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

[dustycoyote]

You sound like you have thought it thru. 52hp, Cab, forks, HST all correct in my book. Front,third function you too will want. Hard piping up to the front of FEL arms, I hope. Push button on lever as a minimum, totally separate lever is wonderful, if they offer it. Teeth on bucket (bolt on) will help greatly in getting down into virgin ground as you grade the roadways. The Backhoe will have locks to keep it 'folded' up. No worries there. Yes, I loaded and towed with tilt bed. I lifted it a bit to cut the angle of the ramps. Pulled it in, then lowered trailer down. I set up chains so I pull in far, chain length for front is set so I run it thru a ring I have bolted in. Then back tractor up until that chain is tight (directly over the two trailer axles) then I run a rear chain thru a ring I have on my rear hitch and use a ratcheting chain binder to make that tight.
Does this LS come with Universal Skid Steer Quick Attach? You will want that. You don't want some Proprietary Quick attach, like what JD offers.

thanks.
and yeah. it has the universal quick attach on the loader.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I have a question for you. Have you gotten any dozer work estimates? When you get the estimate, and it is only an estimate, not etched in stone, your whole plan may change.

I know for me personally, 20 years ago what the dozer guy wanted bought ALL of my equipment, and I'm not talking about just 1 new tractor.

If it were me, I think that I would get an estimate, if you can even get an estimate. If you are way out there, you might not be able to even get anyone to come out to look.

Just a heads up that I have not seen mentioned.

 

[dustycoyote]

I have a question for you. Have you gotten any dozer work estimates? When you get the estimate, and it is only an estimate, not etched in stone, your whole plan may change.

I know for me personally, 20 years ago what the dozer guy wanted bought ALL of my equipment, and I'm not talking about just 1 new tractor.

If it were me, I think that I would get an estimate, if you can even get an estimate. If you are way out there, you might not be able to even get anyone to come out to look.

Just a heads up that I have not seen mentioned.

Not a post that I am really happy to hear, but maybe the most important one so far.... I haven't gotten an estimate yet. I hope that the cost of the work isn't going to give me a hernia....

I should be able to get one. The land is fairly close and convenient to a rural farming town, just far away from me.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Not a post that I am really happy to hear, but maybe the most important one so far.... I haven't gotten an estimate yet. I hope that the cost of the work isn't going to give me a hernia....

I should be able to get one. The land is fairly close and convenient to a rural farming town, just far away from me.

I think that I would very seriously look into that before moving forward.

It very well could be a game changer, as in how you approach getting everything done that you want to get done-do on the property.

Good luck.

 

[Tony H]

thanks.
and yeah. it has the universal quick attach on the loader.

I went back and looked at the specs. Yup SSQA... Good. The dig power of the hoe was less then I expected. That was on the 2100 series, you said you got the 3100?
When I bought my land I had a lot of, well, gaining access to it. I went a different way. You are looking at an Ag tractor that can do construction work, I went with a construction tractor that can do Ag work (JCB MIDICX). it's priced very different though My removable hoe has a 13000lb dig force while yours has 2300lb, breaking up roots on stumps might be a struggle. My tractor is about 12 inches higher. Just keep an eye out and I didn't have issues. But that extra height really helps in viewing the bucket. I go crazy in my friends 3000 series kubota...cant see anything. Very tough with forklift work when you can't see the tips of the forks.

 

[Tony H]

somebody mentioned a couple pages back that I could have the dozer build the initial ditches and major drainage. How does a dozer do drainage??

Swales

 

[dustycoyote]

Swales

Ahhh. Got it.
I was thinking dirch along the side of the road...

 

[rScotty]

Looks really good for land clearing, but clearing land of growth is a relatively small part of the the work I need done. The biggest work that absolutely has to be done is driving a good road in and through the property. Everyone here has pretty universally supported the plan to hire a dozer to do that work (or to do it myself with a dozer, but regardless, the dozer is the tool to use). I only have a relatively small area that really needs to be cleared and I think I can get it done with the original dozer work.

The next most critical work is maintaining the road that I have built and my earthwork within the property;

• The road maintenance sounds like it can be done with a few different tools, and that a compact tractor would be just fine in doing that work. I just want to find the most optimal attachments for that work.
• The ongoing earth work is the part I'm most concerned about as I understand that a TLB is much more suited to this work, even in lighter soil like we have out here. I still think it is doable with a compact tractor, but per the comments here, it sounds like a TLB would be a much better option that would make the work quicker and reduce the possibility of abusing and breaking the equipment.

And since renting equipment really isn't a great option, that last part brings me back to the conundrum of potentially waiting for and taking a chance on used equipment that comes up for sale, or deciding that the LS would work for the type of work I would need it for.

Well, RustyCoyote, that conundrum you mention is exactly why so many of us end up with two tractors.

We all started out to only have one, and not only just one - but it was to be the perfect compromise between these two:

There's the Chore tractor - 25 to 40 hp, HST, hopefully a canopy, but probably no cab. It is handy, maneuverable, bouncy, can do anything but takes longer. Not exactly comfortable, but capable. Anyone can learn to run it. Half the value of this tractor turns out to be that being small, low to the ground, with visibility that makes it convenient to jump on and off it all day doing chores.
Your partner and kids will learn on that tractor. You bought it new on payments and are probably going to keep it 30 years. Or longer. It wouldn't surprise anyone if all it ever needed - ever - was routine service like the manual says and a few odds and end repairs. The FEL can easily carry feed and tools plus some fencing - and still have room for a small bale of hay or two.

And then there is the Working tractor. 50/60 hp and up to whatever. Definitely has a cab. In fact, it will seat two (friends) in the cab. Only downside to the cab is it takes two extra steps and a half twist to get in or out. So for chores it isn't so handy. Sure is comfortable though. It does have AC, heat and more controls than an airplane. Can pull or push serious dirt or snow - or pull an F350 out of a ditch. It might have HST but is probably power shuttle/shift. You got it used for cash from a neighbor who lost his shirt trying to grow row barley for homebrewers. Only 3000 hrs on it when you got it. Too much machine, but it actually cost no more than that little chore tractor you bought new a few years back. (smile) This one can carry round bales - or pull a baler to make them.

Of course either one could be a TLB instead of a Tractor and wouldn't that be sweet! Except that then they would both have to be either a Kubota or a JD because nobody else makes TLBs now,.. and frankly both of those are way too expensive.
rScotty

 

[hornett22]

I have my rear tires filled with washer fluid. My tractor is pushed past it's limits all the time in the mountains and hills of East Tennessee. I've never had a flat in the rear tires but if I did, washer fluid is fairly cheap and available everywhere.

I cannot recommend filling your rear tires enough!

 

[rScotty]

Not a post that I am really happy to hear, but maybe the most important one so far.... I haven't gotten an estimate yet. I hope that the cost of the work isn't going to give me a hernia....

I should be able to get one. The land is fairly close and convenient to a rural farming town, just far away from me.

There is a huge range of dozer prices. Guys who do it for a living are more expensive. But what bothers me more is they are often on a tight time schedule because dozer work is usually the first thing that holds up any new building project. Tradesmen already scheduled are getting nervous because nobody can move until the dozer is done....and it's raining. Or frozen. or whatever. That wouldn't be my choice.

My choice would be to ask around locally and find a semi-retired guy who has a lot of experience & maybe owns an old dozer. Perhaps a D4. Being partly retired means that he no longer works to anyone else's schedule. That lets him fit your work into his schedule and the weather. Some of those old dozer guys are pure artists the way they can shape land. I sure do hope you can find one. Not being in a hurry is your hole card.

The dozer guy that did my land would uncover big rocks the size of a picnic table which he put off to the side. He even found a couple of truckloads that he somehow got delivered & dumped. So there those bably boulders sat in a row off to the side for months. Then one day he rented (ouch) a big excavator with a thumb for a day and put each one of those big rocks right where he had planned to all along. All along the creek. Very nice work. I ought to take a picture.
rScotty

 

[leonz]

Wanting to build a road is one thing, being able to is another.

Have you done a perc test to see how quickly the ground takes water?

You can either build it one of three ways;

1. push through with a very, very large dozer and push all the trees back
fifty feet on either side to prevent regrowth from reaching the opening

2. push through with the heavy dozer and use a grader to build the road up and
hope its dry enough to work to make a taller dirt road with the dirt that
is there

3. push through with the heavy dozer and wide enough with the dozer so that the
dozer can dig the ditches if it has a 6 way blade a use the dozer to spread crushed
stone on the crown of the road.

Options 1,2, and 3 depend solely on whether the municipality will let you do this.

 

[coast40]

somebody mentioned a couple pages back that I could have the dozer build the initial ditches and major drainage. How does a dozer do drainage??

A 6 way or 8 way tilt blade. A big dozer with operator or a small/medium dozer you buy or rent would be my first action. Then later get a tractor for finish work and maintenance. I started with a TD9 dozer and a Case 580B. Now I have a Mitsubishi BD2J dozer and a Bobcat 331 mini-x that do everything I need. Old junk but still working.

 

[Torvy]

Options 1,2, and 3 depend solely on whether the municipality will let you do this.

Fortunately, many of us in actual rural areas don't have municipalities to worry about. Nearest one to my property is 7 miles away, and it is just a small town. We don't tend to have overly self-important county officials either. My experience in the NE would suggest that just isn't possible there.

 

[rScotty]

Fortunately, many of us in actual rural areas don't have municipalities to worry about. Nearest one to my property is 7 miles away, and it is just a small town. We don't tend to have overly self-important county officials either. My experience in the NE would suggest that just isn't possible there.

Nicely put. It's just a real big country. I have to keep reminding myself that our country is so large and so diverse that what is gospel in one area of the US doesn't even make sense to try to apply in another. It's not a matter of right or wrong, its just completely different. And that goes for tractors too.
rScotty

 

[Lawnranger]

Just two more cents for you to consider, I like a cab 80% of the time, but never do I like it on trails or in the woods. Too many opportunities to break glass and visibility always seems better when open. You will never regret extra HP nor extra hydraulics, get as much as you can afford. Good luck!

 

[Surshot]

I bough a tree farm that had sat fallow for 30 years. Did not take me long at all to figure out that my equipment was too light weight. Hired a land clearing guy with a D-8, root rake, a track-hoe with thumb and a 1 1/2 yard bucket and a forestry mower. Best thing I did was draw up a to scale sight clearing plan and watch.
I had him clear
1.a 14' wide fence lne of all trees and roots, 1 1/2 miles.
2. Make a 250 meter rifle range,
3.15' high berm,
4.build four pads for structures
5.dig a 1 acre agricultural pond in my low area.
6. make two roads, E-W and N-S for access across property

Then I could use my equipment. Trees restrict tractor width and require more power to move trees. Get a 2 cylinder grapple first thing. You are not farming, think land clearing, between trees.

 

[dustycoyote]

I bough a tree farm that had sat fallow for 30 years. Did not take me long at all to figure out that my equipment was too light weight. Hired a land clearing guy with a D-8, root rake, a track-hoe with thumb and a 1 1/2 yard bucket and a forestry mower. Best thing I did was draw up a to scale sight clearing plan and watch.
I had him clear
1.a 14' wide fence lne of all trees and roots, 1 1/2 miles.
2. Make a 250 meter rifle range,
3.15' high berm,
4.build four pads for structures
5.dig a 1 acre agricultural pond in my low area.
6. make two roads, E-W and N-S for access across property

Then I could use my equipment. Trees restrict tractor width and require more power to move trees. Get a 2 cylinder grapple first thing. You are not farming, think land clearing, between trees.

That's a lot of work. If you don't mind me asking, what did that dozer work cost?

 

[Rockbadchild]

Now days a D6 is 120 to 150 $/h plus operator..

 

[dustycoyote]

That's a lot of work. If you don't mind me asking, what did that dozer work cost?

Or maybe approximately how many hours each piece, or all, of the dozer work took?

 

[SonomaCountyGentleman]

I started tractoring as a total newbie 12 years ago and now I have about 1400 hours of self taught experience. I live on 15 hilly acres and I do trail maintenance and tractor work on miles of trails and roads in my community. I’ve done every kind of job imaginable with a front end loader, front forks, flail mower, box scraper, back-hoe and post hole digger on my property. I can’t imagine life around here without this tractor. I have a 3016 Mahindra shuttle, which I absolutely love. I especially like the flat floor for comfort.

I have a top and tilt setup in the back, which I can’t even imagine not having. You will appreciate all the ways to angle your box scraper.

I never filled my tires with anything but air and have never felt the need for liquids.

At times I wish I had more grunt for horse power, but I am more frequently quite happy my rig isn’t any larger because access to tight spaces would be more limited.

Some advice I was given early on said that all tractors can accomplish pretty much the same work. Smaller ones just can’t do work as fast. Bigger ones don’t fit into small spaces.

Seems to me for all the road work you intend to do, a blade would be a handy tool. I don’t have one, but there have been times I wish I did.

My advice. Don’t sweat the initial investment. You will find so many jobs for your tractor you will want to be using it all the time. Buy good equipment.