How much tractor is enough?

[JDTank]

Good day all.

I am completely stumped between 2 candidates, a 2520, or a 3520 John Deere. Here is my property situation.

The property is 5 acres, but not all of those need to be maintained. We have a small 4 stall barn, riding arena, 3 paddocks, and a field for the horses using about half of this space. In this area, all the tractor needs to be used for is spreading pole shavings on the ground, cutting about 1 acre of grass with a rotary mower, and finish mowing about a quarter acre of grass.

The other half of the property, about 2 to 2.5 acres I am guessing, is where the house is. Finished grass mowing would be about 1 to 1.5 acres by the house. There is a small garden that needs tilling, maybe 50 feet by 75 feet.

Mostly I am trying to get a machine that will mow with a mid mount mower without getting to heavy. I live in British Columbia, a place known for one thing, rain. In the winter time, we don't see snow (in the lower mainland) just tons and tons of rain. For half the year, the ground here is very soft, and your feet sink 2 inches in the grass, nevermind a machine.

My concerns with the 2520 is this. I have a lot of brush to clean up in the future, we have a lot of trees that need trimming about twice a year. When we do trim, we are left with big piles of branches. I would love to clean these up with a grapple instead of by hand. The 2520 seems like to small of a machine to operate any kind of grapple with. Is this the case? Also, the other downside is, manure. Every 4 or 5 months we have a 4 foot high manure pile that needs to be moved. Obviously it is heavy, and I am not sure the 2520 is up to the task of tackling manure.

Also, how strong is the backhoe on the 2520? I do have some stumps that need to be removed, just small stumps, maybe 4 or 5 inches in diameter. Is the backhoe easy to remove so you can switch from a 3pt implement to the backhoe easily?

All in all, I only have about 3 acres I really need to worry about, and once the bigger projects are done, it will just be maintaining the property.

Thank you.

 

[fountain42]

JDTank I just traded my 2520 with a hoe for a 3520 cab. My property about the same, I can say the 3520 with loaded tires is heavy on wet lawn, found out this weekend wife was pissed, the hoe on the 2520 was plenty strong for small stumps an fun I"ll miss it. I didn't mow with it so no help there. as far as how strong the loader with grapple there are plenty of after market supplers out there that make small attachment. The only reason for my upgrade is snow in the face, not no more

 

[JDTank]

JDTank I just traded my 2520 with a hoe for a 3520 cab. My property about the same, I can say the 3520 with loaded tires is heavy on wet lawn, found out this weekend wife was pissed, the hoe on the 2520 was plenty strong for small stumps an fun I"ll miss it. I didn't mow with it so no help there. as far as how strong the loader with grapple there are plenty of after market supplers out there that make small attachment. The only reason for my upgrade is snow in the face, not no more

So if snow was not an issue you would have kept it?

My biggest concern is if I splurge and buy the 3520, I know I will only be able to use it on half of the property. I know if I buy the 2520, I can use it everywhere, it will just be a little slower in the half of the property that could handle a bigger machine.

It's a fair amount cheaper to get a 2520 as well, the backhoe is smaller = cheaper, 62 inch mid mount vs 72 = cheaper, 4 foot implements vs 5 foot = cheaper. As far as me staying dry, a cab is a very expensive option, I figure I will have to just buy one of those smaller plastic covers and mount it to the ROPS.

Just the extra price difference alone between the 2520 and 3520 would pay for a complete backhoe on the 2520.

I just worry that it isn't strong enough for lifting wet dirt or manure, or there isnt enough PTO HP to turn a rotary mower, I don't want the engine to bog down cutting 3 foot high grass, sometimes 4 feet high here.

 

[TNTractor1]

I have a 2520 but no rear attachments, just the 62" MMM and FEL, however I was thinking the ideal size rear attachment for the 2520 was 5 ft, not 4, but maybe I am mistaken.

 

[JDTank]

How do you like that 62'' MMM? Is it the drive over deck?

I notice they offer the drive over deck, but no drive over auto connect, I had assumed all drive overs were auto connects, I guess not.

 

[TNTractor1]

I am really enjoying the drive over deck. After the first time or two, it really became easy. The FEL is even more of a breeze to remove and reattach... got the hang of it right away and I had never even sat on a tractor before buying the 2520. The only issue (which now appears solved) I had with the MMM was a cotter pin that broke or came out twice. It was holding in a support bolt, so when the pin broke, the bolt slid out and one of the rear support bars holding up the deck dropped and got bent up. This happened twice, before the dealer finally got it repaired correctly (crossing fingers). I have 62 hours on the tractor and love it. The MMM cuts great. The 2520 was at my budget limit, otherwise I would have gotten the 2720 for the extra PTO power, but I have not missed it yet. Good luck

 

[TNTractor1]

I see now, that the 5hp per ft of attachment guideline means the ideal attachment size for the 2520 (20.5 PTO hp) would indeed be 4 ft. I think others have used 5 ft attachments as well though... maybe someone will confirm this.

 

[BethesdaEC]

I pull a 5 foot box blade no problem with my 2520 and JD also recommends a 5 ft rotary cutter. The 5 HP per foot is overall HP, not PTO.

 

[foz]

I have a 2520 and use 5 ft box blade, 5 Ft bush hog, go for the 5 ft implements, plenty of power.

 

[BethesdaEC]

One other thing, instead of a grapple consider using pallet forks. They are incredible light which leaves a lot of lifting power for the payload. I can lift about 1100 lbs with forks with my 2520.