Compact right for me? Thinking of a new Deere.

[MountainMomma]

A new JD. Green paint is expensive.

You might check with that dealer and see if they have a good used machine they'll stand behind.

I know. I liked the suggestion above about checking with those dealers over the mountain...

 

[MountainMomma]

SO: if I go tractor shopping for used/new in other brands, what are the features I’m looking for?

So far I see above: 40 hp (why?), 4 WD, and people are saying “get a FEL.” What are a lot of run hours on a tractor, generally speaking? Like, with cars: 80K on a diesel truck is fine; 80K on a gasser is not as great... any rules of thumb with tractors?

 

[Diggin It]

Here are a couple of examples:

https://www.tractorhouse.com/listin...SA&ST=Virginia&ST=West+Virginia&HP=35&HPTo=40

 

[MountainMomma]

Yes, get a FEL. It's so useful. Finding one later on is difficult and expensive.

Many dealers will pick up and deliver machines they sold. Usually for free within a certain radius, otherwise there's a charge. Ask the dealer.

If you can change the oil in a vehicle you can do the routine maintenance on a tractor. Some of the parts and quantities are larger but the concepts are the same. You can also rent trailers if you need to. My dealer's 240 miles away. In two years since I bought the tractor I've been there once, to pick up a used backhoe, using a trailer I rented. They delivered the tractor and implements I bought with it for a reasonable charge.

How steep are the places you want to take the tractor? I have very steep land. There's a lot of it that I wont take the tractor on. I avoid side hilling on grades over about 10%. I only go up and down those. There's one road with a roughly 30% section that I have to take in low range. On anything steep I'm in 4wd so there's braking on the front axle. But a modern 4wd CUT will do better on hills than the 8N. Make sure you get the dealer to bolt the adjustable rear wheels in the furthest out position for stability, and consider getting the tires filled with ballast to lower the center of gravity and increase stability.

The general rule of thumb for mowing is 5 hp per foot of mower width. But if you're not mowing thick tall grass you can get by with less.

VERY helpful, thanks! I think our bushwhacker mows a 5 foot swatch. So, that would be a 25 hp machine? I am not sure of the degrees of slope... but given what I see of our neighbors making hay on theirs, we might have 20 of our 40 acres that we could knock down in a given year. We would ideally do that twice a season to keep the grass coming up and the scrub cedars from doing same.

 

[MountainMomma]

Here’s a local ad for a used tractor:

2008 DEERE 3032e 4x4 WITH LOADER , 300 hours , shed kept . one owner hydrostatic trans , 3pt hitch For $15K. Is that a good price?

 

[MountainMomma]

Here are a couple of examples:

https://www.tractorhouse.com/listin...SA&ST=Virginia&ST=West+Virginia&HP=35&HPTo=40

VERY helpful! Thanks!

 

[MountainMomma]

Modern tractors mostly have integrated dash boards, which makes it harder to mess with or replace the hour meter. Also on modern tractors the hour meter measures hours accurately, while on old machines with an engine driven hour meter hours are proportional to engine rpm, and only at pto rpm is an hour on the meter an hour.

You can get a pretty good idea how much and hard a tractor was worked by looking at its condition. It there worn and faded paint? Dents and dings? Rubber on pedals worn? Etc. Go to a dealer and examine new and used machines on their lot and you'll see it.

HELPFUL, thanks!

 

[MountainMomma]

How do you rate Kubota and Yanmar brands? Are they worth a look, all features being equal?

 

[Tractorable]

Both Kubota and Yanmar are excellent quality. John Deere uses Yanmar Diesel engines.

 

[Tractorable]

Take a look at Rural King tractors. Good bang for the buck and they use Yanmar engines just like John Deere. RK Tractors