Advice re: New Holland/Mahindra/Deere

[birdseye]

I'm planning on becoming a first time tractor owner. We have a 96 acre forest property much of which is steep terrain. My plans for the tractor are mowing a 2-3 acre meadow and both sides of a .5 mile driveway, moving rocks around the property, maintaining the driveway and some logging roads, winching and transporting logs (probably with a Farmi winch) and moving some dirt around.


The three alternatives that I've looked at are:

New Holland TC 30 - $12,695 (like the price but am concerned about it being heavy duty enough)

Mahindra 3215 HST - $17,995

John Deere 990 - $19,800

All include a front end loader.

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts from the voices of experience out there. Thanks in advance!

[BobG_in_VA]

Originally Posted by birdseye

The three alternatives that I've looked at are:

New Holland TC 30 - $12,695 (like the price but am concerned about it being heavy duty enough)

Mahindra 3215 HST - $17,995

John Deere 990 - $19,800

All include a front end loader.

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts from the voices of experience out there. Thanks in advance!

I personally would think BIGGER. Even though your are a first time buyer, I would suggest you look in the 40-50HP range as a minimum. You won't regret it as 96 acres of timber (give or take) will not only wear you out but the tractor as well. As much weight on the tractor as possible!!! BobG in VA

[shvl73]

That price on the TC30 is thousands less than I've seen them in the northeast.

[CWP37]

I'd second the reply of getting a bigger tractor. You could get a JD 5103 within that same price range and it is 50hp with a 42hp pto.

[Doc_Bob]

Go with a bigger tractor with AG tires.
Bob

[wolc123]

I think the Mahindra will give you the best bang for the buck of those three. Don't let others scare you into thinking you need a bigger machine. It sounds like no tractor could go on most of those acres other than the meadow and driveway anyway. Tractor size should be based on the size of the job it will perform, not total acreage. With steep hills, 4wd is critical, which should remove the 2wd 5103 from consideration.

[BarryinMN]

Spend time test driving, that's the best answer. A little seat time will tell the story. An empty tractor on slopes is one thing but add a 2-3000 lb load & thats another story.

I do similar things & scaled up tractors to 55 pto with MFWD. It weighs 5 tons & allows picking up entire trees & running up & down slopes without dragging them. In Winter I use a 40 HP dozer again weighs 5 tons & gets things done with little drama.

[birdseye]

Thanks for all of your insights.

Regarding tires, one dealer suggested industrial tires. Since they are wider, they should provide better stabilty. Does that make sense given my working environment?

The dealers are proposing filling the tires with a calicum compound. I've have heard that that can corrode the wheels. Is that true?

Thanks for helping me get off on the right foot.

[BarryinMN]

Industrials are wider than ag's, however the lugs are closely spaced and tend to load up with mud & spin. R4/s may also reduce ground clearance. I have a TLB with them & have had to use the backhoe to pick up the rear of the tractor several times because it was sitting on the frame high centered or stuck in the mud.

Depending on your tractor choice, the rims on the tires may have 2-3 mounting positions and the tractor wheels again may have 2-3 mounting width options. In any case max width = max stability. Mounting rear duallies might be an option.

Note: going over 80-82" wide limits transporting/trailering to a deckover flatbed trailers, they weigh more thus have less usable load carrying capacity per GVW class.

Calcium chloride is an excellent & cheap wheel weight and it does rust thru the rims eventually. I have a '48 JD A with badly rusted rims in the barn. Another thing is if you puncture a CaCl loaded tire the leak pretty much kills all the vegetation around it.

I bought iron wheel weights for the new tractor rather than deal with a potential mess.

Another option is beet juice that will not freeze & is non toxic. Nobody around me sells/uses it so not an option in my case.

Keep us posted on your evaluations

[Dargo]

Originally Posted by wolc123

I think the Mahindra will give you the best bang for the buck of those three. Don't let others scare you into thinking you need a bigger machine. <snip> With steep hills, 4wd is critical, which should remove the 2wd 5103 from consideration.

I'm going to agree with most said here but disagree with size. The Mahindra lineup will give you pretty well the most weight within a HP range, which will be important if you log or winch any. Obviously 4wd will be important. However, one thing that I think you will really like about the Mahindra is the HST. I have a couple hundred acres of property and have some of the steepest hills imaginable; anything steeper would be a cliff. When moving around on the steep hills, the hydro transmission gives you much more control for incremental movements and controlled immediate movements from front to reverse. I've used gear tractors for over 20 years, so until recently I knew nothing but gears. Give a gear and a hydro tractor a try on moving around on steep hills (preferably at your own property), and you'll know what I mean. I do agree with the others that you will want to go bigger though.