Thinking B7800

[vwkismet]

So I am leaning towards a b7800 and hoping you can all give me some feedback. I have 56 wooded acres with some trails that I hope to improve. My gravel driveway is about 500 feet long. I only have about an acre of irregular lawn to mow. My intended uses are snow removal, cleaning up an area of woods (no stumps) to plant some fruit trees, work on my forest trails, maintain the driveway, and chip branches.

I rented a Bobcat CT230 w/bh last weekend and it was both too big and too small. It was too small to really clean the forest of stumps, but it seemed too big to run around the yard for general maintenance.

I am looking for something on as much of a budget as possible. But I still need good clearance and enough pto power for the chipper. So, I am leaning towards a b7800 at a nearby used tractor guy. He is asking $11,000 for the b7800 with 210 hours. Aside from a bit of rust and wear on the bucket it looks in pretty good shape.

He also has a Salsco 824 chipper that I think I can get for about $3000.

What do you all think? Reasonable tractor for my needs? Reasonable prices?

Thanks for the long read!

 

[magicheater]

Seems like a fair price, not a steal, but fair if the tractor is in good shape. I like my B7800 but it does have limitations. I do prefer the LA402 loader over the new LA504 loader found on the new B3200.
Good Luck.

 

[whistlepig]

I have a B7800 and for it's size it's one a ruff and tuff tractor. It's right at the edge of going in to the bigger Kubota series. It is no longer made now but was one of Kubota's biggest sellers until discontinued. I use it with a 72" RFM, 5' brush hog, post hole digger, and loader. I maintain twenty acres with it. I have had this tractor 4 years now and am extremely pleased with it. I have 450 hours on it. Not a single problem.

 

[firefighter jim]

That's alot of land for a B7800. I understand that you're only mowing a acre or so but I'd be inclined to go bigger since you want to get in your woods and make trails and maintain your drive. We own a B7800 and like Whistlepig said, they are excellent. Still, I'd consider bigger. We also have an L series.

 

[FxdGrMind]

I only have 5 acres, but I have a B7800 myself. I do maintain a 3/4 mile road (with steep hill) 7' rear blade. Also my field, neighbors field, another neighbors field and last another neighbors field, total Brush hog acres roughly 10-12 acres. Then ther is the garden...s, I till my hop garden, another patch (yet to be planted 40-100') and 2 more neighbors plots (totaling 100x200') with a 58" tiller. Then there is the combination of splitting wood (3pt splitter) and chipping limbs (BX42 Wallenstein)

This is a splendid tractor for the above work, reasonable amount of time for each chore, and in reality the chipper and splitter work me far too hard as they make quick work of wood and force me to work hard to keep up.

I've doug 2' Dia tree stumps out (BIG hole!) twice now and back filled, leveled, tilled and seeded (looking great now!). I can't say this is the right tool for that, but as it's all I have I made it work.

It has great ground clearence as I have mud everywhere this time of year and need the clearance or I'd never get anything done until summer (Memorial day)...

As for grading the road, go slow enough for the blade to cut well and not "Bounce", a 7' blade is about all it can manage up my hill. A bigger tractor would have been nice, but bigger would have ment that it wouldn't fit in other places like my garage.

If you haven't already done so, you should measure the width and hight of your desired "MAX" size tractor, then look at the measurements for the B7800. You have enough acreage to need a bigger tool, but depending on your situation you may not have the facilities for it. But if you don't have a storage issue, bigger might be better in your case.

However that said, the B7800 is one heck of a tractor, the #'s of them out there prove that they are great! You may be able to "Rent" one just to try it out for a w/e to see if it is capable of doing the work you want done.

For me, it's the "Perfect" tractor, plenty of power to do what I need and then some, plenty of weight and ground clearance (not too big and not too smal). It makes chores easier and harder at the same time, as it works so fast on some tasks that it works me way too hard and I'm a sore pup at the end of a long w/e of chipping or splitting. The rest it does all the work and makes life glorious.

Cheers and enjoy your tractor, no mater what you get.

 

[vwkismet]

Thanks for the feedback. I should be clear that even though I have 56 acres, I will only be working a small portion of that with either the road, the area around the house, and the trails. (Of course, I am from out West and all these trees drive me crazy - if I could chip every last one of them I probably would!) I imagine even a BX would be enough tractor if it had better clearance.

For me the hard part is just accepting the cost and pulling the trigger. My wife is somewhat supportive, but she correctly points out that I could probably organize my tasks and rent a unit once in a while. I am not much for renting as I like to be able to just do the task when I want on my own schedule. I know that if I had purchased the tractor when I bought the property back in 2004 I would have used it extensively on the improvements we have already made.

Anyone have a Salsco 824 that can comment - it looks like a clean unit and I think they go for $6000+ for a new unit. For the same price as a new Wallenstein BX42 I can get lightly used Salsco with the hydraulic feed unit - seems like a pretty good deal.

Final question - can anyone think of a better unit/dollar than a used B7800? Tractor shopping is really quite complicated given the way the things are named and marketed - if there is a similar tractor I should be eyeing I would love to know!

Thanks again for the feedback!

 

[TripleR]

B7800 and others should fit your needs. Acreage really isn't all that important in the decision unless it is open areas where you can use larger implements. Tractor sizing should be chosen for the tasks, not size of the property.

As to renting, I agree it can sometimes be the best way to go and we do rent backhoes and such as we need them only once every few years, but for a tractor, unless it is special use it is hard to schedule things; weather, work and family obligations.

One day last week, my wife and I decided to level and re-seed our back yard; hooked everything up and a few hours it was leveled and tilled. We couldn't/wouldn't have done it by renting.

Whatever you buy, get a FEL. Good luck.

 

[whistlepig]

Thanks for the feedback. I should be clear that even though I have 56 acres, I will only be working a small portion of that with either the road, the area around the house, and the trails. (Of course, I am from out West and all these trees drive me crazy - if I could chip every last one of them I probably would!) I imagine even a BX would be enough tractor if it had better clearance.

For me the hard part is just accepting the cost and pulling the trigger. My wife is somewhat supportive, but she correctly points out that I could probably organize my tasks and rent a unit once in a while. I am not much for renting as I like to be able to just do the task when I want on my own schedule. I know that if I had purchased the tractor when I bought the property back in 2004 I would have used it extensively on the improvements we have already made.

Anyone have a Salsco 824 that can comment - it looks like a clean unit and I think they go for $6000+ for a new unit. For the same price as a new Wallenstein BX42 I can get lightly used Salsco with the hydraulic feed unit - seems like a pretty good deal.

Final question - can anyone think of a better unit/dollar than a used B7800? Tractor shopping is really quite complicated given the way the things are named and marketed - if there is a similar tractor I should be eyeing I would love to know!

Thanks again for the feedback!

Finding a used B7800 in very good condition with only 210 hours is a pretty rare find in itself. For the money the B7800 was the best value for my money. It's a strong and proven tractor that won't let you down years down the road. The B7800 has been around a while.