Looking to downsize for 2nd tractor

   / Looking to downsize for 2nd tractor #1  

mo1

Platinum Member
Joined
May 6, 2014
Messages
695
Location
SW Missouri
Tractor
JD 5075E
Hello,

I learned quite a bit from my initial tractor purchase and now I am wanting to do it "right." I currently live on 11 acres of mostly wooded, partially hilly and rocky land, about 1.5 acres of which is not wooded and is a mowed weeds kind of "yard." Prior to last summer, the smallest tractor I'd even operated was an 80 hp utility tractor weighing about four tons. I bought a 1987 Massey-Ferguson 1030L with a Woods 165 loader, a 72" RFM, borrowed a light duty 5' Bush Hog, and bought one of the ubiquitous "single-row cultivators" and learned a lot from that experience. For refence, it's a 26 engine HP/23 PTO HP 4x3 gear syncho transmission live PTO unit on R1s weighing about 4000 lbs with the loader on, and approximately the size of a John Deere 3 series unit, NH Boomer 35/40, or a Kubota L series.

- I learned that the combination of 4500+ pound tractor/bucket/6 foot RFM is not very well suited for mowing most of my property. Most of the mowed area is very boggy except if the ground is frozen or bone-dry. The mower's and tractor's wheels in that order cause some fairly noticeable ruts when it is particularly boggy. The combination is also so long that it is not very manueuverable which is a considerable liability. When I am actually going forward, it does mow a lot of area quickly (especially my quarter-mile long right of way along the road.)

- The tractor and loader lift things very well if adequate counterweighting is used. The heaviest things I ever lifted were about 800 pounds and nearly everything was on a pallet.

- The tractor pulls the cultivator very well through the ~50x100' garden. I had attempted to use a borrowed 3 pt rototiller once and nearly broke the thing with the huge amount of basketball-sized rocks it encountered. The cultivator works very well for turning the dirt over and running a little self-propelled rear-tine rototiller over the ground afterwards prepares a seedbed very quickly. I was very impressed at how well the little self-propelled rototiller did given my previous experience with using those by themselves (no prior passes with a cultivator) was a slow, arduous process. I thus have near-zero interest in running a 3 point rototiller.

- My Dad saw the little 1030L and decided he needed a handy little compact tractor to augment his cabbed 80 hp utility tractor and 140 hp row crop tractor. He got an LS XR4047 with New Holland badges and a loader on it. He has a standing offer to let me use it if I need a "bigger" tractor as he is very proud that he now has a tractor that can reasonably be pulled on a tandem non-dual trailer and a SRW pickup.

- I am not getting a riding lawnmower as I grew up using these and they did a much better job of breaking, getting stuck in damp grass, plugging up their decks, and sucking down gasoline than they did mowing. We had the "nicer" ones and they still at best mowed half an acre an hour and took a 1.5 gallons/hr of gas to do it. If it was anything less than bone dry, every 15-30 minutes we'd have to unclog the decks with sticks or else the blades would stall and eat the deck belt. We had 5 acres :thumbdown: My wife also prohibits me from getting a dedicated lawn mower in addition to a tractor due to lack of garage space.

I am about done fighting with the 1030L as it has several non-repairable mechanical issues due to a lack of replacement parts and isn't really the right tool for my job. I am trying to decide what more appropriate unit to replace it with.

I am almost thinking one of the larger ~25 hp subcompact units would be the best fit for me as they are light (less rutting), small (more maneuverable), and should be able to run a belly mower, a rough cut mower, and the little cultivator just fine and pick up 500-700 pound loads a few feet off the ground. The fact these guys are also close to half the price of the next size up units (JD 2 series et al.) is a bonus. I may end up moving in the next couple of years but I highly doubt my usage pattern will change, except for maybe having more lawn to mow (and a bigger shop building to fill with more tools which will need unloaded :thumbsup:) . I just hesitate in downsizing too much and having to make a third go at it. What do you guys think?
 
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   / Looking to downsize for 2nd tractor #2  
I personally like the next size up. I have a Kubota B2410 that fits my uses well. It's some where around 1500 lbs without the loader so it's pretty good on the lawn. I have a 60" MMM and it's always been my primary mower. The loader is a lot better than the sub compact models with a capacity rated at 950 lbs. It has a Category 1 3 point hitch so it can handle bigger implements. I've never use a cultivator but I have a 5' disk which it pulls with no problems. I had priced out a B2620 last year with loader and MMM and it was $17,400 plus tax but I'm not sure how that compares with the smaller ones.

Good luck.

John
 
   / Looking to downsize for 2nd tractor
  • Thread Starter
#3  
I personally like the next size up. I have a Kubota B2410 that fits my uses well. It's some where around 1500 lbs without the loader so it's pretty good on the lawn. I have a 60" MMM and it's always been my primary mower. The loader is a lot better than the sub compact models with a capacity rated at 950 lbs. It has a Category 1 3 point hitch so it can handle bigger implements. I've never use a cultivator but I have a 5' disk which it pulls with no problems. I had priced out a B2620 last year with loader and MMM and it was $17,400 plus tax but I'm not sure how that compares with the smaller ones.

Good luck.

John

That does make a lot of sense. The little ones appear to be about $4k less expensive than that at the current time- I saw an ad for one of the JD 1 series subcompacts for $13k with the loader (which does have a ~900 lb lift capacity) and a 60" mower. The JD 2 series units are easily over $20k with a loader and belly mower, especially the 2032E. I can't look up prices as easily on the NH units but I have heard "high teens" similarly equipped.

One more question- has anybody had any significant ground clearance issues on the little subcompacts even with the deck off? One of things I need to do is rough cut the property lines and there are some ~6" stumps and rocks to drive over.
 
   / Looking to downsize for 2nd tractor #4  
You will have significantly less ground clearance especially with a belly mower on a SCUT, likely only about 6" and if it is a Kubota, there is always the issue of the HST fan and the issue of sticks getting into it and knocking off the fan blades. However if that is not an issue, then a BX series would work but I would personally prefer a B series just for the extra ground clearance and more robust all around. The B series is still small enough to be easily maneuvered but high enough off the ground that you aren't likely to damage it by running over a small rock or stump.
Personally, I would mark each of those obstacles and dig them up even if I had to rent a small backhoe. Rock garden growth each winter is one of the reasons I keep my TLB as ever year I seem to find a boulder that wasn't there last year or a dead tree / storm damaged tree that needs to be removed.
 
 
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