower and cart for that price, but I may well be better served by a garden tractor (would probably be faster for mowing anyway). I'm a bit worried about the slopes, but they are probably manageable. I'd have to buy another piece of equipment for brush clearing though.

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Anything above 15 degrees when mowing is very dangerous for a mower on a side hill for a new user as any can or mower will slide down and or roll over with wet sod.

You may just be able to buy the smallest BCS tractor and berta rotary mower for now based on your budget.
You will have to decide if you want to bite the bullet and buy the ride on dump trailer which would save you a
lot of walking as the rotary mower will be narrow in width.

I will strongly suggest to you that you call Joel at Earth Tools as he sells both the BCS and Grillo 2 wheel mules and ask him about your situation as he is a two wheel mule expert and uses them on his truck farm.

 

[mark02tj]

You can do a LOT on your sized property with a 2-wheeled tractor. I've owned Gravely's since I was in my early 20's (and I'm in my 50's now). I know most on this board are BCS folks, so most of your answers will trend to that option.

Positives for BCS is that you can buy them new. The "good" Gravelys haven't been made in a while, so everything is used. Also, someone mentioned a flail mower for the BCS which would be very nice. I've never seen a flail for a Gravely.

The older Gravely's are a lot heavier unit than a BCS though. That would give you better traction and stability, IMHO.

Based on your budget, the major advantage to going with a used Gravely is that could buy the tractor, a finish mower, a sulky, a brush mower, a tiller and a set of dual wheels for somewhere in the $1500-3000 range. Just something to consider.

 

[Code54]

The BCS 850 series has a locking differential and well as steering brakes - these are worth their weight in gold. I love Gravely's but the newer BCS machines really are light years ahead of the Gravely (even the ones with the steering brake). The BCS has a track option (steel and rubber both), and a LARGE variety of wheel sizes and widths. For the tractor work it will do what you need.
As for mowing,I may just think about buying a cheap lawn tractor from HD/Lowes and have at it. Use the 2 wheel machine for the real work. The 2 wheelers don't make the worlds best lawn mowers but they work, but they make a great rough cutter/ snow blower/etc....

 

[NibbanaFarm]

The pros of the BCS: All the BCS implements that I have, tiller, rotary plow, sickle bar, bush hog, are excellent and very heavy duty. Where I live, if you hire somebody to do work for you, you'd better have a deep checkbook. So, even though BCS stuff is expensive, it should last a long, long time and can save you a lot of money. As for simple non powered implements, if you're so inclined you can make them to suit your task. I built a ride on wagon, a "buddy cart", a disk harrow, a snow plow and weight set up, a mechanical forklift, and am working on a power wheel barrow. I probably have $7 or $8K into BCS stuff, but go price a good lawn tractor or other outdoor power equipment. I looked at quality, USA made z-turn mowers and they were touching $10K for some of them. To replace the CC 2500 series lawn tractor I am using would cost around $6K. And, it's not all that great. The Honda push mower I use in the garden cost me $500 or $600 IIRC and it is a POS IMO. Should have got a cheap push mower at Walmart. My point is, quality heavy duty stuff is expensive. So it really depends a lot on what you can afford.

The cons: It depends on your landscaping. I have complicated landscaping and a complicated area to remove snow from. I don't have a mower for the BCS so I can't speak from experience to that. But I do have a BCS snow blower. While the snow blower works great and throws snow pretty far, the lack of hydrostatic drive on the tractor makes it a backup to my troy bilt track drive snow blower. Why? Because I am constantly having to stop, reverse, start, make sharp turns, etc which is a PITA with the BCS. So as far as mowing goes, if you're going to have to do a lot of starting and stopping and reversing and going around a lot of stuff, I would say no to the BCS. If not, then I think the bCS would be a great mower.

 

[jcraftenworth]

BCS and Grillo are really built to last like stuff that used to be made in America until around the 1980s. You can accomplish your intended tasks by owning multiple small engine consumer grade crap equipment but they'll break down on you much faster, and there will be hassles and frustrations involved. In my mind with bcs you pay more but you get more effective and durable equipment, and consequently you get more peace of mind and satisfaction from owning and operating. And after you have to replace some of the disposable equipment out there a few times, you realize over time you could have paid for the bcs and some nice implements. You can get quality 4 wheel compact utilities but we're talking a whole other price point there, figure triple the cost of entry for equal quality but more powerful machines, and then it comes down to the scale of your tasks and property size and whether or not that is worth it.

 

[scodyw]

I have a Grillo 1017D with a 33" Zanon mower, and use it to mow about an acre. I got it because I am getting old and fat, and need exercise. On open ground and steep hills it works, I feel myself loosing weight every time I use it. Mowing around stuff can be a bear, but gets slightly easier as you get used to maneuvering the tractor. I can mow about 90% of my yard with the Grillo. The rest are spots too tight to maneuver it, so my kids use a small push mower for them. I will agree with people who say a cheap rider is better though.

I also use it to till my garden, it is great for tilling. I also use it as a chipper, snowblower and I have a front plow (the type for pushing dirt) for it. I have not tried the plow with weights on the tractor, but without them it does not get enough traction. Everything else I have tried, it works good for. I also bought just the hitch for the tractor and converted a 4 wheel wagon to a 2 wheel wagon to pull with it. It is pretty fast in the transport gear.

Before moving to less land (From about 5-1/2 to 1-1/2 acres), I have had both a old garden tractor and a new SCUT TLB, and it really just depends on how much capacity you need as to how large you need to go. The GT worked fine, and was not bad to turn with the front tires inflated pretty well. It could lift about 500lbs and I could mow it it. There was a tiller available for it. As for brush, if it was small enough I just mowed it. If it was too large, I plowed it with the FEL, or dug it up with the backhoe.

I ended up selling the GT because I needed more capacity to clear downed trees (most of my pine trees died in about 6 years). I got a SCUT with a grapple on it, it could lift 1,000 lbs. The backhoe on it also dug faster, and had more pulling force to rip out roots. I did not get a mower for it, because a mid mount mower on a SCUT is expensive, and I only had a little less than an acre to mow there (the rest was woods.)

That covers my experience with all three. The biggest problem that it sounds like your land has, is the hills. It really depends on how bad they are, and if they can justify basing the decision around them. If they are not too steep, or else not too large; I would get an older GT with a loader, mower deck, and a three point hitch. Some GTs have tillers available for them, and if not you can use a plow, cultivator and/or discs. Then, if the hills are too steep for the GT (and not too large), I would do the hills with a push mower or weed-eater.

The most import point, I think, is that if you feel you need a FEL and get a two wheel tractor, there is a good chance you will regret it.

With an older GT, accessories are hard to find, so try to get a good package or choose one based on what else you can get in your area for it. Even if you have it re-powered when you get it, you will spend about the same on everything for it, as you will for a new 2-wheeled tractor with one or two accessories. Even if you clear some of the land, a SCUT would probably be more expensive than it is worth. It will get the larger jobs done quicker (like if you clear a lot of trees) but otherwise the GT should have the capacity for most chores.