Buying Advice sub compact tractor

[jenkinsph]

i'm new here and looking for advice on what sub compact tractor to buy in terms of price, value and reliability. i will be buying used and will be using it to till a 1 acre vegatable garden. Thanks in advance for any insight

First, sorry about the rants disrupting your thread.

Tilling a one acre garden can be done with a wide variety of machines. Which size and power you go with will determine how much time you will spend doing this. I have a 24hp machine with a 60" tiller that will do this and I have a 60hp machine with a 72" tiller that will do this much faster. If this will be your "go to" machine I would look for something around 30hp with higher clearance, position control on the 3ph and hydrostatic transmission.

There should be lots of models and brands that would fit you well, I like deere and am more familiar with them, something along the lines of a 2720 with a 655 tiller would be my suggestion. Lots of other brands will offer tractors that are very good choices too, I am just not as familiar with all the model numbers.

A one acre garden is a big garden imo, get a machine with more ground clearance that will allow you to use a cultivator to ease some of the labor.

[SPYDERLK]

Mahindra does not make a subcompact tractor.

You should put this in your signature line.
larry

[Martian]

i'm new here and looking for advice on what sub compact tractor to buy in terms of price, value and reliability. i will be buying used and will be using it to till a 1 acre vegatable garden. Thanks in advance for any insight

I do feel the need to apologize, but all the nonsense should be over

I reread your post, and if you want to do a 1 acre garden a SCUT is not enough. Are you sure on the 1 acre figure, as it is very large. I bought an 80" tiller to go behind my 85HP 5410 to do a garden about a 1/3 the size. For really soft dirt that was nicely spread with some horse compost from my farm took me a couple hours. It was probably 60 yards long by 40 yards wide. I'm not saying you couldn't do it with a SCUT, but it would take a long time. You would be better off with a plow than a tiller in this scenario, though.

[Don87]

Just confusing when you say between a GT and a CUT, as that's such a wide radius for what the tractor can be. I'm just going by your definition of a SCUT. Don't want to confuse the newbies.

My point is that there's no clear definition. They are used as loose guidelines and you still need to do your own research on what you need. Therefore, this entire argument is irrelevant because a SCUT cannot be consistently and clearly defined.

The clearest definition, that is generally reckognized, is that the subcut has limited lifting capabilities on the 3pt. hitch. Smaller attachments made specifically for subcuts are generally used.

The Max series, with the 3 inch taller tires(4 inch in the case of ags), will allow the use of full cat 1 implements that brings it into the CUT category.

[Martian]

The clearest definition, that is generally reckognized, is that the subcut has limited lifting capabilities on the 3pt. hitch. Smaller attachments made specifically for subcuts are generally used.

The Max series, with the 3 inch taller tires(4 inch in the case of ags), will allow the use of full cat 1 implements that brings it into the CUT category.

I guess it's not

But to your theory, Kubota's BX does not have a Cat 1 limited (proper term) 3PH. The BX has a full Cat 1 hitch. So is Kubota misrepresenting their product as well? deere's 1 series has a Cat 1 limited, so it's obviously unfair for Kubota to compare to the 1 series...

[s219]

I doubt the "on paper" classification matters a whole lot to most people. At least when I was shopping, I wandered all over the space that included the JD 1-series, JD 2-series, Kubota BX, and Kubota B. It came down to getting the most tractor for the money that was able to fill my needs. Those needs included power, features, capability/capacity, and not being too big in order to skid logs through narrow paths the woods.

Thus, many factors went into it. All of these tractors crossed through that intersection of price, capability, and size that defined my sweet spot. There was a lot of overlap. I don't ever remember caring how the tractors were classified by their manufacturer (why add more complication?). I think the new Max series would have fit into the mix quite well, and probably would have been a strong candidate.

Don, if you think Mahindra is playing loose with classification, then you can probably see how it could be a double edged sword. On the plus side for Mahindra, many shoppers will see it as getting more tractor for their money. But a lot of people specifically choose based on size and emphasis on things like mowing and gardening, so smaller is better. Someone who's comfortable with the small size of say, a BX or 1-series, could see the Max as too big, and probably not buy a Mahindra because of that. Look at how many people buy small pickups when they could get a full size for the same or less money. Things like this can go both ways. Mahindra could very well be sizing themselves out of the real sub-compact market.

[Don87]

I doubt the "on paper" classification matters a whole lot to most people. At least when I was shopping, I wandered all over the space that included the JD 1-series, JD 2-series, Kubota BX, and Kubota B. It came down to getting the most tractor for the money that was able to fill my needs. Those needs included power, features, capability/capacity, and not being too big in order to skid logs through narrow paths the woods.

Thus, many factors went into it. All of these tractors crossed through that intersection of price, capability, and size that defined my sweet spot. There was a lot of overlap. I don't ever remember caring how the tractors were classified by their manufacturer (why add more complication?). I think the new Max series would have fit into the mix quite well, and probably would have been a strong candidate.

Don, if you think Mahindra is playing loose with classification, then you can probably see how it could be a double edged sword. On the plus side for Mahindra, many shoppers will see it as getting more tractor for their money. But a lot of people specifically choose based on size and emphasis on things like mowing and gardening, so smaller is better. Someone who's comfortable with the small size of say, a BX or 1-series, could see the Max as too big, and probably not buy a Mahindra because of that. Look at how many people buy small pickups when they could get a full size for the same or less money. Things like this can go both ways. Mahindra could very well be sizing themselves out of the real sub-compact market.

They already have. Mahindra doesn't offer a real subcut.

That's been my point the entire time. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Adamski]

Guys,

This has been an interesting debate about the classification of the Mahindra Max series. As a buyer of my very first real tractor (I have a new John deere 1026R ordered); I looked at the Mahindra MAX22 and even drove a MAX28 recently. I studied and compared the specs for the John Deere 1023E & 1026R, Massey GC2400, Kubota BX2360 & BX2660 and the Mahindra MAX22. I noted that some of these "subcompacts" had heavy frames while others had partial frames with the transmission bolted directly to the engine and acting as a frame. I sat on them, drove some of them, explored their apparent servicability and examined their features, capabilities and attachments.

Here is my newbie impression of which models seemed like SCUTS and which seemed like CUTS. I feel like the only tractor that I would call a "small CUT" is the Mahindra MAX28. All the other models I mentioned appeared to be within a wisker's difference of each other both in appearance and feel from the driver's seat and I'd call them SCUTS.

I did not want too high a tractor as stability is important to me. That is one of the reasons that I eliminated the Mahindra MAX22 from the running. Both the Massey and the Kubota looked quite sexy (Can a tractor be sexy?) with their curved FEL booms but the John Deere and Mahindra booms looked stronger. When it came right down to it, I bought the JD for the ease of removing and installing the attachments, the driver comfort, the company and the servicability. SCUT vs CUT did not play a role in my decision but, then again, I was never in the market for a CUT in the first place.

Larry

[mike69440]

Guys,

This has been an interesting debate about the classification of the Mahindra Max series. As a buyer of my very first real tractor (I have a new John deere 1026R ordered); I looked at the Mahindra MAX22 and even drove a MAX28 recently. I studied and compared the specs for the John Deere 1023E & 1026R, Massey GC2400, Kubota BX2360 & BX2660 and the Mahindra MAX22. I noted that some of these "subcompacts" had heavy frames while others had partial frames with the transmission bolted directly to the engine and acting as a frame. I sat on them, drove some of them, explored their apparent servicability and examined their features, capabilities and attachments.

Here is my newbie impression of which models seemed like SCUTS and which seemed like CUTS. I feel like the only tractor that I would call a "small CUT" is the Mahindra MAX28. All the other models I mentioned appeared to be within a wisker's difference of each other both in appearance and feel from the driver's seat and I'd call them SCUTS.

I did not want too high a tractor as stability is important to me. That is one of the reasons that I eliminated the Mahindra MAX22 from the running. Both the Massey and the Kubota looked quite sexy (Can a tractor be sexy?) with their curved FEL booms but the John Deere and Mahindra booms looked stronger. When it came right down to it, I bought the JD for the ease of removing and installing the attachments, the driver comfort, the company and the servicability. SCUT vs CUT did not play a role in my decision but, then again, I was never in the market for a CUT in the first place.

Larry

Larry,
You did a good job in your appraisal of CUT vs SCUT. A small CUT should definitely have a real frame, full Cat. 1 hitch, with a decent loader. Wheel base and tire size will be a big jump on a small CUT vs SCUT. It gets blurry on weight, as some small cuts are about the same as the larger SCUT's.

No question the MAX 28 is a small CUT, and a serious contender to replace my Kubota B7200 when the situation allows. I like its small size/ big specs and weight.

As physical size of the MAX 22/25 are close to the other SCUT's I'll call it a Heavyweight SCUT. Still a yard tractor not a field machine.