Used Tractor advice

[scampy74]

Hello again all!

My wife and I close on our new house next week, which is five acres of non-wooded property. Based on prior advice here, I'm not going to buy from a big-box store and instead purchase a tractor to take care of the lawn. That being said, I have a couple of questions, since this will be my first ever tractor purchase. If you can answer any/all of the questions, it'd greatly assist me in making a pretty decent sized purchase.

1. Are attachments interchangeable? For example, I was at my local farm and garden supply store today looking at some tractors. They had some used ones I'm interested in from New Holland, Massey Ferguson, and McCormick. I want to get a plow for the front end for the Michigan winters and also a trail behind mower (either 60" or 72"). Do I have to worry about certain blades and mowers fitting, or are attachments pretty universal?

2. How does financing work on a used tractor? I know if I buy a new tractor I can finance; however, I didn't know how it worked with used. Is it like going to a car dealership where they have in-house financing at most places, or do I need to pre-arrange my financing before going into the store? If I have to pre-arrange, are there any banks that you all would recommend working with most for farm/lawn equipment financing?

3. Are prices at the farm and garden supply stores negotiable like car dealers?

4. How would you say the prices are for the following (reasonably priced or high), as I have no idea what is considered a good deal and what I should skip.

• McCormick CTJ23 w/loader - 97 Hours, 23 Horsepower - $9,500
• New Holland TC25D w/loader - 677 Hours, 25 HP - $10,000
• Massey Ferguson 2605 - 138 Hours, 38 HP - $13,900

My wife most favors the Massey Ferguson; however, it's the most expensive. I know it's a much bigger tractor, which is nice to have that extra power for if we ever need to till or anything. We're also wanting to turn part of our yard into an autumn hangout and do hayrides for my daughter and her cousins/friends, so I want something with enough oomph to pull a wagon with 12-15 adults and kids.


Thank you in advance for all your help!

 

[stoyan79]

Tractor prices are not as negotiable as car prices.
You might be better off buying new tractor, as you will get 0% financing from the dealer and the price won't be that much higher than a nice used tractor.
When I was in the market few years ago, I found out that tractors do not depreciate much and new ones are not much more expensive than used ones, especially after you factor in 0% financing and extra warranty.

I would highly recommend Kubota BX or B series for first tractor.

 

[4310]

I'll try to help with a few of your questions.

Financing is usually offered through the dealer on both new and used equipment although if you can get a better rate through your bank then go through them. I bought my tractor used through a smallish mom and pop dealer and they used their local bank for financing. Their rate was 1.9% whereas my bank was around 4%. I went with their bank. Check around and remember that you are doing them a favor. Make them work for you.

I mow my 5 acres weekly with my tractor. It takes about 2 1/2 hours with my 6' rear finish mower. I could do it faster with a zero turn but a zero turn mower is a one trick pony. Get a 6 foot mower and at least a 25 preferably a 30 horse power or more tractor.

GET A LOADER!! I use mine to move snow along with a rear blade. The loader also moves dirt when doing landscaping, gravel when I'm working on the driveway, lifting heavy stuff out of the bed of the truck, lifts up the rear mower for cleaning and blade changing and I could go on and on. Just get one.

I would also recommend a tractor with a hydrostatic transmission over a gear transmission. I had a gear tractor for several years before I got the one that I have now with hydro. Nothing wrong with gears but hydro just makes life easier. When you mow with a geared tractor every time you slow down for a corner the blades slow down which can effect the cut. It was also hard to match PTO speed with ground speed. If I put the tractor in 5th gear I could get the mower up around PTO speed but I would be moving too slow. If I was in 6th gear and tried to get PTO speed I would bounce all over the place because I was going too fast. With hydro you set the PTO speed and your ground speed is independent of the PTO.

 

[4310]

Forgot to mention about attachments. They are divided into categories. Category 1,2 and 3. (And I'm not an expert here) typically what you will be using is category 1 and that is what you will most likely be seeing at farm implement stores. I think category 2 and 3 are for much, much larger tractors.

Basically the 6 foot finish mower that you see at the Tractor Supply store is a category 1 and will fit any of those tractors that you are looking at.

 

[paulfun9]

Gear or Hydro dosnt matter as long as the PTO is Independent. Yes the Hydro is usually the easy way to go but with a good shuttle shift a gear can be a real good machine to have for any task.

Financing a used machine can be a task as many of the big banks don't have a clue how! They will offer you a personal loan with a high interest rate and that's about it. Check with the smaller banks if there are any left in your area as they are more in tune with things of this nature or at least were when I first started purchasing Equipment. A little more time consuming but the rates were way better than a personal loan. Also remember to make sure you have insurance that will cover the machine or be prepared to pay for a premium policy threw the bank or lending institution for it.

As said the 3 point is universal within the categories but the things that are not always interchangeable will be things mounted on the front of the tractor Like a snow blower. Most will have a frame that mounts to the specific tractor and will need modification to be used on a different machine.

 

[super55]

If the majority of work with the tractor is going to be yard and clearing the drive work I would go with the McCormick or the NH. The Massey is nice but running a tractor that size for mowing the lawn will inevitably probably leave ruts in the lawn. You might not not feel them on that tractor but if you ever to a smaller garden tractor you'll notice them immediately.

The 25 hp range tractor generally a pretty solid choice. They can handle 5' PTO implements without any issues. They aren't overly heavy and can usually fit into a 7' garage door without dropping the ROPS. I loved my 25hp kubota when I had it. It did anything I ever asked of it. Pulling a wagon is kind of a non-issue for you because as long as the ground is flat a tractor much smaller than anything you listed could pull a hay wagon slowly.

Definitely go with a tractor with a Front end loader and one with some sort of quick attach for the bucket. That way instead of going with a plow you could get a 6' snow pusher and hook it directly up the loader. It will cut your time in half cleaning the drive and is usually only a few hundred dollars more than a front mount plow.

As for negotiating on used tractors. There usually is some wiggle room but not a lot. All you can do is ask. As for financing. On used tractors its hit or miss whether the dealer offers financing for used.

A great company to do financing for a tractor with in Mi. is Greenstone Farm Credit. I recently had to get a loan for my JD tractor. All the other banks and credit unions I called were clueless. Greenstone specializes in ag loans so the paperwork involved is pretty painless.

 

[Monster5601]

Scampy - Since you are located in Ortonville, your neighbor owns R&M Motors, they are a Kubota dealer located on Walton Blvd in Pontiac. Talking with Ed will be of benefit.

 

[boggen]

www.tractorhouse.com goto tractors, and use the search function, along with enter your zip code to list nearest to you.
www.craigslist.com -> use SearchTempest: Search all of Craigslist nationwide & more to search multi cities near you.

your looking at more likely a SCUT (sub compact utilty tractor). majorty of these tractors come with a belly mower (mid mount mower) a scut basicly looks like an over size riding lawn mower. with optional FEL (front end loader), and a 3pt cat 1 (category 1) hitch. 3pt cat 1 hitch, is pretty much all the cheap stuff out there. ya need to get into pretty big tractor to hit cat 2 stuff. which would be overkill for ya.

still waiting for a good deal to come up... so i can run the regular tractor with belly mower along with a offset pull behind mower so i can gain some extra width of mowing. ((1 engine on tractor, and pull behind has its own engine)) 5 to 7 acres here around farm. a good amount of open space. the belly mower does a good job, just looking for more cut width. to reduce overall mowing time from 4 hours down to a couple hours. a rotatory cutter pull behind = engine and deck sized to cut tall weeds, you can sharpen the blades more like a finishing mower blades. to get a better cut, on other hand the sharper edge blades will tear up quickly as soon as ya put the sharper edges into tall weeds.

 

[Capricious]

"...I want to get a plow for the front end for the Michigan winters and also a trail behind mower (either 60" or 72")...."


While getting the 3-point hitch finish mower for the rear is not complicated at all, getting a blade for the front may be. Rear 3 point implements are pretty standardized, but front blades will probably be tractor-specific.

As for financing, I would think lining up your own would be better than dealing with a dealer, on a used tractor. This gives you the option of buying from a private party, if nothing else. Keep in mind that your state may not title tractors, so security for the loan will be different than, say a car, where the lien holder can be listed on the title. The lender may want to file a UCC-1 form with the state, and/or want other security for the loan.

If all you need to do is finish-mow (not brush clearing) and snow removal, you may not need quite as much tractor as some suggest, if money is tight.

 

[GManBart]

"...I want to get a plow for the front end for the Michigan winters and also a trail behind mower (either 60" or 72")...."


While getting the 3-point hitch finish mower for the rear is not complicated at all, getting a blade for the front may be. Rear 3 point implements are pretty standardized, but front blades will probably be tractor-specific.

If he buys a machine with SSQA on the loader that won't be a problem....there are some that connect right to the SSQA, so it would just be a matter of picking manual, or hydraulic angle.