Buying Advice What to do?

[hilltop Haven Farm]

Back in the market as the old jubilee went to bed. The rundown, 45 acres, half wooded, half field, ALL acres hillside. Uses would be using 6' bushog, plowing up food plots, skidding logs UPHILL, maintaining logging roads and trails, horse farm, clearing woodline overgrowth, etc. Have previously looked at kioti ck3510 and tym 394. Pretty locked on a hydro or I would just buy the 69 Ford 3000 down the road. Is a ck series or 394 enough? Or is the price jump worth it to go up to a 45 how tractor(nx4510, tym 454, or suggestions)? Budget for tractor and loader is preferably 20k. But could go a little more. Would want tires filled and maybe 3rd function to run a grapple at some point. Bring it on. Thanks

 

[swnoel]

If you're like the majority of us... go with the 45! You can never have too much power when it comes to working those ponies! The difference in price is worth it!

 

[jeff9366]

After you opt for a Loader and loaded tires you will have a pretty fair load to motivate up hills, BEFORE mounting an implement.

For a six foot Rotary Cutter on hills you need a minimum of 45-horsepower.

Consider a PTO operated logging winch for pulling trees up hill, rather than skidding them uphill.
VIDEO: tractor logging winch - YouTube


Safe hillside operation demands more tractor weight than level land operation. Tractors optimized for hill work have liquid installed in the rear tires, rather than air. Loaded tires are filled to 75% capacity with liquid, which increases tractor weight low down ~~500 pounds to 700 pounds~~ for two loaded rear tires. Heavier rear tires lower the tractor's center-of-gravity, making the tractor more stable and increasing rollover resistance.

Safe hillside operation requires four wheel drive (4-WD). Tractors have brakes only on the rear wheels. When going down hill, weight distribution shifts forward, decreasing rear tire grip. With 4-WD engaged tractor feigns four wheel braking. Without 4-WD engaged, on a steep slope, an uncontrolled descent may occur.

Heavier tractors have adjustable rear wheel spreads; wide rear wheel spreads reduce tractor lateral instability.

 

[TomIre]

Almost identical to my setup/needs. Ford 8n didn't give up on me though - I have up on it. Slipped out of gear and ran down my hills one too many times!
I looked at lots of manufacturers and ended up with a Branson 3725 hst. Ran a spreadsheet with all the specs and Branson was the clear winner for me. I put at tires on it and spread the rest wheels. I didn't fill the tires.
Used the loader all weekend with 5' bush hog for ballast. Will probably make a ballet drum for maneuverability at some point. No problem carrying quite heavy loads uphill.
Bush hogging was so much faster and less stress than with the 8n.

 

[Tractorable]

Since you're in the east, check out the new RK (Rural King) tractors. Built by TYM with Yanmar engines. Probabaly the most bang for the buck tractors out there now along with Branson, LS, and TYM.

 

[hilltop Haven Farm]

So I have a kioti and tym dealer nearby. Both would be great after the sale I feel. The nx4510 came in at 26,300 and the tym 454 25k. Both hst, fel, loaded tires.

 

[hilltop Haven Farm]

Also kioti's dk series is coming out with 42hp with hydro, fel, and loaded tires for 23,800

 

[CMV]

I just went thru this process and decided on NX > CK SE mostly due to loader upgrade. I skipped the DK series with preliminary pricing for the new HST model and "sometime in July probably" availability. For not an incredible amount of $ more, the NX just seemed to give a whole lot more than a DK.

Depends on if you want all the NX features. Some I do, some I don't think I really care. But overall, just really felt like a lot more compared to the amount of additional $.

 

[CMV]

Also, just for reference, this is the deal I got for NX4510 HST:

$27,700
NX4510HST w/ KL6010 loader
Hydraulic top link
Ind tires
Filled rears
2 weld-on grab hooks front bucket
Delivery (15 min away)
6' Bush Hog brand rotary cutter
6' Bush Hog brand box blade

If you want to take a trip south and haul it home, I can give you my dealer's info. If the price you got was a cash price, yours sounds a little high? I think for mine the difference between cash price and 0% Kioti financed price was around $4k...so figure that in. My price also w/o state sales tax.

 

[hilltop Haven Farm]

Yes was cash price without sales tax. That's a pretty good deal you got. Could use a box blade but already have 2 cutters