Tell me if I'm on the right track (newbie)

[houska]

I've just bought a recreational property in Ontario. I'm new to tractors, but based on my reading here and elsewhere, I think I should get a Kubota L3901 or Kioti CK4010.
Would appreciate people poking holes in my thinking. When some of this white stuff goes away, I'll start visiting dealers.

The land is several hundred acres of Canadian shield wilderness: lakes, ponds, woods, rocky areas. Most of it maintained by beavers, not us, so the actual area is less important than that there's 4km (2.5 mi) of private road. Cut in decades ago, painstakingly maintained by the previous owner with borrowed random equipment. The road's good in summer for 2WD, but some areas need work and of course maintenance. Some of it is level, some mildly hilly, a few places with 12-14% slopes. Plus miles of abandoned ATV trails to revive, and over the next few years we'll slowly progress from tenting on the land (currently no structures at all) to building a small cabin. No fields to work, no lawn to mow, no snow removal (3 season use).

My thinking:

• Compact tractor with attachments as general purpose workhorse, rent excavator and/or dozer when needed for big stuff
• 54" wide footprint. 48" subcompacts underpowered for land this size, but full size tractors would be too big in ATV-trail spaces
• Hydro since will doing lots of tight-spaces back'n'forth work, and as a tractor etc newbie one fewer thing (clutch) to worry about
• Go for ~40HP rather than <35HP. Know (thanks to this board) hydraulics matter more than HP for many applications, but still important(?) due to brushcutting and going up and down hills
• Around here, Kubota seems to be the default brand for compacts. There are a couple of Kioti dealers within driving range, but very little Mahindra and no RK/TYM. Haven't seen any compact Deeres locally.
• All that leads to a L3901 or CK4010. A L3301 or CK3510 seem an unnecessary downgrade, and a L4701 or DK... needless bulk?
• ROPS/open cab -- may regret not having a closed cab if I find use for the tractor in the winter, but so far that's not in the cards
• Open to buying used (including older models), but seems tractors in good condition retain pretty high value, as a newbie I don't want to be tinkering with gremlins and will value the convenience of some bells'n'whistles versus the "keep it old, simple, and mechanical" school of thought. So new seems likely the better bet.
• Attachments: loader, grapple (with long bottom tines - thanks to this board - to capture brush rather than dig/pull stuff out), backhoe (culverts, swales, ditches...) right off the bat...
• ....with a (rough) rotary cutter, box blade, dump trailer, and 3ph carryall soon in the future

Where am I being dumb? What are we missing?

My wife and I are in our late 40s, in good condition, but conscious we no longer have boundless energy and of course physical limitations can bubble up. The land purchase has been a lot of $, so we don't want to waste money. On the other hand, we're self employed and days we work on our land are days we could be earning some money instead. So it would be false economy to shoestring and have "if only"s take 2X the time.

Go ahead! Tell us how to spend our money

 

[TheMadOne]

L4060. The L3901 has the same chassis as the 3301, and I consider the L3301 underweight for it's hp. If you really need to stay narrow, L3560.

 

[ericm979]

My land being steep and wooded I have limited places to operate and often in tight quarters. I took advice from this board to go around my land with a piece of pipe cut to the width of the tractor plus a bit to see if it'd fit (keeping in mind that the front tires take wider path on turns). With R4s (wider than R1s) on spacers my tractor's 70 inches at the rear tire sidewalls. It fits everywhere I wanted it. One spot I mow requires a 5 point turn but I can do it. The much smaller B7100 I had before could turn around there with ease. Everywhere else the 3725 is far superior.

The L01 series are bare bones low feature models with light weight and low loader capacity.

With several hundred acres and 2.5 miles of road, spend the money to get good tools.

How will you store the tractor and implements?

 

[Jchonline]

It sounds like you have thought about it quite a bit, which is great. You have mostly ground engaging tasks, which means weight is probably most important. ATV trails do give me pause, especially building new ones with a larger CUT. It just isnt easy to maneuver a tractor in dense woods. If your trees are well spaced, then this may be a non issue.

The standard L series is a relatively light machine and while it will get the job done, but with such a long road it is going to take time.

Backhoes are very expensive. With your tasks and property size I would be inclined to recommend a TLB (L47, M62). They are heavy, awesome at moving dirt, and great at digging. Get the TLB, do what you need over the next few years then sell it and get something more subtle. This will put you in the 50-70k price range, but there are options for 0% financing if you so choose. One major consideration for a machine of this size is trailering. You wont be able to move it with a standard truck and trailer.

Maybe sell it for a cab tractor after you get the road, drainage, and trails in order.

 

[houska]

Thanks for the fast reactions!

Appreciate the push to not skimp on weight. Was insufficiently focused on that.

@TheMadOne, will look into the Kubota Lxx60 range -- sorta pigeonholded them as "premium features for those who sit in their tractor all day", neglecting the real spec differences.
@ericm979, thanks(!?) for adding another brand to my list. Branson wasn't on my horizon, and I see they have a dealer just a 5 min detour from my usual drive to the property!
@Jchonline, appreciate the push to look at TLBs. Will do so, but my immediate reaction is that I may have been unclear above: I think we have a lot of brush clearing, basic trail cutting, and road *fixing* to do, but less heavy earth moving and not much full-fledged road building. So much more grapple than backhoe, though there will be some. And when real earth moving is the order of the day, there's an underemployed road builder with 3 tracked excavators and 2 dozers decorating his front yard 30 mins away. So I'll look into it more, but I think TLB might be half-pregnant for us in our circumstances.

I see the Kioti CK4010 is heavier than the Lxx01 Kubotas, though less than the Lxx60 Kubotas and the Branson. Do you share the same lightweight/entry-level concerns about it?

Keep'em coming and thanks again!

 

[shooterdon]

Would it make sense to have the road done by a contractor? 4km is a long road but once it is in decent shape it may not need much. If the contractor did the ditches and culverts at the same time you could save 8k on the backhoe. Then a smaller tractor would do the trails and other maintenance work. There is an advantage to getting the road done quickly and properly instead of using it as a learning experience if time is limited and you are not experienced.

Obviously you want Quick Attach for the FEL and grapple. Add the extra valves you need for the grapple and top and tilt for rear.

Think seriously about putting up a pole barn to store your tractor and implements. A section of the barn can be finished for temporary living quarters.

 

[Avondale]

I have a 2006 Kioti DK 35 for much the same reasons you mentioned. I would suggest you be aware that most backhoes have a sub-frame, which has a limiting factor on ground clearance and also, with the BH on, you need to consider a larger turning radius. All doable but as a novice, I got myself into a few jams by not paying attention to these facts.

 

[Jchonline]

Sounds good on the TLB option, they arent for everyone. Grand L has a much heavier frame than the standard L. 3560 or 4060 are great options. Branson makes a nice heavy machine as well. Of note they were just bought by TYM, so no one really knows what will happen with the Brand. I hope the keep it around! I agree just skip the backhoe. Have the contractor put in culverts at the time the road is fixed, you should be able to use a BB, Rear blade, or LPGS to keep it maintained with a tractor.

 

[4570Man]

Sounds good on the TLB option, they arent for everyone. Grand L has a much heavier frame than the standard L. 3560 or 4060 are great options. Branson makes a nice heavy machine as well. Of note they were just bought by TYM, so no one really knows what will happen with the Brand. I hope the keep it around! I agree just skip the backhoe. Have the contractor put in culverts at the time the road is fixed, you should be able to use a BB, Rear blade, or LPGS to keep it maintained with a tractor.

The Grand L is a much nicer machine than the standard L. I used to have a L3240 and currently a L3800. There’s a lot of bells and whistles but there’s a lot of features that make operation nicer. The ones I can think of would be first and foremost the 6 speed HST is NICE. Then the machine was heavier, the loader was stronger, the seat was better, the 3 point hitch was better, the tires were better. And there’s a lot more features that don’t make a lot of difference but are still nice.

 

[ericm979]

Branson makes a nice heavy machine as well. Of note they were just bought by TYM, so no one really knows what will happen with the Brand. I hope the keep it around!

It's been over two years and Branson's since come out with new models that are all Branson. There's one common Branson/TYM model (using an engine from neither company). It's a sub compact. I think the engine is smaller than Branson had in their range. It's hard to say what companies will do in the future but so far it looks like TYM is leaving Kukje to sell Bransons.

My 3725 has filled rear tires. With a 550lb box blade the rear tires get light when I'm lifting something at the loader capacity (i.e. decent sized log in the grapple). I have a weight box that I need to fill with cement. That'll get it to 900lbs or so.

The Kubota HST+ sounds like it'd be really useful for loader work.