Think I've got it narrowed down to MF 1652 or NH Boomer 3045 or Kubota 4740

[Lt CHEG]

My needs are very similar to yours. I have a subdivision, maintaining ~45 acres of lots and my adjoining 15-20 acres that I mow. I had been using a Kioti CK30 4x4 with shuttle shift. This machine would only handle my 5' Rhino rotary cutter. I had this tractor of 4 years, and it was bulletproof, might take a look at Kioti. My problem it was taking 30 hours to mow all of the lots and yard. Ended up buying a 09 JD 4320 with cab, 48 hp, roughly 44 hp at pto. I have had to two weeks, put about 30 hours on it. Great tractor, now mowing with Woods RM990 finish mower. 90" cut with stump jumpers on spindles and blades swivel like on a brush hog blaes, really works like a combination light duty brush hog and finish mower. I cut 5 acres this AM at 6 mph and looks like a golf course, when went to rough field and cut another 3 acres. The grass had not been cut for 4 months, had to raise RM to 5 inches but rough cut good. You have got to look at this mower before you buy.. 4320 on rare occasion pulled down maybe 500 rpm but there were clumps of thick grass 2 feet tall. I believe you can buy 4320 hydro 4x4 with Cx400loader for ~$36K. I believe a 4520 will cost a two g' more. Sweet tractor. I wouldn't buy anything smaller than a 48 hp. Also, after having both shuttle shift and hydro, I'd never go back to shuttle shift. Mowing foward and backwards to cut clean corners and loader work is now easy with the hydro.

If you don't mind my asking, how much did you pay for the Woods RM 990? The leading mowers that I am looking at are the Woods RD 8400 and the Taylor Pittsburgh 3184. I don't have all that much area to bush hog so this may be a good compromise as long as the grass still looks nice like a regular mower and not like a regular bush hog. The biggest reason for me wanting to get a used bush hog was for me to knock down the area now as it hasn't been cut in a year and then mow most of it with a finish mower. If I could get this combo unit and cut the very small area that I wouldn't want to put a normal finish mower on and pay less than a new mower and used bush hog then that may be the way to go. I can do a little hand trimming with a blade on my Stihl trimmer to get things started if need be as well.

As for the JD 4320, it is a very nice tractor and I like it very much. My problem is that I just don't like it so much more than the MF, NH or Kubota to pay that much more for it. Plus all the JD dealers have been bought out by a big dealership so there isn't much competition and I don't think they'll go down to $35,000 for a 4320 Cab with 400X loader, which is probably my max. Plus the biggest reason why the MF and NH are in the lead right now is the 72 month 0% apr financing, vs. JD's 0% apr for 60 months, which is all Kubota is offering as well. At least with the Kubota I can pick up a 4240 HSTC with 854 loader for about $33K. So, I may have another try at the JD dealer with the 4320, but right now it looks like I'll be driving a red or blue tractor.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Here is my take on the deal. I would skip the 45HP tractor and get a 30ish HP tractor with a cab and R1's then spend the extra $10,000 saved on a nice Farris IS3100 ZTR with the 37HP Kawasaki and 72" deck. My neighbor has a lawn care business and can mow my 2.5 acre lawn which takes me 1:20 plus 20 minutes trimming in 36 minutes flat and basically zero trimming. I mow using a 72" Caroni Finish mower behind my tractor. I have also went with him on commercial jobs just for the heck of it and he mowed a 6 acre parcel with about 20 trees, a 3000SQFT building, a small 75' pond, and standard drive and parking area in under 45 minutes from on the trailer to back on.

Thats my take on it. And for snow removal the FEL really stinks. A rear grader blade is a little better. It will do the job but a snow plow to replace the bucket is the only way to go. I did my drive for 5 years before the snow plow and will never go back.

Chris

 

[Lt CHEG]

Here is my take on the deal. I would skip the 45HP tractor and get a 30ish HP tractor with a cab and R1's then spend the extra $10,000 saved on a nice Farris IS3100 ZTR with the 37HP Kawasaki and 72" deck. My neighbor has a lawn care business and can mow my 2.5 acre lawn which takes me 1:20 plus 20 minutes trimming in 36 minutes flat and basically zero trimming. I mow using a 72" Caroni Finish mower behind my tractor. I have also went with him on commercial jobs just for the heck of it and he mowed a 6 acre parcel with about 20 trees, a 3000SQFT building, a small 75' pond, and standard drive and parking area in under 45 minutes from on the trailer to back on.

Thats my take on it. And for snow removal the FEL really stinks. A rear grader blade is a little better. It will do the job but a snow plow to replace the bucket is the only way to go. I did my drive for 5 years before the snow plow and will never go back.

Chris

I appreciate the advice, but I'm really not interested in any zero turn mowers unless I can find one with an air conditioned cab. The mowing will be the primary use of this tractor. Extrapolating what your experience is, along with me mowing a couple acres with my uncles commercial ZTR it would still take me over an hour to mow the lawn. My limit as to how long I would be willing to spend outside in the summer heat mowing is about 30 minutes. I'd rather take 3 hours to mow my lawn in an air conditioned cab than to do it in an hour and a half out in the heat and sun. My biggest problem is that I often can't devote that much time to work which will get me sweaty and dusty. The reasoning being that I can mow the lawn in the AC and then if I get a call out and have to go someplace looking respectable without having time to shower and change I can do it. The reality is that this tractor will be used 85 to 90 percent for mowing once the home site is set up and the driveway is in. If I was going to go with a ZTR I would likely not buy a tractor at all and just rent the equipment I needed, when I needed it.

As for snow plowing, the front end loader will only be used to move the snow piles when they get too big. The plowing will be done with my ATV and 60" plow. I like plowing with my quad even better than with a truck. To me it's much faster, and it's fun too. There will be a few collection areas for lack of a better term where I won't be able to just push the snow off the driveway and where I will need to stack the snow. For those areas I'll need to scoop away the snow and move it to a different location from time to time. That will be what the FEL will be used for in the winter. Oh, and there seems to not be a lot to choose from in the cab tractors that are less than 38 horsepower or so. I would likely go smaller if there were more options. But even the smaller Kubotas and smaller JD's aren't so much less than the 45 HP range that it is worth downsizing to me. It's only about $5,000 to go down to a 3520 JD for example over a 4320 JD for example, and even a barely used Kubota 3540 cab goes for $25K around here. So there just doesn't seem to be much to choose from in smaller tractors that have air conditioned cabs. That's the biggest reason why I'm looking at the size that I am.

 

[IslandTractor]

Anyone have anything else to add? What would you pick if you were in my shoes? Are my prices good, or should I be able to do better? Would the MF 1648 be a better fit for me or even a 1643? Is the Kubota 4240 good enough?

Kubota B3030 cab would be sufficient to mow 5-7 acres. Save a lot of money and at least some fuel.

 

[art]

I'm not sure where you are in NY but I prefer a blower in this area for removing piles as with a loader we often just move them back and make them higher. This allows the wind to blow it in and cause deeper drifts!

Depending on your location many lawns in central NY need to be mowed on four or five day cycles at least in the spring and with years like this past mine never got beyond that all season or you will be windrowing.

Being on a good quality zero turn at six to seven miles per hour plus doesn't allow to much to get on you as far as dirt, if your work requires a suit, while then you are right with the cab.

 

[nybirdman]

I think you should look at the L3940 HST cab tractors,get the larges RFM it will handle.I own a L4240 cab,its at lot of tractor for your acreage.I traded a L3130 ,similar frame size to the L3940, a lot more manuverable it should do it all for you.

 

[nybirdman]

I think you should look at the L3940 HST cab tractors,get the larges RFM it will handle.I own a L4240 cab,its at lot of tractor for your acreage.I traded a L3130 ,similar frame size to the L3940, a lot more manuverable it should do it all for you.

 

[Lt CHEG]

I will definitely look into the B3030 Cab, but how much less is it than the other models I mentioned? The 3940 cab may be all I need, but for only probably $2000 more I can get a significantly bigger tractor and probably more noticeably a bigger more capable loader. $2000 just doesn't seem like enough money to not upgrade and risk wanting more tractor in the future. My land is very near a couple of large uspcale subdivisions, and I plan on making a real effort on making some money doing snow removal in those subdivisions, so I think the taller FEL could come in handy. I do appreciate the advice thus far and look forward to hearing more.

Oh and the FEL would likely get a lot of use building jumps for my snowmobile with the snow that needs to be moved from the collection areas on the driveway. So that would be a good reason to me for using the FEL for snow removal instead of a snowblower.

 

[IslandTractor]

using the FEL for snow removal instead of a snowblower.

I haven't tried it but I can imagine that for little projects it would be fine but for making money....you will tire quickly of all that loader work. However, snow is not heavy so even the relatively light duty B3030 cab should handle that with no problem. That tractor can pull a six foot mower or use a 6ft mid mount mower so it is a pretty nice mowing machine. I don't know the prices but in general there is a pretty big step up from the B series to the Grand L series. Maybe enough to get a snow blower.

 

[Diamondpilot]

If you are going to use the tractor for snow removal you need something like this. You will be all day with just a bucket. I can do a typical drive in my area, 300' long, in under 10 minutes. When I just used the FEL and rear blade it would take me 30.

Chris