Newbie needs help!

[redjacket42]

Hi all. We purchased 64 acres in downeast Maine. It has a 1/2 mile gravel road
and the rest is thick spruce fir birch larch. Mostly flat except big slope down to water. Plan on building a cabin and pulling trees out of woods, cutting paths for walking or future horse (have a 10 yr old little girl asking EVERY day), pulling stumps (not alot of soil over granite shouldn't be too difficult),maintaining road & snow removal. Have been looking at a L3940 GST LA 724 with QA, BH 90 backhoe, Fransgard logging winch & Salsco 6" chipper. The chipper & winch won't be bought until later. Not sure if I need this much tractor except for the chipper (I could rent one). Also not sure about what transmission? I could go with the L4400 instead of the grand. Is the grand not worth it if you don't go with the hydro? Also Dealer said Kubota sent them too many bh90's so they are selling for 6 k. With thumb costs 7120. Also L3940 GST 18k + 4,400 for FEL. Seems like they are decent prices. What do you think?

[Bird]

That doesn't sound like bad prices to me. As to your questions, much depends on personal preference. You can do what you want with a little smaller tractor, but each job will take longer. Personally, I really prefer the hydrostatic transmissions for convenience, ease of learning for new operators, safety (especially for new operators), speed in maneuvering forward and backward, etc. But the reason the other transmissions are made and sold is because someone else prefers them; nothing wrong with that. Any of them will get the job done.

And welcome to Tractorbynet.