s219
Super Member
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2011
- Messages
- 8,608
- Location
- Virginia USA
- Tractor
- Kubota L3200, Deere X380, Kubota RTV-X
Hello all, this is my first post after lurking here a lot over the years. This forum is pretty awesome.
My wife and I are about to buy a 4 acre property to build a new home. On our current home, I was young, eager, and dumb, and did all clearing and landscaping by hand (for example spreading topsoil over 0.5 acre with just a wheelbarrow and hand tools, and yanking stumps out with a come-along, jack, sawz-all, and pry bar). This time around, I know I want to go into the new property with a tractor from day one. Age has worn me down a bit, but also made me smarter (=lazier?), and I know I need a tractor this time around.
I like the Deere 2000 and 3000 series, and have used various models on the properties of friends and family. But I have always thought they were a little too big for my long term needs. On the other hand, I never liked the sub-compacts. But, I happened to see a 1023 at the local Deere dealer the other day, and it looks like it might be a good choice. I'd like to get some feedback on that.
The first tasks at the new land will be forest cleanup, removing downed trees from Hurricane Irene for firewood. In order to avoid extensive permitting hassles and costs, this activity will stay under 2500 square feet, and I plan to minimize land disturbance. I will be making use of an existing logging road and cutting paths no wider than about 5 feet as needed (or snaking between trees if that works). The tractor would be used for very light-duty skidding, but mainly to ferry cut firewood rounds out of the woods. This would also become a long term use of the tractor in the future. I may need to remove a few stumps, but realize that's not necessarily something a compact or sub-compact can help with a whole lot, so I'd likely defer most of that for the eventual land clearing / construction, when we rent a backhoe.
The second task will be installing a few culverts across a dry stream bed to get the tractor deeper into the woods. Due to wetlands sensitivity, I will have to dig out the stream beds by hand, but a tractor will be needed to drag in an 18" corrugated culvert pipe and then carry in loads of aggregate to fill in the culvert. The culverts will eventually be used for the property's driveway, so I plan to do it right the first time (otherwise I'd be tempted to just drop some pines across the stream bed and chain them together for a temporary logger bridge).
Farther out in time, the tractor would be used for grading and landscaping the yard, and for various projects like constructing a small dock and putting in a garden.
Long term, I'd have a 600-700 foot driveway to maintain/grade from time to time, and remove snow from. We don't get a lot of snow in my area of Virginia, but there are 10-14" dumps every so often that would require plowing. And then there will be long term firewood collecting on the property of a few cords a year -- the property has pines and hardwoods now, and I'd replant with hybrid poplars for future firewood. For mowing, I'd stick with my trusty old Deere LT150, so I don't need a mowing deck on the new tractor.
Having looked at the options, my thought is that the 1000 series would be better from the standpoint of driving around the woods in tight spaces for my firewood work (and it's also narrow enough to get onto my 4x8 trailer for transport). A front loader would take care of the culvert construction. A box blade and front loader would make landscaping a piece of cake (compared to doing it by hand that is). And then maybe I'd want a front blade for snow plowing in the future, though I am tempted to first try it with the loader and box blade, or even weld up a snow diverter to attach to the front loader pins. A backhoe attachment would be great, but the ones I have seen for the 1000-3000 series don't look tough enough to really justify the cost. I'd need to be able to dig out stumps to make it worthwhile, and they don't look tough enough for that (or are they?).
So, now that you've read my long writeup, does the 1023/1026 seem like a good short term and long term choice?
Feature-wise, the 1023 would fit my needs just fine, but I like the nicer seat and tilt wheel on the 1026. The rest of the doodads on the 1026 look like fluff to me, so I may just stick with the 1023 for value. Going into this land purchase, money will be a factor, but I am justifying the cost of the tractor since it will pay for itself during the culvert installation and landscaping, compared to hiring that work out (or doing it by hand with medical bills!).
Thanks for reading, and for any feedback/advice you can offer.
My wife and I are about to buy a 4 acre property to build a new home. On our current home, I was young, eager, and dumb, and did all clearing and landscaping by hand (for example spreading topsoil over 0.5 acre with just a wheelbarrow and hand tools, and yanking stumps out with a come-along, jack, sawz-all, and pry bar). This time around, I know I want to go into the new property with a tractor from day one. Age has worn me down a bit, but also made me smarter (=lazier?), and I know I need a tractor this time around.
I like the Deere 2000 and 3000 series, and have used various models on the properties of friends and family. But I have always thought they were a little too big for my long term needs. On the other hand, I never liked the sub-compacts. But, I happened to see a 1023 at the local Deere dealer the other day, and it looks like it might be a good choice. I'd like to get some feedback on that.
The first tasks at the new land will be forest cleanup, removing downed trees from Hurricane Irene for firewood. In order to avoid extensive permitting hassles and costs, this activity will stay under 2500 square feet, and I plan to minimize land disturbance. I will be making use of an existing logging road and cutting paths no wider than about 5 feet as needed (or snaking between trees if that works). The tractor would be used for very light-duty skidding, but mainly to ferry cut firewood rounds out of the woods. This would also become a long term use of the tractor in the future. I may need to remove a few stumps, but realize that's not necessarily something a compact or sub-compact can help with a whole lot, so I'd likely defer most of that for the eventual land clearing / construction, when we rent a backhoe.
The second task will be installing a few culverts across a dry stream bed to get the tractor deeper into the woods. Due to wetlands sensitivity, I will have to dig out the stream beds by hand, but a tractor will be needed to drag in an 18" corrugated culvert pipe and then carry in loads of aggregate to fill in the culvert. The culverts will eventually be used for the property's driveway, so I plan to do it right the first time (otherwise I'd be tempted to just drop some pines across the stream bed and chain them together for a temporary logger bridge).
Farther out in time, the tractor would be used for grading and landscaping the yard, and for various projects like constructing a small dock and putting in a garden.
Long term, I'd have a 600-700 foot driveway to maintain/grade from time to time, and remove snow from. We don't get a lot of snow in my area of Virginia, but there are 10-14" dumps every so often that would require plowing. And then there will be long term firewood collecting on the property of a few cords a year -- the property has pines and hardwoods now, and I'd replant with hybrid poplars for future firewood. For mowing, I'd stick with my trusty old Deere LT150, so I don't need a mowing deck on the new tractor.
Having looked at the options, my thought is that the 1000 series would be better from the standpoint of driving around the woods in tight spaces for my firewood work (and it's also narrow enough to get onto my 4x8 trailer for transport). A front loader would take care of the culvert construction. A box blade and front loader would make landscaping a piece of cake (compared to doing it by hand that is). And then maybe I'd want a front blade for snow plowing in the future, though I am tempted to first try it with the loader and box blade, or even weld up a snow diverter to attach to the front loader pins. A backhoe attachment would be great, but the ones I have seen for the 1000-3000 series don't look tough enough to really justify the cost. I'd need to be able to dig out stumps to make it worthwhile, and they don't look tough enough for that (or are they?).
So, now that you've read my long writeup, does the 1023/1026 seem like a good short term and long term choice?
Feature-wise, the 1023 would fit my needs just fine, but I like the nicer seat and tilt wheel on the 1026. The rest of the doodads on the 1026 look like fluff to me, so I may just stick with the 1023 for value. Going into this land purchase, money will be a factor, but I am justifying the cost of the tractor since it will pay for itself during the culvert installation and landscaping, compared to hiring that work out (or doing it by hand with medical bills!).
Thanks for reading, and for any feedback/advice you can offer.
