Tractor Sizing Tractor shopping - need advice on size of machine

   / Tractor shopping - need advice on size of machine #1  

tc18ny

Silver Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2003
Messages
112
Location
Finger Lakes, NY
Tractor
2013 Kubota B3200HSD
Hello all! After selling our house in the country and my TC18 about 6 years ago to move closer to town, we are now moving back out of town with a very nice 12 acre country lot. I remember the day I loaded my tractor onto the new owner's trailer along with all my attachments like it was yesterday. My wife cried because she knew how much I loved my tractor. Enough background... I'm now shopping as the wife gave me the green light. The new property has a country house with a 30 x 48 garage/barn, 2 horse pastures, 2 ponds, about 2 acres of hardwoods. Main uses will be mowing grass, brush hogging, gardening, loader work with firewood, snow clearing and general maintenance. We will not be getting horses but may end up with a few chickens and maybe even a few hogs. I'll be looking to buy sometime between January and April. I stopped last weekend at American Equipment LLC in Farmington, NY and was very happy with the dealer right from the start. The office manager took me all through the facility - shop, hose shop, yard, etc. He flagged down the salesman who was cutting grass and introduced me. They offer both new and used Kioti's and MF's and have a large selection on hand. The salesman seemed to be steering me toward Kioti over MF, but I have to admit, I did like the Kioti tractors more. They seem to have more features and I like the looks better. I really liked both the CK20 HST and the CK27/30 HST. I like that the CK27/30 can handle a 60'' FEL and larger attachments than the CK20. But... I like the size and weight of the CK20 for lawn work. My good friend just bought a Kubota L3800 with QA FEL. I would like to be able to borrow attachments back and forth with him when needed. The size and weight of the larger framed machine (CK27/30/35) concern me for lawn work, but would allow me to borrow his attachments. Should I be concerned? Are there any other machines I should consider? There is a long time Kubota dealer about 25 minutes away that have a good reputation. I want to make sure the machine I get will do everything I need including cutting the lawn. My poor old JD 318 has about 2600 hours on the original gas engine and doesn't have much life left (in the engine). Please help me spend a bunch of money and feel good about it!
Thanks,
Dave
 
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   / Tractor shopping - need advice on size of machine #2  
Around 1,700 pounds naked weight + ballasted tires on a tractor works well for me mowing the yard. It doesn't rut or scalp the yard. 22 PTO HP is enough for brush cutting my ten acres of pasture with a 5' rotary and the yard with a 6' RFM. Dressed up for snow with the loader, chains, ballasted tires, and a ballast box it weighs about 3,500 pounds.That's enough to move snow.
 
   / Tractor shopping - need advice on size of machine
  • Thread Starter
#3  
For reference, the CK20 is 2138 lbs and the CK27 is 3161 lbs, both without FEL
 
   / Tractor shopping - need advice on size of machine #4  
I don't think that this would be too much weight. When we first moved here I was using a 3,600 pound tractor to mow the yard. That was too much weight for our yard.
 
   / Tractor shopping - need advice on size of machine #5  
For reference, the CK20 is 2138 lbs and the CK27 is 3161 lbs, both without FEL

Lets take that apart, the ck 27 weighs 3161, add a loader, 600lbs min. 3761 lbs now ballast, 600lbs and you have 4361 lbs to mow the lawn with?
 
   / Tractor shopping - need advice on size of machine #6  
I looked at a ck series the other day, I really liked it. The layout was nice and it just looked usable. I looked at mf 15 and 16 series they look good too. What a wonderful problem to have!
 
   / Tractor shopping - need advice on size of machine #7  
As far as mowing goes, are we talking about a field or beater-type area, or a fine "lawn" with trees and landscaping that you want to look good? If the former, size won't really matter as long as you can easily steer around any obstacles. If the latter, I don't think you will want to go too big.

This questions comes up a lot, and I think the best solution is often a big tractor that does what you need for tractor chores, combined with a smaller riding mower that does what you need for mowing chores. That is the best of both worlds. Anything else can be a compromise.

At our current property, I have a Kubota CUT (a B2920, which is a small CUT) and a Deere riding mower (an old LT-150). As small as the Kubota is, it would be ridiculous for mowing this lawn. However, at our new property, the Kubota will be a perfect mower. That is part of the reason I chose to not go too much bigger, but a secondary consideration was being able to snake through the woods for firewood/tree work -- a big tractor would not do well there. A third chore is to maintain the long driveway and do general dirt work, and I definitely could have gone to a larger tractor for that. But because of the mowing and tree work, it drove me to a compromise.

So think about the range of chores you want to do. Does a compromise make sense? Or can you do with a combination of a big tractor and a small mower?

By the way, everybody always says to go bigger than you think you need right now, and that is good advice as long as it doesn't blow the whole purpose/compromise of what you know you need to do now. I went up one size bigger than I initially planned, and that was a good decision. Could have gone up two sizes!
 
   / Tractor shopping - need advice on size of machine #8  
Really can't beat the advice so far and s219 makes some really good points as to size and desirability of two machines. We tried the "one machines does it all" and gave up. As mentioned one machine will be a compromise; some can live with it, some can't.

My brother just bought a new Kioti and I own mostly Kubotas, we are both happy with our choice. I would look at all available brands with a good dealer, very important consideration and get the one that fits your needs the best.

Good luck.
 
   / Tractor shopping - need advice on size of machine #9  
Another thing to consider is the cost of a mower for the tractor you plan on buying.

If you are considering a MMM (mid-mount-mower), for the cost to add one of those to the tractor, you could very well buy a good riding mower.

With 12 acres, I think you are borderline in that...

A good tractor for mowing would be smaller than I would want for other chores maintaining 12 acres.

And a good sized for those other chores would be a tad big for a fine lawn.

I think if you shop around, and take this information into careful consideration, you will find that a 2-machine plan (larger tractor and dedicated mower) is going to be about the same cost as a single machine to do everything that compromises in both areas.

I would get the ck27-ck35 and a second rider mower if it were me. And the ck27-ck35 is pretty comparable to the L3400 in size. So you should have no issues ever swapping implements.
 
   / Tractor shopping - need advice on size of machine
  • Thread Starter
#10  
Maybe I'll keep my JD 318 and buy either a rebuild kit for the old onan engine or buy a drop-in engine replacement kit. So many decisions but luckily I have some time to work with.
 
 
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