Do I Need A Tractor?

[flusher]

Used Kubota B7510HST compact utility tractor (CUT) with 4-ft wide front end loader (FEL) and a 4-ft wide rotary mower (brush hog) or a 4-ft wide finish mower or a 4-ft wide flail mower. This should fit comfortably within your $10K budget.

 

[Will_C]

If the OP has a 10k budget-he has a 10k budget. There is no way to get the best options for his property for that kind of money, and that's ok.

For 10k, I would be looking at either a used large garden tractor (like a JD 7xx), sold with a MMM and a plow or blower., or a used sub or compact tractor. I got $7500 in trade 10 years ago for a BX with 1200 hours, had MMM and FEL, and sold a B2620 with FEL, 775 hours for 10k last year.

Both of those would have been great choices for the OP-would have had to add a RFM to the 2620, but $1500 will pick up a used one around here all day long. The other point to consider, is unlike old pick up plows and 50 year old tractors, equipment like I have mentioned is very reliable-certainly able to be used for at least several years with routine service and minor repairs. Now if the OP is mechanically handy, that old stuff may not be a problem-I'm not!

Obviously, a 35hp compact, a commercial ZTR, and a new 4wd truck with a plow would be the optimum solution for the OP. I have all these things except for the plow- but I didn't get them for 10k!!!!

 

[ZTMAN]

I will throw in my 2 cents after just down sizing from a home that had 8 acres of grass to cut and a 1,000 foot paved drive way.

You don't "need" a tractor.

For grass cutting I used a commercial ZT. Three times as fast as a tractor.

For the drive way, I had an atv, mounted a plow and it worked great. For those few snows that dump 12-18" I plowed about every six inches.

I now have a BX and was thinking would it have made chores at the big house easier. The answer was no for me.

I think in your case the benefit of a tractor would be maintaining the gravel driveway, but with that said, I would get a zt, find one of the locals to plow the drive for $50 for large snows, and have a track drive snow blower. You can set the blower in travel mode and blow a 350 foot drvieway quickly and without damage. You really dont need to plow the smaller snows since you have the gravel, just make it passable. You can pay for a lot of drive way plows for less cost than a beater truck after you factor in acquisition cost, maintenance and insurance.

No doubt tractors are fun and I love our BX. (Bought the BX for our camp) If you want to get a tractor, go for it.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I would agree with ZTMAN that you really dont need a tractor for your maintenance. A Zero Turn commercial grade mower like the Ferris IS700 (around $6000 new) that I have will mow that 6 acres in a couple of hours. Then if you need, a small cart can be towed with the ZTR for hauling stuff around the place. For snow removal, contract someone to plow it when needed (large snows) otherwise for snow falls of up to 6", just drive out over it since you have flat land that shouldn't be an issue.
A properly made gravel driveway should be good for at least a year without needing any maintenance, so by that time you can more determine if you want more equipment. Dont forget, any equipment needs indoor storage or they will turn to crap in a few years of outdoor storage.

So my suggestion is wait and see if you really need a tractor. Your house builder should be able to do any landscaping, smoothing, levelling of your planned lawn as part of your building contract. By the way, make sure your lawn is smoothed out especially if it was farm land. Mine was farmland previously and has some humps that are really rough to mow over but now I hate to destroy the grass in order to smooth it. I thing good planning when building would alleviate the need for a tractor and if you get a contract with someone with a snowplow, no need for snow removal equipment.

My most used item is my RTV900. It is used daily several times for transportation and hauling things and the hydraulic dump bed is great to have. It could be fitted with a snow plow if you wanted. In your case, it would be better than than a tractor however even well used ones are still pretty expensive, but that is something to think about.

 

[MaineGuy1]

Again, every man should own a tractor

 

[Jchonline]

What are you hauling? How are you getting said contents into/out of the hauling vehicle/trailer? How much of the home build do you expect to do? For example, foundation, footings, water lines, septic field, sewer lines, electrical lines, well lines, etc.

Without answers to these, I am inclined to recommend a old pickup for hauling and snow and a ZT for mowing. It sounds like most of what you will be doing after the house is mowing.

 

[Dynasty]

Thanks for the replies.

To answer a few questions, the primary use will be mowing, then snow removal, then hauling (under 1,000 lbs) of equipment, then gravel driveway maintenance with a blade.

I am not sure how much mowing will be done exactly. Once the home is built and after I see how nature grows it naturally, I can make a better judgement call on if bush hogging will be better than finish mowing.

The home build will be 90% completed by the home builder. The stuff I will be fooling with does not require a tractor.

Ford 8N seem common in my area. However, I read they are not best suited for bush hogging because of the PTO and high gearing. I really can't say for sure as I have zero experience with tractors this size.

 

[Tractorable]

I bush hog about five acres with an 8N. If I let the grass grow too much it becomes problematic because I can’t go slow enough and the tractor will almost stall out. I have to either raise the cutting height, make partial passes, go down hill, or all three!

 

[JK22]

Our house is on 5.5 acres. We survived 2 years with a snow blower and a JD big box store ride on mower. The projects piled up in that time and the 1/8 mile driveway was a real chore with the snow blower. The JD mower was fine for mowing but nothing else (ok, it pulled a little dump cart but it was easy to overload and loading it by shovel was grueling work). The amount of projects you will have with that kind of acreage is hard to describe until you experience it yourself. Some things like moving rock for landscaping are predictable (but the amount of effort to do it by hand was not). Other things are not predictable, like torrential rain storms flooding your septic requiring diversion channels and a French drain, or coyotes digging up your grassy areas making it ugly and difficult to mow, or a spring snow storm breaking trees. You get the idea. More acreage, more projects.

We sold the JD and snow blower and bought a BX25D 2 years ago and it was the best decision we made. 0% financing made it an easier decision. We probably lost some money on the JD and the snow blower by selling them 2 years later, but we’ve saved a lot more on the projects we were able to do ourselves vs hiring them out. Honestly I think you will find that you really do “need” a tractor, but it might be worth waiting until you can increase your budget. You might have to go so used with your budget that you’re just buying a headache. Maybe you’re really handy and that’s not a concern.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Dynasty the differences between needs and wants is very subjective.

I have no real advice but have added a few small tractors over the last couple years. I grew up using the Ford 800 series so I know them.

Last spring I picked up a 1980 Ford 3600 (40+ HP range) with like 2300 hours for $3500 take it or leave it. The guy had owned it for 32 years and purchased from the first owner who bought it new so he had known the tractor its entire lifetime. I did a trip by car into your region and looked at the tractor because when I go looking towing a trailer it is easy for me buy something just to have a "load". Rusty (set outside for the last 32 years) is now my go to tractor around the place. I like the weight and power on our hills.

As has been pointed out by others an 18+ HP tractor should be just fine for your needs. The smaller the tractor the more the price as per horsepower it seems. A set up with 4 foot implements could be just fine and more than 5 foot might start getting "tight" in places. 4WD is not required but if you want a FEL do look hard for a 4WD. I would buy an older Ford 1000 series today with a small bucket and 4WD if priced right.

The old iron is still fairly easy to find in your neck of the woods. My tractor came from Bloomfield IN, the Ford 711 one arm FEL for the 3000 that we fixed up for the daughter came from Nashville IN and the 3PH fork lift attachment for the MF 265 came from Oxford OH. All three sellers actually were looking for buyers that wanted to keep in use their old equipment if possible. If old iron will start, run, work and stop it still has value and often will bring the purchase price 5-10 years later.

On a side note a FEL is awesome. I went with the old 1983 310B John Deere backhoe instead of putting one one the 265 MF. We added the Ford 711 FEL to the daughter's 1966 3000 diesel that she asked for me to buy for her back in 1917 when she was like 19 years old to help with her care of her mini horses. It turned out nicely but really limited using it in tight places because it is no longer a short tractor but is a hit at antique tractor events with the one arm FEL that Ford sold in 1966.

Best of success in your hunt. Craigslist is where I found my stuff out of IN and OH. The "hunt" can be the fun part I have found.