4 Tractor Comparison

[cjpembo]

A cab will add $6,000 to the cost of the tractor!!! I ran 4 miles last night (92 deg F) and enjoyed myself. No cab for me; I'd rather give the money to a good charity.

FEL would be nice... but I've got a 46 HP Bobcat with a bucket rated at 1750 lb sitting in my garage doing nothing already. The 3005 lifts 740 lb and the 4005 lifts 1256 lb. To get the lift capacity of my Bobcat I'd have to step up to a JD 4120, which runs $25,000 with FEL (2194 lb lift capacity).

No cab or FEL for me. The more I think about it the more I like the idea of the 4WD 3005. Several JD dealers in my area and a parts network second to none. And I can rent/buy box/dozer/snow blades, land planes etc for the Bobcat.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[Gittyup]

A cab will add $6,000 to the cost of the tractor!!! I ran 4 miles last night (92 deg F) and enjoyed myself. No cab for me; I'd rather give the money to a good charity.

. Just thought I'd point it out. Might be most beneficial in the winter anyway. Personal preference. Certainly understand the cost implications

FEL would be nice... but I've got a 46 HP Bobcat with a bucket rated at 1750 lb sitting in my garage doing nothing already. The 3005 lifts 740 lb and the 4005 lifts 1256 lb. To get the lift capacity of my Bobcat I'd have to step up to a JD 4120, which runs $25,000 with FEL (2194 lb lift capacity).

The CT450 loader will get you even more lift, then you could sell the other Bobcat; that was my point. There are advantages and disadvantages to keeping and maintaining 2 machines. Again just pointing that out. And I don't think the CT450 with loader would be $25K either.

Now if you've decided it's got to be JD, then you costs per performance metric goes up too. Still hard to not want a JD if you can afford one. But, the 3005 (and any other similar HP'd) will mean a lot of seat time mowing.

 

[tractorsanmore]

With 9 acres of finish mowing I would get 4 wheel drive , turf tires , hydro trans , and a sun shade in a lighter machine .

 

[DK35vince]

The 335 will take a 7 foot finish mower (see posts by dk35 vince I think--he has a kioti equivalent)

The 335 will run a 7' finish mower with ease.
It will also run a 6' brush mower and a 6' rototiller.

 

[jenkinsph]

Having read all of the posts I would add that finish mowing 9 acres is a job in itself. Certainly it is the predominate job at hand and the new equipment should be selected to handle this task. The skidsteer on hand should handle the fel tasks better than any of the tractors the OP listed. The Grasshopper should be able to handle the mowing and is a low hour unit. So apparently the OP is attempting to replace the Grasshopper with one unit to handle the mowing tasks and 3pt tasks. I personally do not think the combination will be better or more effective than what he has already.

If it were me, having the Grasshopper and the skidsteer already I would add a small simple tractor that would handle the 3pt work I intended to do. Otherwise I would sell both the skidsteer and the Grasshopper and buy something similar to the Deere 3720 with cab, 300CXfel,ehydro, a large rear finish mower, 3pt tiller and front mount snowblower which would be an all in one four season machine.

I prefer the separate machines I have and consider my lawnmower to be the weakest link, it will be replaced with a better mower soon.

I suspect that a new economy tractor for the 3pt work while keeping the Grasshopper would be in the OP's best interest.