newbie with ?'s

[boggen]

i know i can come off as a complete rear. try not to be but.. tis the internet. if ya took offense, i am sorry, it was not meant to be that way.

and dave1949 hit it pretty good. we can tear ya up, put ya back together, and then tear ya up some more. its all in the bloody details *arghs like a pirate*

Tractor Attachments And Skid Steer Attachments For Any Tractor Or Skid Steer (everythingattachments) take a look at there website, they have a huge amount of stuff, along with videos and a good amount of text explaining usage and how to setup different stuff. familiarize yourself with the various attachments. and get an excel sheet or like going, for a couple different size tractors and implements that would work for each of them. other words, instead of trying to google stuff, everythingattachments has everything in a nice website. for majority of stuff you may want. and works as a good starting point.

stuff that may be something of interest to you... no order, just as they come to me.
rotattry cutter (bush hog most folks call them, bush hog = a brand name though) a mower to deal with tall weeds,
box blade,
rear blade,
landscape rake/york rake,
FEL (front end loader),
front mounted snow blower, rear mounted snow blower,
general duty bucket for FEL, bolt on tooth blade for a FEL general duty bucket, straight cutting come in pretty handy for back grading,
TNT (top and tilt) for 3pt hitch = replacing turnbuckle/top link on 3pt hitch hyd cylinder, and then replacing 1 or both turnbuckles/ side linkages on lower lift arms of a 3pt hitch,
bottom plow / moldboard plow,
disc
chisel plow
potato hiller,
middle buster / potato plow,
drag harrow and/or chain harrow,
3pt hitch backhoe ""with subframe""
LPGS (land plane grader scraper) = to deal with gravel driveways and smoothing and shaping them.
--more to add, but getting brain dead at moment. ya don't need it all, many things it is a mix and match, and some things better than others at certain tasks. above simply a list to kinda direct ya to different things.
--you can do a lot with a basic tractor, but not very well, it all comes down to the implements / attachments.

TractorData.com - information on all makes and models of tractors is a good site to compare basic features of tractors.
there is a good amount of tractor companies out there, ford/new holland, kubuta, koiti, i think bobcat got out of there tractor thing?, tractordata gives a list of manufactures, and hit various manufacture websites to find out the details.
though generally, rule of thumb, you should look for nearby dealers, to help deal with any parts or warrenty issues. towing tractor back and forth between you and dealer = not covered under warranty expense majority of the time.
powertrac, may be of interest to you as well. more so if you have issues turning head around, and looking at what a given 3pt hitch implement/attachment is doing. power trac = everything attachs out in front of you. tractors seem priced equally compared to all other tractors out there, but implements just slightly higher priced vs a typical 3pt hitch implement/attachment.

i would stay away from "skidsteers" your acrage more likely a bit to much, at the slower MPH a skid steer moves. (most folks around me tend to think a skid steer = bobcat, bobcat = brand name), skid steers = everything attaches in front, but there more of a commercial work, working in small little areas and not driving a whole lot. skid steer attachments/implements tend to be rather costly vs a regular 3pt hitch implement/attachment.

 

[Malibu 496]

I have been told many times to buy a skid steer but it would be a bit tough to work a field with one. I know some about this stuff but when you look at attachments they say a hp range like 25-50 what I don't know are if I put that on a 25hp tractor will it shorten the life of it by working it too hard, that is why when other people said 30 pto hp I started looking there. My most important right now especially if we have another winter like last year is a decent size blower, my wife started doing home daycare so I will have to have the driveway cleaned by 6am when I leave for work and last year I had to have a loader come and clean the 5ft high 50ft long drift out of the end of my driveway. I have looked for used but there isn't much in my area, and a lot of dealers around here dont have any of the smaller tractors to look at and drive and if they do they don't have cabs on them. I have seen some used bobcat brands out there but is that something to stay away from since they don't sell them anymore? I know they are made by kioti but does that mean that it will be easy to get parts if you need them?

 

[boggen]

25 to 50 range, when dealing with PTO stuff.. it comes many times to the parts on the implement. if you say have a 70 HP tractor with a cat 1 hitch, vs cat 2 hitch. you will most likely destroy the cat 1 implement.

if you had say a 20hp tractor, with a rotatory cutter rated for 40 to 60hp, you might be able to pull it, but the overall width of the rotatory cutter more likely put you to a snail pace. before overloading the rotatory cutter with to many weeds trying to cut at once.

other words, you need implements that are either rated at or above your tractors hp engine / pto range. getting an implement bigger that what your tractor can handle (outside the tractors range), = not being able to use the implment, or running at a very slow snail pace with the implement.

implements generally have a few different "marketing words" general duty / light stuff, = home owner, really can not take a lot of abuse, and would quickly fail if used in commercial setting, but its cheap and works.
your mediuam duty stuff. generally is heavier, more over all metal, and can take a good amount of abuse, and then your heavy duty stuff (implements / attachments) that are more likely be placed on tractors right at max range for a given implement / attachment.


shear bolts, slip clutches, are used to protect your tractor from stuff. example having a rotatory cutter on and hitting a old stump or large rock and stopping things dead in there tracts. or snow blower catching a large limb and jambing up suddenly.

 

[paulfun9]

Geez I am starting to regret even asking about this on here.
People I talked to said to get something with 30 pto hp for what I wanted, it takes around a 40hp hst tractor to get around 30 pto hp so that is why I started looking at the dk40 and the salesman told me about the nx45. I did look at the ck35 but I didn't like the hst pedal with the brake pedal right above it. So what tractor with a cab would you recommend to run a brush mower, decent size rear snowblower, and something to work the acre field I have so I can plant something in there?

Its not always the size of the property but rather the size of the job and how fast you want to get it done.

Get the machine your comfortable with and get those jobs done in record time as compared to having the smaller machine.

I don't know much about the NX series yet but I can tell you the DK is a fine machine and I am glad I chose it over the others I was looking at. Even if my property was much smaller I would still like to have it as said in an other reply dirt will weigh the same on a small lot or a big lot.

 

[TJP89]

My advice is this. Look at what you want to do. Then see what size implements you would need and will fit on your property. Once you know that, then find the parameters for the tractor. Then find the tractor that best fits your parameters. If you looking at a NX cab, I'm guessing budget shouldn't be an issue if you downsize. If you end up with a 25-30 HP Cab tractor, for the same money as a 45-50 HP you can all kinds of extra little goodies that improve your life. When I shopped, I knew what I wanted to do, With a lot of reading and asking I figured out what implements I needed and how big. Then, off that, I found the tractor parameters I needed. After that it was easy.

I would say you would want 5 ft implements, that's a good trade off between quickly doing a job and getting into little places. For that, it's 25 PTO HP, so about 35 HP. That's a little much for your size, but you want to be able to do some light field work. You can look at the Kioti CK35 Cab, which is a nice basic tractor with a few nice extras standard. However, I was really impressed by the Kubota Grand L3560. It's specs are nice, its a deluxe tractor with the best HST in the market, or it has other tranny options. Kubota really pushes its GL60 series cabs, which are suppose to be great. The 3560 is pretty much the next class up in tractor at 35 HP, which would be right what you're looking for. They are a little pricey though. Of course there are many other tractor companies out there that you should look at. Expand your Horizons

Just my:2cents:

 

[Malibu 496]

You guys telling me 45hp is way overkill I decided to call a mahindra dealer that is an hour and a half away to ask if they have a 3616 with a cab that I can come and look at and he says they don't but asks how big I am and the shed it will be parked in and tries to sell me a 5010 for about the same $ as a 3616. Which is $30,500 with loader and 1 rear remote.

 

[oldpilgrim]

I was reading this thread and got ready to post that you should look at the 3616 with cab. It will do what you want, and more and I suspect will be very comfortable too. Then I saw your last post.

The guy wants to sell you what he has. Don't buy something you don't need..like a 50 hp tractor. Find another dealer.

 

[dave1949]

Thinking about the 5' X 50' snowdrift ...

How often do you get such drifts? Did piled snow beside the driveway help it grow--like filling in a trench plus some new snow? Clearing snow with a blower avoids most of that issue. If your drift happens every year or two, then you might justify a 40 hp tractor for that for speed but it clearly isn't a necessity.

After the blizzard of 1978 in NW Ohio, I cleared a snowdrift that started 50' from the house and went up and touched the 8' eaves above the garage door. It was packed hard, I could walk up it and step onto the roof. Did that with a 2WD, no chains Ford 8N with a bucket loader. It took a while but it's not something that happens more than once or twice in a lifetime.

 

[Malibu 496]

I get a lot of drifting at my place. The last 2 years were pretty bad, I got stuck many times with my plow truck. I put up snow fence every year but it just gets buried and is not effective after that. I have been planting tree's also to help prevent it but they take time also. This year I am going to have to stay on top of it more since my wife does daycare here, which means earlier mornings for me and trying to clean up when we have to have somebody plow during the day if it snows when I am at work because I am sure they wont care where they push the snow and trying to move piles of snow with a plow truck later will not be easy.

 

[dave1949]

I get a lot of drifting at my place. The last 2 years were pretty bad, I got stuck many times with my plow truck. I put up snow fence every year but it just gets buried and is not effective after that. I have been planting tree's also to help prevent it but they take time also. This year I am going to have to stay on top of it more since my wife does daycare here, which means earlier mornings for me and trying to clean up when we have to have somebody plow during the day if it snows when I am at work because I am sure they wont care where they push the snow and trying to move piles of snow with a plow truck later will not be easy.

That being the situation, I'd go for the 40 hp tractor and get a good 6' blower. Blowers get taller (larger diameter auger, more snow depth ability) as they get wider. I can see you really need to be able to clear the drive quickly before people start dropping their kids off in the morning. Blowing the snow in the prevailing downwind direction will help with the drifting a lot better than a plow.

A 40 hp CUT is not so big as to be a real problem for your other uses. They are small enough to be quite nimble for summer use, especially if you drop the loader.