Buying Advice Buying the right tractor for 1.5 acres

[Scrambler82]

I didn't read all of the postings.
My suggestion would be an SC2450 from Yanmar.

Small enough to get into tight places, has a long list of attachments, i.e. Snowblower ( a really good one), MId Moint Mower up to 6 feet wide, comes with a Backhoe and Frt End Loader and many others.

I have one and it is a great great tractor. 24 hp Diesel , plenty of power, two speed shift on the fly HST.
This tractor has saved my back by digging out some tree stumps, moving fire wood and bags of pellets, moving snow with the front bucket (always wanted a snow blower but never got one) and I have a box blade that did a decent job the only time I used it.

In fact i only has 100 hours on the meter and it is for sale but it is in SoCal.

Look at them, great tractor.

 

[workinallthetime]

i went with kubota years ago after working on my fathers diesel (overgrown lawn mowers) john deere's for simple reason, service! the cost to service the John deeer was so high, all the parts had to be ordered and they were horible to work on.... just spent 3 hours putting a waterpump on his 455.... i had 1.5 acres and a bx23 was wonderful for that property, moved up to a b3030 and it was even better.
if i was to downsize i would look right back at the b series they have really uped the game on those and for the price you get quite alot of machine and not much more than bx models. i would build as many different units on the kubota website as you think you may like, print em out and go over and over each one.
just be careful what started for me as a bx23 on 1.5 acres is now a l45 on 10 acres

 

[thegga]

Like many of the posters, I did not read all of the replies (there are a lot), but I'll add my two cents because I currently have a property similar to your (expected) size. We live on 2.2 acres, have snow (4 to 5 times what Ames gets), a vegetable garden of about 5,000 sq.ft., and about 1 1/2 acres of lawn. Our driveway is 100' long, paved. Some of the replies I've seen have suggested WAY more tractor than I think you need. If you want a bigger tractor, great, but you don't NEED one. Money is usually short when you buy a new place, so my suggestions will try to be real world.
Snow handling - I've had a tractor mounted blade, then a mounted snowblower, and I now use a walk-behind 42" snowblower. I will never use a blade/plow again. Blowers move it once, and you never have to deal with that snow again, and you don't have to do lawn repair in the spring. I got a walk-behind because I was tired of moving a car out of the garage to get the tractor out, cleaning around it, moving it to clean where it sat, and putting it away when I finished. It's also easier to get close to the house/garage with the walk-behind. I spend less total time now than when I had the 48" tractor mounted blower. At 6:00am when you need to get to work, that's a good thing.
Garden - I had a tractor mounted rototiller, but now use a troy-bilt walk-behind. It takes a little more time in the spring when I do the whole garden, but I can till the weeds between rows during the growing season, put in the second season plantings easier, and do the piecemeal tilling in the late summer/fall. I would not go back to a tractor rototiller unless I was twice my current size.
Lawn - we have three mowers, a walker to do around the gardens and berry bushes, an inherited small rider we use for the tight front yard, and a 16hp garden tractor with a 46" deck.

John R

 

[bspeedy]

I think the OP is on the right track. Diesel power and 4wd with MMM. No FEL needed. YES - like most of you, I could not / would not be without it, but I have a much larger property. Not sure why he needs a blower for a short driveway when a 200 dollar rear blade will work fine with that tractor. Couple of passes up and down and the plowing is done with no moving parts, belts, etc. No sensible reason to spend 10 grand or more on equipment for that lot unless it is a WANT.

I've seen great looking diesel 4wd tractors locally with belly mowers for 5-6 grand (used, of course). That's a sensible price range, IMO.

Good luck on your decision to the OP. Don't fear the used machines. They are the real value when properly maintained by the original owner.

 

[murphy1244]

I would be thinking about a Steiner or a Ventrac if funds permit,






As you see there is a lot of attachments.

 

[aginn]

Have you priced therapy these days? I think a SCUT is a great idea. But unlike some, I think the lower 20 HP range is plenty for the size of property the OP is managing.
The one suggestion that I didn't notice is to try and rent a scut to see if it fits you. That is the sure way to see if it is too much or too little tractor for your uses.
Thinking of the therapy of using my tractor, I think it is time for some quality seat time as soon as I get home tonight.:thumbsup:

 

[Threepoint]

I would be thinking about a Steiner or a Ventrac if funds permit,






As you see there is a lot of attachments.

Murph, love that front-mounted hydraulic blower in pic 3. Never seen one of those before! Bet it comes in handy in the Fall.

 

[nickc]

I wouldn't trade my 2305 for anything, sure in a perfect world I'd have 600 h.p. to cut the grass, but all things considered it mows fine, tills great, moves more snow than I ever feel like. There's never enough tractor to make us happy, just sometimes they are too big. stay smaller. btw if you go new finance any implements you think you might need, it's easier to get them with the tractor.

 

[Matt95684]

All great opinions I appreciate them all. I was going to get a 1023e with blade and mmm but with buying the house I won't have enough for the down payment. Going to use my dads little john Deere (lt 155 I think). For the any mowing I have to do this year and get a walk behind blower and then in spring look at the scuts again. I did have a dealer tell me that earlier this spring jd was offering 1500 off on purchase of two implements zero percent financing for 60 months and if you bought a 1025 they gave you a loader! That sounds like a sweet deal hoping they run another like that next spring.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

. . .

Garden - I had a tractor mounted rototiller, but now use a troy-bilt walk-behind. It takes a little more time in the spring when I do the whole garden, but I can till the weeds between rows during the growing season, put in the second season plantings easier, and do the piecemeal tilling in the late summer/fall. I would not go back to a tractor rototiller unless I was twice my current size. . . .

I have a serious question for you. Instead of using a walk-behind tiller between the rows to get the weeds, wouldn't it be a whole lot faster to just use a garden hoe and walk down the rows chopping the weeds out? I know we all love machinery, but sometimes old-tech / low-tech can be better.