Looking for my True (Tractor) Love

[Gittyup]

Rimguard is fluid that is put in your tires by the dealer to add weight. It never needs replacing as long as you don't get a flat and lose it all.

With a grapple, I'd want the heft of a CUT for the loader lift capacity as well as the general weight of the tractor. The Kioti CK20 is about as small as I would go with that kind of set up. FEL lift capacity would be important metric if wanting to use a grapple. The bigger the tractor the more capacity it'll have. Many of the SCUTS are like only 600 - 800 lbs of lift. That's marginal except for light work.

Look in the "Owning/Operating" forum. There is a recent thread titled "How man TnT owners" that should give you a good idea what a hydraulic toplink/sidelink are all about. Also search for "tnt", "topntilt", "rear remotes" and so on. You'll find all the information you need about their uses.

Yes you can get a finish mower for just about any tractor. But, they cost about as much as a separate riding mower, and are less manueverable behind a bigger tractor.

Want a rider that won't give you belt fits? Look at those that have shaft drives. Probably talking used here, but a much better choice than a new cheapo belt-driven one. Some suggestions JD 400/420/425/445/455 (used ~$2000 - $5000) or even an older Gravely 800 series tractor ($400 - $600) - unstoppable, if you can find one in good shape. Older Cub Cadets are good too. Many others also make shaft driven mowers. You'll have to do your homework here. On the other end of the spectrum, my neighbor has one of those Homedepot JD riding mowers. He's had it for 4 years now and hasn't had to touch the belts....yet. Some of the Wheelhorse tractors are pretty good too, even though they do use belts.

The JD 2500 series would be a good fit for you or a bota B30xx series. In a Kioti the CK's are nice and come with lots of extras (I love my CK25). The TYM T273 is very nice. Mahindra, New Holland, and Massey Furgeson also have nice machines in this size.

You might want to think down the road where you might have to maintain the land you now lease out. That might say get more HP so you can run bigger implements. Me, I'd be looking hard at the DK35 or maybe even a DK40 (Kiotis). But these are bigger than you really need for your immediate tasks. But surely will meet your needs should your maintenance tasks grow. Buy big enough to start with and only buy once.

On the trailer. I bought one. Nice to have around. But, now wish I hadn't bought it. No more than it's needed, I say rent it, unless you plan to tow often. Otherwise, it just sits a lot, deteriorating in the weather and costing you to keep it tagged and in good running condition. And in Virginia you have to pay personal property tax on it each year to boot, and some counties/towns then will add their own local tax on top of that.

 

[Anianna]

I'm so glad I came here before going out to buy a tractor. You guys are giving me great information and I really appreciate it. Thanks a bunch!

 

[Gittyup]

You asked if you had to chose between just one: box blade or scraper blade. Opinions here are probably 50/50. The scraper is much better for snow, pushing dirt to the center or outside, and digging trench ditches on the sides of roads. The box is better for digging and moving dirt, flattening, smoothing, and finish and maintenance work on roads. Scraper blades are more plentiful used and you can usually pick one up for $300 of so. There is a good bit of variation in quality in both implements. The heavier the better; the heavier the more expensive too. In a scraper, you want one that angles on two axes. I also saw an awesome deal on a boxblade last week out of Winchester, VA. The BB was very heavy duty with retractable scarifiers. He only wanted $200 for it! It was easily worth 3 times that. So, there are deals out there used. But, you have to wait on them and be ready to jump when they first are advertised.

Me if I could have only one, and needed something to move snow, it would be the scraper (but only because of snow). But, the box is much much better at outright digging. Search in the attachments forum. The pros & cons of both have been discussed to death. If I had to buy new, I'd buy a boxblade. Then I'd look for a used scraper, just because scrapers are more plentiful on the used market.

 

[Anianna]

Gittyup, I'm in a bit of a conundrum over this subject myself. I eventually want to get both, but believe I will be limited in my implements because of my budget to start with. I figure I would get one now and one later, but am undecided over which would be better to start with.

The snow issue is not a big deal here. I would like to be able to move some snow, but if I can't, we have the 4x4 that has been great at getting us out of here in the snow and it doesn't snow that often.

My biggest problem is the low spot in the drive that needs repaired and all my gravel is hard packed into the dirt. Which of these implements would you personally prefer for this particular issue?

 

[mostly_gas]

I did not see that anyone answered the question on category sized 3 point hitches. My understanding is that there are 4 sizes of 3 point hitches,numbered 0 to 3, 0 being the smallest. SCUT will likely have a cat 0 or be able to take some cat 1 implements. CUT will likely have cat 1 sized 3 point hitch. In my neck of the woods most of the implements will be cat 1 that are sized for what you want to do and will be cheaper used.
Tires - R1 (ag tires or cleat type) will give the best traction, but if you use tractor for mowing they will also tear up your lawn far more than other types. Ask me how I know . Filling the tire with liquid helps with traction but again increases lawn damage. Turf type are best for lawn mowing but offer the least traction for doing other work. It can very expensive especially with 4WD tractors changing from one type to another because the wheel rim sizes required change with the change in tire type. My dealer quoted roughly $2,000 to change from R1 to turf type.
On your current lawn mower. Throwing belts is not the norm, so check for the belt to be correctly routed, and correct length and size, many of the riding lawn mowers use a non-standard belt size so you have to use their expensive belt. Ask me how I know. Also check to see if the brakes are fully disengaging which can also cause drive belt to jump.

 

[Anianna]

I did not see that anyone answered the question on category sized 3 point hitches. My understanding is that there are 4 sizes of 3 point hitches,numbered 0 to 3, 0 being the smallest. SCUT will likely have a cat 0 or be able to take some cat 1 implements. CUT will likely have cat 1 sized 3 point hitch. In my neck of the woods most of the implements will be cat 1 that are sized for what you want to do and will be cheaper used.
Tires - R1 (ag tires or cleat type) will give the best traction, but if you use tractor for mowing they will also tear up your lawn far more than other types. Ask me how I know . Filling the tire with liquid helps with traction but again increases lawn damage. Turf type are best for lawn mowing but offer the least traction for doing other work. It can very expensive especially with 4WD tractors changing from one type to another because the wheel rim sizes required change with the change in tire type. My dealer quoted roughly $2,000 to change from R1 to turf type.
On your current lawn mower. Throwing belts is not the norm, so check for the belt to be correctly routed, and correct length and size, many of the riding lawn mowers use a non-standard belt size so you have to use their expensive belt. Ask me how I know. Also check to see if the brakes are fully disengaging which can also cause drive belt to jump.

Oh, I misunderstood. I thought Cat 1 was a different type of hitch, not a size of the 3pt hitch. That makes sense now.

I have hard packed dirt and wild grasses. I also don't have neighbors to complain if it doesn't look up to snuff and I'm more for the utility than ensuring the snazziness of my lawn, so I'm thinking the AG tires are more up my alley.

When my current mower began throwing belts (about a year after I bought it), I went online to see if I could find an answer and it turns out there are a LOT of people complaining about the same thing regarding that model mower. The belt wears quickly as if it is rubbing on the pulleys and I haven't found a reason for it. The break is fully disengaged and there is nothing prohibiting the pulleys from turning properly. I always bought the branded replacement belt by the model number (I couldn't find an aftermarket equivalent anyway) and always threaded it as per the instructions for the mower. It has always been a hassle because the belts are relatively expensive (about $40) and the deck is not easy to dismantle, but must be removed to install the belt.

 

[62EOD]

Looking for a little help; how much tractor to buy? I just bought a 17 acre place, 15 acres was planted as alfalfa, the house sites on a .5 acre yard and the barn and arena is on about 1.5 acre. My plans are to keep the Alfalfa going. That means I need to buy all the equipment needed to bale the alfalfa, thinking about going with a 3 string baler. I am going to rebuild the barn and put up fencing around the whole property. I would like to make a .5 fishing pond on the property. Not really sure on how much tractor I would need to do all this.

 

[IslandTractor]

Looking for a little help; how much tractor to buy? I just bought a 17 acre place, 15 acres was planted as alfalfa, the house sites on a .5 acre yard and the barn and arena is on about 1.5 acre. My plans are to keep the Alfalfa going. That means I need to buy all the equipment needed to bale the alfalfa, thinking about going with a 3 string baler. I am going to rebuild the barn and put up fencing around the whole property. I would like to make a .5 fishing pond on the property. Not really sure on how much tractor I would need to do all this.

You should start a new thread or this one will be come very confusing.

 

[IslandTractor]

Tires - R1 (ag tires or cleat type) will give the best traction, but if you use tractor for mowing they will also tear up your lawn far more than other types. Ask me how I know . Filling the tire with liquid helps with traction but again increases lawn damage. Turf type are best for lawn mowing but offer the least traction for doing other work. It can very expensive especially with 4WD tractors changing from one type to another because the wheel rim sizes required change with the change in tire type. My dealer quoted roughly $2,000 to change from R1 to turf type.

You did not mention R4 tires with "industrial thread". That is a popular compromise precisely because of the issues you identified with both the turf and R1/Ag tires. R4's are often the best compromise for someone who is not exclusively mowing and who is not doing a lot of agricultural work. They are especially good for working in brush or woods as they tend to have more plys and are just generally tougher than the other two. Downsides are that their cleats clog up with mud pretty quickly in damp conditions compared to R1 and they are not quite a gentle on the lawn as turf tires.

 

[TripleR]

Gittyup, I'm in a bit of a conundrum over this subject myself. I eventually want to get both, but believe I will be limited in my implements because of my budget to start with. I figure I would get one now and one later, but am undecided over which would be better to start with.

The snow issue is not a big deal here. I would like to be able to move some snow, but if I can't, we have the 4x4 that has been great at getting us out of here in the snow and it doesn't snow that often.

My biggest problem is the low spot in the drive that needs repaired and all my gravel is hard packed into the dirt. Which of these implements would you personally prefer for this particular issue?

A box blade with scarifiers will probably work best for this. Unless you have a really heavy back blade or some downward pressure, it is not going to be able to break this up.