First time tractor buyer

[KiotiJohn]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( we will have to agree to disagree about the HST transmission and its use for mowing. )</font> You're right Bob, I don't do finish mowing with my tractor, just field work. However, I have used both gear and HST for that, and I don't really find that much difference. At times I have found that gear is better when I hit softer terrain because I can go a little faster than low range will offer me in HST. On good, hard dirt surfaces, I can use high range in a field with HST, but not on softer ground. That's a difference that I've noticed, but it's not a big deal. I can use either pretty much equally well. John

 

[todd_arganti]

I know I am tired and its because I'm a father!!!

However, I still have work to get done. The Farmtrac is a 27hp 4wd and with a loader is 13995. I was quoting the price with a mower also. The Kioti ck20 is 20hp 4wd hst for around the same price. Does anyone feel that the extra hp and size is worth it. I have trouble justifying a smaller tractor for the same or a bit more money in the Kioti or some of the big three.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Todd, it boils down to quality and features. Somebody will always make something cheaper by cutting features, cutting design, etc. It is up to you to decide if you want the added control quality and features. Personally I buy the deluxe versions of tractors because to me the little things like extendable lower links actually make hooking up implememts MUCH easier, and other features make the tractor more comfortable, which tanslates into safer operation in the long run.

Also when you look at finish mowers, compare them apples to apples. The prices of finish mowers range from under $1000 to over $2000 for 60" finish mowers. And I can tell you from experience, you get what you pay for. A good quality (not necessarily the best) finish mower will easily last 20 years. I just traded in my 11 year old Befco 60" RFM and it will probably be resold for $600 or $700 after a new set of blades are installed and some minor maintainence is performed. The only reason I got rid of it was to switch to a Mid-Mount Mower. On the other hand, I GAVE AWAY an old Howse mower to a guy and the fact that he actually took it off my property saved me effort so I got the better part of that deal. I'm sure he hates me by now!

So check the overall quality of ALL the aspects of what you are buying.

 

[Skitch]

Amen to "you get what you pay for." Always keep in mind that price does not equal cost. How soon will you have to replace the equipment, how much time maintaining it, how much down time you have, and how easy parts are to obtain are all factors to consider. I know that there are exceptions to every rule, and I'm sure that there are examples out here to disprove this one, but in my case, it was an easy sell for my wife to go with a pricier RFM when she considered how long we have had our current Woods mower.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Skitch . . . When the dealer picked up my Befco unit I pulled out the original brochure & operators manual and saw that there was a handwritten note on the operators manual that reads: $1850.00 I am presuming that was what I paid for it 11 years ago. I can tell you I got my money's worth out of that deck, and I can tell you that whoever buys it from the dealer is getting a great deck that is going to last for another 10 or 11 years with reasonable care.

I think a lot of what you wrote is why I pick the deluxe versions of tractors and also because I value my time. How much is a set of extendable lower links worth? Well I look at it that it takes about 30 seconds to a minute to hook up an implement if you have extendable lower links. Further, you rarely bust a knuckle, bloody a finger or bruise a thumb doing it. Compare that to fixed lower links and you can pound and beat on a heavy implement trying to line it up for 3, 5 or even 10 minutes in the heat or the middle of a snowstorm and end up bloody and bruised. So is it worth a few hundered bucks? I think so when you figure that I tend to keep my tractors for a decade or more. But I do understand that some people consider $$$ to be more important than time, and for them I find no fault. They make their trade offs to get the machine they need and that is fine too. I tend to look at the cost over the life of the unit and quite often a worthwhile upgrade costs about a penny or two each day you own it.

 

[To20Chris]

It's always a judgement call - I'll have an upper limit of what I can (or will) spend. Within that, I'm looking for capability to do the most jobs, not always ways to make the jobs easier to do, but there's a big grey area of course. For me, the biggest issue is that of having the equipment to do the job, having something to make the kob easier, more pleasant, or even faster is secondary. Where to draw that line can be a tough call sometimes. I'd like a digital torque wrench, but my old click-stop one works fine. Truth be told the cheap old beam wrench I had will set torque just as well if used properly. Extendable lower links would be in the "nice to have, but wouldn't spend much for" catagory for me, because I'll still get the job done, and in the scope of the whole job it won't make much difference. With a CUT, it's a whole bunch of those types of decisions wrapped up in one purchace, which is why it can be so hard to decide, I guess. Unit A is missing something that unit B has, but then its got some other nice feature, etc. And then often the things you thought would be a big deal turn out not to be, but you find that something that seemed unimportant is really key. For example, I knew separate brakes could be helpful, but I didn't realize how much I would use them. Maybe if I had extendable lower links I would find them to be an essential! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Woodbeef]

I figure it all comes down to what you can live with,and then what you can't live with out.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Woodbeef, I tend to agree that it boils down to what you can live with, but often the first time tractor buyer doesn't know how one feature might help a lot while another is simply pointless. I know I had no clue when I first started playing with tractors and I am still learning new things about them all the time.

I swap implements a lot, so for me having the extendable lower links on the B2910 and the Pat's Easy Change on the TC24 are real time savers. On the other hand, "cruise control" is an exercise in futility on my lot because even with nearly 12 acres, I don't have any straight runs long enough to use it. Hydro is a must have for my hills, and also for mowing becuase I am constantly weaving between obsticales and backing up, and also for FEL work, both tasks are still much faster with a hydrostatic tranny. I mow in the evening so a HD alternator is a nice feature that allows me to put up extra lights. A mid-PTO will be used for the first time because I am switching to a MMM deck, it is standard on my tractors but optional or not even offered on others. The curved loader arms of the 12LA loader on the NH are such a big advantage in vision, that even with the smaller bucket and lower capacity than the B2910 has, I find I am using the smaller NH to do loader work more often than I am using the B2910. Having the features allows me to alter my uses as my needs change, without having to trade in my machines.

So for someone buying their first tractor, I think it is a service to point out some of the reasons one tractor might cost more than another because $1000 more spent today, could save many times that in the future and equals less than 15-cents a day over the 20 year life of the tractor. That 15 cents a day does not include time savings that come with some of those features. But if you can save 15 minutes a week in your mowing chores by using a HST transmission and you mow 36 weeks a year, that equals 9 hours a year. If your time is worth $20/hour, that is a savings of $180 per year, or $3600 in savings over the life of the HST tractor versus a gear tractor and that is just the savings you get mowing the lawn.