dragoneggs
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2013
- Messages
- 13,627
- Location
- Seabeck, Washington
- Tractor
- Kubota BX-25D, Kubota Z122RKW-42
Buying Advice 6 Acres - What to buy? Rider/ZTR/SCUT? Teach me wise ones!
- Thread starter CrionLord
- Start date
- Views: 7168
Tractorable
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2017
- Messages
- 1,392
- Location
- Marshall, Va
- Tractor
- Tractorless, 2019 Toyota Tundra, 1980 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40
Hey, I only spent $2K over the OP’s max budget. That’s pretty good. Kubota L2501HST + craigslist riding mower, post #17. It’s fun spending other people’s money!
MESSMAKER
Veteran Member
I would go wit a good hd ZTR for about $7000 and $7000 used tractor. That tractor with a rotary cutter should be able to do most of your mowing which you will only need to do one a month or so. I would use the ZTR for mowing around the house. My second choice would be a SCUT with a loader and mid mount mower.
Turbys_1700
Elite Member
Get a SCUT. I ran a little YM1700 Yanmar for 14 years with a 5 foot rear finish mower and got along just fine. I now have a 6 foot rear finish mower that I don't use since I purchased a 72" cut Toro Groundsmaster.
One thing not mentioned is the reduced maintenance cost of a RFM versus a zero turn. In the 14 years that I ran my Land Pride and following 12 years with the PRD Woods I replaced one drive belt on the Land Pride and a wheel spindle. I have replaced the wheels on the Woods but nothing else. Yes I did do regular maintenance on the YM 1700 and later a New Holland 1720 but that cost was minimal. The speed of the zero turn is unmatched but the versatility of the SCUT is a better fit here IMHO.
One thing not mentioned is the reduced maintenance cost of a RFM versus a zero turn. In the 14 years that I ran my Land Pride and following 12 years with the PRD Woods I replaced one drive belt on the Land Pride and a wheel spindle. I have replaced the wheels on the Woods but nothing else. Yes I did do regular maintenance on the YM 1700 and later a New Holland 1720 but that cost was minimal. The speed of the zero turn is unmatched but the versatility of the SCUT is a better fit here IMHO.
Would love a BH someday but I don't think I have enough projects to throw at it to justify the purchase, but if I could get into one with a package deal I might be able to stretch the budget a little.
I appreciate the heads up. We're certainly not doing it all the first year. Year one is probably chickens, maybe a small garden. Year two is goats and possibly start planting some trees. The beef calf is a maybe Year 3 or 4 thing because hopefully by then we will probably figure out which other things to keep up with. I do also have honeybees but they are pretty low maintenance.
I am definitely leaning towards the SCUT or smaller CUT tractors now.
Now that I'm starting to figure out that things like Tractor Base Weight, FEL Ground Lift and Max Height Lift, and PTO HP are more important than raw Engine HP I can finally start actually comparing tractors across brands.
MossRoad
Super Moderator
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2001
- Messages
- 57,924
- Location
- South Bend, Indiana (near)
- Tractor
- Power Trac PT425 2001 Model Year
You're going to be doing mowing.... engine HP is required to make PTO HP and keep the blades spinning in thick grass. Get the highest engine HP you can get in the tractor frame size you decide on. A lot of those "engine HP isn't important" comments are not shared by quite a few people on these forums. So are the bare tractor weight comments. You don't want a ton of weight on your lawn because it'll compact your soil, which is bad for lawn grass. There's several threads here about people that bought tractors that wouldn't mow while climbing even a small hill. They went with too little HP and too much weight.
Okay guys I've done some more digging and I think I've narrowed the field down a fair amount. Going with people's advice to get the bigger engine given the frame size I've landed on the 23-25HP SCUTs Here's the players:
After expanding my search I've found that there's a dealer 30 mins from me who caries LS and Kioti. A Mahindra dealer 35 mins away. Actually got two Massey Dealers, one at 30 minutes and one 25 minutes the other direction. The only Yanmar Dealer within driving distance looks a little rinky dinky, almost like he just happened to had a couple used Yanmar trade-ins so I'm leaning away from Yanmar.
Was a bit disappointed to learn that several SCUTs are not compatible with backhoes unless you buy their "special" backhoe model (I'm looking at you BX23S and Massey GC1710 and GC1720) and the BX2680 doesn't even have a backhoe option.
To be honest I'd like a backhoe but I can without for now, but I would like the option in the future.
That really leaves:
John Deere 1025R like rngrrymd suggested
Kioti CS2510
LS MT125 which looks like one of Diggin It's rigs
Mahindra EMAX S25
Anyone have any obvious standouts or negatives about that bunch?
After expanding my search I've found that there's a dealer 30 mins from me who caries LS and Kioti. A Mahindra dealer 35 mins away. Actually got two Massey Dealers, one at 30 minutes and one 25 minutes the other direction. The only Yanmar Dealer within driving distance looks a little rinky dinky, almost like he just happened to had a couple used Yanmar trade-ins so I'm leaning away from Yanmar.
Was a bit disappointed to learn that several SCUTs are not compatible with backhoes unless you buy their "special" backhoe model (I'm looking at you BX23S and Massey GC1710 and GC1720) and the BX2680 doesn't even have a backhoe option.
To be honest I'd like a backhoe but I can without for now, but I would like the option in the future.
That really leaves:
John Deere 1025R like rngrrymd suggested
Kioti CS2510
LS MT125 which looks like one of Diggin It's rigs
Mahindra EMAX S25
Anyone have any obvious standouts or negatives about that bunch?
Tractor Seabee
Elite Member
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2011
- Messages
- 3,896
- Tractor
- Kubota BX25
I would zero in on the BX23S. You will not be disappointed. If you can even get it w/o the BH you will find it very expensive to do later. That will be the case on any of the SCUTS/CUTS. Always a lot cheaper to buy together and the used market for the BHs does not exist, they always stay with their parent machine. On a new property you will find many thins to do with the BH; probably almost as soon as you start working it. Rentals are not cheap and compress your work into time lines. Charge by the hour whether you use it or not. When you have your own BH you control the time lines not the rental cost.
Ron
Diggin It
Super Star Member
Look carefully at the specifications regarding lifting and hauling. Make sure you understand how they're determined and why some brands may seem different than others.
Look even more carefully at the pricing/quotes and note what is or isn't included. Don't forget to factor in financing costs if you go that route.
jeff9366
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2011
- Messages
- 12,777
- Tractor
- Kubota Tractor Loader L3560 HST+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3,700 pounds bare tractor, 5,400 pounds operating weight, 37 horsepower
Kubota does not enjoy half the USA compact tractor market because their engineers and marketeers are idiots. Watch VIDEO #1 below.
The BX23S has an INTEGRATED backhoe. You cannot buy a new BX23S without a Backhoe.
With increased understanding you will rule out any subcompact T-L-B that is NOT a "special"/integrated backhoe model.
Buy once; cry once.
VIDEOS: The ONLY BX that gets a backhoe - WHY IS IT ONLY 23 HORSEPOWER? - TMT - YouTube
*NEW* Kubota BX 8 series (BX238, BX188, BX268, BX23s) - YouTube
John Deere 1 Series VS. Kubota BX Series - YouTube
Last edited: