Hey Chris! Welcome aboard. It'll further the discussion if you tell us a little about your terrain -- flat, rolling, cliffside, or whatever. Also, a rough geographical location or something about soil types helps a bit -- sand is very different than clay, for example -- when this thing gets to tires and all the details that it could grow into. We love to help people spend their money. I think everyone here is vicariously always shopping for a tractor!
If you don't have too many trees, the 2/9/8N is not too bad a choice. They're set up so you sit lower on them than some of the newer iron, are pretty wide, but easy to work on. The newer ones have a side distributor, which is something to look for if you decide to go that route. Those front distributor models are a little tricky to tune. The same size can be found in the Ferguson Ford, which has an OHV engine instead of being a flathead like the Fords are. Inspect any of them carefully for cracks in the block that may have been welded. Avoid a loader, since these machine do not have power steering and a loader adds quite a lot of weight to the front end.
I have a late 70's or early 80's Kubota B7100 with a loader. No power steering, but it's steering is geared low enough and the loader is small enough that I don't need it. I pull a 4' bush hog with it, and a 6' back blade. I live on a hill of about 3/12 to 5/12 slope and find the narrow little Kubota a little tippy, so I got here a while ago looking for just the perfect thing to replace it. I paid 4300 for it at a private auction about 7 or 8 years ago, have been told by dealers that if I trade it in on new I could be looking at 4 or 5K for it.
You can check Ebay for prices, but don't pay any attention to the auctions that seem to have incredibly cheap prices and don't want you to contact them through ebay. There are a lot of scammers working the tractor market there. Just use it for price references.
