How much tractor do I need

[LD1]

I vote for keeping the CK and getting a used backhoe.

But that all depends on your level of mechanical experience. Can you make minor repairs yourself?? Changing hydraulic hoses, welding, etc. If you can handle a little of that, you can find some VERY nice used BH's for under $15k.

If you trade in your CK for a utility class tractor like the MX kubota or the 50 series JD, to stay under 30K you still wont have a backhoe. Which is almost a must if you are going to be clearing a lot of trees and stumps. And I think you will find that for the tasks you list, a utility will either be TOO big for the smaller work and TOO small for the heavy digging work.

Therefor, If you are comfortable buying a used BH that may require a little work from time to time, I think a two tractor plan is for you. A 1980's industrial BH can be had in the 10-15k range and will make short work of the heavy stuff. And even when you are satisified you have all the heavy work done, you can probabally sell it for as much as you paid for it.

 

[TripleR]

I do expect to have to rent some big stuff from time to time. I just want to keep those times as fee as possible. I sit on my *** and move money around for a living. Part of this project is for my sanity, maybe more than just a little. I'd like to see something accomplished at the of of the day instead of adding up my paper gains and losses.

I will at least try to do everything myself. I'm quite certain I won't be able to do it all, but I want to try. I also want my kinds to see what it means to build something yourself.

Said I was crazy.

Thanks for the help

Oh, I can certainly understand that. Even with the dozer, I am still working on our properties sixteen years later. I will die long before I run out of stuff to do.

I use our Grand L5030 for much of the work, but also have other land and other tractors that keep me, my wife and sons busy.

I spent my last seven years of working primarily behind a desk as a Unit Supervisor and relished the time I could spend on a tractor.

At my age and with my health, I have to run a cab most of the time, so my options are somewhat limited.

My personal choice for what you are doing would be a GL5740 HSTC, but as bigbull338 mentioned, the MX5100 is a real nice tractor. I really wouldn't want to go under 50 HP.

If you can live with a geared unit, that opens up even more options.

 

[Sulla]

I'm good with minor repairs and am teaching myself how to weld (with help from this site) so I'm okay with used stuff. I also have no problem with gears and shifting. I'm going to look around for and older BH and see what I can find. I'm also going to look at some older full on AG tractors. This is getting interesting.

 

[TracTrac]

Sulla, I'm crazy too. It's OK! Those who are crazy and do not know it are called "Dangerous".
Get a tight backhoe and keep your tractor. You must do your homework and not buy some old tired wornout headache. When I was 30 (1990) my Great Uncle bought a 1980 JD 300b for $10k. We used it for 3 weeks on and off. After that time we hired on for a home foundation with a large basement. After two 10 hours days the JD would not crank no matter what we did. Called the dealer to come get it. It had low compression. The dealer paid for half of the repairs. Only had 2700 hours.
Not to hi-jack your thread, but what kind of scooter do you have? I just bought a 2006 Honda Big Ruckus 250 with 171 miles. Scooters are cool.

 

[Barry Bowen]

Clearing land is not a job for a farm tractor or a backhoe. You need a pretty good sized tract machine depending on the size of the trees you are taking down and the root mat that you need to rake out. Clearing land is not cheap. At a minimum you need something the size of a 953 or 963 Cat loader to take down trees. DO NOT CUT THEM DOWN FIRST!!!! Take the loader and push the trees over, this generally will pull most of the stump out of the ground. Gravity is great the way it works. Then you can cut off the stump and deal with the tree. I would also want some one to come in with a dozer with a rake type blade to go through and tear up the root mat so you can actually do something with it.

Are you planning on farming, horses, cattle, crops??? If farming is your goal, start looking an older larger tractor. You wont go wrong with something like a 966 or 1066 International. A nice one can be found for 8-10K ready to put to work. Do not play with these new lighter tractors that cannot get real farm work done with out tearing themselves up. (If you need 4x4 to try and get farming done, you shouldn't be in the field anyway!)

 

[tk1469]

Myself I'm partial to a Kubota - but whatever you buy - go big enough. I originally had my sights on an L2800 - but instead got an L3800 - which is "more tractor". I hate to say it - but do what your wallet will withstand - but go big enough.

 

[Rustyiron]

Crazy, off the wall question, Are you building in Sula MT?

 

[bill in ny]

Clearing land is not a job for a farm tractor or a backhoe. You need a pretty good sized tract machine depending on the size of the trees you are taking down and the root mat that you need to rake out. Clearing land is not cheap. At a minimum you need something the size of a 953 or 963 Cat loader to take down trees. DO NOT CUT THEM DOWN FIRST!!!! Take the loader and push the trees over, this generally will pull most of the stump out of the ground. Gravity is great the way it works. Then you can cut off the stump and deal with the tree. I would also want some one to come in with a dozer with a rake type blade to go through and tear up the root mat so you can actually do something with it.

Are you planning on farming, horses, cattle, crops??? If farming is your goal, start looking an older larger tractor. You wont go wrong with something like a 966 or 1066 International. A nice one can be found for 8-10K ready to put to work. Do not play with these new lighter tractors that cannot get real farm work done with out tearing themselves up. (If you need 4x4 to try and get farming done, you shouldn't be in the field anyway!)

barry, around here most of the farmers have at least one of those new lighter 4x4 tractors! i would like to see their face when you told them they shouldn't be in the field with them. that includes me:confused2:

 

[TripleR]

barry, around here most of the farmers have at least one of those new lighter 4x4 tractors! i would like to see their face when you told them they shouldn't be in the field with them. that includes me:confused2:

Pretty much the same here and you have to really look to find someone on a 2WD tractor.

 

[ZDB]

My dad bought an MX5100 and I bought an M7040HD 3 years ago to do similar tasks to what you describe. His came with a backhoe unit, mine did not. Both ran right around $30k each.

Either one will easily run a 6' rotary cutter, pound fence posts, run tillage equipment, have fairly high capacity loader capability, and would do fine for timbering especially if you bought a 3pt logging winch.

The MX040 can run some decent sized equipment for smaller acreage.
Its nice having a "light" 4x4 tractor (hasn't fallen apart) that I can ballast anyway I want without worrying so much about compaction in my fields.

We have gone the old $8-$10k route and found that while capable old farm tractors can be expensive to fix and love to fail right when you need them most.