Compact for Landscaping Service

superlite17 · Oct 31, 2004

First off, I am a NEWBE!
Bought 20 acres of land, am building, want to do the finish grading, landscape, 1000' drive, will keep up 3-4 acres of yard, in addition to that I do a couple acres of food plots. I have been looking at the B7800 Kubota w/ woods implements, is that enough tractor?

Also, I am thinking of getting into landscaping small scale and see where it takes me. I see very few guys using compacts now, it is all the zero radius machines. But a compact 4x4 w/ turf tires seems the better choice because of the endless spectrum of things you can do with it. Plus I cannot afford both. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif Thought I would see what you guys thought???

beenthere · Oct 31, 2004

Welcome to the forum.
You indicated ""the zero radius machines.."" for landscaping??? or did you mean for mowing lawns?

Seems for landscaping, that a CUT with R-4's would be best. For mowing grass, then other choices are possible.

I'm a bit confused here.

superlite17 · Oct 31, 2004

What I really should have said is cutting grass and landscaping instead of using the words interchangeably. Sorry. What I am getting at, is wanting a machine I can use for those duel tasks.

beenthere · Oct 31, 2004

Okay, I'm with you now.
I'd go for the grass, and when that business grows, the CUT will come along with the need for prepping for grass.

Unless you have experience in both, then I'd pick the more lucrative of the two. Lot's of people in the grass cutting business, but there seems to be lots of need as well. That will happen regularly at the same location, whereas the landscaping business will be at a new location everytime, and require adapting to new problems at each location.

In the grass business, you will control your schedule around the weather mostly. In the landscaping, you will be controlled by the contractors doing the rest of their business, and not be in control of your schedule (IMO).

Bob_Skurka · Oct 31, 2004

Dual task machines are by their very nature a trade off. You can't beat a ZTR for mowing lawns quickly. But a ZTR can't do the chores a CUT can do.

As for tractors, I would buy a LIGHTWEIGHT tractor, that pretty much rules out all the Korean tractors as those are the heavyweights. It also takes New Holland out of the picture as that is a moderate heavyweight. The lightweight economical champs would be the B7610 (24hp) and the B7800 (30hp). The reason I would buy light is because it will be much softer on the turf. The tradeoff is that it will have lower capacities than some of the other machines, so it might take longer to grade the driveway, but you will still be able to do that. FEL capacity on those machines is also a little on the light side, but again, they will do the jobs, just a little slower. For mowing I would definately go with the HST transmission, it is faster for mowing than using gears, especially if you have a lot of things to turn around and mow along. For suburban lawns the B7800 is pretty large for mowing, but for country lawn the B7800 would be a good machine with a 72" deck. It won't come close to being as fast as a ZTR, however.

Dargo · Nov 1, 2004

Bob, I'm not quite following you on your weight comparisons. I have a L5030HSTC (4090 pounds). If you look up the specs on a Kioti (Korean) DK50C 4107 pounds); the closest comparison model, there is a total of 17 pounds difference between the two. Therefore, they appear to be nearly identical in weight. If I look at the John Deere 4610 4X4 (3425 pounds) and compare it to the New Holland TC40D 4X4 (3322 pounds), the New Holland is 103 pounds lighter. Again, this is very close, but the John Deere is heavier than the New Holland. According to the listed specifications on each web site between the four manufacturers you mentioned, Kioti, Kubota, John Deere, and New Holland, the New Holland is the lightest weight tractor when comparing comparable HP tractors between the 4 manufacturers you mentioned.

Bob_Skurka · Nov 1, 2004

Dargo, go down in size and compare a B7610 to a CK25 or compare a B7800 to a CK30. The differences are measured in hundreds of pounds. For a tractor that MIGHT be used for mowing lawns commercially, the lighter tractor would be softer on the turf. The original poster is talking about much smaller tractors than you are referring to.

If I recall correctly, the 21hp CK20 is about 300# heavier than a 24hp TC24 and the TC24 is a couple hundred pounds heavier than the B7610. The B7800/B2910 is only a couple hundred pounds heavier than the TC24. I am going from memory, but I think I recall these correctly.

keeney · Nov 2, 2004

For the building the house part, you really want something more like a tracked skid-steer. Something that can lift a full pallet of bricks or a unit of lumber and can do larger dirt-moving chores like back-filling or placing rock in the drive efficiently.

Once you are done building, then you can sell the skidsteer and will want a CUT with a backhoe for finishing the yard.

Once the yard is in, a ZTR to cut it and something with a snowblower or a plow for the driveway, so you might want to keep the CUT.

- Rick

Dargo · Nov 2, 2004

Yeah, that's basically what I did. You just have to then build a big pole barn and you then have to add a forklift to that list; so you can put your implements up on the heavy shelves you'll end up building to save space. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif