Wife says go ahead!

   / Wife says go ahead! #1  

pairodime

Bronze Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2004
Messages
88
Location
VA
Tractor
PT-425
After weeks of careful discussion, my wonderful bride finally said OK after a visit to the Kubota dealer to look at the beautiful orange machines.

I now find myself in a state of shock because I can't decide what to get. Any advice appreciated:

Planned use for 3 acre riverfront lot. Currently has a large pile of fill (in excess of 500 CY) that needs to be spread around and graded. After that, basic mowing of 1.5 acres and occasional maintenance of rocks in seawall, gravel drive maintenance, and snow plowing.

I was looking at the BX2230 with FEL, MMM, and rear blade, as a good choice for the money but am now thinking that it's an awful big pile of fill to move. It was a great point to make with my bride on the need for the tractor, but now wonder if the tractor she agreed to is big enough. I am in no rush to get it done and would enjoy the time doing it, but am concerned it would tire a subcompact out.

So, do I now say to my lovely wife that I need to spend a couple thousand more for a B model or just go rent something and get the pile gone and then use the BX for my long term needs?

Thanks,

Pairodime
soon to be a Bota man!
 
   / Wife says go ahead! #2  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( just go rent something and get the pile gone and then use the BX for my long term needs?
)</font>

This is the route I take. Buy the machine for the bulk of your needs and rent a machine or hire an excavator to come in and rough it out with the proper machines.
 
   / Wife says go ahead! #3  
Since the work you mentioned is part of the tractor justification, if you hire out that work will you wife still agree to a 9 or 10K mower?
I've read so many posts on here of folks with the BX who are totally amazed at the amount of work it will do. Sure you'd take smaller bites of the pile, but you'd be getting all that seat time which would be awesome.
At the dealer ship with all the tractors in a row the BX and smaller B series tractors just look small, but don't let that fool ya. They are work horses.
I'd get which ever tractor you can afford and do it myself if it were me.
Good Luck,
Moon of Ohio
 
   / Wife says go ahead! #4  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Planned use for 3 acre riverfront lot. Currently has a large pile of fill (in excess of 500 CY) that needs to be spread around and graded. After that, basic mowing of 1.5 acres and occasional maintenance of rocks in seawall, gravel drive maintenance, and snow plowing. )</font>

If that's all you want to do, I would go to Lowes and buy their biggest garden tractor with a plow. You'll save thousands off the price your looking to spend now. Take the wife on a nice vacation with the extra money you'll save.


</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ..... or just go rent something and get the pile gone and then use the BX for my long term needs?)</font>

This would defeat the purpose of having your own tractor. Just my thoughts.
 
   / Wife says go ahead! #5  
I have to agree with moon, here. The BX is a pretty capable machine...mine constantly amazes me with what it can do, although for obvious reasons, some things take a bit more time than they would with a larger machine.

I just completely regraded 70' of the bank between our lawn and the road after a truck accident bollixed it up last week...it was an opportunity to ease the slope for safer mowing, etc. My BX-22, even without a tooth-bar, really bit into that hill and did the job. Although a big machine could have done it in a half-hour, the hour and fifteen minutes I took was quite reasonable.
 
   / Wife says go ahead! #6  
<font color="blue"> If that's all you want to do, I would go to Lowes and buy their biggest garden tractor with a plow...
</font>

Then plan on buying one or two more of those garden tractors over the life span of what the bx would have?

The pleasure of operating a real tractor like a BX or similar is hard to put a dollar value on. Personally, I never want to go back to cutting grass with a garden tractor like I used for 20 years (consumed several over that period).

However, if the purchase of the BX was going to impact the budget too much, I would certainly follow GerardC's advice. You surely don't want to end up living with the tractor instead of the wife! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

What is in that pile of fill? If it is dirt and only dirt, that would be one thing. If it has large chunks of rock or concrete in it, when the bx may not be a match for them...

<font color="blue"> After that, basic mowing of 1.5 acres and occasional maintenance of rocks in seawall, gravel drive maintenance, and snow plowing. </font>

I think you will be surprised how the word "occasional" changes into "regular/frequent/daily" once you have a real tractor!
 
   / Wife says go ahead! #7  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( If that's all you want to do, I would go to Lowes and buy their biggest garden tractor with a plow. You'll save thousands off the price your looking to spend now. Take the wife on a nice vacation with the extra money you'll save. )</font>

I really don't see you moving over 500 cubic yards of fill with a garden tractor and plow. I used an 18 hp wheel horse to move 3 or 4 yards of loam around once and it took most of the day. 500 yards is going to be some big piles!

The BX will do it in time. The loader will hold between 5 and 6 cubic feet per load. That's about 2250 loads for 500 yards. I moved 9 yards about 75 feet and spread it in around three hours with my BX2200 when I first got it so you might be able to move 20 or 25 yards a day. Thats 20 or 25 days worth of work unless my calculations are off somewhere. A york rake with guide wheels will be very helpful in spreading it evenly.
 
 
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