B8200 + General CUT (Newbie & Long)

[Stubee]

Hi, new here but LT reader of this and other forums. My only tractor experience is with my lawn JD LX 176 (love it).

I live in MI but own hunting land in NW Ontario, 800 miles from here. My primay needs there are to cut trails--about 1 mile of 'em, 8'-10' wide, tall thick grass + 1" saplings--cut about 1A-2A rough pasture once/season, and 2nd to knock down 3' high anthills, move some gravel, rocks, etc. For the past five years I've been doing this by hand (shovel, ATV, Stihl hand-held brush cutter) and with an ancient Swisher 44" trail mower (not brush cutter). The Swisher was real cheap & not designed for what I'm doing but was a HUGE step ahead of the hand gruntwork. Honestly, I think an old JD 310 w. belly mower & blade would be a revelation vs. my grunt work. I've now about worked the Swisher to death.

Everybody else up there uses CUTs or larger. I'd like to get a CUT & researched them pretty heavily but here are my issues: 1) My truck only tows 5000lb & I'd need a new trailer to haul a CUT, too 2) I use the property in April, August, Sept., late Oct/early Nov. and otherwise the tractor will sit unused & it gets cold up there 3) Even if I get a new truck + trailer, I really have no use for the CUT here in MI. So I'm looking at & pricing nice shiny new JD, Kubota CUTs but am thinking leaving a beauty like that up there could invite theft. Not a big issue where I'm at but can happen.

So...I'm also looking at old stuff & found a B8200, gear tranny, 1028 hours, Allied FEL, newer TSC 4' bush cutter, back blade for $7950. It's been used for a lot of the stuff I'd do. My only concerns about it are clearance & turf tires. Checked out putting larger tires on it, looks like a bad idea. Current owner never got stuck via using FEL to pry out, but...

Would appreciate your input on this machine & my "dilemma" in general. Last night I decided just to forget the whole tractor idea as "impractical" & just to buy a new tow-behind trail cutter & borrow or hire a tractor occasionally--not easy up there--but I'd sure love to have one up there. Thanks,

 

[Dozernut]

My first Kubota was a B8200, I wish that I had kept it. It was a great little tractor and I never had any problems with it other than general maintenance. The B8200, at least mine, did not have power steering and with a loader and a bucket full of material would make steering difficult.

I had a spinner knob on mine and was brush mowing and hit a hidden stump with the right front tire. This caused the steering wheel to spin rapidly and the spinner knob hit the back of my right hand and broke it. Needless to say the spinner knob was removed.

The B8200 will pull a 4' brush cutter just fine, in fact on occasion I used the neighbors 5' until I got my own. The 5' worked fine but was a Little heavy and made the front end light when raised for transport. A 5' back blade works nicely on the the B8200 and would cover the tire tracks when angled. Never had a problem with the clearance on the tractor. I had the ag tires and really liked them so I have no experience with the turfs. You did not mention if the tractor is a 2 wd or 4 wd. Mine was a 4 wd, I would not want a 2 wd personally as this light of a tractor really benefits from from the extra traction of the 4 wd.

If the machine has been properly maintained and not beat to death, it will make you a nice little tractor. Hope this helps a little!