Buying Advice New tractor advice

[sros990]

I have approximately 50 acres, 15 in meadow and the rest woods, and would like to purchase a tractor with the following attachments: tiller, front end loader, brush hog, and wood splitter. I would use the tractor for:

Tilling about an ½ acre
Loader work—turning compost, moving gravel, etc.
Rough cutting (hilly ground)—about 10 acres
Maintaining 1,200 foot driveway
Occasionally pulling logs out of the woods
Splitting wood

I’d like to know how much horsepower I would need, and if it pays to get a tractor with automatic transmission. (I’ve always driven a car with automatic transmission and my riding mower is also automatic).

Thanks for your help.

Steve

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Where do you live? Is there snow to deal with?

I'd say if you're retired and have plenty of time, you could make do with a 4310 (32HP/25 PTOHP).

If it were me, and I could afford it, I'd look at a 4120 or 4320.

Hydrostatic is "automatic" for tractors. It is great for all the tasks you mentioned. It also is good for the "hills". You would also want to get 4WD which is MFWD in tractor talk.

If money is tight, there are used 4310's out there but they are rare. You could save roughly $2500 or more buying used.
The 430 FEL (front end loader) complements the 4310 nicely.

Go to "My Home" and give us a general idea of where you live in your personal info...Have fun shopping

 

[dmp437]

Agree straight up with Kyle. Get the eHydro (automatic) no matter what. Easier to use and higher re-sale and desirability should you ever want get rid of it. Also get the PowerBeyond kit no matter what. That will enable you to run the log splitter. And of course get MFWD (4x4).
As far as tractor size, I would stick with the 4120 or 4320. The 20 Series has a larger hydraulic system (12 gal vs 8.6 gal) as well as the expected more power, higher capacity FEL than the 4310. The 4310 is a good tractor (I got one /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif ) but for your acarage I would go a bit bigger.
If you expect to be working on hills then have the rear tires loaded from the get go. The goal would be to minimize trips to the dealer after delivery. Therefore I would have them price in: load the tires, PowerBeyond, and 3rd SCV.