mstyer
New member
First time poster here, calling upon the collective wisdom of TBN. Please help me choose a tractor that will meet my needs!
My wife and I bought a house on 2.3 acres in central NJ at the beginning of the year. The house sits on top of a hill with about 1.5 acres mowable. The driveway is gravel and roughly 1000' long with about 200' of it at a 15% grade covered in patchy macadam. The seller left us a Husqvarna 23hp riding mower with a 48" deck and a Yamaha Big Bear ATV with a 48" plow operated by the winch. The ATV did well on the driveway, clearing everything in roughly an hour. I could run it in 3rd gear downhill as long as the snow wasn't too wet. Nuisances included manually changing the angle of the plow, shifting from 3rd gear to reverse and back again, only being able to lift the blade ~6", and lots of gravel pushed into my yard and the drainage ditch. The riding mower also does a decent job on the yard, although it takes over 2 hours to mow everything thanks to a dozen or so trees to work around and a fenced pool area. My biggest concern with the riding mower is how it handles side hills. There is one in particular, within the pool fence, that has me nervously sitting on the uphill side of the seat to keep that rear wheel on the ground. My coping strategy has been to drive up the hill at an angle, turn sharply, then come back down the hill in a series of overlapping /\ shapes.
Anyways, on to the fun stuff. I'm looking for a tractor that could potentially replace the riding mower, ATV with plow, and add some more capabilities. Things I plan on doing:
Mow 1.5 acres quickly and neatly
Clear snow from my gravel driveway with steep grades
Smooth driveway with a box blade
Move 30 cubic yards of fill dirt into a mini-BMX track
Rip up a garden plot
Remove several old peach trees (8-10" trunks)
...
Limitations:
Needs to fit through a 72" gate in the pool fence
I can store it inside, but the area is 14' deep and has a 7' high doorway.
I'm leaning towards a used tractor such as the 2520 with a loader and onramp mid-mount mower. There's a 2008 for sale locally with 145 hours and comes with a loader but no mower for a negotiable $12k. The mower would be $2-2.5k. A quick hitch hydraulic plow would be $750-1000. There's another 2520 nearby that has 148 hours but comes with a 200CX loader, 62D mower, and a bucket mount plow (manual angle?). That seller is asking for $16k.
Is it worth looking at an older tractor like a JD 855? Is the 2520 more tractor than I'll want for mowing around multiple trees? Is there a comparable Kubota model I should consider?
I have a JD dealer 18 miles away but a mild detour on the way home from work. I have a Kubota dealer 6.5 miles away.
Thank you!
My wife and I bought a house on 2.3 acres in central NJ at the beginning of the year. The house sits on top of a hill with about 1.5 acres mowable. The driveway is gravel and roughly 1000' long with about 200' of it at a 15% grade covered in patchy macadam. The seller left us a Husqvarna 23hp riding mower with a 48" deck and a Yamaha Big Bear ATV with a 48" plow operated by the winch. The ATV did well on the driveway, clearing everything in roughly an hour. I could run it in 3rd gear downhill as long as the snow wasn't too wet. Nuisances included manually changing the angle of the plow, shifting from 3rd gear to reverse and back again, only being able to lift the blade ~6", and lots of gravel pushed into my yard and the drainage ditch. The riding mower also does a decent job on the yard, although it takes over 2 hours to mow everything thanks to a dozen or so trees to work around and a fenced pool area. My biggest concern with the riding mower is how it handles side hills. There is one in particular, within the pool fence, that has me nervously sitting on the uphill side of the seat to keep that rear wheel on the ground. My coping strategy has been to drive up the hill at an angle, turn sharply, then come back down the hill in a series of overlapping /\ shapes.
Anyways, on to the fun stuff. I'm looking for a tractor that could potentially replace the riding mower, ATV with plow, and add some more capabilities. Things I plan on doing:
Mow 1.5 acres quickly and neatly
Clear snow from my gravel driveway with steep grades
Smooth driveway with a box blade
Move 30 cubic yards of fill dirt into a mini-BMX track
Rip up a garden plot
Remove several old peach trees (8-10" trunks)
...
Limitations:
Needs to fit through a 72" gate in the pool fence
I can store it inside, but the area is 14' deep and has a 7' high doorway.
I'm leaning towards a used tractor such as the 2520 with a loader and onramp mid-mount mower. There's a 2008 for sale locally with 145 hours and comes with a loader but no mower for a negotiable $12k. The mower would be $2-2.5k. A quick hitch hydraulic plow would be $750-1000. There's another 2520 nearby that has 148 hours but comes with a 200CX loader, 62D mower, and a bucket mount plow (manual angle?). That seller is asking for $16k.
Is it worth looking at an older tractor like a JD 855? Is the 2520 more tractor than I'll want for mowing around multiple trees? Is there a comparable Kubota model I should consider?
I have a JD dealer 18 miles away but a mild detour on the way home from work. I have a Kubota dealer 6.5 miles away.
Thank you!
