Newb looking for advice and info on a new compact tractor and attachments

[Jchonline]

You arent burying any stumps with a 7 ft backhoe that are of decent size. I have fir stumps that are bigger than my mini excavator..you may as well.

You are getting the wrong machine for the jobs you have to do now...and that is our major issue. Either get the right machine or just rent/contract and wait until it is time to buy a tractor (all major clearing/dirtwork done).

I am high mountain desert as well. Same trees. Don't underestimate what a few rains will do to wash out parts of a road. Vegetation is not your only enemy! A tractor and a good blade (rear, box, land plane, etc) will be all you need to keep it nice once it is cut and tracked in. I usually dont need to add any gravel to mine...I just regrade it and pull in the sides.

Swinging that backhoe imbalances the left/right weight distribution on the trailer. The backhoe probably weights 700-1200lbs...thats a lot of weight to not have balanced. Bad idea on a trailer. I love my dump trailer and I agree you should get one. Just forget about hauling a tractor of this size with it.

What truck are you pulling this with? A 16 ft dump is going to weight 4500-5500 lbs if it has decent steel.

 

[Jchonline]

apparently I'm so long winded that my posts are too big. It made me break this up into two parts...




Filled tires - fixing a flat where I will be working is a good point. It would be a huge Pain in the butt. But I do think that what others have said makes sense that having them filled would help me with my CG. And being new to tractoring, I want to err on the side of safety rather than convenience I think. I'm not really expecting to work in mud or a lot of really loose soil, but who knows how close my real world experience will be to my current expectations.....
Any other downsides to filling the tires, outside of the pain and cost if it goes flat?



I also had an additional question that I wanted to ask about running the backhoe. specifically about running the hoe with a cab tractor.
It seems to me that having to get off of the backhoe and climb into the cab in order to move the tractor would get pretty old over time. I've seen a couple of more experienced operators online who would just dig in their hoe bucket, raise their stabillizers, reach forward in their ROPS tractors and raise the loader bucket, then use the hoe to push the tracotr forward then drop the bucket and stabilizers again and get back to work.
A cab kills this option. I'm just wondering if the rear window of the cab could be removed easily and quickly if I am planning on a day of hoe work? And, if so, how anyone feels about doing it that way? Would it be a problem with an HST tranny?


There was a comment on LS vs the TYM I had looked at. You had said just to get the best tractor for the best money. I do feel that LS is that between these two. TYM was actually more money. Not a lot so I could go with either, and I actually liked the taller cab on the TYM better, but dealer said that he has a lot harder time getting parts and even machines from TYM. Also, less dealer support for TYM up close to my land, so I chose to prioritize LS. If no-one here has real concerns about LS, then I feel comfortable sticking with them.

Filled tires - if you need less compaction on certain terrain (like across a grass lawn, etc). For your purposes...no downsides. Beet juice will not corrode the rim, but Ca Cl or other salts will so avoid them.

Backhoe - again its a bad idea. If you were building a cabin or house and needed to dig trenches and do some light digging it would pay for itself. A backhoe this small just isnt for clearing of any kind. Do what rScotty said and rent one for a week.

 

[4570Man]

You arent burying any stumps with a 7 ft backhoe that are of decent size. I have fir stumps that are bigger than my mini excavator..you may as well.

You are getting the wrong machine for the jobs you have to do now...and that is our major issue. Either get the right machine or just rent/contract and wait until it is time to buy a tractor (all major clearing/dirtwork done).

I am high mountain desert as well. Same trees. Don't underestimate what a few rains will do to wash out parts of a road. Vegetation is not your only enemy! A tractor and a good blade (rear, box, land plane, etc) will be all you need to keep it nice once it is cut and tracked in. I usually dont need to add any gravel to mine...I just regrade it and pull in the sides.

Swinging that backhoe imbalances the left/right weight distribution on the trailer. The backhoe probably weights 700-1200lbs...thats a lot of weight to not have balanced. Bad idea on a trailer. I love my dump trailer and I agree you should get one. Just forget about hauling a tractor of this size with it.

What truck are you pulling this with? A 16 ft dump is going to weight 4500-5500 lbs if it has decent steel.

The only time effective way to deal with stumps is park the KX-040 and get on something bigger.

 

[Jchonline]

The only time effective way to deal with stumps is park the KX-040 and get on something bigger. View attachment 763429View attachment 763430View attachment 763431

Man what I would not give for another 15 ft of reach with the boom! Is that your 040? The steel panels below the operator station really are beat to hell!

 

[4570Man]

Man what I would not give for another 15 ft of reach with the boom! Is that your 040? The steel panels below the operator station really are beat to hell!

I bought it like that. Here’s a picture from the first job I had it on. They took fairly good care of things besides that.

 

[dustycoyote]

rScotty;

sounds like your land is very similar to mine. Pretty close even on the elevation. I've got a a ridge running down through the middle of my land with some subalpine spruce, and have quite a few acres in Aspen (my area is a unique area in the world where aspen forests are largely permanent and don't get replaced by Doug fir over time), but otherwise I'm sure it's similar to yours with the Doug Fir and Lodgepoles. Its an old forest area, the needle carpet under some of our lodgepole areas are multiple feet thick, and i do have a lot of larger trees. Luckily they just aren't in areas where I need to remove any. Grateful for that because of both the effort to deal with them, and I hate to take down trees.

I do have a little spring and will probably use that hoe to dig out a pond. It's maybe 300 feet from that pic with all the downed trees in it. I already get a lot of deer and Elk all over the land, but especially at that spring. Lots of Mountain lion signs, but no bear sign that I've found yet. We are in a north-facing bowl at the foot of a large east face of the national forest mountains. One large draw coming down that face is all huckleberries, so I'm sure there are plenty of bears around. Would be neat to see some.


All,

Honestly, these last few responses are making me feel a little more confident. Makes me think more that my plans for the tractor may not have to change alot, other than maybe that I need to be even more patient in preparing for the dozer to get all the work done that it is best suited for.
In fact this is making more hopeful to get more done with the dozer than I had thought could be done. I was hoping to understand more from this conversation about what I can rely on the dozer to take care of and it sounds like it may be able to do some of the things I was concerned about. I had originally thought I might need to tear out all of those aspens before a dozer could push the road in that area. But if a dozer can go right through those trees, it sounds like this smaller tractor may be ok to do the cleanup afterward. And honestly, that is about as hairy as it gets for the road work. The rest of it might be low ground cover (like the other pic I posted) and areas with fewer trees that aren't any bigger than those aspens. So i expect the dozer would be able to take care of all of it.

And it sounds like no one has concerns on this type of tractor for dealing with deadfall and cleanup. I just need to decide what tools I will start with for both the road maintenance/dirt work, and for land maintenance

That leaves me with the concern around the ongoing dirt work after the road and campsites are cleared and graded by the dozer. That dirt work isn't expected to include a lot of large rocks, other than pulling some down from open dig faces. (but who knows what I'll run into...)
I expect that the the level of dirt work would be very equivalent to digging trenches or digging out a pond. The things I'm hearing are that, this level of equipment would work for that (as long as I remember that I am running light duty tools and am patient)

If I run into some bigger/harder digging then I may need to rent something rather than try to do it with the tractor.

as far as additional attachments go.

• I will buy used where I can.
• I am still thinking box blade though am not very well settled on it. The land plane won't help me move dirt in the way I will need to in the non-road earthwork. and it sounds like a 3pt blade seems to require some skills that I may not have the time to develop well. I may get a 3pt later if I can find a deal on one.
• It sounds like a rock bucket is probably a good idea. if it can help with clearing brush and gound cover that would be ideal. Id like to avoid the cost of doing a grapple if I can.
  • I agree with what tradosaurus said in that a grapple or something on the front is a lot easier than using the backhoe for some of the cleanup work. But the cost of the grapple would be tough right now.
  • I still would like to think I could do forks as a poor mans grapple as Blue Mule stated up above.
  • Blue Mule, what kind of work do you do with those forks?

 

[dustycoyote]

You arent burying any stumps with a 7 ft backhoe that are of decent size. I have fir stumps that are bigger than my mini excavator..you may as well.

You are getting the wrong machine for the jobs you have to do now...and that is our major issue. Either get the right machine or just rent/contract and wait until it is time to buy a tractor (all major clearing/dirtwork done).

I am high mountain desert as well. Same trees. Don't underestimate what a few rains will do to wash out parts of a road. Vegetation is not your only enemy! A tractor and a good blade (rear, box, land plane, etc) will be all you need to keep it nice once it is cut and tracked in. I usually dont need to add any gravel to mine...I just regrade it and pull in the sides.

Swinging that backhoe imbalances the left/right weight distribution on the trailer. The backhoe probably weights 700-1200lbs...thats a lot of weight to not have balanced. Bad idea on a trailer. I love my dump trailer and I agree you should get one. Just forget about hauling a tractor of this size with it.

What truck are you pulling this with? A 16 ft dump is going to weight 4500-5500 lbs if it has decent steel.

thanks for the note on maintaining the road. good to know it might be fairly easy (once I learn how to use the equipment well)

And per your note on the stumps, per my last note, I am thinking now that the dozer will be able to do the work that requires pulling any stumps so that would leave me with just the road maintenance and other dirt work. So maybe,after seeing what the dozer can do, I may be just fine with the lighter tractor. I may rent once or twice and find that I do indeed need something bigger...

For the stretches of the road that run up inclines, would you recommend gravel there? I had planned on adding crushed stone in those areas for traction and to help control erosions a little (Would also be planning to do some small cross cuts and a side ditch. But for those others who are in areas like mine, they know that we don't get a lot of water generally)

 

[Jchonline]

thanks for the note on maintaining the road. good to know it might be fairly easy (once I learn how to use the equipment well)

And per your note on the stumps, per my last note, I am thinking now that the dozer will be able to do the work that requires pulling any stumps so that would leave me with just the road maintenance and other dirt work. So maybe,after seeing what the dozer can do, I may be just fine with the lighter tractor. I may rent once or twice and find that I do indeed need something bigger...

For the stretches of the road that run up inclines, would you recommend gravel there? I had planned on adding crushed stone in those areas for traction and to help control erosions a little (Would also be planning to do some small cross cuts and a side ditch. But for those others who are in areas like mine, they know that we don't get a lot of water generally)

If the dozer pushes up piles of aspens with the stumps on them...you arent touching those with a small tractor. If the piles are large enough, they are usually burned with the help of a nice large excavator. If we are talking 1-2 miles of aspens along that road in the picture...thats a hell of a project. No way you are doing it with a tractor. You will have a pile taller than the machine every 50 ft. Land clearing work gets out of hand really fast. It will take you years to do it.

To prevent erosion the base material isnt what matters the most. It is controlling the flow of the water. When it rains, stand out on that incline in the road. See where the water is going. Usually you need a swale/light trench on one side of the road to guide the water, and some sort of culvert under the road to help it cross. However your terrain may vary. Its all about the contours of the terrain. That said, a nice compacted road surface will resist erosion more than loose soil. However it will eventually succumb to mother nature.

 

[dustycoyote]

If the dozer pushes up piles of aspens with the stumps on them...you arent touching those with a small tractor. If the piles are large enough, they are usually burned with the help of a nice large excavator. If we are talking 1-2 miles of aspens along that road in the picture...thats a hell of a project. No way you are doing it with a tractor. You will have a pile taller than the machine every 50 ft. Land clearing work gets out of hand really fast. It will take you years to do it.

To prevent erosion the base material isnt what matters the most. It is controlling the flow of the water. When it rains, stand out on that incline in the road. See where the water is going. Usually you need a swale/light trench on one side of the road to guide the water, and some sort of culvert under the road to help it cross. However your terrain may vary. Its all about the contours of the terrain. That said, a nice compacted road surface will resist erosion more than loose soil. However it will eventually succumb to mother nature.

Only about 400-500 feet of the road has Aspens like this on one side or both. The rest of it is like the other image I shared. Just hillside sagebrush and scrub.

And, I'm sure we'll get some, aspens generally shouldn't have much of a ball. they generally have pretty small roots that break off fairly easily compared to other trees I think.

 

[dustycoyote]

and luckily, the majority of those aspens are right beside the place that I want to dispose of them at.