Buying Advice To Buy Or Not To Buy?

bahume · Jun 2, 2015

Just bought a house with 12 acres of pasture land that I will need to keep mowed. I have been pricing new subcompact tractor packages and the prices. Prices are ranging from $14,000.00 and up depending on model/brand of tractor. The tractor will not be used daily so my wife wants me to buy used. A friend offered to sell me his Mitsubishi MT180 4WD, 860 hrs, all new tires, frontend loader, brush cutter and box blade for $7,500. It smokes a little on startup and is not very pretty to look at but seems to run fine. The price seems high to me but I'm a city boy who knows nothing about used tractors except that they are very expensive. Please help a city boy out!

texasjohn · Jun 2, 2015

Reality, city boy. WHY do you need to keep it mowed? No law you must, is there? You bought the 12 acres for a reason....share that with us and think about what you wish to do with the land, if anything, and we can help you figure out what you need for a tractor...we all really love spending someone else's money!

:welcome:

TripleR · Jun 2, 2015

Whether or not you "need" to mow, but if you do, I would go for a bigger tractor.

Like John, I would be looking to put that much land to some use. Due to allergies, I keep a three acre field next to our house mowed, when our kids were around, we had a couple of horses on it.

We have also reforested a lot of our land for wildlife and recreation.

smstonypoint · Jun 2, 2015

TripleR said:
Whether or not you "need" to mow, but if you do, I would go for a bigger tractor.

The OP didn't specify the width of the brush cutter, but I suspect that it is a four-footer given the small size of the tractor.

Assuming 80% efficiency and a ground speed of 4mph, it would take (12 acres/1.55 acres/hour) = 7.74 hours to mow with a four-footer.

I agree with others -- either buy a larger tractor that can handle a wider cutter or develop a use for the acreage that would not require frequent mowing.

Steve

McREBEL · Jun 2, 2015

I would hate to know I had to mow 12 acres using a tractor with approximately 15 horsepower at the pto. I wouldn't be fond of the idea of mowing 12 acres period.

bahume · Jun 2, 2015

I have to keep it mowed to fire hazard/drought conditions. Brush fires happen alot here so keeping it mowed down is essential. I bought the land cause I don't want my neighbors too close and I like my space. Sooner or later I will be putting some live stock on it. I.E. Goats or cattle just not sure when. The brush cutter is a four footer and I do understand that it will take some time for mowing it down. We have had lots of rain this year but it will soon stop and everything will stop growing so the mowing will not be as continous. I have thought about going with a bigger tractor but my budget is limitied and finacing one is out of the question. Also keep in mind that I have to keep my wife happy to!

KubotaToy · Jun 2, 2015

I usually start 2 sizes larger than what I need and let the wife think she won by agreeing on a "smaller" tractor, sometimes that gets me in trouble when she tells me to get the one I wanted at first. That is how ended up with a 39 ton excavator recently.

Bottom line is get what you can live with and afford. I had a 1958 Massy MF50 with a 5' brush hog that I paid 2500 for and used it to cut 10 acres for the past several years. I would still have if a neighbor had not offered me twice what I paid for it.

JKR · Jun 2, 2015

Pass on it. The tractor is to small. Look for something bigger.

GManBart · Jun 2, 2015

If all you need to do is mow, and you want to keep your wife happy (not a bad plan) by limiting your tractor budget, I'd look for something like an older 2WD utility machine. I'd get enough power that you can run at least a 6' shredder (30hp at the PTO minimum) and even better would be an 8' dual spindle model that would probably require more like 40hp at the PTO to keep from bogging down.

Certainly, a loader is very handy for many things, but I think I'd pass on the machine your buddy has....it's small, doesn't have much power and you can get something much bigger for that sort of money.

This has a loader, which raises the price but I'd bee looking for something like this Ford 3000:
Ford 4000

TripleR · Jun 2, 2015

The best advice I can come up with is see if you can find a friend or dealer to help you with the decision process and DO NOT get in a hurry or in all likelihood you will wind up with no money and a tractor that doesn't fit your needs. If necessary, I'd hire it done a few times to give you time.

For years, we bought nothing but used machines and saved a LOT of money, but you have to know quite a bit or know someone who does.