Jon Best
New member
I am faced with several $7K quotes to gravel my 500' driveway, and some quick calculations that produce about $2K of gravel necessary to do the job.
Add in the fact that we have 3 acres of mostly grass (or something that looks a lot like it), some beds to clean out down to dirt, a bunch of sand to move around, a gravel driveway that needs more regular maintenance than we give it, and an easily accessible goat shed I don't like spending as much time as I do now cleaning out (along with a potential added 2-horse shed).
It all says small tractor with a box blade and frontloader to me.
I've been looking around all the online classifieds, bought a trader, and above all done a lot of reading on this site and others.
I am basically pretty mechanically inclined, and don't mind spending the time and effort to figure out routine maintenance and what do do when things don't go right.
So I suppose the bottom line is, is it realistic to be looking for a 4wd, 18-25 HP decent used tractor I can expect a number of years out of with good maintenance, in the $3500-5500 range? What are the most likely candidates? What do I look out for in certain models?
Of course, I'll keep reading, but I would really appreciate any input anyone can contribute. I'm hoping on doing this sooner rather than later, if possible. Oh, and I'm in Virginia Beach, VA. I can't seem to find any bigger used or gray market tractor dealers very close to me.
Add in the fact that we have 3 acres of mostly grass (or something that looks a lot like it), some beds to clean out down to dirt, a bunch of sand to move around, a gravel driveway that needs more regular maintenance than we give it, and an easily accessible goat shed I don't like spending as much time as I do now cleaning out (along with a potential added 2-horse shed).
It all says small tractor with a box blade and frontloader to me.
I've been looking around all the online classifieds, bought a trader, and above all done a lot of reading on this site and others.
I am basically pretty mechanically inclined, and don't mind spending the time and effort to figure out routine maintenance and what do do when things don't go right.
So I suppose the bottom line is, is it realistic to be looking for a 4wd, 18-25 HP decent used tractor I can expect a number of years out of with good maintenance, in the $3500-5500 range? What are the most likely candidates? What do I look out for in certain models?
Of course, I'll keep reading, but I would really appreciate any input anyone can contribute. I'm hoping on doing this sooner rather than later, if possible. Oh, and I'm in Virginia Beach, VA. I can't seem to find any bigger used or gray market tractor dealers very close to me.