Should I buy another compact tractor or something entirely different?

oosik · Sep 25, 2023

I have 80 acres and a mile long, gravel driveway. We came down from Alaska in 1982. I bought a brand new Ford 1700 4WD in 1982. It served well until 2009. All the smaller projects were completed in that 27 year period.

I traded the Ford in for a brand new Kubota M6040. I'm now working on the larger projects.

BTW - I got within $500 of the original price - trading the Ford in for the Kubota.

2manyrocks · Sep 25, 2023

Bill_B said:
I don't want to get a tractor and put a snowblower on the front because then I can't use my FEL to scrape and move snow around.

T474/T494 have quick attach loaders. I've never used a snowblower to be able to say how hard it would be to change over to the bucket, but surely someone else has.

If the drive is downhill, is there not space to to use an angled blade on the FEL to push the snow over to one side and not even need the snowblower?

Torvy · Sep 25, 2023

All snow blower options have trade offs. We used them all when I was a kid. Dad brought them home from the business (IH dealership) to try out.

If you have the money to have a second tractor and the toys to go with it...have fun!

Assuming a real winter climate and if I only had one tractor, I think I would go with loader on front and front-facing blower in back (definitely a cab).

Adding a second tractor with a front blower would be gravy. (If you really like backing up I suppose a rear facing blower would work).

fishhead · Oct 14, 2023

Bill_B said:
Thanks for the comments guys.
Several people saying I should get a pull behind blower. I have explored this option in the past. Last year when I was snowblowing I always imagined "Okay how would this be with a pull type blower"
So I made a list of pros and cons.
Pros-
1. I don't have to drive backward when snowblowing. This is a BIG one. It is super annoying and painful after more than an hour out there.
Uh....thats about it I guess.
2. See number 1!

Cons-
1. I'd have to buy one and they are not cheap
2. I can't "snowblow my way out" This is a problem as far as I can see. I don't like wasting my time redoing my driveway and yard so when it snows I don't snow blow until it is done snowing and sleeting. This means that I am dealing with as much as 2 maybe even 3' of sometimes wet heavy snow. I often have to snowblow my way out of where the tractor is parked. Basically I am making my own path. Just as a test I have tried driving forward with the tractor through the snow and it doesn't go well. It is really hard going and sometimes it just won't go (even with loaded tires with chains)
3. Driving over snow packing it down before blowing it. I have accidentally drove over snow many times when blowing and that one area ends up being a pain to get cleared down to the bare ground. Especially if it is sticky snow. I don't know how this wouldn't be an issue with the pull blower
4. Pointing the blower where you want it to go vs dragging it. I can see this as being a problem. With a blower that is being pushed you can push it up against your garage door, up in a corner of you buildings, I can snowblow up to the edge of my mail box post. I don't see how that would work with a pull type.
5. Blowing back snowbanks. Later in the year I often lift up the blower and use it to blow back the snow banks. I could use the FEL I suppose but in my experience it doesn't do the trick. Half of the snow just ends up falling back down whereas with the blower it shoots it way back.

Comments from guys that have them and use them?

Maybe I should just install a nice back up camera system.

I'm a pull blower convert and believe that for the right situations they can't be beat. I live about 20 miles from Tractor TYME and we get about the same amount of snow-key though is we rarely get big dumps overnight, we get tons of small snows. Your questions:

1. true the cost is higher but some of that is due to the smaller number produced, some is due to the added material and complexity and the bulk of that is that many are made to commercial or near commercial standards. My pronovost is stunningly well built and I was able to get a fair price by buying in the spring from a region that had no winter. I would not hesitate to buy a commercial quality blower used if well maintained- they are simple beefy devices.

2. I can understand this to a limited extent. I assume waiting till the end of the storm may be the reason plowing didn't work for you- there's a very old expression, plow with the storm. It probably will take longer to blow or plow something that is let get to 2ft deep than going out 3 times at 8 inches each- especially if it's going to rain or sleet. A blower will essentially move x tons of snow an hour-whether it is 2ft at 1 mph or 8 inches at 3mph. You would not need to do the ultimate job on your entire drive just the main parts of the main areas and a down and back on the drive itself. The main part of my drive is around 3500 ft and at 6 mph downhill for 6 inches and 5 uphill takes less than 15 mins down and back. I could do 2 ft but it would be slow and i find that super tedious- being able to clear my drive at a decent speed with a huge plume of snow is much more enjoyable.

3. not an issue at all - driving on the snow is but that's with vehicles where the tread is continuous and the compressed area has time to freeze- with chains, which you will need to be safe, the compressed area is discontinuous especially if you have r4's-plus if its say 10 ft from the fronts to the scraper and 4 ft from the rears and you are going 6mph (8.8ft/sec) then the snow form the front has about a second to freeze and from the rears about half second.

4 - it works, its just different. the rare time it doesn't using the blower as a pull box (impossible with a front push or a rear push) or recycle or the bucket (which you can leave on) tend to solve things. I do a couple of rows of mailboxes because the plow guys do a ****ty job- super easy - i just drive along with the rear tire as close as i can get to the boxes and the blower goes under them- easy peasy. Too, because the opening of the blower is literally right behind you and you can look right down and see the sides of it and what's going into it you get far greater control. I personally would never go back to a much blower unless circumstances dictated i would have to deal with repeated deep snows.
Remember that there are contractors doing like 60-100 drives a shift in high snowfall areas using rear pulls and they out compete the competition on price and product.

I have said this more than once on this topic here- most of the people criticizing these things have never tried them.

5 are these banks you make yourself? I make several sets of walls using the blower set to blow forward, close and down while partially recycling. these make guardrails and some times i make the 4ft high- in the spring i trim them back - no problem

scaredychicken · Oct 14, 2023

my thought ... don't duplicate equipment (but get a second tractor when you can). two tractors of similar capability seems unnecessary for my property

- keep the Mahindra
- get a second, Larger Tractor, with a bucket, maybe a cab
- have them implement specific, so that there is less time switching things around, just change tractors for the next job

I have a nice set-up with the Kubota BX23S (perfect for my needs) but I am starting to look for a larger 35-40 hp older tractor for specific work. can't afford a larger newer one, but I can see a benefit of a second older tractor for around here. my biggest challenge is getting on / off the units, so older will be less convenient for sure.

alexinPA · Oct 14, 2023

I always thought of inverted snow blower but... even with 10-12" of snow my tractor is hard to drive (chains on rear). Forget about going uphill. Going backwards is no fun but i installed rear view camera and with 3pt blower and loader on front job gets done. It's 1/4 mi long twisty gravel driveway with steep hill

Torvy · Oct 14, 2023

It seems that someone should make a pull behind that offsets like a ditch mower. Then you could use a front blade angled to that side and blow the whole lot aside.

Too many Kubotas · Oct 14, 2023

Why settle for a "mini-Unimog" when the real ones can be quite affordable?

Okay, I paid $16K for this one, but it came with all the hydraulic tools, which was nice. Then another 4 or 5K for the snowblower. And I had to convert the loader to SSQA, but that was affordable.

Anyway, it works well, and the heated windshield is a plus when running the snowblower. And getting unstuck would be easy with the Case 580 backhoe on the rear.

tacticalturnip · Oct 14, 2023

I love that Unimog.

Bill_B · Oct 14, 2023

Too many Kubotas said:
Why settle for a "mini-Unimog" when the real ones can be quite affordable?

Okay, I paid $16K for this one, but it came with all the hydraulic tools, which was nice. Then another 4 or 5K for the snowblower. And I had to convert the loader to SSQA, but that was affordable.

Anyway, it works well, and the heated windshield is a plus when running the snowblower. And getting unstuck would be easy with the Case 580 backhoe on the rear. View attachment 826927

I've wanted a unimog for many years. I almost went this route but talked myself out of it.
Very nice set up

Too many Kubotas · Oct 14, 2023

Bill_B said:
I've wanted a unimog for many years. I almost went this route but talked myself out of it.
Very nice set up

Thanks. You probably shouldn't have talked yourself out of getting one, though. They're fun and quite capable.

That was the first one I bought, but I suspect that the one tacticalturnip referred to is one I bought later, for parts, which turned out to be better mechanically than the one with the snowblower.

Better yet, that "parts car" was only $5K.

stevem5215 · Oct 15, 2023

How long is your driveway to clear ? A mile ? Two ? With that thing you could clear my whole township road system !

LouNY · Oct 15, 2023

I have a long driveway on a steep hill, it is 14 to 16 degrees of slope or 24-26% slope.
In my area we get a lot of very wet heavy snow, this type will pack down into ice easily when driven over.

I have tried to plow and or blow snow while traveling uphill. All that will do is wear out your equipment faster, use more fuel and cause more breakage and down time.

Using the Euro patterned studded tire chains traction is not an issue. I can drive through 12" or more with no problem.
A couple of times we have gotten 36" or more in a single dump. When we get that much it is usually a lighter flufflyer snow which is not hard to drive through.

I have used trucks and plows, tractors with plows mounted on the FEL, tractors with rear mounted back blades, tractors with a pull type blower, tractor with the rear blower that you back up using.

My favorite is the back blade, pulling it while driving forward for 90% of the time. Then spinning the blade around and using it in reverse for the last 10%. Hydraulic angle on the blade is a big help as I cast the snow to different directions in different areas of the driveway. This is because depending on were you are in the driveway one side is a bank and the other is a drop off.
Normally I will pull down the drive to the first curve, reverse and just back right up in the path I just cleared, at the top move over drop the back blade and start my next pass down when I reach the area were I left my blades pile and backed through it I'll drop the loader bucket and shove that pile over the drop off, then raise the bucket and rear blade and repeat. I work my driveway in 4 sections that way.

When I have bladed at least one time and the driveway has stayed frozen so no large rocks have freed themselves I may switch to the inverted blower. I run it in much the same way all though at times I will run the length of the driveway, then turn and dead head back up and drive down blowing again. When I get to the bottom the first time, I stop blowing and pull out turn around and and pull ahead a few short runs to clear out the driveway opening to the road. I also often back up a hundred feet or so on the road and clear the snow off the road so the plow trucks don't make a plow wipe in the end of the driveway.

There are a multitude of options available, it all depends on what you can and will spend. Front blades mounted directly to a tractor which work very well. Front blades mounted on the FEL's which have not impressed me much at all. Rear blades pulled or pushed which work fairly well for me. Rear blowers facing rearward which will do a good job. Inverted blowers used while driving forward, which are handy and work well.
You can get larger tractors with front 3 points and pto's which would be able to use the "conventional" rear mount blower on the front as a forward driven blower which would be very handy I expect. You can get front mounted blowers that are powered by a driveshaft powered by the rear pto to the front. There are also front mounted blowers with there own power plants to run the blower, in my mind most are way under powered to work well unless they are extremely large heavy and powerful.

Now this if it had a front pto or the rear to front pto drive would make a snow eating beast;

Too many Kubotas · Oct 15, 2023

stevem5215 said:
How long is your driveway to clear ? A mile ? Two ? With that thing you could clear my whole township road system !

Ha! It's only a 1/4 mile, and practically flat.

But there are other places near buildings and such where it's useful, plus I occasionally clear parts of the "horse roads".

My main reason for using a snowblower is to be able to put the snow up to 60 feet away, where it won't be in the way, and on the (slight) downhill side so the spring runoff doesn't affect the driveway, buildings, etc.

Ended up getting a used skid steer, which is what that snowblower is intended for, but that's really a love/hate machine. Mostly hate.

Visibility is crappy, it's miserable to get in and out of, and the minuscule ground clearance makes it very easy to get stuck. Okay, the latter is mostly driver error, and at least I have Unimogs to pull it out with.

On the positive side, in the winter it doesn't tear everything up when turning.

Bill_B · Oct 15, 2023

Thats pretty cool.
Like I said I was pretty much ready to go this route but after doing some research and talking to owners of older retired model unimogs I decided against it for the following reasons-
1. Unimogs are like an SUV or a Swiss Army knife of equipment. They can do all kinds of things but don't do any of them that well. (As told from owners)
2. Parts cost and availability now and in the future. If you buy a second parts rig then maybe this isn't an issue but if not then you're left to search for expensive NLA parts.
3. It's not a tractor. It is similar in some ways but it doesn't perform tractor type tasks like a tractor will.
4. It is an old piece of equipment. So all the rubber parts, etc. Are old at this point. The controls and creature comforts are outdated. (I wouldn't trust my wife to use an old unimog on our steep driveway but I have no problem letting her use an HST tractor)
5. Depreciation. Most tractors hold thier value very well but I don't forsee that happening for old military equipment used hard on a regular basis.

I may still get one someday. They are really cool.

stevem5215 · Oct 15, 2023

Nice country there ! love the backdrop outside of the house.

Hoss710 · Oct 15, 2023

Bill_B said:
Thats pretty cool.
Like I said I was pretty much ready to go this route but after doing some research and talking to owners of older retired model unimogs I decided against it for the following reasons-
1. Unimogs are like an SUV or a Swiss Army knife of equipment. They can do all kinds of things but don't do any of them that well. (As told from owners)
2. Parts cost and availability now and in the future. If you buy a second parts rig then maybe this isn't an issue but if not then you're left to search for expensive NLA parts.
3. It's not a tractor. It is similar in some ways but it doesn't perform tractor type tasks like a tractor will.
4. It is an old piece of equipment. So all the rubber parts, etc. Are old at this point. The controls and creature comforts are outdated. (I wouldn't trust my wife to use an old unimog on our steep driveway but I have no problem letting her use an HST tractor)
5. Depreciation. Most tractors hold thier value very well but I don't forsee that happening for old military equipment used hard on a regular basis.

I may still get one someday. They are really cool.

did you ever find the tractor you were looking for ?

Too many Kubotas · Oct 15, 2023

Bill_B said:
1. They can do all kinds of things but don't do any of them that well. (As told from owners)
2. Parts cost and availability now and in the future. If you buy a second parts rig then maybe this isn't an issue but if not then you're left to search for expensive NLA parts.
3. It's not a tractor. It is similar in some ways but it doesn't perform tractor type tasks like a tractor will.
4. It is an old piece of equipment. So all the rubber parts, etc. Are old at this point. The controls and creature comforts are outdated.
5. Depreciation. Most tractors hold thier value very well but I don't forsee that happening for old military equipment used hard on a regular basis.

1. No, they're not nice to drive on paved roads like a car. But then, neither is a tractor.
2. Parts aren't any issue, yet anyway. There are a few places just here in the USA that do nothing but sell parts for them.
3. Agree. Most tractor tasks a proper Unimog will do better.
4. Yes, they do lack touch screens, auto headlights, rain sensing wipers, and many other modern things. Instead, there are fully functional levers, switches, and buttons.
5. Depending on what you buy, they don't depreciate any more. If anything they seem to go up in value. The ex-military ones with a loader/backhoe, for example, cost about half of a comparable backhoe, and has maybe 10 to 25% as many hours on them.

There are, of course, newer models with passenger pampering cabs and accoutrements, but those do cost as much as a really nice tractor, if not more.

But for tractor use, the MB4/94 is a better candidate, especially when optioned with front and rear hydraulics, PTOs in both ends, and the so-called work gears (2,000:1 reduction), plus a rear 3-point. There was a mind blowing amount of options available, many of which were farming specific.

I picked this one up for $7K, and everything worked just fine on it. That the (rubber) tires were old didn't bother me, as they were bias ply with plenty of tread.