Budget-friendly machine for 15 acres in Maine?

[sdcharger]

Let me add something. Go on Youtube and watch the Everthing Attachments videos about the different types of attachments. There are certainly other people showing how the different equipment is used, but EA has the most information in one place. They explain a great deal about what all these different 3 point hitch attachments actually do. You will see how a box blade and grading blade can be used to fix your road and it makes more sense. The FEL is mostly used for moving loose gravel, dirt, and mulch. Not so much for heavy digging.

 

[jeff9366]

We have a short paved driveway, then a half-mile 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 would like to level out the dirt road in the steep sections, although that may be impossible due to shallow bedrock.)

Road construction is something not easily accomplished with even a large, heavy tractor on sloped ground. You will have to inure yourself to calling in an expensive professional road construction firm, which will likely begin with a tracked bulldozer. You can maintain the finished road after it is built, with a tractor and implements if you design the road with the specific goal of twelve month use.

 

[jeff9366]

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.

SAFETY should be your first consideration. Tractors covered here are of the traditional type with large rear wheels. This gives tractors tremendous mechanical advantage when PULLING implements. Unfortunately, this also makes them unstable, especially laterally unstable and potentially subject to rollover on sloping ground. Farming is one of the most dangerous occupations in the USA and tractor rollovers are responsible for many fatalities.

Larger tractors are more stable because of increased weight and wider tire spreads. Filling the large rear tires 3/4 full with an anti-freeze containing liquid lowers the center of gravity for the machine somewhat. Larger, heavier built tractors have heavier axles, which are often designed to allow the rear wheels to be set wider greatly improving lateral stability. I suggest you shop only for tractors that have wheels which are adjustable for tread width. I am not aware of any tractor with adjustable wheels with less than 35 horsepower but another TBN contributor may.

My 37-horsepower Kubota L3560 is engineered so the rear wheels may be set at any of four widths.

At about 35 horsepower level tractors with FOLDED ROPS will require more than 84" clearance to enter a garage. A good welding shop can section a ROPS somewhat. I had 4" removed from mine. Cost: $250.

 

[jeff9366]

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 plus Ratchet Rake & Rip and Dig.
- R4 tires
- ability to use attachments: chipper, "rotary cutter", Bush Hog brand or other, finish mower, log splitter, etc.

Every 25 horsepower to 45 horsepower tractor has a Category 1 (size) Three Point Hitch which is standardized on tractors all over the world built after 1960. Category 1 Three Point Hitch always contains thee links (one Top Link, two Lower Links) which attach rear implements to the tractor making the pair one unit. Every Three Point Hitch contains Power Take Off (PTO) male spline connection. Every Three Point Hitch contains hydraulic functions to raise and lower attached implements.

Every Category 1 (size) IMPLEMENT will fit every TRACTOR with a Category 1 (size) Three Point Hitch.
(Almost ~~some subcompact and compact tractors require reduced size Category 1 implements, but this is rare.)

Larger tractors than 45-horsepower may have Category 2, 3, or Category 4 hitches.


If I lived part time w-a-y out in the country, on 15 acres, I would forgo a finish mower. I would mow everything with a Rotary Cutter.
(Bush Hog was the inventor of the original Rotary Cutter, in the early 1950's, in Georgia. The company has changed ownership numerous times and failed to defend its Bush Hog trademark, which is now generic.)

PTO powered chippers are fine. Be aware there are chippers and chipper/shredders. Chippers do not work well with twigs, they jam. For mincing twigs one buys a chipper/shredder. May as well keep the diesel fuel in the tractor fresh by working the engine with a mounted chipper. Wallenstein is the premier brand chipper, from Canada.

You do not want to move bulky brush. Chip it at origin or burn it at origin.

Hydraulic powered 'Log' splitters work fine on the Three Point Hitch. Stand alone electric powered log splitters, non-tractor, either 110 volt or 220 volt, are slower but much cheaper.

FEL and bucket are the two most useful tractor options. Essentially a tractor-powered wheelbarrow. Almost all tractors sold with an FEL are sold with R4 tires.

Grapples are best on >35-horsepower tractors.

What about a PTO powered roto-tiller for a garden? What about a PTO powered electric generator?

 

[Colgate2004]

The FEL is not the best tool for grading. The best is a box blade with scarifiers and hydraulic top and side links, but that's expensive.

Doing some googling just now I happened to run across one of the Everything Attachment videos that were mentioned, and it was extremely helpful. The guy showed how using a box blade and adjusting the two lower links of the three-point hitch you can tilt the blade... he did it to demonstrate cutting a ditch, but I could certainly do the same to try to level out my dirt road. Looks like a great tool!

 

[Colgate2004]

I'm also still looking for a tractor now - similar price range.

Thanks for all that info, sdcharger. The Massey 1726 and 1734 are attractive models for me too. The members here have effectively convinced me that I don't need a backhoe, so that's now out, and will save me a bunch of money. :thumbs: I also agree that HST transmissions are really attractive (an acquaintance of mine who's been test driving newer tractors raves about HST). Re: new vs. used, that's a tough one... on the one hand it does seem like you can get more power for the money buying used (and tractors seem to have long service lives, so are you really losing much buying a couple-of-years-old tractor? hmm...), but at the same time, inexperienced as I am, I don't have any faith in my own ability to distinguish a good deal on a tractor in good condition from a bad deal on a tractor that's been mistreated or poorly maintained.

Decisions indeed.

 

[Colgate2004]

Here are two inexpensive bucket attachments for grading and trenching, both sold by the T-B-N store at top of this page.

As far as I can tell it looks like those Ratchet Rake attachments would be best suited for surface preparation and leveling instead of heavy grading, but it DOES look like they're a great idea and would be a significant improvement to a simple bucket blade (I'm also intrigued by their bolt-on sod & trench shovel, which looks like it could be a sort of a poor man's backhoe if you don't want to buy a backhoe and only need to dig a trench rarely).

I suspect one or more of those tools might be in my future.

 

[Colgate2004]

Let me add something. Go on Youtube and watch the Everthing Attachments videos about the different types of attachments. [...] You will see how a box blade and grading blade can be used to fix your road and it makes more sense.

I actually just happened on that video from some random googling! What a great resource! So it turns out a relatively cheaper tool like a box blade can do what I need much better than the far more expensive tool I was going to use. What a great resource for learning how to use the various types of attachments. I'm going to watch every video that guy has.

 

[Colgate2004]

You will have to inure yourself to calling in an expensive professional road construction firm

This is exactly what I was afraid of. :sigh:

 

[kevin37b]

You need to get the driveway established first . Graded , drained , shaped . This will not happen with a little 30 hp tractor dragging a blade or box blade around . As far as those EA videos , what a joke . You need a pro with a dozer , not Ted and Peanut .