Buying advice for small land-owner in New Hampshire

[shovelmike]

Welcome to TBN.

 

[nhbubba]

I think the key word for what your looking for based on what you described in your original post is an "Estate Tractor".

Perfect! Will be feeding that into my craigslist searches from now on.
Always dreamed of having an "estate".

 

[nhbubba]

Welcome to TBN. I used its advise to get my own tractor setup earlier this year for in So. VT. Hope you find what you need.

Unfortunately the first thing I would point out is that several of the things you want to do are NOT really best serviced by tractors, especially smaller ones, namely the items labeled 'excavating', 'trenching', and stump pulling. Yes you can do it, but a tractor isn't the best tool unless you're considering a model with a backhoe. Certainly the others are good though, leveling, tilling, and such. Though if you're tilling a small garden again, maybe better to buy a small walk-behind tiller, because at least for my garden, there's no way I could get my tractor in there without a substantial revamp of the whole garden plot and fencing.

...

The only other advice I might offer in my relative newb status is to consider tractor weight for applications where things are going to pull back (plowing/tillling, tree pulling, rock pulling, etc), and a 5-PTO-HP/Foot minimum guideline on snowblowing and brushhogging applications.

Solid advice. Thank you.

What is this 5 PTO HP per foot rule? I've not read that before. Kind of curious as I had always assumed you wanted these tools to at least cover the footprint of the machine. Most of these small frame CUTs seem to be on the order of 50" wide. It seems most are recommending 54 or 60" implements for these machines. That would put them well below most of the 25-26 HP machines, never mind the smaller HP options (22-23 HP). Do these 50"+ implements overwhelm those machines?

My goal had been to get a machine in the yard, add a back-blade and some of those edge tamers for snow use for now. Then hunt for a 54 or 60" blower for the one day. A buddy did just this and is pretty happy with the setup.


I'm waffling on the backhoe. Really want one. Having a hard time justifying the expense. They don't give those away, do they.
My thinking was that it would be better to have the tool and be able to slowly pick away at a stump or large rock an hour or so at a time whenever I have the chance rather than having to take a day or weekend and rush to get everything planned and done in one shot with a rented tool.


Thanks again for the feedback all.

 

[nhbubba]

Most tractors you are looking it will have mid pto even if you don稚 want it.

It's optional or a dealer install on the Kiotis. I thought passing on mid-PTO would be an okay way to save some money if you aren't interested in a front blower or mid-mower.

What I'm hearing here is that I want the option anyway. Which negates some of the cost advantage for the Kioti.

Anyone have any idea how hard it is to install this option later? I am fairly competent at turning a wrench.

 

[Diggin It]

Solid advice. Thank you.

What is this 5 PTO HP per foot rule? I've not read that before. Kind of curious as I had always assumed you wanted these tools to at least cover the footprint of the machine. Most of these small frame CUTs seem to be on the order of 50" wide. It seems most are recommending 54 or 60" implements for these machines. That would put them well below most of the 25-26 HP machines, never mind the smaller HP options (22-23 HP). Do these 50"+ implements overwhelm those machines?

Mine is 25 engine HP but I think 18 at the PTO. I can only use a 48" Tiller (48" = 4' x 5HP/ft = 20HP at PTO) A 5' tiller would be over that. It's really for power implements like tillers and cutters and for digging implements like plows. Static implements that stay on the surface like blades and drags can go a bit wider.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Solid advice. Thank you.

What is this 5 PTO HP per foot rule? I've not read that before. Kind of curious as I had always assumed you wanted these tools to at least cover the footprint of the machine. Most of these small frame CUTs seem to be on the order of 50" wide. It seems most are recommending 54 or 60" implements for these machines. That would put them well below most of the 25-26 HP machines, never mind the smaller HP options (22-23 HP). Do these 50"+ implements overwhelm those machines?

My goal had been to get a machine in the yard, add a back-blade and some of those edge tamers for snow use for now. Then hunt for a 54 or 60" blower for the one day. A buddy did just this and is pretty happy with the setup.


I'm waffling on the backhoe. Really want one. Having a hard time justifying the expense. They don't give those away, do they.
My thinking was that it would be better to have the tool and be able to slowly pick away at a stump or large rock an hour or so at a time whenever I have the chance rather than having to take a day or weekend and rush to get everything planned and done in one shot with a rented tool.


Thanks again for the feedback all.

The manufacturer will tell you the minimum PTO HP required to run their attachment, the 5PH/foot is a generally used rule of thumb for rotary cutters and snow blowers. Whether you can go under the guideline will depend on how you use it. For example, you could run a bigger brush cutter if you had lower material to cut, drove slower, and so on (though do respect the minimum LIFT requirements, don't try to lift a 1200 lb cutter on a 3PH with a 1000 rating. And yes, you probably want to cover the footprint of the machine. But even, say, cutters, have light, medium, and heavy duty versions for the same footage, and those will have different manufacturer recommendations. I'm guessing your machine will do fine with a light duty 60" cutter. And if you cut (the same field) more than once a year, that further lightens the per-cut burden.

I'd worry more about snow blowers and wet snow, but while I have researched it I don't have a snowblower so can't advise further. It will also depend on how proactive you are about snowblowing while the storm is going, and how much snow you get, and how wet it is.

Re: picking away at stumps. People do this all the time with whatever tools they have. No doubt a backhoe makes it easier, but if you need to do more than one or two small ones, you'll probably want to rent a big machine with the oomph for the task. Meanwhile you'll hear about people trying to pull it out, push it over, dig with buckets, bucket-spades, pallet forks, whatever they have. Not always the right tool for the job, but tractor owners like to use what they have

Most of what I woulid do with a backhoe is trenching, and it's probably much cheaper and generally easier to rent a small trencher tool. Plus, storing the beast if you own one is another logistical problem for some people.

 

[crashz]

Welcome nhbubba!

I think you are approaching things well. I will say that the rear blade and loader for snow will be a tough. I peeled a bit of asphalt up on my driveway doing it this way, and I'm not a novice. My front snow plow is much easier in my application.

Another thing: don't be me. I financed and I initially picked all the stuff I wanted, then cut a bunch of options out to reduce my payment. I was initially going to include a backhoe, rear remotes, a top-n-tilt and front third function, all of which I cut out. Three years later I wish I had the backhoe for many things, need the rear remotes (now I have to install them myself), need the top-n-tilt, and kinda wish I had a third function for a grapple. I could have financed in everything at zero percent interest. Dumb.

Do yourself a favor and get all the optional dealer installed "stuff" you need now. Get that backhoe. Get the snow blower. Package it up, and it will be a big pill to swallow, but only once.

 

[nhbubba]

MK Martin | Meteor - Single Auger

These seem to be popular around here. Seem common 2nd/3rd/etc hand. They recommend 15HP for the 54" units. Everything I'm looking at is in the 17-19 range. Seems good to go there.

Ya'll have sold me on passing on the backhoe. Missus is disappointed.

Short list is:

Kubota B2601/B2620
Kioti CX2510/CK2510

Leaning orange.


Tell me about "rear remotes" vs backhoe prep. Are backhoes driven off a "remote" or is it a different kind of hydraulic hookup?
Kioti's backhoe system seems pretty slick as the sub-frame comes off with the backhoe. Most others seem to have a bolt on sub-frame that stays with the tractor. What other parts are there to having a tractor prep'ed for a backhoe?

 

[airbiscuit]

Orange sounds good (if it starts with a K). I owned a MK Martin Meteor 3pt snowblower and found it to be well built and a good value for the money. I sold it to buy a MK Martin rear pull snowblower which I love.

 

[Jchonline]

Not sure I would want a backhoe where the subframe comes off. I watched a video on this subframe and the backhoe. It reduces ground clearance significantly. I personally dont trust square stock for a subframe. Backhoes create a lot of stress on the chassis. You should have separate valves for remotes and backhoe functions. However it will vary by tractor. Mine has 3 separate rear remote blocks. I really hate the separate seat...it really makes the tractor much longer than it would otherwise be (again less ground clearance when going up/down hills). However if it works for you then that is fine.

The biggest complaint I read on these forums about rear mounted snow blowers is Neck pain. It sucks to have to look backwards for long periods of time.