Thinking about buying a new/used compact

[Doc_Bob]

Originally Posted by roxynoodle

They not only offered to bring me a demo but offered to mow my lawn for me if I wanted them to! They even offered to mow it weekly if I was too busy to do it myself.

They offered a demo? And you failed to say yes???
Bob

[roxynoodle]

Originally Posted by Doc_Bob

They offered a demo? And you failed to say yes???
Bob

Yep. Truthfully I'm not in the market for a new tractor. I thought about it last year. I could have put a down payment with the money I paid for my Yanmar and taken the 0% for 36 months, but... I like not having a tractor payment. I owe 12 years yet on my mortgage and 2 years on my truck and that is my only debt. I like to consider myself fiscally responsible, but pretty much everyone else calls me cheap

[Doc_Bob]

Originally Posted by roxynoodle

I like to consider myself fiscally responsible, but pretty much everyone else calls me cheap

Right choice.
Bob

[daTeacha]

WIshane, you might want to actually drive the tractors you consider with the loader in place. While I like my Case DX29, I have mixed feelings about the way the loader is built. Like everything else in life, it has pluses and minuses. The CNH factory loaders have a curved arm design, which, in company with the sloped hoods, give you great forward visibility. What they don't tell you is that they buckets are also further forward than a conventional design loader.

This gives you quite a bit more reach, which is very handy when dumping things where you don't want to drive, such as filling in a gully with manure and brush prior to squashing it or loading a pickup or putting shingles up on a roof. However, it also makes the tractor pretty long in the woods. The turning circle of the tires is nice and short, but the bucket makes it tough to maneuver in some places.

If I had it do to over again, my woods use tractor would still be a Case DX, but I would get the biggest engine and a conventional design loader. I'd stick with the Ag tires, and probably the HST since I find the fine control pretty nice and am willing to lose a little pulling power for it. There is a trend toward R4 tires since they are built tougher than Ags and they look super, but I like the traction of the Ags on my hills.

[rback33]

Rich,
I am glad to see someone point out the biggest fault of curved loaders. They certainly do stick out further than conventional ones. This causes a couple problems. It increases your effort arm so you have to add more ballast to pick up the same load. It also increases you front axle loading which is usually the limiting factor when designing a loader as far as capacity goes.

[daTeacha]

True enough. When I have 130 lb on each rear wheel and about 900 on the 3 point, then try to pick up a big hunk of granite and have the rears lift, I wish the thing was riding closer to the front bumper. On the other hand, when I'm dumping half rotted logs or stumps onto a burning fire using the grapple, it's nice to have that extra reach out ahead of the front tires. The QA bucket adds another couple of inches, too.