New member, looking for advice

[deerseeker001]

Welcome from Central Wisconsin and I have to agree that a pickup will run out of room pushing snow.

First off, welcome to TBN!

Second, I'm not sure that a skid steer is a good/direct comparison to a truck and plow setup. Pickups with plows are great (I have one), but in places that can get a lot of snow like WI, you run out of places to push the snow pretty quickly. In short, your driveway gets more narrow, and shorter, each time it snows. Once you've set the banks or piles, you can't move them later with the truck/plow. The one thing they do very well is move a lot of snow quickly. I can plow my 300ft driveway, and my neighbor's 500' (extra wide) driveway in something like 20 minutes. With that said, I'm looking at pull type snow throwers for my tractor....they aren't quite as fast, but the snow is moved far enough that you never have to deal with it more than once.

For mowing the 2 acres of grass, a good zero turn mower with something like a 60" cutting width will usually be the fastest setup, and give the best cut quality.

If you're going to be doing much of the work/prep work for the construction of the house, a skid steer, or even a decent backhoe would probably give you more flexibility in the long run.

 

[boggen]

i am going to push in other direction vs others. just to push in that direction.

a SCUT "sub compact utility tractor" perhaps a little bigger nearing the CUT (compact utility tractor) range. say around 25HP. with possibly a backhoe

skid steers are very nice. but implements / attachments tend to cost extra. vs same for a regular tractor.

your going to be doing ditch work, culvert work, trenches for various things (gas,electrical, phone, etc...), dealing with posts aka PHD (post hole digger), your more likely going to be cutting some tall thick weeds, requiring a rotatory cutter (newbies tend to call them a bush hog), dealing with stump removal, and i am guessing it is going to be a few years till pavement happens, possibly putting in septic system (septic tank / leach field), dealing with say planting some trees later down road,

skid steer can do as much as a SCUT, but there is a difference. more so if you jump away from more of a riding lawn mower frame, that sets low to the ground, and get more into a CUT that has a bigger frame, weighs more, and seats off the ground higher.

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additional things to consider, is overall lifting capacity of a FEL on tractor or skid steer. and dealing with pallets, if you have trailer to go pick up stuff yourself, and/or waiting at the house for stuff to be delivered, granted most companies offer some sort of fork lift option for delivery. at a fee.

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box blades, rear blades, landscape rakes, there a whole slew of stuff that attachs to 3pt hitch, making jobs easier to deal with dirt moving and smoothing it, etc...

checkout Tractor Attachments And Skid Steer Attachments For Any Tractor Or Skid Steer videos on everything along with a good amount of text to describe different attachments / implements. it might help ya decided of what you are wanting to do yourself vs higher stuff out. vs renting a bigger machine if need be initially.

 

[bbateman]

Thank you everyone for your posts, you've definitely given plenty of food for thought. I'll continue to consider all of your input over the next several months. Thank you!

 

[LD1]

I guess my suggestion, would be blower last. IF the truck and plow, or tractor and blade dont cut it, then by all means get the blower. But living on that kind of acreage in a snow state, a 4wd truck is already a must. Dont cost much to add a plow. Especially a good used one.

Blowers are more $$$. And you certainly want a heated cab. But getting a tractor for his wooded property, I personally wouldnt want a cab. Too easy to tear up in the woods.

 

[Cherokee140]

I would first tell you to go slow, you have a lot of time here. I would also agree if you don't have a good snow plow able truck that would be top on my list, building a house can go real fast, or REAL SLOW.....just piking the plans for ours took like 4 months.....(women are usually involved, and they want to change things) The truck you can use now, and after you move in it will get the snow out of the way for you. As to the mower and the rest of the gear, I would wait till you are moved in, but be sure to set that budget for those machines aside and don't let your wife use that money as upgrades to the house....you WILL need it later. You know your property, but only you know how it really is. To look at mine with short grass on it you would think it is pool table smooth.....far from it, you are always bouncing all over the place mowing....you have to go slow. I would suggest walking the land and seeing, or better yet if you already have a rider just take it out there (good use for that new truck) and ride around, you really don't want a dirt bike or quad, too much suspension, but it will give you some idea.

As to the tractor, I would bet you are going to want something with a snow blower on it....personally I hate the ones that are back mounted....it really is much more simple and easy to go forward then backward.

 

[GManBart]

As to the tractor, I would bet you are going to want something with a snow blower on it....personally I hate the ones that are back mounted....it really is much more simple and easy to go forward then backward.

About six companies make snow blowers that mount on the 3pt, but work driving forward. Some even add a hydraulically actuated scrape blade behind the blower so you can back up to walls/garage doors, drop the blade, scrape forward, raise the blade, back up, then blow the snow you just scraped...can't do that with a front mount. They are usually less expensive than front mount, and you don't have to spend a boatload of cash on a mid-PTO for the tractor. In places that get a lot of snow (Canada, etc) these are pretty much the preferred method for use with a tractor.

 

[check]

About six companies make snow blowers that mount on the 3pt, but work driving forward. Some even add a hydraulically actuated scrape blade behind the blower so you can back up to walls/garage doors, drop the blade, scrape forward, raise the blade, back up, then blow the snow you just scraped...can't do that with a front mount. They are usually less expensive than front mount, and you don't have to spend a boatload of cash on a mid-PTO for the tractor. In places that get a lot of snow (Canada, etc) these are pretty much the preferred method for use with a tractor.

I use the rear blower, for my BX 25, and I chose it because it is much more sturdy than the front mounted model, and was probably half the cost, and also because I get to leave the front end loader on for cleanup work and for those stubborn frozen windrows that the county plow truck leaves in front of your driveway.

But, a lot of people just despise looking backwards and driving backwards when blowing snow. So, if you're one of those, then go ahead and spend the extra money on the front blower, and to give up the convenience of having the front end loader on at the same time.

Oh yeah, another thing. People on this website have talked about what a pain it is to both buy and put on a power takeoff linksge and hose adapters for front blowers. So do keep that in mind as well.

Good luck to you!

 

[GManBart]

I use the rear blower, for my BX 25, and I chose it because it is much more sturdy than the front mounted model, and was probably half the cost, and also because I get to leave the front end loader on for cleanup work and for those stubborn frozen windrows that the county plow truck leaves in front of your driveway.

But, a lot of people just despise looking backwards and driving backwards when blowing snow. So, if you're one of those, then go ahead and spend the extra money on the front blower, and to give up the convenience of having the front end loader on at the same time.

Oh yeah, another thing. People on this website have talked about what a pain it is to both buy and put on a power takeoff linksge and hose adapters for front blowers. So do keep that in mind as well.

Good luck to you!

Or get a 3pt blower that works when you drive forward, so you don't have to back up to blow the snow....pretty much the best of both worlds.

 

[check]

Or get a 3pt blower that works when you drive forward, so you don't have to back up to blow the snow....pretty much the best of both worlds.

The problem with that type of blower is, what do you do when the snow is so deep that you cannot drive through it?

 

[GManBart]

The problem with that type of blower is, what do you do when the snow is so deep that you cannot drive through it?

For your BX25, that would probably mean you waited until the snow was a couple of feet deep. If you're getting that much snow you're going to have to make multiple trips anyway, so not letting it get super deep shouldn't be a huge issue. There are a lot of discussions on the topic, and the folks up north mostly seem to say it really isn't a problem.