08 B7800 Possible Purchase

[Skier8251]

Welcome to TBN.

Thank u!

 

[Tractorable]

Hey guys, long time lurker, first time poster..
So, Looking to get a small tractor for property.
I am considering an 08 Kubota B7800.
What should I be aware of? Anything specific to this model?
Was also curious as to if this would take a front mounted Blower?

Thanks for the Help in advance!

How big is your property? What tasks do you need to accomplish? That will help us help you figure out if this is the right tractor for you and your property.

 

[CH4Ohio]

Thank you for the informative post! Good things to know. So another newbie question, can a mod package be purchased to change it to this without breaking the bank? LOL As you can tell I am new to the tractor game, so trying to soak up as much as possible and want to make sure I dont throw good money after bad with the purchase of a tractor

You can modify it by cutting and welding or buying a kit. There's lots of postings on here about doing just that.

After 18 years I've never taken my bucket off. Nor modified it to SSQA. Look at them online and on the dealers' lots -- if you decide that's something that you want, just add it to your list and get your tractor that way to start with. Seems like SSQA is more of the standard setup currently. Mine's a 2002 model.

The question in the post above is a good one -- what are you going to be doing with this tractor and how much??

 

[Skier8251]

@CH4Ohio @Tractorable

I have a little under 7 acres, doing garden work (roto tilling etc), and Plan to have horses, drive fence posts, move manure, pasture maintenance, snow removal, and whatever else I can think of..or cant think of since I just got into this property.. Endless hours of fun! HA HA HA. Good thing I just turned 50.. LOL

I am looking for a 30HP range tractor, hopefully pre-emissions...

So bad news tractor was sold.. Procrastination never a good thing.

 

[Kioti Dave]

Had an '03 B7800. Put 2000 hours on it before I sold it. Great machine. The only complaint would be that it was too light. An earlier poster suggested the L series for more weight. I would agree. Had a 64" front blower. Was very good. Have a 1 mile long drive. Easily handled a 5' tiller and 5' brush mower. Good luck in the renewed search. By the way, I used this forum extensively in my search for my Kioti and for whatever info I needed at the time. This forum is an invaluable resource.

 

[nybirdman]

They are a nice tractor;have run one with a back-hoe;bit of tight fit but it worked.

 

[Tractorable]

@CH4Ohio @Tractorable

I have a little under 7 acres, doing garden work (roto tilling etc), and Plan to have horses, drive fence posts, move manure, pasture maintenance, snow removal, and whatever else I can think of..or cant think of since I just got into this property.. Endless hours of fun! HA HA HA. Good thing I just turned 50.. LOL

I am looking for a 30HP range tractor, hopefully pre-emissions...

So bad news tractor was sold.. Procrastination never a good thing.

Sounds almost exactly like my situation. I have 8 acres, 1 acre of lawn, 5 acres pasture, 2 acres of woods, and a steep 1/4mi gravel driveway to maintain.

FWIW, I’ve settled on a 40-47hp machine weighing 3500-4000lbs bare tractor. I want 30+ PTO power and enough weight to safely run a 6ft bush hog on hilly terrain, grade the driveway, pick up logs, etc. Recommend you decide on if you want to run 5ft or 6ft implements then size the tractor to power those implements.

I think that B7800 might have been too light for what you want to do so it may be a blessing in disguise that it sold already.

One thing you’ll hear often on this site is to buy enough tractor the first time. You’ll save a lot of money in the long run rather than having to upgrade later.

 

[rScotty]

Sounds almost exactly like my situation. I have 8 acres, 1 acre of lawn, 5 acres pasture, 2 acres of woods, and a steep 1/4mi gravel driveway to maintain.

FWIW, I’ve settled on a 40-47hp machine weighing 3500-4000lbs bare tractor. I want enough power and weight to run a 6ft bush hog, grade the driveway, pick up logs, etc. Recommend you decide on if you want to run 5ft or 6ft implements then buy the tractor to power those implements.

One thing you’ll hear often on this site is to buy enough tractor the first time. You’ll save a lot of money in the long run rather than having to upgrade later.

I sure agree with the advice to buy a little larger tractor the first time. You will thank us if you do. Almost every person on this forum has bought a larger tractor the second time.

Of course the other side of that story is that a small tractor will do almost all the same work - it just takes a whole lot longer.

And save some money for implements. A front end loader is the main thing. But without implements, a tractor is just a slow way to drive around your property.

rScotty

 

[DieselBound]

My B7800 was the first tractor I bought. 40 acres. [NOTE: sometimes when one makes a big property purchase there's not enough money to but bigger tractors] I've put it through heck and back, over 1,100 of the toughest hours that any tractor has likely seen (again, refer to the fact that I have 40 acres). I really didn't know any better; that and when I have to get something done I get it DONE! Anyway, 1/4-inching valve for the 3pt suck, as do the lack of any stabilization for the lower arms (this can be rectified with buying and installing different arms, I believe- that or adding on something- never got around to doing this). While you/OP didn't land one I still wouldn't discount getting one should another pop up.

Weight isn't a big requirement unless one needs a lot of power. Ballasted rears on my B7800 make it work well, enough to stabilize it (and allow me to pick up max weight on the loader w/o problems). If you have soft ground you're going to find that a lot of weight is going to do a LOT of damage: I've spent plenty of time smoothing out ruts from log skidders. My two favorite combined words: It Depends. No real heavy work with my larger, heavier tractor when the water tables are high: I can use it around the house, handling feed and moving firewood up to the house, but that's about it. Anywhere else if I have to run something it will be my UTV (which, of course, ain't a tractor) or my B7800. I've moved plenty of stuff with my B7800 that I couldn't lift: one gets creative. I've moved around stuff that's thousands of pounds, pushed/spun around IN MUD (some clearing work). Small tractors can do almost all the same work that a larger one can but they do it more slowly.

That said (and because the 1/4-inching valve sucks so bad- I can operate it without thinking, but it's a constant activity, which can tire a person out [though much of the time the tiring is only noticed when you stop]) I'd recommend an L-series around the 30hp range. One either figure out exactly how much weight and what kind of work one is going to be doing (you wouldn't guess about what kind of car you would get without thinking how it was going to be used!), or guess and hope: even if you THINK you know what you're going to be doing there's a good chance that that will change. You can better put your mind at ease by understanding that if your not stuck with something you buy, that you can sell and buy something else.

No matter how big of a tractor one would get you'll still find things that it's not powerful enough to do. You can almost always just go rent more MORE power!

 

[rScotty]

Hey guys, long time lurker, first time poster..
So, Looking to get a small tractor for property.
I am considering an 08 Kubota B7800.
What should I be aware of? Anything specific to this model?
Was also curious as to if this would take a front mounted Blower?

Thanks for the Help in advance!

A front mounted blower is such a specific-to-each-model tractor sort of implement that if you want that option on a small to medium size tractor it would be better to find one with it already mounted. The reason for that is small tractors with a front snow blower get power to the blower with a rigid PTO shaft and that makes each setup unique.

Most of the time - even in the winter - you will find that you want a front end loader up front rather than a snow blower. And on most small or utility size tractors even if you had both available you would spend a lot of time swapping them.....even if it was possible.

There are types of commercial equipment that have a snow blower that is hydraulically powered and is quickly (sort of quickly) attached to a front end loader arms in place of the bucket...but that is a whole much higher price range.

Most of us TBNers end up with rear mounted snow blowers or else use a rear blade or front bucket to move snow. All those options are less than good but better than shoveling.

There are plenty of models to choose from in the 30 to 45 hp range. That's probably where you want to be to start. I wouldn't go smaller than 30hp. If you can accept one of the gear shift transmissions you will greatly expand your search. Most of the gear shifts have a clutchless "reverser" which makes them very convenient to use.

Don't be afraid of a good used tractor; but don't be too surprised to find that good used tractors go for nearly what they did when new.
good luck,
rScotty