First tractor

ljjhouser · Mar 12, 2022

Cahaba Valley Farm said:
Except one of the most important which is mowing.

I think you changed your picture, Nice Hat.

Cahaba Valley Farm · Mar 13, 2022

ljjhouser said:
I think you changed your picture, Nice Hat.

Si Señor Gracias

Pete.Mitchell · Jul 21, 2022

So, 4 months later and many hours of simply over thinking things I drove 1900 miles round trip in 48 hours to pick up my new Branson 2515h with loader, backhoe, quick connect forks, box blade, and 20ft 10k trailer from the tractor yard in Oklahoma.
I didn’t want to leave this as yet another thread without a conclusion haha.
Thanks again everyone for the feedback

K5lwq · Jul 21, 2022

Congratulations! You made a great choice. I hope you have many years of trouble free service.

AWSubie · Jul 21, 2022

That was a grueling trip!

Pete.Mitchell · Jul 21, 2022

AWSubie said:
That was a grueling trip!

You have no idea.
Left az at 8am. Got to Tulsa at 10pm my time. Midnight their time.
Got to the tractor dealer at 8am their time. 30 min later hit the road.
Didn’t realize tractors don’t have built in attachment points
Every fuel stop I always check straps and tires.
500 miles in my 2 rear straps rubbed the frame and sheered almost completely thru.
Bought 2 more straps at the truck stop.
3hrs from home it’s 10pm and the alternator in my truck goes out. I have 10.2v of battery
Pull off in the middle of nowhere
Limp it 15 miles to a small town to grab a hotel with my son. (It was his birthday)
They are having a once in a decade biker rally
Every hotel is sold out.
We sleep in a dirt lot.
Wake up at 6am. Go to autozone and buy an alternator, change it in the dirt lot and make it home. Hahahaha

hornett22 · Jul 21, 2022

Pete.Mitchell said:
You have no idea.
Left az at 8am. Got to Tulsa at 10pm my time. Midnight their time.
Got to the tractor dealer at 8am their time. 30 min later hit the road.
Didn’t realize tractors don’t have built in attachment points
Every fuel stop I always check straps and tires.
500 miles in my 2 rear straps rubbed the frame and sheered almost completely thru.
Bought 2 more straps at the truck stop.
3hrs from home it’s 10pm and the alternator in my truck goes out. I have 10.2v of battery
Pull off in the middle of nowhere
Limp it 15 miles to a small town to grab a hotel with my son. (It was his birthday)
They are having a once in a decade biker rally
Every hotel is sold out.
We sleep in a dirt lot.
Wake up at 6am. Go to autozone and buy an alternator, change it in the dirt lot and make it home. Hahahaha

That's a trip he won't forget! Great memories!

paulfun9 · Jul 22, 2022

I know there is a lot of back and forth about the purchase of a backhoe but one thing stands out in your post.
Motorcycle trails and jumps
For this The backhoe will be you tool of choice. Having. Boys who loved to ride my husband and I have built and maintained more bike tracks than I can remember. Then there is the other uses that are hardy considered. Its the best for planting and or replanting burger trees, will be able to take on other landscape ideas that without you would be forced to rent. The toothbar for the loader. Is good but is no substitute for the ground braking force of even a small backhoe.
At first I thought my husband was nuts wanting a backhoe when we first got married but after all these years O wouldn't be without. It would take a 3 page post to list everything we have been able to do with them over the years and the cost and time savings would most likely buy us a couple more. He is very analytical about tools paying for themselves and has stated many times after reading a post here about backhoes, that everyone we ever purchased paid for itself and we could swap them as junk and still be ahead.
I was also leery of tractors when we first got together and basically insisted on small and easy. After using only my small JD for many years and struggling with things that he did with ease on his bigger tractors I let him talk me into an upgrade. I would recommend you look for a muck bigger tractor, most likely something around my favorite of what we have which is a DK40.
We have debated on HST or gear many times and for my use HST is fine but he actually outrun me in everything with a shuttle shift tractor. I am able to operate the shuttle but prefer the ease of the HST and mostly limit my use to around the hose these days. If I were to start working out in the trails or doing stuff in the fields I would practice running the shuttle shift and become better at using it. Basically when using it I could really feel the difference in power, besides if I can get threw 10, 15 or 18 in a truck having to pick one on a tractor and use one lever to go forward or reverse isn't really hard now is it?
Good luck with your search.
Janet

Yander · Jul 22, 2022

Congrats on the new tractor, you not only bought a tractor, as was said, you made a memory and got a good story out of it. Looks like Deutz makes their engines and they have been making very large farm equipment for years. I bet you will be happy with it. Looking at the specs, I had no idea a 25hp tractor could lift that much.