Tomhanx
New member
First post here, but I've been browsing for weeks, and doing online research. I've only been to 2 dealers so far...I'm not in any hurry to purchase, and there's lots of snow and ice on the ground here, so the dealers' yards are all a mess to walk around right now.
My needs:
We have 120 acres, over half of which is wooded. The whole property is a hillside, ranging from the creek at the bottom of the valley, all the way to the ridge of the hill. There are some steep banks, but the majority is a fairly gentle slope. We mow approx 5 acres (currently with an old craftsman riding mower that doesn't have long left). Have a 500 foot driveway that's in rough shape and needs some work, plus plowing in the winters. There's 2 springs on the property, and lots of drainage ditches, none of which have been cleaned out in years, so there's a lot of work to do there. We've also paid a guy to brush hog about 8 acres the last 2 summers.
So... TLB, belly mower, snow blade, brush hog are on the list (the brush hog could wait til later if I need to for budget reasons).
I've mostly been looking at the sub-compact size tractors. GC1720, BX23s, 1025r, MT125. I went to the Kubota dealer, and they didn't have the bx23s on the lot, but they had a 25d, which is fairly similar. Also went to the Massey Ferguson dealer, and sat on a GC 1720. I think the Kubota had a little more room, and the steering wheel on the Kubota was definitely in a more comfortable position, but the Massey Ferguson price is thousands less. Having not looked anywhere else yet, the GC1720 is my front runner atm.
My only real concern at this point, is the size. I think the gc1720 would probably do most of the work I need, but I'm a little nervous about the small tire size. The land here is very uneven, lots of areas that can be swampy when the springs are flowing water outside the ditches. There's lots of deep ruts from years ago when the property was logged with a skidder. There's trees and limbs all over the ground in the wooded areas, that the smaller wheels wouldn't get over. The Massey dealer showed me a 1526 as well, but by the time you add the backhoe and other implements, it pushes it well beyond my budget.
Anyone have any other suggestions to go look at? Something that's maybe a little bit bigger than the sub compacts (or at least has bigger wheels), and would be <25k out the door?
My needs:
We have 120 acres, over half of which is wooded. The whole property is a hillside, ranging from the creek at the bottom of the valley, all the way to the ridge of the hill. There are some steep banks, but the majority is a fairly gentle slope. We mow approx 5 acres (currently with an old craftsman riding mower that doesn't have long left). Have a 500 foot driveway that's in rough shape and needs some work, plus plowing in the winters. There's 2 springs on the property, and lots of drainage ditches, none of which have been cleaned out in years, so there's a lot of work to do there. We've also paid a guy to brush hog about 8 acres the last 2 summers.
So... TLB, belly mower, snow blade, brush hog are on the list (the brush hog could wait til later if I need to for budget reasons).
I've mostly been looking at the sub-compact size tractors. GC1720, BX23s, 1025r, MT125. I went to the Kubota dealer, and they didn't have the bx23s on the lot, but they had a 25d, which is fairly similar. Also went to the Massey Ferguson dealer, and sat on a GC 1720. I think the Kubota had a little more room, and the steering wheel on the Kubota was definitely in a more comfortable position, but the Massey Ferguson price is thousands less. Having not looked anywhere else yet, the GC1720 is my front runner atm.
My only real concern at this point, is the size. I think the gc1720 would probably do most of the work I need, but I'm a little nervous about the small tire size. The land here is very uneven, lots of areas that can be swampy when the springs are flowing water outside the ditches. There's lots of deep ruts from years ago when the property was logged with a skidder. There's trees and limbs all over the ground in the wooded areas, that the smaller wheels wouldn't get over. The Massey dealer showed me a 1526 as well, but by the time you add the backhoe and other implements, it pushes it well beyond my budget.
Anyone have any other suggestions to go look at? Something that's maybe a little bit bigger than the sub compacts (or at least has bigger wheels), and would be <25k out the door?