Just thought I would give an update.
First of all thanks to all for the helpful info. Without it I would have ended up buying something that did not fit my needs.
Ok speaking of needs, I think I may have just been a little too anxious in getting a tractor when I first moved into the new house. The need was more "want" and I realized this with hardly a day to spare.
Somehow, I had gone from leaning towards a BX to having negotiated a deal on a new Jinma 284 with FEL and BH. I opted out of either until I had some time to actually see what I would need for this yard, which was a good thing, because I didn't need a tractor this past summer.
A local motocross park caught my attention and at 39 years old I decided to try motocross for the first time. I got hooked!
Both my wife and I have "enduro" bikes that are plated for the street but that we ride mostly off-road, now we also have MX bikes just for the track. The boys also love doing it so that is where we spent much of our free time, especially since the park is a mere 3 kms from our home. All that to say that there wasn't really any need to do anything with the yard that required a tractor. That is, until the park closed for the season, and I wanted to build an MX track for the boys that was suited to them. (mini track at the park is really for beginners and has no real jumps while the adult tracks have huge jumps and deep sand not suited to small wheels)
So we laid out the track mostly following existing trails that the kids made while play riding and decided to build it. Now there was a definite need for a tractor. One of my riding buddies built himself a towable backhoe and that was a huge help but I still needed a loader for moving dirt so I bought what I consider my "starter" tractor.
I drove twelve hours with my oldest son to get this 1980 Ford 1100 4x4.
It had a few issues like a broken water pump and some leaking cylinders but everything worked and it looked to be in good overall condition so I brought it home. I replaced the water pump and tightened all the FEL mounting bolts and have been moving dirt and making jumps with it for a week now.
I'm pretty happy with it. It is a bit smaller than my friend's Ford 1220 but that is a good thing right now. As it is there are still some places I cannot fit in without cutting some trees. The only two things that I wish it had are a hydrostatic transmission and a diff lock. The HST on my friend's 1220 works great and my little Husky is hydrostatic so having a manual takes a little getting used to. Also, and maybe I'm just trying to do too much with it, I often get the turf tires spinning as I try and scoop up a bucket of dirt. We have a lot of clay content here so the dirt is heavy and sticky so I think I just need to learn to take smaller bites.
This winter I plan to fix the leaky cylinders, replace the cracked (but not yet leaking) hoses and maybe give it some paint and new decals. I also plan to properly mount some lights on it to help out after dark.
Sean
