Colgate2004
Bronze Member
Hi all,
I've been a lurker here on TBN for a while, anonymously reading dozens of threads, and I've been incredibly impressed with the knowledge of the members and their generosity in sharing it. Thank you all so much for that.
Like so many other first-time posters it seems, I'm new to tractors and looking to buy my first one, and looking for advice about which types/sizes/models would be most appropriate for my application.
My wife and I bought 15 acres in Maine last year, and we're about halfway through building a garage & small living space on the property. About half an acre of it is cleared and I'm planning to clear another half acre or so of brush and thin new-growth trees. We have a short (300' or so) paved driveway, then a long (half-mile maybe?) snaking, winding dirt road through the woods that is currently passable in a small 4-wheel-drive vehicle in the summer and fall months, but due to the steep hill is completely impassable in the winter and "mud season" (I know this because our 4WD Chevy S-10 with nice big off-road tires is currently stuck in the snow and mud at the bottom of the hill! :ashamed
The uses that I anticipate for my eventual tractor are:
- bush-hogging the cleared areas every year or so,
- moving around large quantities of brush,
- chipping that brush with a PTO chipper, although I could possibly use a separate dedicated chipper
- moving around buckets of wood chips, dirt, and a bit of gravel/crushed stone,
- digging a few trenches for buried pipes/conduit/electrical cable,
- trying to level out the dirt road as best as possible in the steep sections (although that may be impossible due to shallow bedrock)
- maybe finish-mowing a small area, although I might just get a separate small mower for this.
Based on those things and the threads I've already read here on TBN, it seems like the things that I would want in a tractor are:
- FEL w/ bucket (& perhaps grapple?)
- backhoe (with thumb?)
- R4 tires
- ability to use attachments: chipper, bush hog (is that more correctly called a "rotary cutter"?), finish mower, log splitter, etc.
Oh, and we unfortunately made a huge oversight in the construction of our garage and the overhead doors are only 7' high, so I'll need a folding ROPS. :ashamed:
Also, of course, I don't have all the money in the world to spend and ideally I'd like to get something (even if it isn't my "forever" tractor!) for a budget of $15,000 or less, which as far as I can tell from reading means a CUT, perhaps in the 25HP range, and a used one at that.
Based on this (admittedly VERY preliminary research!), one model I had my eye on is a New Holland TC24 (or Boomer 24... I'm not sure what the difference is? Is the TC just an older notation for the current Boomer series?).
I would very much love to hear everyone's thoughts though, both if that's to tell me I'm right, or to tell me I'm an idiot for even considering it.
Thank you all so much in advance for your help!
EDIT: I forgot to include this, but I understand from previous reading the importance of considering local dealers... if one manufacturer has a good dealer nearby and another one doesn't, that could be good reason to go for one brand over the other. I totally understand this. Luckily it seems like most of the major brands have dealers nearby, although I haven't yet visited them in person and don't yet know enough to be able to judge how good they are!
I've been a lurker here on TBN for a while, anonymously reading dozens of threads, and I've been incredibly impressed with the knowledge of the members and their generosity in sharing it. Thank you all so much for that.
Like so many other first-time posters it seems, I'm new to tractors and looking to buy my first one, and looking for advice about which types/sizes/models would be most appropriate for my application.
My wife and I bought 15 acres in Maine last year, and we're about halfway through building a garage & small living space on the property. About half an acre of it is cleared and I'm planning to clear another half acre or so of brush and thin new-growth trees. We have a short (300' or so) paved driveway, then a long (half-mile maybe?) snaking, winding dirt road through the woods that is currently passable in a small 4-wheel-drive vehicle in the summer and fall months, but due to the steep hill is completely impassable in the winter and "mud season" (I know this because our 4WD Chevy S-10 with nice big off-road tires is currently stuck in the snow and mud at the bottom of the hill! :ashamed
The uses that I anticipate for my eventual tractor are:
- bush-hogging the cleared areas every year or so,
- moving around large quantities of brush,
- chipping that brush with a PTO chipper, although I could possibly use a separate dedicated chipper
- moving around buckets of wood chips, dirt, and a bit of gravel/crushed stone,
- digging a few trenches for buried pipes/conduit/electrical cable,
- trying to level out the dirt road as best as possible in the steep sections (although that may be impossible due to shallow bedrock)
- maybe finish-mowing a small area, although I might just get a separate small mower for this.
Based on those things and the threads I've already read here on TBN, it seems like the things that I would want in a tractor are:
- FEL w/ bucket (& perhaps grapple?)
- backhoe (with thumb?)
- R4 tires
- ability to use attachments: chipper, bush hog (is that more correctly called a "rotary cutter"?), finish mower, log splitter, etc.
Oh, and we unfortunately made a huge oversight in the construction of our garage and the overhead doors are only 7' high, so I'll need a folding ROPS. :ashamed:
Also, of course, I don't have all the money in the world to spend and ideally I'd like to get something (even if it isn't my "forever" tractor!) for a budget of $15,000 or less, which as far as I can tell from reading means a CUT, perhaps in the 25HP range, and a used one at that.
Based on this (admittedly VERY preliminary research!), one model I had my eye on is a New Holland TC24 (or Boomer 24... I'm not sure what the difference is? Is the TC just an older notation for the current Boomer series?).
I would very much love to hear everyone's thoughts though, both if that's to tell me I'm right, or to tell me I'm an idiot for even considering it.
Thank you all so much in advance for your help!
EDIT: I forgot to include this, but I understand from previous reading the importance of considering local dealers... if one manufacturer has a good dealer nearby and another one doesn't, that could be good reason to go for one brand over the other. I totally understand this. Luckily it seems like most of the major brands have dealers nearby, although I haven't yet visited them in person and don't yet know enough to be able to judge how good they are!
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