25hp primarily for mowing?

[Jaybr]

Hey folks, it's been a long time since I posted anything here.

4 years ago, we moved to the coast and sold our house on 37 acres about 100 miles inland. We are now considering moving back and looking at acreage. Most of the places we're looking at seem to be setup for horses, so lots of open pasture. Front runner right now is 20 acres with probably 15 of it in fenced pasture.

I have a 2006 Kioti CK35 gear model with loader and backhoe, also have a rotary cutter, box blade, straight blade, rake, and 6' grademaster I used on the driveway. I kept the Kioti when we moved but let my son keep it with the understanding it would be available if I needed it. It has gone into ill repair and is need of a clutch currently.

If (when) we move, I plan to purchase a new tractor with a cab and HST and it would be primarily used for mowing the pasture, probably purchase a loader, grapple, pallet forks, and flail mower with the tractor. Other uses for the tractor would be gravel driveway maintenance a couple times a year, clearing the occasional few inches of snow, moving any trees that fall, and lifting heavy (5-600lb) items in the shop. (think pulling an engine out of a project vehicle). I'd like your thoughts on a smaller tracto for this type work, knowing I have the ck35 available when I need to dig a hole or something like that. The CK 2520 is the same size/weight/ lift capacity of my CK35, is it strong enough for a 60" flail mower? 72"? I'm not brand loyal to Kioti so would also look at the cab offering from other manufacturers.

I'm thinking 25hp if it's enough for my uses so I can avoid the emmisions crap.

 

[tacticalturnip]

The CK2620 will comfortably run a 60" flail mower; depending on how often you mow and how thick the grass gets, it could potentially run a 72". If you're mowing thick grass, if you're expecting to mow at a high speed, then you're going to be unhappy.

Understand anything these low horsepower to weight ratio compact tractors do, they're going to do slowly, but they'll get the job done. It's the trade-off for simplicity, and it's one many of us have been happy to make. In turn, they've got all the hydraulic abilities of their high horsepower brethren.

 

[bearthebruce]

color me surprised that you have not had 100 responses telling you more ponies are needed for what you plan. 6 foot flail? 5 ponies per foot is sort of the standard around here. So you would need 30hp at the PTO... plus some to move.

Else as @tacticalturnip has said, if you go slow, you can gitter dun.

 

[aesanders]

I wouldn’t want to mow 15-20 acres with a cab 25hp (and cab heat/air does rob some power) tractor. 30-40 pto hp, pulling a 6 foot flail or rotary (for large open pasture, I still think a good tuned rotary is the way to go) would be what I would be eyeing.

Kioti, TYM and LS make the most affordable tractors. A decent step up from them, would be Deere, Kubota, Massey Ferguson and Yanmar.

You already know Kioti lineup, so I will offer a few to check out. LS just came out with a new line using Yanmar engines that are pretty sweet with loads of standard features. LS MT 242 worth checking out. TYM T474 with a nice 48hp engine maybe best bang for buck going. Always loved the Yanmar and Massey tractors.YT 342 Yanmar, and 1840M Massey. John Deere 3R could use an updating but are pretty nice machines. Kubota L series are basic but very well functioning machines, and probably best selling machines at this class size. No cab on these Kubotas though, so probably look at slightly small LX or slightly bigger grand L.

People get scared away by the emission systems, and while yes, they do add complexity to the machine, they also function well for the most part. and they burn cleaner, no more diesel smells. I wouldn’t skip a more powerful machine just because it has a DPF unit on it.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

TYM has mechanical injection, no fault codes and no limp modes. The ECM does not operate the engine. Units often run hundreds of hours before a regen.

 

[WinterDeere]

People get scared away by the emission systems, and while yes, they do add complexity to the machine, they also function well for the most part. and they burn cleaner, no more diesel smells. I wouldn’t skip a more powerful machine just because it has a DPF unit on it.

I always think the same, when I read these posts. I was reluctant to buy a new tractor, just because so many people hate on DPF's. Then I got one, and I love it!

No more choking on diesel fumes when hooking up implements with the tractor running in the shed. No more stinking of diesel exhaust after operating the tractor half the day. The new tractor smells like unicorn farts, compared to all of my older tractors.

The only gripes I have with DPF are small:

1. The tractor throws off a lot more heat. Since my tractor is used for a lot of winter wood hauling, that's actually an advantage, but it feels like I'm straddling a wood stove when I need to do serious work with it on a hot summer day.

2. The DPF timing and indicators. First, the thing only regens once every 6 - 12 months, but it's always just as I'm putting it away in the shed that the DPF regen cycle wants to start. No problem, you can delay regen until the next run cycle, but the buttons and indicators to do so are so damn cryptic (Deere) that I have to go online or pull out the paper manual every time, to figure out how to do it. My God... the tractor has a friggin' alphabetical LCD display, you'd think they could have it read some indicators that don't take a decoder ring to figure out... but that's Deere.

 

[Saucymynx]

I agree on the overreactions to DEF. I have several non-DEF diesel tractors and a large DEF tractor as well as truck and the difference is amazing. I can warm up the DEF tractor in the shop no problem, but I can’t idle the diesel non-DEF tractor for more than two minutes before I can’t see my way Out the door. No problems thus far on any of the systems. 400 hours in the tractor and 40,000 miles on the truck. I would not let that scare you off.

 

[Jaybr]

Thanks for the feedback

From what I'm seeing, Kubota and Kioti are the only 25hp tractors available with cab, all the others don't offer cabs until you get up into the 35hp and even 40+ in some cases.

I do know the importance of a good dealer, and Kioti has me worried a bit there. It seems like dealers pick them up and then drop them after a few years. The dealer I purchased my ck35 from was a local family owned dealership that I had done business with before and they where great. A year or so after I purchased the Kioti they sold out to a much larger Kubota dealership and things went downhill fast. I called a dealer Friday about replacing the clutch, they where very nice, said they could do it and wait would be about 3 weeks. They where supposed to put together an estimate and call me back Friday afternoon or this morning and I haven't heard back, so the relationship is not starting off good. There is another dealer I can try.

If I decide to step up to a larger HP model, Yanmar will be at the top of my list to look at. There is a dealer in the area, but I don't know anything about them. I'd probably take a look at TYM and LS as well. I do prefer a brand that makes their own tractors, but if I can't find a dealer I like I will consider something rebranded.

Another consideration that I need to look into is will my 2006 backhoe work on a 2024 model, that would be a huge plus for sticking with Kioti.

The other thing I didn't mention is weight, I have a 10k trailer that weights somewhere between 2 and 2.5k, so max weight of the tractor would be ~7500lbs

As far as the emissions go; I don't know much about the tractor engines but I recently bought a new truck. I was considering moving up to a 2500 diesel and in my research found that they have become less reliable and fuel economy took a big hit when they started putting the emissions systems in them.

 

[WinterDeere]

No worries on tractor weight. Most 25hp machines will be way under 7500 lb., no matter how you have them configured or implemented.

 

[aesanders]

No worries on tractor weight. Most 25hp machines will be way under 7500 lb., no matter how you have them configured or implemented.

And most of the 35-45 hp machines that have 25hp equivalents weigh the same. I do believe the new LS MT 2 series has a 25 hp cab model also, but still I would recommend the 42 hp model or larger HP in whatever make you get for what you are planning on doing. Heck, half the fun is going and looking at them all.

New diesel trucks have a DEF system. Tractors a much more simple DPF filter until you get 75 hp or more then you use a DEF system. Lots of info about both if you search.