New guys take on pros & cons of 45 HP range of CUT's

[GPintheMitten]

Good approach, Lt. I'm sure you will enjoy whatever you get. I understand the desire for privacy, and getting out of the city. Cab with good creature comforts, a front snowblower, FEL, maybe a nice rear tiller, decent mower of whatever type(s). Yep life will be good.

For me, I'm retired and have to watch the bucks pretty close, so I picked up a decent used rear snow blower this fall. Looking forward to that but would have preferred a front blower. I'm also going to attempt a build of a homemade cab.

Best wishes to you.

 

[dave1949]

If you can move 860 pounds around by yourself, you are more man than I am! That's the weight of my SIX foot medium duty Woods rotary cutter. With a single tail wheel, it meets the definition of the proverbial "immovable mass" and I am not the "irresistible force".

I've only had it for ten years but if I don't get lucky, hooking it up can be a time consuming chore.

Would I give up the 6' bush hog and 50 hp tractor? No, but it was bought when I had 15 acres to maintain and now with 35 acres I've gone on to bigger mowers.

Ken

Ken, add some years to your lower back and get a dolly for the front end of your mower. Mine is parked on the concrete garage floor, so that makes it easier, I built a heavy duty furniture dolly for my 6' Woods mower. Works like a charm. Maybe on gravel or the like you would need to use pneumatic tires, not solid casters.
Dave.

 

[archerm3]

Ken, add some years to your lower back and get a dolly for the front end of your mower. Mine is parked on the concrete garage floor, so that makes it easier, I built a heavy duty furniture dolly for my 6' Woods mower. Works like a charm. Maybe on gravel or the like you would need to use pneumatic tires, not solid casters.
Dave.

See, there's part of the experience thing that Builder was talking about. But it will take another 20 years before we are allowed to use this knowledge as we build up hours. lol. j/k.

 

[Ken45101]

See, there's part of the experience thing that Builder was talking about. But it will take another 20 years before we are allowed to use this knowledge as we build up hours. lol. j/k.

Yeah, but I have uneven (and unlevel) dirt floors in the barns. I will say that I have been tempted to put some concrete pads down though, but they'd be to make it easier to work on the equipment.

Ken

 

[Builder]

Yeah, but I have uneven (and unlevel) dirt floors in the barns. I will say that I have been tempted to put some concrete pads down though, but they'd be to make it easier to work on the equipment.

Ken

Try leveling the dirt floor best you can then a few sheets of 3/4" treated plywood nailed on some 4x4 treated sleepers every 2' o/c. With past experiences, I was able to make do that way until concrete could be installed.

 

[Dusty1]

Hey LT, I overanalized the situation like you (although I don't think it was overanalized, I just called it good decision making). I have finally come to a conclusion I don't think you will like, it's that you can't get it all in 1 package. I myself am clearing land and building a house, and wanted a tractor also to maintain land after. Anything big enough to do any real damage would suck to mow the lawn with, and anything small enough to maintain and not destroy the grass, or be too big for manuverability would suffer when doing bigger jobs. I looked at the size tractors you are looking at, and for that price range, I was able to purchase an older JD 410 LBH for the major work, and a smaller Kubota for the maintainence. So that's what I did.

My conclusion? Well after learning a lot about machinery, developing land with a tractor really is not my first choice. Yes, a loader/backhoe is useful for many situations, but after the time it takes to pull out trees (even with a BH arm that weighs 7500# alone and has a 19' reach), then trying to change the lay of the land with the loader, If I could do it all over again, I would have purchased a mid-sized tractor with a loader, and a mid-sized bulldozer hands down. To watch the dozer go where only my tractor would dream of, and push over a tree, roots and all in 2 minutes what would have taken me a couple of hours with a chainsaw and loader, and to actually change the lay of the land effortlessly it was no question, If I would do it again I would get the dozer instead of the LBH, and sell it when the job was done.
In my opinion the dozer is the right tool for the job, and don't get me wrong, the LBH is great, but it is made for DIFFERENT tasks which it does well, like picking up dirt and moving it (not smoothing it), and digging deep holes, but not really taking out hills. Yes, you can get a standard tractor with millions of attachments, but in the time it would take you to hook all those up and pay for them new, I would have the work already finished on a dozer for 1/2 the cost, and with the tractor, then you still would be stuck with the same size question.
So if a dozer isn't in your futrue (feel free to pay someone experienced because knowing soil is a whole different ball game!) that's fine, but if you take 1 thing from me, it's that 1 machine will not do it all!

 

[Ken45101]

Dusty,

I basically agree with you but a lot of folks around here are happier with just one machine and lots of attachments. After all, this is more of a hobby forum rather than a "work for a living" forum like the heavyequipment forums.

Myself, I considered a bulldozer but they can be maintenance hogs and are too heavy to haul around. I bought a mini excavator (KX-121-3) and then a skid steer (JD 325). Wonderful fun! Less maintenance issues and haulable. I've been totally amazed at how much those two can accomplish compared to a tractor or even a small backhoe (B21). The two overlap a lot in capability, but each does the job better in certain situations. I've put 150 hours on them this summer and fall.

Ken

 

[Builder]

Hey LT, I overanalized the situation like you (although I don't think it was overanalized, I just called it good decision making). I have finally come to a conclusion I don't think you will like, it's that you can't get it all in 1 package. I myself am clearing land and building a house, and wanted a tractor also to maintain land after. Anything big enough to do any real damage would suck to mow the lawn with, and anything small enough to maintain and not destroy the grass, or be too big for manuverability would suffer when doing bigger jobs. I looked at the size tractors you are looking at, and for that price range, I was able to purchase an older JD 410 LBH for the major work, and a smaller Kubota for the maintainence. So that's what I did.

My conclusion? Well after learning a lot about machinery, developing land with a tractor really is not my first choice. Yes, a loader/backhoe is useful for many situations, but after the time it takes to pull out trees (even with a BH arm that weighs 7500# alone and has a 19' reach), then trying to change the lay of the land with the loader, If I could do it all over again, I would have purchased a mid-sized tractor with a loader, and a mid-sized bulldozer hands down. To watch the dozer go where only my tractor would dream of, and push over a tree, roots and all in 2 minutes what would have taken me a couple of hours with a chainsaw and loader, and to actually change the lay of the land effortlessly it was no question, If I would do it again I would get the dozer instead of the LBH, and sell it when the job was done.
In my opinion the dozer is the right tool for the job, and don't get me wrong, the LBH is great, but it is made for DIFFERENT tasks which it does well, like picking up dirt and moving it (not smoothing it), and digging deep holes, but not really taking out hills. Yes, you can get a standard tractor with millions of attachments, but in the time it would take you to hook all those up and pay for them new, I would have the work already finished on a dozer for 1/2 the cost, and with the tractor, then you still would be stuck with the same size question.
So if a dozer isn't in your futrue (feel free to pay someone experienced because knowing soil is a whole different ball game!) that's fine, but if you take 1 thing from me, it's that 1 machine will not do it all!

You might find your experience to be better with a 4x4 Backhoe. I could never get much anything done with my old Ford 555 backhoe. I switched to 4x4 and it was like a quantum leap forward in productivity.

 

[archerm3]

Just wanted to point this out...as food for thought.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/lawn-garden/157440-tractor-4-wheel-drive-20-a.html

Don't want zero turn. Need ability to add rear implements. Current tractor is too big for lawn work.

Wish List:
20+ HP diesel or 25 HP gas
Hydro
72" MMM
4WD
shaft driven trans & deck
under 10K new

Don't want zero turn.

Have looked at JD X728, but only available with 62" deck. Dealer wants 11K he will give me 3K for my smaller deer. If it had 72", I'd have bought it already.

I like the mid 2000-'s Cub Cadets with 72" MMM.

What else is available with 72" MMM with wish list above?

 

[Builder]

What are you saying???????