apmonte
New member
Well, I guess it's time I stopped lurking and started posting. I guess I'll start with a bit of an introduction and move on to my question(s). Hi - I'm Aaron, and I like Tractors! I moved up from a Cub Cadet 2135 last spring to a used 2001 John Deere 445 with 217 hours on it. I'm very happy with this tractor, although, truth be told, I'd really like to have a CUT - JD 2320 or bigger. But.. then there's the fact that I live on a postage stamp of a city lot. (< 1/2 acre) The 445 is already more tractor than my lot needs, although my lot does have some special needs. I've already come to terms with the fact that this isn't about need as much as want. What I really need is to temper that desire with some reality and come to an acceptable compromise. While money isn't a primary concern, it did enter into my decision into buying a nice used 445 for $5,000 instead of a new X7xx for $10,000. See, I am reasonable.
I've attached some pictures to show the more problematic areas of my back yard. The house is a ranch with an exposed basement and the back yard drops off 9' below the basement. You can see the slope on the side of the house. It's one of the reasons I got the 445 - for the differential lock. The back yard is also a water retention area - it gets wet down there. Last year I put my garden at the top of the back hill and that worked out fairly well. This year, I will expand it further along the top. The picture I attached with it freshly tilled was done several years ago by a friend and his really nice Kubota + 5 or 6' tiller. He came over to move 24 yards of dirt for me and tilled my back hill while he was there. My lot stops just past the bottom of the back hill. Eventually, I might like to plant something garden like on the back side of the hill.
So, I'm happy with the 445 - I picked up a 4-way blade to plow snow, and that's working beautifully. (more tractor time, YEA!) What I really want next is a rear tiller. Yea, I know, my garden isn't that big and I could get buy with my brothers front tine tiller that's sitting in my garage. But honestly, that thing beat me to death last year and took a lot of time to make the ground reasonably decent. Remember, this isn't really about need. The way I see it, if I'm going to put a tiller on the 445, I'll need a 3-pt and a rear PTO kit. I haven't priced the PTO yet, but I expect it to run about $600 unless I can find one on E-bay. Assuming this all works out, then I need a tiller. Beyond struggling with the cost of the PTO and 3-pt, I'm also struggling to define acceptable parameters for a tiller. I believe that a limited Cat-1 3-pt will be limited to about 450 lbs. Maybe someone can confirm. Further, how wide a tiller can I throw on it? I thought that JD made a 50" tiller for this class of tractor. I've been looking at something more in line with a Lands Pride RTR05 series. In many ways, I'm really struggling with the cost of doing this. Mostly from a PTO and 3-pt aspect resale value aspect. I contemplated selling my 445 and looking for another tractor with a 3-pt and PTO. That might prove difficult and time consuming though and may not actually save me any money in the end.
If things work out, I'd like to get a 40 loader down the road and could see using the tiller as ballast. The cost of the FEL doesn't bother me so much because I know it will hold it's value fairly well and could be sold independently. Mostly I'd use it to move lots of mulch and some occasional dirt and stone. I don't have a wheelbarrow or wagon either, so maybe it could double for that.. yea.. that's it.
Anyway - sorry for rambling. I've been lurking and reading for over a year and I know this is a good group of guys, so I hope that you can help a brother out as I struggle with the inner tractor demon within me.
Thanks,
Aaron
I've attached some pictures to show the more problematic areas of my back yard. The house is a ranch with an exposed basement and the back yard drops off 9' below the basement. You can see the slope on the side of the house. It's one of the reasons I got the 445 - for the differential lock. The back yard is also a water retention area - it gets wet down there. Last year I put my garden at the top of the back hill and that worked out fairly well. This year, I will expand it further along the top. The picture I attached with it freshly tilled was done several years ago by a friend and his really nice Kubota + 5 or 6' tiller. He came over to move 24 yards of dirt for me and tilled my back hill while he was there. My lot stops just past the bottom of the back hill. Eventually, I might like to plant something garden like on the back side of the hill.
So, I'm happy with the 445 - I picked up a 4-way blade to plow snow, and that's working beautifully. (more tractor time, YEA!) What I really want next is a rear tiller. Yea, I know, my garden isn't that big and I could get buy with my brothers front tine tiller that's sitting in my garage. But honestly, that thing beat me to death last year and took a lot of time to make the ground reasonably decent. Remember, this isn't really about need. The way I see it, if I'm going to put a tiller on the 445, I'll need a 3-pt and a rear PTO kit. I haven't priced the PTO yet, but I expect it to run about $600 unless I can find one on E-bay. Assuming this all works out, then I need a tiller. Beyond struggling with the cost of the PTO and 3-pt, I'm also struggling to define acceptable parameters for a tiller. I believe that a limited Cat-1 3-pt will be limited to about 450 lbs. Maybe someone can confirm. Further, how wide a tiller can I throw on it? I thought that JD made a 50" tiller for this class of tractor. I've been looking at something more in line with a Lands Pride RTR05 series. In many ways, I'm really struggling with the cost of doing this. Mostly from a PTO and 3-pt aspect resale value aspect. I contemplated selling my 445 and looking for another tractor with a 3-pt and PTO. That might prove difficult and time consuming though and may not actually save me any money in the end.
If things work out, I'd like to get a 40 loader down the road and could see using the tiller as ballast. The cost of the FEL doesn't bother me so much because I know it will hold it's value fairly well and could be sold independently. Mostly I'd use it to move lots of mulch and some occasional dirt and stone. I don't have a wheelbarrow or wagon either, so maybe it could double for that.. yea.. that's it.
Anyway - sorry for rambling. I've been lurking and reading for over a year and I know this is a good group of guys, so I hope that you can help a brother out as I struggle with the inner tractor demon within me.
Thanks,
Aaron