What Type and HP Tractor?

[realtractorguy]

The John Deere 4320 offers a turbo, the model 485 backhoe is an excellent backhoe, can be installed and removed from the operators seat extremely quickly, and comes standard with a boom float control, making trenching and site excavation easier. New or used you can't go wrong with this product, John Deere service and resale value, and the products outstanding performance for task at hand. I'm not a John Deere dealer, I've been in the industry for many years and have held the position of Product Marketing manager (compact tractors) and managed Kubota, John Deere, and Cub Cadet dealerships, my job was to research and critique the industry currently looking for work and staying active by helping the folks I always enjoyed helping, the consumers.

 

[dodge man]

Just a couple of thoughts on my part. I hate to see people narrow down a search too much. A turbo would be nice, but I wouldn't say it is necessary. You just don't want to cut yourself to short on the H.P. Something someone said, and you already responded to, is the size of the land. You could have 10,000 acres but if you are only working a few of them you don't want to size your tractor for 10,000 acres.

It looks like you are leaning towards and others are steering you towards a true TLB. I always think of these as being a piece of constrution equipment and pretty heavy duty. If you can afford it, this would be a good choice. You can always sell it later when you get your place pretty much complete. You can then get a smaller machine. It sounds like you already have a pretty heavy duty truck to get it there, but don't forget the cost of a heavy enough trailer to transport the thing.

I was thinking Builder, another regular poster, said Califoronia had some new emissions requirements kicking in and maybe some construction equipement could be had cheap.

 

[ronmueller]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I think I'll proceed by checking out the local dealers over the next month or two and see which one I'm most comfortable with. I'll be curious what they all recommend given the 8000' altitude where I'll be using the machine.

In the mean time I'll keep checking what's available on-line, especially the TLB. But so far the TLBs I've seen within my price range have had well over 1000hrs, and I'm a bit apprehensive about getting a machine that may need a repairs, especially when I'll need reliability from the start to support my construction projects.

I'll let everyone know what I end up purchasing.

To everyone, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

 

[MtnViewRanch]

A thousand hours is barely broken in. If you are considering used, I would not hesitate at looking at anything with 3000 or less hours, especially if it was a private party single owner machine. I would only consider a tractor with a turbo. That isn't to say that you have to have a turbo, that is saying that you want a turbo.

 

[JohnnyW]

Hey Ron I live over in Santa Cruz/Capitola Area. I just bought a Kubota L3830 GST with a bunch of stuff used. I have a chipper (for sale), auger, LA 723 loader, mower, box blade etc. If you want to take a look and take it for a spin let me know. However, this tractor is 39 HP it sounds like you might be looking at the L 4000's or even bigger. Anyway good luck.

 

[jenkinsph]

Ron,
Welcome to TBN and New Mexico, I have a 110tlb with cab and live in Ruidoso. I operate with no problems at 8,000 ft and higher, you should not have a problem in Datil. I will be glad to introduce you to a good Deere store manager in Roswell. PM me if interested. That is a nice area which is close to the listening station arrays if my memory serves me. I have contracted several government jobs east of you above Magdalena at Alamo.

 

[ronmueller]

Hey Ron I live over in Santa Cruz/Capitola Area. I just bought a Kubota L3830 GST with a bunch of stuff used. I have a chipper (for sale), auger, LA 723 loader, mower, box blade etc. If you want to take a look and take it for a spin let me know. However, this tractor is 39 HP it sounds like you might be looking at the L 4000's or even bigger. Anyway good luck.

Hi, and thanks for the offer to check out your L3830.

 

[ronmueller]

Ron,
Welcome to TBN and New Mexico, I have a 110tlb with cab and live in Ruidoso. I operate with no problems at 8,000 ft and higher, you should not have a problem in Datil. I will be glad to introduce you to a good Deere store manager in Roswell. PM me if interested. That is a nice area which is close to the listening station arrays if my memory serves me. I have contracted several government jobs east of you above Magdalena at Alamo.

Thanks for the info Steve. How many hours are on your 110tlb, and how is it holding up? I went to the local JD dealer in San Jose and checked out a 4120 the other day. I liked the size of the tractor (length and width), but it's only 3700 lbs. compared to the 110tlb's 7280 lbs. So the tlb must be a fairly large tractor. I'm wondering if I may be better off hiring out any heavy backhoe work for the construction. My General Contractor says I'll probably need to rent a hydralic hammer (at $1300 a day, YIKES!) to bust up rock in order to put in the septic system. My architect says the house will be anchored directly to the exposed rock and will not need a trench for a foundation. Long term backhoe work that I'll need to do is road/driveway maintenance such as keeping water runoffs clear and removing the occasional rock. Roswell is a bit far away (245 miles and 4+ hours according to mapquest). Have you had any dealings with the JD dealer in Belen?

I have to drive through the VLA (Very Large Array) on my way to Socorro, but haven't stopped by yet to check it out. Sure looks impressive.

 

[IslandTractor]

My General Contractor says I'll probably need to rent a hydralic hammer (at $1300 a day, YIKES!) to bust up rock in order to put in the septic system. .

Slightly off topic but you should consider an above ground septic system as an alternative. Maybe the contractors in NM are not familiar with these but those of us in coastal wetlands see them quite a bit. Basically it just involves building a compact leach field equivalent on top of the ground rather than digging in. Truckloads of sand and gravel are cheaper than digging in rock. Easy to disguise and they work well.

 

[jenkinsph]

Ron,

Right now I have about 630 hours on my 110tlb and it is working well for me. The 110 is about the same as a 4000 series tractor's dimensions, but with the heavy built loader, backhoe, skidplate, heavy framing it weighs in about 7600 lbs. My unit with the Laurin cab is about 8,000 lbs. The 7200 lbs config is with a loader and boxblade.

The backhoe is easily removed but the loader is not, you can remove the loader bucket which has the skidsteer mounting. If fully equipped with all extra hydraulics, 7 function backhoe, top and tilt hitch this unit makes for a very versatile machine.

Whether to buy your own backhoe or not is a difficult choice to make, on the one hand the big jobs will likely need larger equipment, but the small jobs are almost impossible to do with a shovel. So do you hire someone else everytime you need to dig a small job? The other thing is in your area I would not recomend an ag loader, these green (or any other color) will not hold up to the abuse. The lightest I would consider is the 110tlb loader.

About the septic system, first of all I installed a large 3600 gallon system with 96 infiltrators near you at the Alamo School. This was a federal project and had full inspections along the way. Lots of rock there but you can peel it out in most cases with rock teeth. I dug this septic system and all the waterlines, electric lines with Deere 410G and a Case 580 with hammer. I also used a Cat 304 excavator to start with and it could barely dig a trench so it was swapped on the backhoe and hammer. Where we were working it was solid rick with a lttle windblown dust on top. Up near Pueblo Pintada north of there I have dug with a 3 ton excavator with no problems, so alot depends on your individual site. If your septic field is almost solid rock then it will require a large field to work. I can tell you that 96 infiltrators is a heck of a lot of them.

The dealer in Belen, I met him and that is where I saw my first 110tlb up close. He was hard to buy from though he wouldn't come off of list price at all and the dealer in Mesquite to the south below Las Cruces discounted my purchase about $11,000. I don't know about you but I can drive an extra 90 miles to save that kind of money.

When I bought my 4520 this year I first went to the Mesquite dealer and then the Roswell dealer. The Roswell dealer was about $2,800 cheaper than the Mesquite dealer, this was for the exact same (ordered) tractor. So right now the Roswell dealer has my business.

As far as the hammer is concerned I would call the rental companies to see what the day week and monthly rates are, that price seems awfully high to me. When I was renting from RSC I think a 410 backhoe (like new) rented for about $1450/month plus about $200 delivery fee. Doubt it would be much more than that now. The hammer rig was slightly more but an older unit, didn't have any problems with it either.

Hope this helps you some, I am a licensed General, electrical and mechanical contractor so let me know if you have any other questions.