Buying Advice Need some advice, please

[gk527]

Our family farm is approximately 140 acres. We have larger tractors and bushhogs for the fields. Here's where I need advice. My parents have a house there and I'm building a house on the farm too. We'll have about 7 to 10 acres of land that we'd like to keep nicer looking than the fields. My yard, my parent's yard, driveway, common areas, etc. The land isn't flat, there are some steep areas so I don't think a zero turn would do it. Plus I'd like to have something with FEL to have in the winter for snow removal, rock, mulch, etc.

I've been looking at the John Deere 2R series, specifically the 2038R and the 3E series, along with Kubotas, LS, Mahindra, etc. Brand of tractor isn't as important as how well the tractor performs. I've got several John Deere, Kubota, New Holland, and Massey dealers within 30 minutes away. The Mahindra and LS dealers are about an hour away. I like the Mahindra because it doesn't require DEF and it doesn't have a DPF filter like all other tractors. Granted all tractors under 25 HP doesn't have the DPF, but I don't think that small of a tractor would work.

There are fences to think about, so that was making me lean more towards a pull behind finish mower instead of a midmount mower. It would be easier to get in corners with the pull behind, right? But on the flip side would the weight of the tractor smash the grass down where the pull behind mower wouldn't mow it as well as the midmount.

Thanks for any and all input!!

 

[EddieWalker]

I have a 35 hp tractor with a 7 foot finish mower that I like, but I also have a five foot zero turn commercial grade mower that is night and day faster then the tractor with a nicer finish. The only advantage the finish mower has is if I don't mow for awhile, and maintaining trails. In fact, I rarely use it since the zero turn does such a better job. If the grass is dry, it sticks to the sides of my steepest slopes, which on the tractor can be scary, or just too scary and I wont do it scary!!!! Around the pond, it does get stuck fairly easy if I get too close to the water, but I push it anyways since it's so easy to pull out with either the Kawasaki Mule or the backhoe.

I don't have snow, so I can't comment from experience on that, but from what I've read, you probably want a separate tractor for that.

 

[LD1]

If you don't think a zero turn (ZTR) is gonna do well on slopes, a tractor is the last thing I would want.

ZTR's are wide and low. Low cog and stick to the hills better than a tractor that has a much higher cog will.

A tractor in the size you are considering has roughly a 60" width and a cog of 20". 3:1 ratio.

A ztr is about 48" wide and had a 10-12" cog. Much better on hills than a common tractor.

 

[Creamer]

I assume you have a larger tractor with a loader for the farm work that you would be able to use for rocks and mulch and other things. Assuming that I would go with a zero turn lawnmower. I went from a 60" RFM for my tractor to a 48" front deck rear wheel steer to a 60" zero turn. The 1st change cut my mowing time in almost half because unless it is open space the turnaround time is huge and edging time is much higher because with an RFM you cannot get as near to things as you can with a true lawnmower. The 2nd change cut my mowing time by 1/3 again as I went to the bigger deck but the zero turn is so much quicker on turns and edging. Furthermore the zero turn I purchased was in 1997 and have done almost nothing to it - they are very well built.

Many people are concerned about zero turns for steep slopes but I would take my zero turn on slopes I would not even think of taking my tractor on. the reason is the lower center of gravity and the wider width to height ratio. As Eddie said the tires will hold the slope much better when it is dry. The other thing to have is to not get turf tires - with little bite and fresh grass clippings on top of fresh cut grass they do not hold the hills. I changed my tires to the AT101s from Carlisle and it went from a slider to a billy goat. You have to be a little more careful when you turn but this machine will climb anything.

As far as cut quality for an RFM - it really depends on what you are looking for. I like a nice looking lawn but I tend to cut it 3-3.5". With that the weight of the tractor did pack the grass down so that a few hours after I cut you could see where the grass in the tire tracks had popped up a little making it look uneven. If you cut your grass shorter and use high lift blades you can counteract this more. It also made a huge difference if I removed my FEL before I mowed - which I quite often did because of the ease of getting into the corners without the loader sticking out so far.

 

[gk527]

The reason I was going away from the zero turn is going sideways on the hill. I've seen that zero turns don't do too well going sideways due to the front wheels.

 

[Creamer]

I should have mentioned that I would not get a mid mount type of zeroturn. I much prefer a front mount for the following reasons - 1) the drive wheels are in the middle with the tail wheel offsetting the front deck wheels, 2) the deck is easily flipped up for good deck maintenance, and 3) the deck is farther away from the operator making cutting around bushes and other obstacles much easier. For steep slopes the Grasshopper is probably the best because of its very low profile but my Deines does great as well and is a lot lower cost.

I have a sidehill next to my pond that I only get on with my tractor under certain conditions and it still activates the pucker factor. I will go any direction (up, down, sideways, angles, etc.) on it with the lawnmower and never an issue - other than the time I had the low side cave in a muskrat tunnel and it put me in the pond. I am sure glad that was not the tractor. That was also before I had the chevron type tires which would have made it a non-issue.

 

[LD1]

Just how steep are the hills we are talking about?

Any chance of taking a $2 angle finder out there and confirming it?

On my old L3400 I had the wheels set as wide as they would go. And also added 2" of spacer on each one. And the L3400 isnt a whole lot bigger than what you are considering. Pucker factor was pretty active north of 25 degrees.

Same slope (side hill of my pond dam) there was NO pucker factor at all with a ZTR.

And this is sideways on both accounts.

 

[Brotherdan]

I have less land, but similar issues.

Consider a ventrac 4500. If you can find a used one, it might be a good fit.

I purchased the MF1710. Primarily the decision came to down to weight. The (??95) loader is much improved over the previous model (??100). The Kubota I tried seemed underpowered....slow in moving hydraulic attachments. Since you have one nearby, I'd give them a try.

JD seemed more ergonomically friendly, but seemed to always need $2000 worth of adapters when I looked to add a capability.....and a lot of that was adding weights.

Whatever you get, get everything you need because things seem to change rather quickly. So far, my only regrets are not getting a heated cab and a hydraulic top link for the three point hitch. I have a need to move pallets, and the hydraulic link would help.

 

[gk527]

Just how steep are the hills we are talking about?

Any chance of taking a $2 angle finder out there and confirming it?

Sure. Can you suggest one? Do I get these at Lowes?

 

[zmountaineer]

This is what the ventrac is made for. Exactly what you describe. Will handle any slope you throw at it, snow removal no problem, mulch spreading no problem. The only downside is cost.