Buying Advice Need help with a decision, Long

[Crow Hunter]

Hi guys. I have been lurking around trying to glean information to make a decision. I still am on the fence so I thought I would ask the question directly to the very knowledgeable people on this board.

Situation:

I have a very steep 1.5 acre property with a small lake at the bottom that I mow. See pics below. I killed my last mower, a Husqvarna 2554 in right at 100 hours. So I am in the market for a new lawn mower that can handle these slopes without killing the transmission.

I have decided that I want to get a John Deere X500 with rear Ag tires. I have this priced at my local dealer for right at $6,000 out the door.

That is quite a bit of money and I don't have an issue with it, but it got me to thinking that if I am willing to pay that much for a mower, should I just go with a compact tractor instead?

Will a compact tractor that can fit inside of my normal 2 car garage along with the trailer and 2 ATVs be a good enough mower to not be a hassle to mow with?

Will it be a good enough tractor to let me use it to bush hog down around the lake instead of having to push mow? (My neighbor uses a L serious Kubota for this but he has an outbuilding to store it in, my lot doesn't have a flat enough spot to build an outbuilding)

I was thinking that I could use the FEL for cutting down some high spots in the yard and filling in low spots and covering with sod along with hauling mulch once a year)

Will the small tractor be capable of this or is the FEL on it more of a mulch transporter?

I genuinely thank you for the time it took to read all my ramblings.





Additional details:

-I also own a small farm of 69 acres and another plot of land at 200 acres both of which are 1.5 hours from where I live now.

-Eventually when I either retire (20 years) or find a job closer (anytime), I will be moving out to the 70 acre farm and building a house.

-Right now the 70 acre farm has about 30 acres in hay fields that a family friend cuts for me and he tries to keep my ATV trails clear, but his tractor is fairly large and some of the trails are fairly steep. I think a smaller tractor would be better able to get through the ATV trails. The 200 acre plot of land is hilly cut over timber that needs to have the ATV trails bush hogged.

 

[kneedeep]

Welcome to TractorByNet! Lots of free advice- I personally like the Mahindra tractors. The small 4WD Utility tractors are very versatile machines and with the right attachments will handle any job you have. With more than a yard (farm and cutover land) a all purpose tractor will be a tough decision as to size.
My suggestions would be:
FEL and/or Backhoe
At least 30-40 HP
Maybe Hydrostatic for all that mowing
Either a big belly mower or a finish mower AND a heavy duty 5-6' mower for the trails and fields.

You may be thinking even bigger tractor!

BTW-Nice looking yard and lake-

 

[Grandad4]

First, welcome. Nice place, but you indeed have a pretty good hillside to take care of. You'll probably get a range of opinions about this. Here's mine. The Deere X series are great mowers according to their owners, so they'd probably do the mowing part of your work very well. A subcompact like the Kubota BX or Deere 1 Series would mow well and would be better for your other dirt moving work. A box blade on the rear and the loader in front would work for your levelling projects, for example, and you could add a 4 ft. cutter for your pond perimeter. Also, I kind of like having a heavier-duty, multi-range transmission such as on those SCUT's for those hills, but that's just me. The SCUT would probably be handy at your other properties, but you'd certainly need something larger as well. Either way you go, you'll be a big step ahead of your previous equipment.

 

[coobie]

If you want a mower and FEL move up to the JD X700 series.coobie

 

[Crow Hunter]

Thank you for your replies and the comments on my yard.

I have a limited selection in my area. There is a John Deere dealer and a Kubota dealer in town with a Case dealer and a New Holland dealer about 45 min away in opposite directions.

The John Deere dealership controls all the JD stores in this area and has an "outlet" close to where my farm is.

The John Deere dealer actually recommended that I go with the X500 or equivalent with Ag tires for my yard and wait to get a larger tractor once I moved out to the farm in the future, even though I figure he gets a bigger margin on the SCUTs/UTs. The Kubota dealer recommended a BX2370 over a garden tractor/mower. I have a friend whose father just bought a Kubota tractor (not sure which model) with a FEL that he has decided he doesn't want that only has 10 hrs on it, I am going to see what type of a deal I can get with that before I make any decision.

I absolutely love the idea of having the tractor but I am afraid that it won't fit into the garage, be a pain in the rear to haul back and forth to the farm, and wind up being overkill for what I need here at the house but "but underkill" for what I will need it for in the future.

My wife really liked the X500 and she is leaning heavily towards the garden tractor and just waiting to get a bigger tractor later. She thinks that it would be cheaper (and less clutter) to get a pull behind rotary cutter for the ATVs and just hire out any dirt work than it would to pay the extra $10k+ for the SCUT and have to deal with trying to mow with a tractor since mowing will be what it will be used for the most.

I am still on the fence.

 

[stevem5215]

That hill is a transmission killer. You will need something heavy duty enough to tackle that and as you know the K46 in light duty models isn't enough. I don't know what the X500 has for a tranny but always remember to buy the biggest one your budget can afford so it will last. Especially for those hills.
I have a Steiner 420 here as one of the tools for my 4 acres. They are great on hills.

Steve

 

[KYDan]

Nothing works better on a hill than a hydrostatic transmission either a tractor mower or a good zero turn. Not the cheap box store variety of either one. Deere and Kubota are both good choices. For compact/subcompact tractors I prefer Kubotas. But, I am brand biased. I have an older JD 757 60" zero turn that has been a great mower and fast. Dedicated mowers will be faster and give a better cut in most uses over a general purpose tractor mower.

 

[Crow Hunter]

That hill is a transmission killer. You will need something heavy duty enough to tackle that and as you know the K46 in light duty models isn't enough. I don't know what the X500 has for a tranny but always remember to buy the biggest one your budget can afford so it will last. Especially for those hills.
I have a Steiner 420 here as one of the tools for my 4 acres. They are great on hills.

Steve

From my research it has a K72 and it is serviceable. You can change the oil.

I actually bought one today. They are putting Bar tires on it and I will go pick it up on Friday. I am actually looking forward to mowing :shocked:. I am excited to find out whether or not the locking rear differential and Ag tires will let me mow without spinning at the bottom of turns. It will also be interesting to actually mow without feeling like I need to get off and push like I have to with my current mower. :laughing:

As for getting a SCUT, the key decision maker for me was that for $10,000 or so more that a SCUT would cost above the X500, I could get quite a bit of hired out help to do work around here. The advantage of having something that I could take back to work on the other 2 farms was outweighed, in my mind, with having to get a new, much longer and more expensive trailer to haul it back and forth and trying to find somewhere to store it. While thinking that whole time that I would be wanting to upgrade later to something bigger. I figure even if we do move out to the farm earlier than my projected 20 year time frame, I would still get quite a bit of use out of a good riding mower around the new house and I could get a much bigger tractor for all the other yard duties.

But when I went in to make the purchase today, I sure did linger admiringly around that 1026R they had parked out front.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Wagtail]

Welcome & congratulations on the purchase.

We'll, of course, need pictures of your new rig!

 

[jenkinsph]

From my research it has a K72 and it is serviceable. You can change the oil.

I actually bought one today. They are putting Bar tires on it and I will go pick it up on Friday. I am actually looking forward to mowing :shocked:. I am excited to find out whether or not the locking rear differential and Ag tires will let me mow without spinning at the bottom of turns. It will also be interesting to actually mow without feeling like I need to get off and push like I have to with my current mower. :laughing:

As for getting a SCUT, the key decision maker for me was that for $10,000 or so more that a SCUT would cost above the X500, I could get quite a bit of hired out help to do work around here. The advantage of having something that I could take back to work on the other 2 farms was outweighed, in my mind, with having to get a new, much longer and more expensive trailer to haul it back and forth and trying to find somewhere to store it. While thinking that whole time that I would be wanting to upgrade later to something bigger. I figure even if we do move out to the farm earlier than my projected 20 year time frame, I would still get quite a bit of use out of a good riding mower around the new house and I could get a much bigger tractor for all the other yard duties.

But when I went in to make the purchase today, I sure did linger admiringly around that 1026R they had parked out front.

Thanks for your help!

I think that was a wise decision, the x500 is good for mowing and a larger tractor later on would be my choice for the farm. I use an x749 for mowing, a 4520 cab for tractor work and a 110tlb for backhoe and loader work. The mower would be needed later on the farm as you mentioned and your wife is correct, hire out the dirt work.