Overloaded, need insite on tractor purchase

[tractchores]

One thing you may consider here is if you have more time than money. You could get a smaller tractor lightly used, do much of the work you outlined and then in a few years when finances permit trade up - you won't have lost much in value. Most of the tasks you describe don't need a huge machine, they're just made much quicker by having one. So think smaller implements, slightly smaller machine - but more time to do the job. Especially if its a one-off like the corn stocks.

On the BH its amazing the projects you may find. On mine I thought I'd never justify it and in 3 years I've saved myself on 3x the new cost of the BH VS hiring the jobs out. Some typical examples include: Drainage, rock or stump removal, septic or well lines, electric lines, retaining walls, culverts, foundation work, etc. The tough part on the BH is its a huge expense up front and its not as easy to get after market like other implements, which makes it tough to swallow.

Another random thing to think about is getting a newer unit with some of the financing incentives. Thay may let you apply savings from jobs like plowing the drive to the tractor purchase with minimal or no interest expense...

 

[dieselcrawler]

I agree, there are risks involved in buying something you haven't seen in person... up to each person to evaluate their comfort level with the deal involved.

I also agree with the "make do with smaller" ideas. Thats where I am... wife insisted on new not used, and my 3005 was/is the best bang for the buck. Smaller than I want but does what I need 95% of the time. But in a few years when its paid off, I'll be in the market for the used larger tractor that needs work but was cheap.

Good luck... hope the ideas are helpful.

 

[newbury]

Although new is nice I believe better bargains are found in the used market, especially if you are handy with tools, don't mind working on equipment, and are not in a rush to buy.

Your 20K budget reads like the 15K budget I set for when I bought my M4700 2 years ago. At times it looked impossible. I ended up spending about 12K for the tractor:


A 50HP Kubota with FEL and dual remotes w/ about 1400 hours on it. Well maintained by a local county govt.

If you are only going to move wood and till then you may not need much more than 40 HP.

Try and figure out the heaviest things you will lift with your FEL . Many things can be easily broken down into smaller parts. For example a cord of firewood can be easily divided down to any size bucket load and you just make more trips. BUT if you are going to run a sawmill like I do, you'll want to carry whole logs that are 10' long and weigh about ton. If you need to move round bales they weigh between 500 to 1500 lbs http://www.caes.uga.edu/commodities/fieldcrops/forages/Ga_Cat_Arc/2012/SF1209.pdf

How much are you going to mow,brush cut and how wide will your trails be? Every foot wider on a rotary cutter decreases the time it takes to cover an acre. Same w/ tillers. But it takes about another 5HP (PTO) for every foot of implement.

Is this going to be a fair weather tractor or are you the type to fight mother nature? Will you need a cab?

And how much time will you really spend on the tractor?


Have you thought about storage? For a 40 to 50 HP tractor and the other equipment you list you could justify a 40x60 pole barn.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

In your situation, I would get a disc harrow and a chisel plow or field cultivator instead of a tiller. (Since you have rocks, a field cultivator would be better because of their spring-loaded shanks.) I'm not sure how many acres of tillage you intend to wind up with, but it sounds like at least 10 - 15 acres or more. I suspect nobody who is recommending a tiller has ever consistently tilled that much acreage with one. Tillers are slow - you have to go really slow. Disc harrows and chisel plows / field cultivators are much faster - they can be pulled as fast as you have the power to pull them.

The key to having success with a disc harrow is to get a heavy one with a box frame instead of a cheap, light one with an angle iron frame. In fact, I much prefer an offset disc (which is shaped like a "V" laying on its side) as opposed to the typical tandem disc (shaped like and "X"). An offset disc works much better than a tandem disc because of their weight (there aren't any lightweight offset discs made that I know of) and just the general geometry of the offset configuration.

You'll need some horsepower to pull a disc and field cultivator that are heavy enough to work well, so when you pick a tractor be sure to err on the side of too big rather than too small.

When buying a tractor, remember that you don't have to use all the power it has available, but you can never get more power out of it than it has to give.

 

[doxford jim]

I can't comment on your needs for other toys (tools) for the tractor you want to buy - others have given you some great advice above, except for the snow clearing. If you don't want to rely on someone else to do the work, I would suggest a snow blower over using a front blade. There are pro's and cons to either piece of equipment of course - just like other machines etc. The money you will save by doing your own clearing will help to pay for the tractor and tools.

If you have the 4x4 tractor you want and a FEL - hopefully it will be a cab tractor ? I would suggest the snow blower as it will put the snow well away from the driveway and out of the way. Using a plow/blade you will build up big snow banks that may need to be moved eventually. A blower comes in three styles - rear push, rear pull and FEL mount. The rear TPH mounted, push blower is the most common and the cheapest. Can be awkward to use but not too bad IMHO. The rear pull means you drive through the snow before the blower gets to throw it - fine if the snow depth is not too much. For 24" drifts, the rear pull probably not the best choice. The FEL mounted blower a great tool but three times the price of a conventional rear push blower. You could of course, use an older pick up with a snow plow attachment - maybe cheap and effective.

You will need to decide where you want to spend the money and how. A good used cabbed tractor can be found but you will probably need to look long and hard to find it. I would recommend you also look at something larger horse power wise - better to have too much than not enough. Maybe 50hp to 60hp might be better.

I am guessing that you will be embarking on this new project in the spring ? If so then you will have lotsa time to find what you want and probably get a great price as well.

Good luck and please post back - we are all "real nosey" and like to see pictures.

Cheers.

 

[paulfun9]

I definitely agree with getting the backhoe with the machine if possible. It seems that for some of us the list of projects never ends and in the long run having the tools to do the job when you want without having to arrange a rental that fits your schedule every time. let alone the incidentals of when its delivered or picked up or the headaches of having to schedule things due to when its available or the added cost of having it back because this job needs done now but that has to wait for more money or more time is priceless. I even had the luxury of owning a backhoe that was used at job sites and I could truck it in if needed but add that trucking cost up and the time spent going back and forth with it and you soon find its much simpler to have the hoe at home to do things at your pleasure rather than adding hours to the day in order to have it back at a job site for Monday morning!
For me having the tool at hand is half the battle and even if I don't run it for a few weeks its there when needed and I am forever surprised at the uses I find for both the loader and the hoe.

One thing I never thought much need for was a land plane but this year I let someone bend my ear and decided to give my driveway a new tool for maintenance Purchased a land plane and used it instead of the box blade or the rear blade and man what a difference. With a long driveway and no plans to ever pave it I would recommend one in a heart beat. Grooming the drive now takes less than half the time it did before and the finished product is much better than anyone I know can do with a box blade or rear blade.

I really don't agree with going smaller now and then later getting a bigger or better machine. You will lose money on time and replacement of all the attachments that you later have to sell off in order to help finance the new ones that are better suited to the newer bigger machine. Do it right the first time and get the size machine that is appropriate for your needs and buy good attachments that will last. You will be money and time ahead in the long run!

 

[jeff9366]

You could get a smaller tractor lightly used, do much of the work you outlined and then in a few years when finances permit trade up.

The man has 35 acres of corn.

 

[xrsrfn]

One thing you may consider here is if you have more time than money. You could get a smaller tractor lightly used, do much of the work you outlined and then in a few years when finances permit trade up - you won't have lost much in value. Most of the tasks you describe don't need a huge machine, they're just made much quicker by having one. So think smaller implements, slightly smaller machine - but more time to do the job. Especially if its a one-off like the corn stocks.

On the BH its amazing the projects you may find. On mine I thought I'd never justify it and in 3 years I've saved myself on 3x the new cost of the BH VS hiring the jobs out. Some typical examples include: Drainage, rock or stump removal, septic or well lines, electric lines, retaining walls, culverts, foundation work, etc. The tough part on the BH is its a huge expense up front and its not as easy to get after market like other implements, which makes it tough to swallow.

Another random thing to think about is getting a newer unit with some of the financing incentives. Thay may let you apply savings from jobs like plowing the drive to the tractor purchase with minimal or no interest expense...

I just did the same thing that tractchores was talking about. I had my LS 5020 for three years ended up trading last month and I got 3k dollars less than I paid for 3 years ago I am very happy with their deal. May do they trade up once more in three years or so.

 

[PapaPerk]

Bought approx. 50 acres. Will be building a house on it. Land has approx 35 in tillage (corn) and remaining in hardwoods. House is going into one of the fields. Approx 10 acre cornfield. 1st thing is to have a driveway put in. Driveway will be approx 2200 ft long and change in elevation up approx 100ft in maybe 600ft of total distance. Driveway is going to be done by a hired excavator. The long term plan is to plant approx 5-6 acres that surround the house to native grasses and forbs. Plant corners and edges with conifers to block wind for house and other trees/bushes for wildlife habitat. Am going to use low mow lawn around house. Small garden. I already have a JD riding mower for yard and a Troybuilt tiller for garden. I'm going to need a tractor I'm thinking. 1st thing I'm going to need to do is prepare ground along driveway for planting of cover crop. Maybe a 50 ft swath on either side of the drive where the excavator will have the land torn up from driveway installation. Some sections of this will be slopped pretty decently so I want to get it prepped and plant so to avoid any erosion. I can leave the majority of the length as its relatively flat. This land is somewhat rocky also. Has areas with rocks that are approx 1 ft on dia. Again, this land has been growing corn as of this past summer. Corn has been cut but the stubble is still there. So will I need a spring tooth cultivator and a disc harrow to get it ready? So after I get the sides of the drive done I'll use the tractor to prepare corn field for planting in spring of 2016. I have been advised by seed supplier to disc field for one season approx every 3 weeks during growing season to deplete seed bank and allow any unwanted herbicide to dissipate. So again I'm using the disc/cultivator. I don't plan on plowing the driveway. Right now I have a 800 ft driveway that I have a service do. It costs approx $500 a year for them to do it. So maybe it'll cost me $1000 at the new place. I don't know if its worth the time and cost of equipment. I do burn wood and would plan on making/getting a trailer to haul firewood. I do plan on making/mowing trails on land. Then I'll want to get a Flail mower. May also need this in 1st couple of years after planting of native grasses to knock down annual weeds while native grasses/forbs get roots established. The larger 20 some acre field will be leased out to a local farmer for the 2015 season. After that it will be planted partially in native grasses/forbs and remainder in trees. Lots more work for the tractor. My thought are this for the tractor. I'm sure I'll end up using it alot more than I think. I think I'm going to need the cultivator and the disc harrow right away. Maybe a front end loader. Don't know if I'm going to need a back hoe, but I'm sure I could use one if I had one. I can see spending 20K. I'm pretty mechanically competent. I'm a retired Tool and Die maker so I know my way around wrench. New would be nice but not necessary. I don't have a problem will used. But I don't want used up. I'm thinking 30-40hp, 4 wheel drive, don't need hydrostatic. I have been driving manual shift stuff for 40 years. Within approx 1/2 drive there are Deere, Kubota and other dealers. Any words of wisdom, this all new to me, been doing a lot of reading and I'm overloaded. Help me focused. Thanks

You are gonna need a full size farm tractor. Check out a Kubota M7040. I also recommend a loader and 4wd. This size tractor should work well for your application.

Get a Bushhog... And what are you doing with the field? Planting corn? Plow and/or disc it. I wouldn't use a tiller for 35 acres.

 

[Threepoint]

I just did the same thing that tractchores was talking about. I had my LS 5020 for three years ended up trading last month and I got 3k dollars less than I paid for 3 years ago I am very happy with their deal. May do they trade up once more in three years or so.

Ouch. Guess I'm just not seeing the advantage in doing it that way.