sawdust_maker
Bronze Member
Hi, I'm new around these parts. I was hoping that you might be able to give me some guidance.
We are in the market for a tractor. Right now its down to a PT 180 and a Ventrac 3000. I've got a cub cadet that generally serves its purpose, but I've found it to fall short on a couple of tasks. I need a tractor that can:
- Mow about 2/3 acre of grass. There are several places where we have a 30% grade to mow, dropping about 20 feet in total.
- Plow snow. Our (gravel) driveway is not huge, about 150 feet long, but it is windy up here in the winter on Lake Ontario, so I leave the walk behind blower inside most of the time. I also plow up to 1/2 mile of our dirt road up to several times a week. Since there are only a few year 'round people on the road, whoever wants to get out will plow it.
- Move gravel. This year the water is high, which caused some shoreline erosion on our beach. I need to bring down a few (probably over 5) cubic yards of pea gravel to replace what washed away. Last summer I shoveled 5 yards of stone into and then out of my trailer. Some of that stone was larger stone to maintain a breakwall, but we do wish to maintain a beach area. Its one of the few places on our bay where turtles can lay eggs so I also bring in some sand.
- Road maintenance. This is mainly moving around gravel to fill potholes. But we have sometimes brought in truckloads of fill to spread.
- Regrade the driveway. Our gravel drive has gradually become mostly a dirt driveway. We have often talked about peeling up the top inch or so and lay down fresh crushed stone. I've even got a place to lay down the removed material under where we store the boat for the winter.
The cubbie can do some of these tasks, mainly mowing and plowing snow, but last year I moved enough stone by hand to get tendonitis in one arm. I also find it tends to tear up the lawn when mowing from wheel scrub (an irritant.) And since it takes me a 1/2 hour of cursing to swap out the mower deck to put on the plow, I tend not to do this during the summer when I'd like to do road mainenance. (There are some issues of poor design that I have with cub cadet.) Finally, 4WD will be a real plus in plowing, plus climbing our hills will be greatly improved when I need to transport all that stone.
I don't have any need for much more than a slip scoop, a plow, and a mower, and I've never yet found a reason to lift anything above what a slip scoop could handle. One nice thing about the versatility of these machines is they are extended by the implements you can add. This seems especially a virtue of the PT. When I got the cubbie, I never thought about needing to move much gravel around. But we had not had a high water year yet then.
It looks like a Ventrac 3000 or a PT 180 could handle these tasks. I think the Ventrak might be better for mowing? I'm not sure I can convince my wife to go for a 50% premium for the Ventrac. On the other hand, I like the fact that there is a Ventrac dealer (although 60 miles away) that can fix a problem that I can't handle, something I can't say about a PT. I'm reasonably handy with tools, but I won't touch a carb. I've also never worked on hydraulics. Another issue is the PT is bigger than the Ventrac, and we will store these tools in the garage.
Other options I've discarded: Renting a skidloader when I need it is not a good option, as I'd probably want it several times a year. This would pay for the tractor. And I don't know if a Johnny bucket would even go on our little cubbie, but since I don't want to pull the mower deck off to put the plow on every time I need it, I'd doubt its a good option for me. Finally, there is also Steiner, but the word I've heard is they are expensive, plus they seem to spend more time in the shop than I'd want.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
John
We are in the market for a tractor. Right now its down to a PT 180 and a Ventrac 3000. I've got a cub cadet that generally serves its purpose, but I've found it to fall short on a couple of tasks. I need a tractor that can:
- Mow about 2/3 acre of grass. There are several places where we have a 30% grade to mow, dropping about 20 feet in total.
- Plow snow. Our (gravel) driveway is not huge, about 150 feet long, but it is windy up here in the winter on Lake Ontario, so I leave the walk behind blower inside most of the time. I also plow up to 1/2 mile of our dirt road up to several times a week. Since there are only a few year 'round people on the road, whoever wants to get out will plow it.
- Move gravel. This year the water is high, which caused some shoreline erosion on our beach. I need to bring down a few (probably over 5) cubic yards of pea gravel to replace what washed away. Last summer I shoveled 5 yards of stone into and then out of my trailer. Some of that stone was larger stone to maintain a breakwall, but we do wish to maintain a beach area. Its one of the few places on our bay where turtles can lay eggs so I also bring in some sand.
- Road maintenance. This is mainly moving around gravel to fill potholes. But we have sometimes brought in truckloads of fill to spread.
- Regrade the driveway. Our gravel drive has gradually become mostly a dirt driveway. We have often talked about peeling up the top inch or so and lay down fresh crushed stone. I've even got a place to lay down the removed material under where we store the boat for the winter.
The cubbie can do some of these tasks, mainly mowing and plowing snow, but last year I moved enough stone by hand to get tendonitis in one arm. I also find it tends to tear up the lawn when mowing from wheel scrub (an irritant.) And since it takes me a 1/2 hour of cursing to swap out the mower deck to put on the plow, I tend not to do this during the summer when I'd like to do road mainenance. (There are some issues of poor design that I have with cub cadet.) Finally, 4WD will be a real plus in plowing, plus climbing our hills will be greatly improved when I need to transport all that stone.
I don't have any need for much more than a slip scoop, a plow, and a mower, and I've never yet found a reason to lift anything above what a slip scoop could handle. One nice thing about the versatility of these machines is they are extended by the implements you can add. This seems especially a virtue of the PT. When I got the cubbie, I never thought about needing to move much gravel around. But we had not had a high water year yet then.
It looks like a Ventrac 3000 or a PT 180 could handle these tasks. I think the Ventrak might be better for mowing? I'm not sure I can convince my wife to go for a 50% premium for the Ventrac. On the other hand, I like the fact that there is a Ventrac dealer (although 60 miles away) that can fix a problem that I can't handle, something I can't say about a PT. I'm reasonably handy with tools, but I won't touch a carb. I've also never worked on hydraulics. Another issue is the PT is bigger than the Ventrac, and we will store these tools in the garage.
Other options I've discarded: Renting a skidloader when I need it is not a good option, as I'd probably want it several times a year. This would pay for the tractor. And I don't know if a Johnny bucket would even go on our little cubbie, but since I don't want to pull the mower deck off to put the plow on every time I need it, I'd doubt its a good option for me. Finally, there is also Steiner, but the word I've heard is they are expensive, plus they seem to spend more time in the shop than I'd want.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
John
