Downsized from L4630 to B3030: expensive mistake!

[TripleR]

I have found the only way to "downsize" without regret is to keep the bigger one too; nothing quite like two tractors. Otherwise just keep the big one as downsizing seldom ends well unless there is a change in land/tasks/needs.

 

[kcender]

I recently downsized by selling my L3240 with FEL and backhoe.I finished all the work I had to do with it,other than plowing my driveway in the winter.After much deliberation,I finally put it up for sale.Now I only have a BX2360.I am trying to have one tractor for mowing,snow plowing,and general maintenance.I have the BX up for sale as well.If I sell it,I will get a B series,either a 2320 or 2620.If it doesn't sell I will put a FEL and front mounted snowblower on it.It is always a compromise by trying to do everything with one tractor and I wonder if I will regret it,time will tell.It is easy to move up but not easy to move down.

 

[dodge man]

Buy the wife a BX and get yourself back into an L. Like Triple R said, unless you stop needing to log, something smaller is going to seem like a step down.

 

[newbury]

Are you sure the L will be big enough? I'd be tempted to go up to an M6040 if I was hauling a lot of trees.

 

[TomSeller]

How big is the wheelbarrow there given ya for the wife??

I'd like to know too, that could be a good swap.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I have to comment how important the tasks/jobs are to making the decision on the model/size tractor to purchase. Tim the Toolman says "more power ro bigger tractor".
I have bought several but I have flat rental property but where I use mine mostly is hillside, some treed, gulliey and rocks. I don't farm, I just do home hillside 5 acres landscaping.
First Kubota was a BX2200 FEL MMM and after one year traded it up to a B7800 FEL RFM (Higher ground clearance and a bit more HP)and a BX1500 MMM (for wife to use for mowing which she did 1 time). Move up in size worked well as long aS i ALSO HAD THE SMALLER BX FOR MOWING on the hillside. 3years later had them paid off so I thought about upsizing again and did. Got rid of them and got a Grand L3240 HST FEL and a BX2350 MMM. Mistake on both of them. The L felt dangerous with my butt so high off the ground especially when dropping in a stump hole or over a small rock or downed tree and the BX1500 was a better mower than the BX2350. OK, not going to keep machines that I wouldn't use even if I had to lose money. Traded the L3240 to a B3200 and the BX2350 to a BX2660 mostly because of the jerk stopping in reverse. Well, did several trades after that and now own Kubota Fs for mowing at home and rental property and have a B2620 FEL MMM for tractoring (home landscaping and septic system work at rental property). I traded a BX25 to the B2620 FEL BH and sort of wish I had the smaller closer to the ground BX25 back.
My bottom line is I've traded up and down more than once and bigger isn't better unless your job/task/need and terrain requires or benefits from the larger size. As I stated at the beginning. Don't let other peoples needs, likes and ideas make you make the wrong decision. Look at your needs/tasks/jobs and match your tractor to it and if you do more than mow with your tractor, a single tractor will have some trade offs. Usually most people that do more than mow can use 2 or 3 different tractors. Ahhh memories of LBrown come back to mind, wonder where he went?

 

[newbury]

I have to comment how important the tasks/jobs are to making the decision on the model/size tractor to purchase. Tim the Toolman says "more power ro bigger tractor".
I have bought several but I have flat rental property but where I use mine mostly is hillside, some treed, gulliey and rocks. I don't farm, I just do home hillside 5 acres landscaping.
First Kubota was a BX2200 FEL MMM and after one year traded it up to a B7800 FEL RFM (Higher ground clearance and a bit more HP)and a BX1500 MMM (for wife to use for mowing which she did 1 time). Move up in size worked well as long aS i ALSO HAD THE SMALLER BX FOR MOWING on the hillside. 3years later had them paid off so I thought about upsizing again and did. Got rid of them and got a Grand L3240 HST FEL and a BX2350 MMM. Mistake on both of them. The L felt dangerous with my butt so high off the ground especially when dropping in a stump hole or over a small rock or downed tree and the BX1500 was a better mower than the BX2350. OK, not going to keep machines that I wouldn't use even if I had to lose money. Traded the L3240 to a B3200 and the BX2350 to a BX2660 mostly because of the jerk stopping in reverse. Well, did several trades after that and now own Kubota Fs for mowing at home and rental property and have a B2620 FEL MMM for tractoring (home landscaping and septic system work at rental property). I traded a BX25 to the B2620 FEL BH and sort of wish I had the smaller closer to the ground BX25 back.
My bottom line is I've traded up and down more than once and bigger isn't better unless your job/task/need and terrain requires or benefits from the larger size. As I stated at the beginning. Don't let other peoples needs, likes and ideas make you make the wrong decision. Look at your needs/tasks/jobs and match your tractor to it and if you do more than mow with your tractor, a single tractor will have some trade offs. Usually most people that do more than mow can use 2 or 3 different tractors. Ahhh memories of LBrown come back to mind, wonder where he went?

First of all he's around:

Mowed the front yard for the first time this year.
Used the B23.

Mowed the back yard for the first time this season .
Used the BX 1500.

Many of us don't mow with "tractors". I don't have a "mowing tractor". I don't have a plot of land with more than 1/8 acre of lawn out of my about 400 acres, and 4 houses. All my mowing is taken care of with a 20" self propelled Toro or smaller.

I'm trying to creep into your class of machines I've got my B7610 which has done me well. However as the OP has recognized you need at least 40 HP to move big trees. If I had a budget like many of you seem to have I would have gotten a new 5100 or bigger for about $28K or more, instead of a well used M4700 for $12K.

But if you are doing work in the woods, and trying to make "small" roads and trails (versus mow it all down) a 50 to 70 hp tractor seems the sweet spot.

The OP is already kicking himself for "downsizing", he doesn't need to kick himself for not "upsizing " enough.

 

[Boondox]

Hmmm, I never thought of trading her FOR a wheelbarrow...

I could probably do 80% of the trees around here with one of the smaller Grande Ls, like a 3240. Not much more HP than the 3030, but a heck of a lot more mass...and mass is generally the more critical issue. But that 4640 really spoiled me! The sheer power and stability of that thing with a Farmi 9000# winch made harvesting firewood easy, and the mass and ground clearance made dragging them home a cinch.

The problem is to replace the baby tractor with what I really want would cost $25k in addition to my trade. Even with 0% financing from Kubota, that's $470 a month as I creep up on retirement age. It means for the next five years ALL our discretionary cash would go to paying off the tractor. No home improvements, no new appliances, no cross country motorcycle trips. Nothing but the tractor. On the other hand, if we bought firewood in log length, cut/split/stacked it ourselves, we might spend $1500 a year which is a lot cheaper than that big new tractor!

Not sure I want to go there. Ahem, decision time.

 

[DieselnHooters]

The problem is to replace the baby tractor with what I really want would cost $25k in addition to my trade. Even with 0% financing from Kubota, that's $470 a month as I creep up on retirement age. It means for the next five years ALL our discretionary cash would go to paying off the tractor. No home improvements, no new appliances, no cross country motorcycle trips. Nothing but the tractor. On the other hand, if we bought firewood in log length, cut/split/stacked it ourselves, we might spend $1500 a year which is a lot cheaper than that big new tractor!

Not sure I want to go there. Ahem, decision time.

Wouldnt you miss heading for the woods to harvest your own firewood ?

You could go used, I see plenty of those larger L__40 models for sale up here, dunno about VT though

And why not a MX 5100 ? they are similar to those GL in size but more affordable, not as fancy but just as powerful and nimble.

 

[dodge man]

You might want to look at doing your firewood in a different manner. I cut it and split it where I fell the tree and throw the split wood in the FEL of my BX and haul it up to the house that way. I'm not covering a lot of ground though. You could get some kind of dump wagon or some other way to transport it in smaller pieces instead of dragging whole logs.