Buying Advice First Tractor Recommendation for 40 Acres in NC

[mred2]

You are right on the LS 4140 being cat 1, but i have used cat 2 attachments on my XR 4150. Just have to move the pins. I love my LS XR4150.
Will the post drive have it own power unit or use the hyd power on the tractor?

 

[jeff9366]

I expect as Shaver specs a Cat 2 TPH it is because 30,000 psi shocks/vibration/reverberation of post-pounding has bent, stripped or otherwise distorted less heavy Cat 1 TPH components in Cat 1 trials.

The 800 pound weight of the implement is a middling static load on a Cat 1 TPH.

VIDEO: YouTube

The OP is seeking a tractor with high volume hydraulic flow to operate a post pounder directly.

 

[airbiscuit]

This is avail able in Raleigh on Craigslist

4052R John Deere tractor loader - $25800 - 865v hours.
Why not go with a post hole digger or auger instead of Post Pounder?

452R John Deere tractor loader - farm & garden - by owner - sale

 

[hosspuller]

I have 30 acres & horses in central NC. The 5045 is too small for your current and future needs. It's a 2wd drive only machine to hit a price point. The minimum I would go with is a 5055 I recently bought a 2015 5065E 4wd with a loader (500 hrs) at your budget number. It can be done with diligent searching. Do some more research on Tobacco. It's not a crop for beginners. I can answer questions about the area, horse keeping, Deere tractors, haying, Equine vets, farriers, Fencing, too. Been at it for 23 years.

 

[Silly Filly]

Thanks everyone for the great advice!

This is my first tractor, but I have experience with a JD 4044 and slightly bigger and older Mahindra. Recently used the JD to bush hog about 20 acres of pasture with a 5 ft mower. It was a little wimpy for the mower in thick grass and on inclines. Our plan in the next 5 years is to build ourselves a money pit pony paradise for 20 horses and I here thought I could just get by with a JD 5045, but now y’all making me think it would be smart to increase my budget and go bigger! A cab would be a nice luxury, but not a necessity at the moment. $4,000 of refreshing beverages instead could keep me equally as cool and refreshed maybe (might not be able to do the job too good afterwards though). And wife and I don’t have a beverage budget to stay within either haha.

When we first started looking for a tractor we didn’t have a good idea for a budget so we went to the dealer just to have a 5045E priced out for us. The dealer wrote up a quote with 4WD, loader and bucket, then a MX6 brush cutter and a basic scraper box. Then they applied several thousands in discounts and got us to around $30k. The tractor itself turned out to be $20k and loader $5k so that’s how I got my $25k budget. Maybe this is a great deal? Maybe it’s all smoke and mirrors? I emailed asking for prices on post pounders, lease options and also finance options for some used tractors they had. I didn’t get a response and haven’t bothered to reach out to them since. Who knows, maybe I’m not being fair and should give them another chance. There are a few more dealers within 30 minutes I’ll go check out, and this time I’ll poke my head around the service department too. I have three Quality Equipment, one Kubota and one New Holland dealer near me. I’ll also ask the neighbors for their recommendations.

Regarding post pounders vs augers, we have helped some neighbors put up about 1/4 mile of fence and the auger was pretty simple to use, but there was a lot of time consuming and back breaking tamping involved during the installation and also again down the road after further settling. This time we’ll be installing over a mile of fence so we’re looking for any mechanical help we can get.

Thanks again for all the help and advice! I’m going to start calling other dealers to get some more prices and also look to see what’s available on Tractor House.

 

[airbiscuit]

I'd use the auger, hire a couple of football players, and save my tractor from all that pounding.

 

[Mat4644]

Buy a tractor sufficient for your daily needs. Buy too large and you will regret later lack of mobility and fuel costs from continually filling a big beast up. Plus compaction from a heavy tractor and daily chores. If fuel prices go up again you'll appreciate the difference. Hire the fence posts out. You can still build the fence yourself. Why all 3 rail fence starting out? Look into lower cost fence alternatives and this will buy time.

Research growing tobacco and determine if it's for your lifestyle.

 

[Silly Filly]

I'd use the auger, hire a couple of football players, and save my tractor from all that pounding.

Part of not doing that is to use the money we’d spend on the labor for things we can’t do ourselves like drill a well or build a barn.

 

[Silly Filly]

Buy a tractor sufficient for your daily needs. Buy too large and you will regret later lack of mobility and fuel costs from continually filling a big beast up. Plus compaction from a heavy tractor and daily chores. If fuel prices go up again you'll appreciate the difference. Hire the fence posts out. You can still build the fence yourself. Why all 3 rail fence starting out? Look into lower cost fence alternatives and this will buy time.

Research growing tobacco and determine if it's for your lifestyle.

I should clarify that I’m not growing tobacco and hope to have our farmer neighbor till the stalks and seed in some grass.

Hiring the fence posts out is still a very expensive job and we’d rather put the money towards the barn. 3 rail is what we’re comfortable with installing and having around horses. We were thinking of running no-climb at first, but prefer the 3 rail for a more classic look. We’ve lost horses to wire fencing before so just want to avoid that in the future, though with our luck they’ll probably decide to impale themselves on the wood fence anyway lol.

 

[Egon]

Looking at your future plans I’d suggest to start looking for a used tractor that will meet your needs and be of the proper size. It might take some time for a nice unit to become available. Work with the dealers with your budget and needs clearly defined as they may find what you need outside of your search area. Be aware that many dealers work on different colours than what they sell. What counts is the quality of their service department.