Smoothing rough pasture w/deep wheel-ruts

[Anonymous Poster]

Thanks to all for the posts! I have spent some time reading the rest of the boards and it appears that the compact tractor is the way to go ... I'm going to have to figure out a way to justify the cost though.

Question - how long could I expect a garden tractor to last if I abused it with some serious re-levelling of the yard, a sizeable garden (1/2 acre) and general tasks such as grass-cutting, snow-plowing etc.?

What I'm trying to get at is - would a compact (like a diesel Kubota) last better than twice as long as a garden tractor?

Any anecdotes on short garden tractor life vs long compact tractor life?

 

[WVBill]

RPM:

This past summer, my Father in law gave me his 1978 Kubota B6100DT (4wd, gear drive, 14HP diesel w/ FEL, tiller and box blade). He used it for 22 years doing landscaping (yard leveling, garden tilling) and light construction and it's still running fine and working hard. 22 years is young in tractor land. It's just my guess but I'd say that a decent diesel compact would easily outlast a garden tractor by twice.

The real point is you can abuse it all you want but I don't think you'll be able to get a garden tractor to do "serious" re-leveling of the yard.

 

[Bird]

I agree with WVBill. There are lots of tractors around that are over 30 years old and still going, but not many "garden tractors".

Bird

 

[RobS]

RPM, my friend who used his garden tractor to drag some land came away concerned about the affects on the tractor. He has a Deere with HST and he said the hydro fluid got really hot and he could smell some overheating (whatever that means). It still works fine, but who knows what that did to the lifespan of the machine.

On the other hand, I pulled a 7 1/2 foot disc with my compact and it loved it. If you can swing the $$$ you won't regret a compact.

 

[alexcocco]

Re:garden tractor vs compact

i had a bolens 17 hp tractor when i first moved to the country, these are well built comercial mowers, lasted about 12 years, first of all the gasoline motors have no where near the life expectancy of the diesels. a thousand hours on a garden tractor andyou will be spending major money on overhaul and a new motor or buying a new one, a thousand hours on a diesel motor is break in. the drive trains in the bolens is heavy but not like that of a compact, it could not plow snow any where near what my NH 1520 can. no front end loader, if you live in a rural setting, i dont know how you get by without a loader, very usefull, would not buy a tractor without one, moving mulch, dirt, limestone, and snow just great.
this new holland will easily outlive me, and might outlive my children, the only reason that i would get another tractor is because i want more power than the 23 hp this one has. although this one runs a 5 ft bush hog, rototiller, post hole digger, pto generator just fine. loader is rated at 800 lbs, which is ok for me also.

the attachments are endless and they are all standard, i dont have to worry about buying a special attachment that will only fit the one brand of garden tractor. i can even rent attachments or borrow my friends attachments if i need them.

a lot of the posters on this site have been the route you are talking about, buy a garden tractor then eventually got a compact, the only thing i wish i would have done is get the compact sooner if not first. this i think would be the sentiment that most of us have. if you cant float a new tractor, go with a used one , there is a lot of old iron out there looking for a good home. in the long run you will be happier with the machine.

good luck
alex

 

[caddison]

RPM,

I struggled with the decision to buy a compact tractor for quite some time. My last garden tractor was a White 1855 w/cat.0 3pt. Well it worked great for mowing the yard and that was the extent of it. I was also trying to prepare a new yard for seeding and it was quite frustrating. Here in the sticks we don't have the option of renting a compact tractor to do such task. Well to make a loong story short I finally came across a guy who had a <font color=blue>NH 1320</font color=blue> w/14 hrs. on it and he was willing to take my White in on trade. Well I have never regreted that move. Although it is a little large frame wise for what I do, I looked hard at the BX2200, it still was the way to go. I have done things that were only a pipe dream with a garden tractor.

If you stop and figure that a "good" garden tractor will run slightly under $10,000.00, the choice to spend a little more and have something you can really use shouldn't be hard. Actually for what I "really" do with my tractor, a BX2200 would have been the trick, just couldn't find as good a deal /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif! You'll never regret going with the compact.

 

[cowboydoc]

Re:garden tractor vs compact

Just a question to you guys with the bigger compacts, any brand and in the size range of the 4500-4700 john deere. Do you use these to mow your lawns too? I know my 4600 would just tear up my lawn. I could have gotten turf tires but it would have been useless for what I really needed it for then. I need both my riding mower and my regular tractors. I realize the smaller compacts would be fine for mowing with a belly mower but I don't see how my 4600 could mow my lawn. For one I'd never get it around the landscaping and I would think it would make alot of rough spots.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re:garden tractor vs compact

I even found the Kubota BX (imagine a JD 445 garden tractor with 4WD and a titch bigger) too big for my lawn mowing. The BX will be great for some hills and crummy areas and the big "pasture" type mowing, but even as quick as the mower goes on and off and the loader comes on a off and the implements come on and off, it's just too much of hassle. I decided on a JD garden tractor to go along with my BX (or the wife's BX) and my L35 TLB 6100lbs (about JD 4400 size?).

The wheelbase on the GT is shorter and it's lighter and taking all that stuff off the BX so I could fit around the trees and landscaping EVERY WEEK just didn't make sense. A friend came over, saw my collection and said SxxT MAN, YOUR HOGGING ALL THE GOOD TOYS!

I also found the turfs on the BX lacking for loader work and put a set of baby AGs on the BX, I could have switched them back and forth, but when you get close to the big FIVE-OH you start looking at time the way you used to look at money!

Don't want my obit to read...He was a good guy but no one saw him much he spent all of his time taking implements on and off etc.!

mow on!

 

[cowboydoc]

Re:garden tractor vs compact

Thanks for the info. Del. I thought I was missing something with using the compacts to mow my lawn.

 

[Bird]

Re:garden tractor vs compact

del, I can understand about changing implements, but have found I'd rather spend the time changing implements than spend that time, and more money, maintaining additional engines, tires, batteries, transmissions, etc./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Bird