Buying Advice Tractor and Implement Buying Advice for my Wooded 4 Acres Please!

[woodsnhills]

First post here but I've been lurking for a while soaking up tons of great information. Yes, this is another "Help me decide what to buy" type thread because even after reading numerous similar threads, it appears we are all in unique situations. Here's a breakdown of my situation. Looking to buy anytime between now and a year from now.

Land:

• 4 Acres
• Hilly
• Wooded - light to heavy
• Uneven Terrain - dips from decayed stumps, exposed roots, etc

Jobs for Tractor:

• Mowing - up to 3 acres, obstacles, hills (mowing up, down, and along side), mulching leaves in fall
• Bulk Material Moving - currently using dump cart
• Maintaining Driveway - grading, correcting drainage, etc
• Clearing and Grading Yard - filling in holes left by stumps, future terracing projects, etc
• Helping to Remove Stumps
• Helping with Firewood Processing - skidding logs, moving splits etc
• Future Retaining Wall Footings
• Trenching - extending garden water line, future supply/septic repairs?
• Planting or Digging Up Trees/Shrubs
• Digging Drywell(s)

Here are a few photos showing samples of what I'm up against:
Side yard showing typical slope of hill. Due to the layout I end up doing a lot of "sidehill" mowing. According to the build-in iPhone angle finder, some hills that I need to mow are up to 25* (talk about pucker factor on my current rig!)

Some stumps should be easier to remove since the tree fell over taking part of the root ball with it. LOTS of other stumps in various states of decay to remove.

Front driveway to maintain. Gets rutted out after large downpours. Side and back gravel drives require far less maintenance since they're relatively flat.

Example of an existing "retaining" wall of dry stack stones that needs to be redone. Additional retaining walls could be built throughout the property in the future.


Current Equipment:

• Kubota B6000E (2wd)
• 42" Belly Mower
• Dump Cart
• Shovels, Axes, Post Hole Diggers, and lots of Exercise!

The B6000 handles most of the mowing OK when it's working, but the tractor is old, lacks ROPS, is narrow (~39" wide at rear wheels), and requires constant maintenance. The wife and I agree that the BIGGEST reason to upgrade tractors would be for the ROPS, but I'd also LOVE to have HST, power steering, the ability to quickly start or start at all in cold weather, better stability, and to be able to mow 3 times in a row without having to make any repairs!

Here's what I've been looking at, but please feel free to steer me in a different direction!:

• SCUT - thinking with all the trees and obstacles, anything larger will be too large and a GT would not stand up to the terrain
• Mid Mount Mower - better stability and manueverability
• FEL
• BH - I would LOVE to have one, but I seriously doubt it will fit in budget
• Tooth bar for FEL - which one? RR, PB, other...???
• Box Blade -OR- Scraper Blade -OR- Ratchet Rake ????

MMM and FEL will need to be purchased with tractor, but blades and any other 3PH implements I was planning on trying to buy used or just later. Please let me know what you recommend. Let's just say the budget for everything is 20k.

And finally, my buying options:
We have local JD and Kubota dealerships. Both seem to be pretty good and I love both products but need to get more seat time in them. There's also a Mahindra place that just opened up, but it's an equipment rental yard with a few red tractors on the lot for sale. Doesn't look like a real "dealership" and I'm very wary of it being "here today, gone tomorrow." I'm about 45 minutes south of Lexington KY, but am not sure if I want to stay local - if I ever had to get work done, both local dealerships are on my way to work, otherwise I'd have to take a day off. Every brand's SCUT that I've internet researched looks nice but I just don't know if it's worth considering if the closet dealership is >1 hr away ??

I could keep going but this is getting way too long. I can elaborate on anything if it will help you help me!

 

[747driver]

Very nice job in your descriptions...you must like to type !! I am thinking a SCUT will be to small and under powered for your use. I live in a National Forest that is also quite hilly. So having a bigger tractor didn't serve a purpose. My Kioti is just the right size and weight to get around those trees yet heavy and wide enough to do the job.

Being on slopes you want as wide a tire track as possible, plus the extra weight to keep you stable.

I would think you would need something at least in the 25 and higher hp range to start. You lose pto hp with a HST tractor. I have 28 hp but the pto is rated at 24hp, What type of implements do you want and how much pto hp is needed to use them. What you think you need will get you going , go 1 size bigger !

To me you have to many things to do that require more power and having a MMM attached that will get in the way. I wouldn't want to be taking off and hooking up a MMM very often.

There are good used tractors out there, the internet is a good source to find them. Do you have a trailer for transport ? You might check Barlow equipment in Somerset for tractors.

GoodLuck !!

 

[davrow]

Cutting across a 25* slope? Without a ROPS? Wow. Owners manual for CK27 specifies MAX 15*. I myself would want a zero turn for the mowing - a tractor for everything else.

 

[dickfoster]

Cutting across a 25* slope? Without a ROPS? Wow. Owners manual for CK27 specifies MAX 15*. I myself would want a zero turn for the mowing - a tractor for everything else.

Yes, exactly. Besides it sounds like he needs a backhoe and backhoes and mowers for the same machine complicates matters a bit.

 

[woodsnhills]

Thanks for the feedback so far!

I was thinking of a SCUT as it seems to be the best compromise:
- small(er) size better for mowing (which will be ~80-90% of its job)
- even though not as capable as a larger tractor, it should still be able to do most chores, just slower.... right?
- newer SCUTs have easily attached implements, so less incentive to get dedicated machines
- only 1 machine to store and maintain, plus I've heard that only the expensive (i.e. not found at the retail stores) ZTRs are good on hills... is that true?

I might have overstated the digging chores. Most of the larger ones would be a one-time thing. I think I'm trying to convince myself that a BH attachment would be worth the money

As for the slope, the majority of the slopes that I mow along are between 15 and 20 degrees (based on my phone, haven't checked its accuracy). The really steep stuff I use the push mower on or just leave alone.

Assuming I could only get one of the following, which would you choose: grader blade vs box blade vs ratchet rake?

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

I'd suggest taking a long, hard look at the Kubota BX25, which is a Tractor-Loader-Backhoe. For removing stumps, digging retaining wall footings, trenching, etc., the backhoe will be indispensable. And, yes, the SCUTs will do just about anything a larger tractor can do within reason; it just takes longer.

Because of your slopes, I'd also suggest getting some wheel spacers for it. Bro-Tek makes some. Bro-Tek.

As to the grader blade vs. box blade vs. ratchet rake, you will eventually wind up owning all three. (By "grader blade", I assume you mean a land plane grading scraper, not a just a plain old rear blade.) But, if I could only have one for your uses, I'd pick the box blade. It has more uses even though some things (like grading a driveway) would be easier with the land plane grading scraper.

I think you could buy a BX25 and a box blade, a land plane grading scraper AND a ratchet rake for $20,000 or less, although I haven't been keeping up with the prices on the BX25 recently.

 

[airbiscuit]

I'd suggest taking a long, hard look at the Kubota BX25, which is a Tractor-Loader-Backhoe. For removing stumps, digging retaining wall footings, trenching, etc., the backhoe will be indispensable. And, yes, the SCUTs will do just about anything a larger tractor can do within reason; it just takes longer.

Because of your slopes, I'd also suggest getting some wheel spacers for it. Bro-Tek makes some. Bro-Tek.

As to the grader blade vs. box blade vs. ratchet rake, you will eventually wind up owning all three. (By "grader blade", I assume you mean a land plane grading scraper, not a just a plain old rear blade.) But, if I could only have one for your uses, I'd pick the box blade. It has more uses even though some things (like grading a driveway) would be easier with the land plane grading scraper.

I think you could buy a BX25 and a box blade, a land plane grading scraper AND a ratchet rake for $20,000 or less, although I haven't been keeping up with the prices on the BX25 recently.

Check this out ....

Kubota BX25D House Addition + Hexacopter FPV Footage - Project 3 - YouTube

 

[woodsnhills]

More great advice and those are some very fun videos to watch!

I'll need to sit down with the wife and really nail down a more precise budget, then start getting quotes. I don't know when we'll actually be able to buy, but I'll try to remember to update this thread with the results.

 

[woodsnhills]

Signed papers today and awaiting delivery sometime next week! After lots of internet research, seat time, and conversing with the two local dealers resulted with a ......... JD 1025R

It was a tough decision between the Kubota BX2370 and the 1025R. We liked both dealerships and neither sales person was pushy or bad-mouthed the competition and both tractors are very nice - can't go wrong with either. Obviously we decided against the BH.

Now can't wait for delivery! Next two decisions:
1) Box Blade - TSC or Everything Attachment
2) Tooth Bar - Piranha or Heavy Hitch

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

Congrats on the new tractor. Please post some pics when you get it.

On your upcoming decisions:

1. A box blade is a really simple tool. There's not much to go wrong with one of them, and any bends, breaks, welds or other faults are easily seen. Thus, a box blade is about the safest implement to buy used. Around here, you can buy a used one for about 1/2 of what a new one costs. The important thing, whether you buy new or used, is to buy one that has some weight to it. The 1025R should use a 4' box blade, and ideally you would want a box blade that weighs 375 - 400 pounds. I would almost guarantee that the ETA box blade will be heavier (and better built by far) than the TSC one, which will be light duty. So, between ETA and TSC, I'd take the ETA one every time.

2. PTB or Heavy Hitch. If you're buying the HH for ballast, just get a heavy duty box blade and use that for ballast and forget the HH. The PTB, on the other hand, is very, very handy. Most of us who have one highly recommend it. So I'd vote PTB.