New guy needing advice

[sparkyaber]

My mother and stepfather have a CT 230 tractor and 40 acres to use it on. They are looking for some attachments for tilling and for maintaining trails in the woods. None of us have clue what attachment brands are good or bad. Quality is very important. We would rather spend a few extra dollars and not be replacing implements every few years. What brands do you recommend for the following, and any to stay away from? A dealer near us carries international brand, any good?

They are thinking of the following items:

Brush Cutter
Box blade
PTO Tiller? (maybe)

[Bird]

The question is too broad. There are a lot of good brands of implements, just as there are a lot of good brands of tractors. Personally, I've owned both Bush Hog and Howse brands of brush cutters (rotary cutters). The Bush Hog was a little better quality, but cost more and the Howse was quite satisfactory and never gave me any trouble. Woods and Landpride make good ones, too.

I've owned Monroe Tufline and Howse box blades. The Monroe was heavier and better quality, but again, it cost more.

I've only owned Bush Hog brand tiller and really liked it. I have a cousin who also has one. But I don't recall anyone complaining about whatever brand tiller they own. Some will say the gear driven tillers are better quality than a chain driven tiller, and I won't dispute that, but my chain driven Bush Hog tiller was used hard, even abused a bit, and never gave me any trouble at all.

None of those implements ever had anything break or require repairs. Good luck with your shopping.

[RPW]

In general just about everyone will either "need" or be very glad that they got a FEL (Front End Loader), a rough cut mower (figure 5 PTO HP per foot). A landscapers rake at least as wide as your tractor maybe a foot wider. And a boxblade. With these you can do "most" tasks around the property. There are more specialised implements that make the jobs easier but IMO go slowly on getting your implements. You can spend thousands of dollars to get the lastest and greatest but find you only use it once or twice where the "standard" implements you'll be using on a regular basis. Search your needs and look for at least medium duty.

Good luck.

[sparkyaber]

Thanks for the quick replies- I was pretty sure it was to broad of a question, just making sure there was nothing I should steer away from. Howse was one other brand that came up in our research. Just don't want to buy something and find out later it is junk. The box blade is pretty easy, buy heavy and thick.
Same with the tiller and brush cutter then?

[TripleR]

When I am looking at top quality across the board, I buy Land Pride and Woods. For some applications "top quality" isn't needed and I have bought other brands. Even within brands you will have different "quality" offerings.

Bush Hog is also a really good quality as are those branded with the tractor manufacturer's name even though they may not make them. I am not familiar with Howse.

There are even some really good quality "off brands" like Caroni. County Line is made by King Kutter and so it goes.

As mentioned, there are almost too many variables to make a general statement.