Barlow Feedback Sways Towards Kubota

BobWoodhouse · Dec 11, 2009

I have been open to Green, Orange, and Blue. The Barlow Equipment feedback swayed me to start searching the Orange path more. I wrote them this letter just now, which I figure I should put here, too, in case there is some good perspective on what I should be looking for:

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Here's what we have today:
I'm in Northern Illinois on 12 acres of loamy and sandy dirt in a low-lying, but not swampy area.
7 acres is farmed by a real farmer.
2 acres is a long (90' x 1,000') grove of pines.
3 acres is yard with a few buildings, plenty of individual trees, crumbling old concrete foundations, gravel driveway.
I have a John Deere GT325 with 48" mower and a rear 30" tiller (used to establish my racetrack, not gardening).
Also have a walk-behind Yard Machines 24" snow blower.

I have no real problems with what I have right now, except for these wants:
1) I borrow a friend's skidsteer to change around my remote-control racecar track. I would like a FEL to take over this task of moving around. It takes him about 1.5 hours for this task performed 2-3 times per year. I would like to break the task down into more times per year, but smaller effort each time.
2) I would like to have dirt hauled in to cover the concrete foundations (too thick for me to remove), then spread and work the dirt for a nice finish.
3) The grassy yard is rough. I would like to smooth it out and make it easier on my mowing chore.
4) I maintain the trees, so I must thin them out and move to the burn pile. A way to drag, lift, or somehow move logs and branches across the field (have the tractor pull its own trailer, etc.) to the burn pile would be good. It would be really awesome if I could remove/grind stumps from 20-year old white pines from my dirt.

I have been told by a few folks that I would want 4WD with the FEL. And I know a box blade is an popular counterweight.
Some folks say get rid of the old tractor and maintain only one, but the JD GT325 is great for getting under trees and around obstacles for mowing.
I can park in a heated barn with door size just under 8' wide and height around 9', with ceiling of 11'.
I would pay cash (not finance), so every dollar is looked at, and no hurry for a financing window.
I might consider features that aren't "essential" but would dramatically hurt resale if missing, but not too much plan to resale.

Just starting to look. No hurry. And not wanting to waste your time by just teasing with questions.
So, any first ideas or questions about this topic?

radioman · Dec 11, 2009

sounds like you want to go with a B or L with FEL and 4wd. You can add a back hoe to the tractor to get rid of those pine stumps instead of grinder. If you add a grapple on FEL you can move brush, stumps, logs to new location. a less pricey item instead of grapple is a thumb for backhoe to pick up pine stumps after its dug out and move.

A cab on a tractor really helps sales I beleive- everybody wants a cab, but cant afford new. I betcha that once you get a tractor, you will end up using it for snow clearing as well instead of blower. I know I did.

My blower still sits in shed for almost 4 years now. Every year I start it up and change oil but never used it in winter.

You could go smaller or larger then B or L like an BX or M but it becomes cost or timewise issue for your sized lot and needs.

CHDinCT · Dec 11, 2009

I agree with radioman on a larger B or L series machine except maybe for the racecar track removal/installation chore. I really don't know what's involved with that except you state it takes 1.5 hours each time with a skid steer and you'd like to do it more quickly with your tractor. Since skid steers usually have larger FEL capacities that tractors, this chore might be your limiting factor and one that necessitates a larger machine - grand L or M series, BUT, perhaps you can clarify more specifically what this chore entails and how much weight your talking about moving.

BobWoodhouse · Dec 11, 2009

The racetrack is 6,000 square feet of dirt. I mis-spoke perhaps: I would like to change it more often, which would almost certainly mean moving less dirt each time, so it would probably be faster due to the more frequent moving of portions of the dirt. There is not really a "productivity target" for the racetrack maintenance, just that I would like to have the dirt-moving equipment at hand, so I can use it whenever I want. I guess there is no harm to point out that there are pictures and vids of my racetrack at outbackrc.com.

I am certainly going to study the suggestions, and I am glad to hear that a small backhoe might take out a 20-year pine stump. But definitely like to keep refocusing on small price targets as much as possible.

MDM · Dec 11, 2009

I would recommend a B2620 or B3200 with hoe and thumb. That rc track looks fun. With all of small bumps and jumps, I think you would appreciate the manuverabilty of the small B versus the L series

MDM · Dec 11, 2009

I would also suggest a toothbar for your loader. Your jumps look like they are faily hard packed and the toothbar would help immensely in breaking them up and moving the dirt. The more I look at your track, I'm sure the B2620 would handle your track chores very well. I box blade might help in smoothing things out too.

MDM · Dec 11, 2009

Yes, the more I look at you track, a box blade and loader would do wonders in altering the topography of your track. You don't have alot of large piles to move, just smaller ones.

BobWoodhouse · Dec 11, 2009

I may not have mentioned that I could also stand to maintain my gravel driveway, so maybe a boxblade would help there.

I did a quick scan for pricing on a 2620 setup with FEL and BH and thumb. An example was almost exactly 20K. So maybe I would delay the backhoe until later, after trees are cut and hauled off. Definitely don't like getting up into the 20K range so much.

BobWoodhouse · Dec 11, 2009

Sorry if this is a silly question, but I saw folks putting the 3200 QA and forks on the front of a 2620. Would it be "practical" to lift tree stumps out of the ground by sliding forks under the major side roots, keeping in mind the small/medium-sized trees and the soft soil?

MDM · Dec 11, 2009

BobWoodhouse said:
Sorry if this is a silly question, but I saw folks putting the 3200 QA and forks on the front of a 2620. Would it be "practical" to lift tree stumps out of the ground by sliding forks under the major side roots, keeping in mind the small/medium-sized trees and the soft soil?

I doubt you could get the stumps out with a set of forks. Better to get the hoe now than later, it will be cheaper in a package deal. You said you would be paying cash, but taking advantage of the Kubota's free money is always an option. With as much ground as you have, you will find all kinds of uses for a hoe.