Cleaning up and taking care of a 4 acre lot

   / Cleaning up and taking care of a 4 acre lot #1  
Joined
Jul 15, 2020
Messages
37
Location
Brighton, Michigan
Tractor
TYM T574 HCAB
Hello,

New to property maintenance. We currently have a 4 acre lot. Because of all the COVID and the situations, we had put on hold planting grass on our new property. Of course it is now full of weeds. So... needing to till the land and start mowing and cleaning up an extra acre of really tall bushes and whatever unknowns on the path, has made me get into the buying a tractor. Of course I was looking for a tractor that could do it all. The ones that can actually do it all are really small and I believe I will put them through its paces and will simply not be enough.

So... Pricing wise the kubota's are out of the question. I have been looking into the RK24 and the TYM T264. I've decided on the T264 given its extra power for the loaders and attachments. Something I've learned is if you something at 100% duty cycle it will fail a lot sooner than having it at 50% duty cycle. That is pretty obvious.

Apparently I cannot use the loader with the mid mount mower setup as it would require a whole subchassis removal and installation every time i want to switch over. So the question becomes:

Option 1) More expensive
Get a zero turn mower and the tractor (suggestion from the sales man as he tells me the mid mount setup costs almost as much as the zero turn). I don't need the backhoe at this very minute so I am not going to get it right now. But I do need the mower and would love to be able to have the backhoe in the future when the time is right. So... 2 machines, i have to open space to store them both and it becomes a little more cumbersome.
But if i do this i won't have initial work for the tractor so makes this purchase movable to a future date which might not be unwise.

Option 2) get the T264 with mid mount mower and brush hog so i can clean it all up little by little and when i need the backhoe rent it or figure out another solution. Like getting the hoe and doing the conversion whenever i see the anticipation of doing it. Then it becomes a race between the weekly mowing job and the whole conversion which makes me go back into option 1.

I rather have the backhoe as practice makes you proficient and sometimes you waste money on getting it and learning it rather than working it, where as having it, is of course, more convenient.

Thoughts?
 
   / Cleaning up and taking care of a 4 acre lot #2  
Apparently I cannot use the loader with the mid mount mower setup as it would require a whole subchassis removal and installation every time i want to switch over. So the question becomes:

Thoughts?


I don't have that problem. FEL, MMM and BH can all be mounted and used together. And I paid less than red.
 
   / Cleaning up and taking care of a 4 acre lot #3  
Four acres is not much land. What tasks do you project on four acres that require a $5,000 Backhoe?

There are Three Point Hitch and FEL bucket attachments that can sub for a $5,000 Backhoe reasonably well on four acres.
 
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   / Cleaning up and taking care of a 4 acre lot #4  
How about a tractor with an FEL, a 3pt brush hog, and a 3pt rear finish mower instead of the mid mount mower?
Rent a small excavator for $300 for a weekend the few times you'll need it.
 
   / Cleaning up and taking care of a 4 acre lot
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Well... Wife wants a pond. I want to build a barn. It will come in handy for those tasks. I have a few tree stomps to get out plus clearing about 1 full acre from trees/debri, etc.
 
   / Cleaning up and taking care of a 4 acre lot #6  
Well, if you want to build a pond, and excavator is more capable than a backhoe. It'll get the dirt moved much more efficiently, faster, and less expensively than a backhoe. Plan everything out and rent a larger excavator.

As for a barn, you can dig a foundation with an excavator in a few hours.

Not trying to talk you out of a backhoe, however, they are hard to justify in price once you add up everything on paper. But if you have the funds, go for it. Would be handy to have on hand when you have the time VS renting.
 
   / Cleaning up and taking care of a 4 acre lot #7  
Also, I've heard it mentioned many times on TBN.... digging a pond is easy. Moving all the spoils is the hard part.
 
   / Cleaning up and taking care of a 4 acre lot
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Well, if you want to build a pond, and excavator is more capable than a backhoe. It'll get the dirt moved much more efficiently, faster, and less expensively than a backhoe. Plan everything out and rent a larger excavator.

As for a barn, you can dig a foundation with an excavator in a few hours.

Not trying to talk you out of a backhoe, however, they are hard to justify in price once you add up everything on paper. But if you have the funds, go for it. Would be handy to have on hand when you have the time VS renting.

Thanks for the suggestion. I think that is the case, i just want to have the option open. I sometimes wonder if all i need is just a 4500$ mower and not a 20k machine.
 
   / Cleaning up and taking care of a 4 acre lot #9  
I like being able to slap a BH on in a matter of minutes and commence to diggin'.
 
   / Cleaning up and taking care of a 4 acre lot #10  
Wife wants a pond. I want a barn. Backhoe will come in handy for those tasks. I have a few tree stumps to get out plus clearing 1 acre from trees/debris, etc.

Per MOSSROAD I would hire an excavator and a dump truck for your tasks. You will save $5,000 on a Backhoe and $2,000 wear and tear on a new, light tractor.

However, if you still want to tackle pond and foundation construction with a light tractor I recommend a Piranha (digging) toothbar for your FEL bucket, loaded rear tractor tires, a heavy Box Blade mounted on your Three Point Hitch and lots of patience. Box Blade must weigh minimum of eighty pounds per foot of width to function as counterbalance to FEL lifts and peel layers of earth which fill the Box Blade.

POND CONSTRUCTION - T-B-N ARCHIVE: dig pond implements site:tractorbynet.com - Google Search

VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=box+blade+digging+pond
 
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