Buying Advice Best Machine for the Job(s)?

[jamesv]

I have a John Deere 1520 from the early 70's that's in the shop right now, which got me to thinking it might be a good time to trade it in for something newer. Then I started looking at TLBs, specifically the Kubota B21 and B26. I figure I could keep my tractor for mowing and some field work and get the smaller TLB to do other work around the property. Right now I have several hundred feet of trenches to dig, dead trees to uproot, new trees to plant, a washed out farm road to repair and maintain, split rail fence to maintain and expand, grading around the house and several large piles of dirt and compost to move around. Seems like the TLB would be perfect for all of these things, but... they're not easy to find used near me and they are not cheap. Also, I would still have an old 2WD gas powered tractor as my main machine for heavier farm work. It doesn't have that many hours on it considering its age, but it's cost me over $1500/year the past two years to repair and maintain, and I could see this going on indefinitely. So it seems like I can either trade my 1520 in for a newer 45-55HP 4WD diesel tractor with a FEL or get a smaller TLB like the Kubota B21 or B26. I feel like the backhoe would be great, but it's expensive and I might be able to do a lot of the same jobs with other attachments. Do you think I should spend my money on a newer stronger tractor with FEL or get that second smaller machine to do all of the earthmoving tasks?

In addition to the projects I mentioned above, I have 80 acres of mostly open but hilly pasture to tend to. The soil is pretty heavy with a lot dense red clay and hasn't been worked in decades. I also started a small fruit orchard and have a vegetable garden (75' x 100'). It would be nice to have a small maneuverable tractor for the garden, but I can get around with my 1520 in there fairly well. I'd like to plant some food crops for deer and wildlife as well as wheat and other grains for our personal use at some point too. Not many trees, but there are some down that I'd like to clean up.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

[Martian]

:welcome:

$1500 a year is way to much to be continuously repairing that machine.

Why not go the best of both worlds and get a TLB in that range (i.e., the Deere 110, Kubota L48 or Kubota L45)? I would look at either of these machines to replace the 1520. I just bought a used 110 with grapple, forks, HD bucket, backhoe w/ thumb, top and tilt 3 pt hitch and a HD box blade and it would fit what you want just about right IMO. They aren't quite as large as a 1520 physically, but would have a similar amount of HP, and you could still pull the brush hog with them in the fields after you take the backhoe off and put a 3pt hitch on. I'd see this as a better option than keeping the 1520 and getting a smaller TLB.

If you can afford a new one, you might take a look at a Kubota M59 as well. It will be closer in size to the 1520, but more HP.

 

[IndyIan]

I don't think you want to go smaller for earth moving jobs, also some TLB's with R4's are a bit narrow for carefree driving across hills.
In my biased opinion, a DK40/45/50 or a Kubota MX5100 with a backhoe might be your do it all tractor. You can have wide set Ag's for traction in the clay and stability on the hills. The DK's have enough hyd flow to run a hoe without a PTO pump, I don't know about the kubota.

 

[Whitey]

I think that you might want something bigger than a B21......I own one and I enjoy every minute that I am on it.........however it is limited in digging depth (7'-6" I believe) and in lifting capacity.......around 1200 lbs I think. For my uses it is perfect.....and they are verydependable. For the money they are hard to beat.

 

[jenkinsph]

I don't know what you are willing to spend but to handle a huge variety of jobs I would choose the Kubota M59 tlb loaded with cab and all hydraulic options and the x749 garden tractor/mower with 3PH and 540 pto.

I currently have the x749, a 4520 60hp cab tractor and the 110tlb with cab and the 820 canopy gear tractor. That is a good variety of machines to choose from and works well for me. I should say that the 110tlb is fully equipped and is a very good tractor, seems to do everything I need it to do. To limit the amount of machines to buy and maintain I could easily get by with a slightly larger tlb such as the M59 and do all the close in work with the x749 setup.

I do alot of landscaping jobs where having the separate machines saves me time and money. Working on your own place where you can plan and schedule would make it easier to get by with one larger and one small machine.

 

[jamesv]

Thanks for all the replies. Interesting, but so far nobody has told me I don't need a backhoe. I guess they do come in really handy, but they kinda seem like a luxury for somebody that isn't working with them everyday. Are they really that indispensable for a homestead?

Also, I'm not sure about using a TLB like the JD 110 as my main machine even though they do seem very versatile. A Kubota M59 would probably work great, but those are pricey.

Maybe I should revise my question a bit. Should I focus on getting a bigger machine now that I can add a backhoe to later, or get the smaller TLB and stick to my budget that way? Either way, I'll be missing something (a backhoe or a strong farm tractor). I guess the question is which something do you think I can do without now. Then again, with 0% financing, why do without anything?

 

[Martian]

Only you really know if the backhoe would be worth it or not. From your first post you seem to have a lot of backhoe work. Will the ease and convenience and rental savings outweigh what it would cost to rent a mini ex and do your projects?

For the amount of digging you seem to want to do, you wouldn't want to shortchange yourself on the size of your machine. One of the worst things you can do is to get a machine to small and have to upgrade, it's not fun. You very rarely will hear of people that flat out bought way to much machine and need to downsize, though.

If I were you I'd be going to take a look at an L45 and an M59 and go from there. I don't think you'd be happy in the long run with an B21 or B26 though, they just simply wouldn't be enough machine for you needs/wants. If you decide you don't need an industrial backhoe, your options open up greatly.

 

[jenkinsph]

An M59 was my recommendation for a new machine since the 110 is out of production, plus the fact that the M59 has a higher pto hp. Both of these machines are very similar to other tractors when you drop the hoe and put on the 3PH hardware. In both cases the fels' are more durable than the ag models too. I can get alot done with my 4520 (60hp) so it would seem to me an M59 would be a good choice. Whether you need a backhoe is up to you.

 

[jamesv]

Well, I went to my local Kubota and Deere dealers yesterday and I can't say it made my decision any easier. I really liked the Kubota MX5100 and the JD 5055E, but as the JD dealer said, "if the one you got starts and it's paid for, why get rid of it?"

I also checked out the Kubota L45. I'm glad I saw that because I realize that that machine has waaaay too much backhoe for what I'll need on a regular basis. Very nice, but not really what I need. In terms of backhoes, I liked the size of the one on the bx25. The JD 1026 seemed to have about the right size backhoe as well, but I can't help but feel like all of these sub compacts are really just overgrown lawnmowers. I looked around last night and found some new loaders that should fit my old JD 1520. Any thoughts on adding a loader to my current rig? It's only 2wd, but the extra weight and power of my tractor should give me a much more capable loader no?

There's also a year 2000 Terramite T7 (2wd gas) in my area that I'm kinda interested in. I know the T5C gets bashed pretty hard for being too light, slow and underpowered, but just wondering if anybody has any thoughts on how that would stack up against the Kubota bx series or the JD 1026.

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[jenkinsph]

I recommended the larger backhoes because they are large enough to do some good. Rather than buy a larger backhoe you don't want or a smaller backhoe that is too little to get anything done why not hire out the digging to an excavating contractor or rent a larger hoe to dig it yourself. You can put a loader on the 1520 and get a lot done with it too.