First Time Tractor Owner's Advice

[MikePA]

First Time Tractor Owner\'s Advice

I give this advice to myself frequently (and not just about tractors /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif) so I thought I'd pass it on. Perhaps it's obvious to some, but here goes anyway. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Many of us were/are fortunate enough to be able to buy a tractor with the attachments on it that we knew we needed. A mmm for mowing a lawn, a FEL for handling horse stall cleanings, a snow blower for clearing a snow filled driveway multiple times per year. So, what's my advice to us first time owners?

Give yourself plenty of time to actually use your tractor, in all seasons, to see how many of the plethora of available attachments you really need. And not only which attachments you need, but how often you'll need them. For example, while a box blade can smooth out that ground where you're going to seed a lawn, how many times will you be planting a lawn? Perhaps a rear blade, while less convenient, can do the job almost as well, at less cost, plus it can be used for other purposes. Or those loader forks you are lustfully gazing at. Would a boom pole suffice, at less cost, for those few times you need to unload something?

What prompted me to offer this advice? In one of my semiannual desk cleanings, I found a hanging folder that contained receipts for some of software packages I've purchased over the years. This was not a thin folder! Upon opening it, I discovered that the receipts were primarilty for software I used when I ran OS/2. Guess what? I no longer run OS/2 and was therefore no longer running any of the software /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif. No, I did not add up the cost of each package. I didn't want to get depressed.

Take time to get to know your first tractor and how it performs before you (we) spend your (our) hard earned money.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: First Time Tractor Owner\'s Advice

Mike... Bravo...

Very well put... for many years, I bought all those PC programs/utilities{and now obsolete software}... well gee whiz, it's wholesale, what's $20-100... every few weeks....

Fast forward... I can't count that high, even if I only paid $20. each {I'd be lying... it's much more} times maybe 3 or 4 hundred {still not lying...and probably higher}... that's many thousands of dollars down the drain that could have been used in much wiser situations... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

 

[TerryinMD]

Re: First Time Tractor Owner\'s Advice

Mike and John,

Sage advice.

I think that most of us can relate to the <font color=red>fill in the blank</font color=red> purchase blues. I can't remember where I heard or read about this, but I remember something about just before purchasing whatever your going to buy $10 or $10,000 ask yourself the question. How often am I going to use this thing? My wife is usually the one that asks the question. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Terry

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by TerryinMD on 12/14/01 02:15 PM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Youare]

Re: First Time Tractor Owner\'s Advice

Good advice Mike.
It's easy to drool over some new implement that I think I need but would use maybe once or twice a year. I've never looked into it but I bet that you could rent the implement you only need once in a while. You would still use the potential of your tractor and save money to boot.

Randy

 

[cp1969]

Re: First Time Tractor Owner\'s Advice

Someone stop me....please....before I spend again.

 

[fractal]

Re: First Time Tractor Owner\'s Advice

I counter your question with "how much would it cost me to pay someone else to do the job". And, more importantly in my neck of the woods, "can I FIND anyone who will DO the job"?

Not to be overly argumentative, but I bought a b7200 with fel and box because I called a half dozen landscaping people to get quotes to level a chunk of ground so I could install the kids swing set. Not a big deal I though. Cost me less than a grand I though.... silly me. Of the 6 who came out to give estimate, zero, none, nada, absolutely NONE of them provided a quote. Not even after calling again and again. They didn't want the job. So, I bought a tractor, bought a truck load of dirt and did the job myself. It took several weekends, but I did it. We had rain this past month and I still have work to do, but at least I don't have a 6 inch puddle of water where the swing would go (it is down to 1/2 inch). I figure I can sell the tractor for what I paid for it when/if I get tired of it (see, honey! I CAN move the firewood from the pile to the house with the tractor!)

Things may be different in your neck of the woods, and I highly encourage people to do their homework. Noone around here rents 3pt implements. None. I need to replace several fence poles and have seen what the hand held power pole diggers can do so am torn between doing it by hand and paying 500 bucks for a digger for the tractor. I will probably do it by hand if the wife has anything to say.. Either way, finding people willing to do a honest days work for a honest days wage in my neighborhood is a challange.

Oh, and yeah, I look at the boxes of software that either didn't do what I wanted or have lost their usefulness. I somehow don't find the analogy appropriate. That box blade you bought that you use once or twice a year will be worth at least half what you paid for it long after you and I are in our graves. I doubt you can say that for os/2 software packages.

ymmv

 

[Jeff396]

Re: First Time Tractor Owner\'s Advice

<font color=blue>Noone around here rents 3pt implements.</font color=blue>

Sounds like an excellent business opportunity for someone!/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif I need to drill 8 or 10 post holes but have yet to see if anyone in my area rents 3pt implements. I would go with the hand held one but some are in the woods. I'm worried it will get caught up on the roots and throw me like a rag doll, so I figure the 3pt is the way to go. Hopefully I won't have the same rental void as you.

Jeff

 

[MikePA]

Re: First Time Tractor Owner\'s Advice

<font color=blue>I counter your question with "how much would it cost me to pay someone else to do the job". And, more importantly in my neck of the woods, "can I FIND anyone who will DO the job"?</font color=blue>

I couldn't agree more. I almost always get a quotation from someone for them to do the work. Then I price the materials including any new attachments that might be required and compare the costs. If I can do it for less money, plus have an attachment that I can continue to use, then I usually go that route. However, if the attachment would only be used once, it's a different story.

I should add, it it always my better half that searches through the phone book, calls people and gets estimates. Earlier this year we wanted to convert a relatively level pasture into a riding ring. Nothing fancy, just a place she could exersize the horses safely. Well, you wouldn't believe what it costs to out a ring in using a company that does only that. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif So, she began calling excavators. Most of them replied, "Huh?", after she described what we wanted done. She finally found an older gentleman, who was retiring from farming to concentrate on his excavating business. He came in with a dozer and a backhoe, leveled out the area we had marked out with corner stakes and laid down the surface for about 20% of the lowest price we received from anyone else. Even if I had a tractor at the time, I could not have done what he did with a dozer and a backhoe. Now, the ring is not ready for gran prix jumping events, but it meets our needs as well as our horses.

Since then, we've called him to deliver stone, put spouts underground, etc. He's a great guy. When he was putting the spouts underground, he accidentally lowered the stabilizer feet on his backhoe (Case 580 4x4) and scratched the siding our our barn. I looked at it and didn't think it was that big a deal, our horses have done worse things. But he came back out, on a Saturday no less, to measure the area. Came back the same day, took the damaged siding down, and put a new piece up. Since it was a piece he had sitting outside it was a little more bleached out than ours, but not a bad match.

While it's tough to do, my post was an encouragement to all of us to apply some financial sense to the purchasing decisions we make. I'd love nothing more than to buy the right attachment for each task I have to do, but I'd soon run out of money, space or both. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif And as new owners, we really are not aware of what our tractor's, or our own, capabilities are. We should take time to learn these things before we spend a small fortune. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[JohninCT]

Re: First Time Tractor Owner\'s Advice

I hear what you're saying... BUT we only come through here once. AND, more importantly, let us not forget... He who dies with the most toys wins! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

John

 

[Jag]

Re: First Time Tractor Owner\'s Advice

Jeff and others, around here there are a lot of rental places around, but NO ONE rents a 3pt post hole digger, none.. The liability is to high and they were always getting their equipment back torn up.. A friend just had a deck to add to his house and could only get a hand held unit. It had a wheeled base and swinging head, worked reasonable well.. But no 3pt's... Has any one else seen this..