Thanks for all the replies guys. I'll give you a little background.
Why going bigger? My L3710 has been a great tractor and has helped me in many ways over the years. This was the 1st "real" tractor I ever bought personally. At 1st I was I looking at the L2410 because that was all I could afford and it would do the job. At the time I was final grading and seeding/strawing yards for new homes. I decided to go in debt a little deeper and step up to a L3710 and I've been glad I did for many years. I haven't done any yards in years, but now use the tractor on my 20 acres clearing land for more pasture, field and trail mowing, splitting/harvesting fire wood and many other tasks. I also maintain our subdivisions 3/4 mile gravel road and for snow removal.
I've been thinking of up grading to a cab model tractor for a while and also getting a little bigger machine in the process. We've had a lot of snow in the last few weeks. That's caused me to spend many long hours out on the tractor plowing snow in very cold conditions. A few times I was forced to wear a motorcycle helmet and goggles just to be able to see (hard blowing snow). I'm the only one with a tractor, so I got to get it done. I not only keep out road open, I also clear everyone's driveways so that takes a little seat time to complete. I started looking into the new L40 series cab tractors, thinking the M's would be too big and expensive. But after some looking I found out I can get a M 5040, 6040 or 7040 for the same or a little more money. There's about a $2k price jump between those three M's.
As for the cutter, the BB600 that I have now is a total HD over kill for my L3710. The tractor pulls it fine, but my point in saying over kill is that the cutter is so heavy duty (even though Woods calls in a medium duty) I could never hurt it with that tractor. It's the other way around. I have to be careful to not hurt the tractor with the cutter... I'm totally sold on the Woods Brush Bull line! I only paid $1500 for the cutter new back in '03 or '04. Looking back, that was a bargain!
I think selling the implements on Craig's or the local trader paper would be the way to go, but it's just a pain. I think I could just "get by" with most of the stuff I have for now. My only two real concerns are the cutter and my Woods 72" rear blade. Both are in nice condition and I'd be more than happy to keep if useable... The main goal here would be to get a tractor I could be satisfied with for a long time to come with enough size, HP and comforts to get all my jobs done with ease. So far the M7040 seems to fit that bill. I guess the implements could be traded out later when the opportunity or need arises. If I can't work the cutter trade into the tractor purchase, I guess I'll just run the BB600 for a while..
I started this thread to get an idea of what size cutter people have put behind their M7040's. I should have thought about that being a tricky question. There's a lot of variables that go into cutter size and type. Mainly having to do with what's being cut....
If anyone has any other comments or suggestions, I'd love to hear them!