Buying Advice In search of a sub-compact tractor

[northtractorsearch]

Hello everyone,

This is going to be a bit longer than I think I would have intended. I have posted a short version if you cannot go in depth, but I value your opinion, as I am certainly a novice.

Short version:

I am looking for sub-compact tractor, valuing long-term reliability/repairability and versatility for small jobs around a 20 acre cottage property that has not had any "outdoor" (or indoor )maintenance in my adult life. I feel as though I need something that can lift more than 1 30-year old man and 1 60-year old man. What I would REALLY like, would be to have someone say Subcompact Kubota vs Deere Vs MF vs NH vs etc. for various tasks, like a consumer reports, but I cannot find one. While it seems like there are a lot of 1v1, there is not much 1v1v1v1v1v1 that I can find.

Longer version;

I would have really liked to have found my topic in the various threads here as there seem to be a lot of knowledgeable people here. While they are all very helpful, I do not think they provide sufficient details for me to make a decision (and maybe even after I ask this question, I might just end up with the first Dealer I went to - unfortunately?). Before I jump in to this, I would like to know about experiences of people using their sub- or compact tractors to do the kind of activities I need. I.e. is it going to just add a machine that takes the same amount of time and makes me lazy, just a waste of money, etc.?


So the story. I live in Canada and my parents have a long 3 season cottage on about 20 acres, most of which are untouched mixed forest, not much brush and there is some grass. About 2-3 acres are grass and due to the shape of the land it takes 2 people about 2 hours to cut the grass once a week using a couple Craftsman lawntractors.

Foreseeable Frequent Tasks:
A list of the projects that we may end up doing in order of frequency/likelyhood are below:
1. Mowing (I have read a few threads here that say you probably shouldn't mow with a TLB, but right now we use a 30 and 15 year old craftsman in tandem)
2. Forking pallet-like objects - actually 80lb 2'x6'x2" trex dock boards
3. Towing a trailer (full of stuff, eg. trees, stumps, logs, dirt, cleared brush, etc. eg. when the lawntractor is replaced)
4. Removing trees/clearing brush
5. Landscaping (reshaping land, moving rocks, logs)
6. Replacing a couple culverts
Less likely, but possible:
-Maybe snowblowing in the future?
-Digging an outhouse
-Clearing a driveway
-Digging a septic tank
-Building a garage
-Building a cottage

I do not want to say cost is no object, but I would rather pay 10% more for a more reliable brand. At this time I do not think I will buy used, as this will be my first tractor and no dealers are near. Additionally, I feel as though the market for used tractors in my area of Canada in this size is limited. I am also constrained in terms of size, as I do not have somewhere to store a large tractor; it must be a compact or sub-compact. I went to the closest tractor dealer to my house (none are really "near" my cottage in Huntsville, Ontario which would sway it as well) which happens to be a John Deere place. The guy was helpful, I got some brochures (their site is horrible IMO), and a quote. I think that I would probably be alright with the 1025 from John Deere. In CAD it's ~$31,000, which seems on par with what I was expecting.

 

[Trials]

I take it you didn't realize there is a Kubota factory in Orillia ?

Get something that is 4 wheel drive with a diesel powered 3 cylinder engine, hydrostatic drive makes it easier to operate and a little harder to break, a front loader is one of the most useful attachments you can put on it, but limited to how much serious digging you can do unless you beef them up a bit. The quick detach front loaders are actually a bit of a weak spot, because the loader arms bolt to either side of the transmission bell housing and lack cross-bracing that the heavier duty loaders have. Add a box scraper landscape blade for the rear they are great implements, very useful for grading, cultivating, snow removal on gravel drives and contribute to stability by adding weight very low on the tractors 3-point hitch, which is the strongest part of a little tractor. If you are going to use it to mow, consider one that has a centre PTO drive as well as the one on the rear. I bought a 72" wide rear discharge finishing mower, that works great for mowing large areas of grass in a hurry, but the tractor is too heavy with industrial tires that are loaded to mow a tile bed, so you still need a small mower for tight spots (buy a small zero turn and a push mower for everything the tractor can't do) If you buy a blower it will likely drive off the centre PTO, make sure your blower and front loader are the same width as the overall width of the tractor, don't go undersize on those items. Expect to keep it in a heated environment or to need to heat it up often to use it in the winter. Winter is brutal on the hydraulic oil because of frost condensation that will form inside the transmission and pollute the hydraulic oil with water. Once water forms in the oil that will turn to ice inside your oil filters and when that happens the tractor will not go. Expect to change oil and oil filters frequently to prevent this problem from escalating.
Fuel filters are tiny and also suffer from ice problems, replace those frequently and keep your fuel tank full in cold weather to prevent condensation buildup. Buy diesel fuel conditioner and add a small amount of it to the tank frequently, that will keep your injectors in good shape and possibly help to combat water in the fuel issues. Keep the battery charged and buy a magnetic block heater to stick on the oil pan. Don't run it out of fuel and if you do, you are going to need to figure out how to bleed a diesel's fuel system. 26 horsepower or as close as you can get to that in a Kubota is a nice size, I think Kubota's on average have slightly less H.P. then the New Holland equivalent.

Good luck finding a lightly used one, but if you can't find an almost new one buy a new one, you won't lose much money on it if you take good care of it, tractors hold their value well, as you may have noticed in trying to find a used one cheap. They are a ton of fun to operate and extremely useful to have on a hobby farm :thumbsup: Get one.

 

[northtractorsearch]

I take it you didn't realize there is a Kubota factory in Orillia ?

Get something that is 4 wheel drive with a diesel powered 3 cylinder engine, hydrostatic drive makes it easier to operate and a little harder to break, a front loader is one of the most useful attachments you can put on it, but limited to how much serious digging you can do unless you beef them up a bit. The quick detach front loaders are actually a bit of a weak spot, because the loader arms bolt to either side of the transmission bell housing and lack cross-bracing that the heavier duty loaders have. Add a box scraper landscape blade for the rear they are great implements, very useful for grading, cultivating, snow removal on gravel drives and contribute to stability by adding weight very low on the tractors 3-point hitch, which is the strongest part of a little tractor. If you are going to use it to mow, consider one that has a centre PTO drive as well as the one on the rear. I bought a 72" wide rear discharge finishing mower, that works great for mowing large areas of grass in a hurry, but the tractor is too heavy with industrial tires that are loaded to mow a tile bed, so you still need a small mower for tight spots (buy a small zero turn and a push mower for everything the tractor can't do) If you buy a blower it will likely drive off the centre PTO, make sure your blower and front loader are the same width as the overall width of the tractor, don't go undersize on those items. Expect to keep it in a heated environment or to need to heat it up often to use it in the winter. Winter is brutal on the hydraulic oil because of frost condensation that will form inside the transmission and pollute the hydraulic oil with water. Once water forms in the oil that will turn to ice inside your oil filters and when that happens the tractor will not go. Expect to change oil and oil filters frequently to prevent this problem from escalating.
Fuel filters are tiny and also suffer from ice problems, replace those frequently and keep your fuel tank full in cold weather to prevent condensation buildup. Buy diesel fuel conditioner and add a small amount of it to the tank frequently, that will keep your injectors in good shape and possibly help to combat water in the fuel issues. Keep the battery charged and buy a magnetic block heater to stick on the oil pan. Don't run it out of fuel and if you do, you are going to need to figure out how to bleed a diesel's fuel system. 26 horsepower or as close as you can get to that in a Kubota is a nice size, I think Kubota's on average have slightly less H.P. then the New Holland equivalent.

Good luck finding a lightly used one, but if you can't find an almost new one buy a new one, you won't lose much money on it if you take good care of it, tractors hold their value well, as you may have noticed in trying to find a used one cheap. They are a ton of fun to operate and extremely useful to have on a hobby farm :thumbsup: Get one.

Thanks for the amazing reply. I will have to read it couple times to digest, particularly about the cold weather operation. How do they handle being turned off in the fall and turned on in the spring? Is the Kubota factory the one off of highway 11, Kubota Materials factory?



Man, I just read it again, what an amazing reply

 

[Trials]

Thanks for the amazing reply. I will have to read it couple times to digest, particularly about the cold weather operation. How do they handle being turned off in the fall and turned on in the spring? Is the Kubota factory the one off of highway 11, Kubota Materials factory?



Man, I just read it again, what an amazing reply

No problem if you don't use it through the winter months, it's the repeated cycles of hot and cold that cause the most grief with condensation. Just do your oil changes in the spring, drain a small amount of oil at the end of the season, if the oil looks cloudy, or milky like, then that is water mixed with the oil. Yes to the Kubota factory, I believe they make a lot of metal parts there including tractor engine components.

 

[silvertramp]

I think a SCUT is too small for your property.

 

[jenkinsph]

I would buy a mower that could cut the grass in two hours with one person. I would buy a medium sized compact tractor 30 to 45 hp. for the rest of the work.

 

[northtractorsearch]

I think a SCUT is too small for your property.

I would buy a mower that could cut the grass in two hours with one person. I would buy a medium sized compact tractor 30 to 45 hp. for the rest of the work.

Thanks for the advice both of you. Could you elaborate on the things that a sub-compact tractor would struggle with?

 

[TSO]

Thanks for the advice both of you. Could you elaborate on the things that a sub-compact tractor would struggle with?

Ground clearance. Weight & traction (weight = traction). Loader breakout force (digging out rocks and boulders).

 

[Trials]

Ya, I'd like to hear about that, and in the meantime let me show you a little of the landscaping I've done with my little SCUT, before I even bought the backhoe attachment this was all level ground before I started, I have 3 properties with a total af just under 400 acres. My TC26DA is the biggest tractor I can transport in my dump trailer and legally tow it behind my truck. I traded in a larger tractor for the one I have now.

btw: don't buy a backhoe, for the small amount of use you will get out one, rent it from me

add: many of those rocks are upwards of 600 pounds.

 

[northtractorsearch]

Thanks for your input so far:

So would something like an L3301HST, JD3032E, MF1734E be what I should be looking for? Without having shopped, I suspect they will be say 10,000 more without a mower deck and I don't think I would be able to mow with them (not that it's necessarily a terrible thing)


One thing I noticed is that it does not seem as though Deere has a finger on their backhoe, is that an uncommon, not very well used feature, or did I miss it?