Front loader essential?

[earljr59]

I agree with all the responses. And do not let someone selling you their tractor convince you you don't really need front wheel assist with a loader. They work together and without front wheels engaged most times I can hardly back up and on slopes downhill it keeps rear tires from losing traction. I cant imagine having a backhoe on the rear and not having a loader on the front to finish the job with.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have bought three tractors, all with FEL. With the first tractor I didn't really know if I needed an FEL having grown up on a farm and none of our tractors had FELs. I quickly found out how handy they were. My last tractor purchase was a TLB (tractor/backhoe/loader) and I quickly realized how much I had been missing by not having a backhoe.

Since you mentioned a backhoe, I have never seen a backhoe on a tractor without an FEL although I suppose you could put a 3PH styled one on any tractor. The FEL is necessary to help stabilize the tractor while digging and also to level it front to rear when on a slope.

With only 1.5 acres, you may not fully utilize a backhoe but they sure save you some backbreaking shovel work. All my shovels are rusting down now that I have my TLB with hydraulic thumb. I used it for planting when holes need to be dug, ditching for additional water lines, digging up rocks (my land grows plenty of them every winter), removing unwanted trees, holding up felled trees so I dont get my saw in the dirt, picking up large boulders that are too big to lift by hand and ungainly to try to get into the FEL. You really need the hydraulic thumb for some of these activities so you aren't constantly adjusting the pitch of the thumb. I am sure there are many other uses you can think of. The only real down side to having a backhoe is the cost.
I suppose with your size lot, a small SCUT like the B25D Kubota TLB would be ideal size. It may take longer to do a job than with a CUT but you will enjoy the tractor time. You can get them with a belly mower also so it does multiple duty. The downside to the SCUT tractors is the low ground clearance of about 12". If you wont be taking your SCUT into woods and underbrush, that should not be a problem.

 

[check 6]

I agree with the above, a front loader is essential. I sold my B2650 last fall, reasons not important and now with spring there is garden work. My wife asked " how are you going to move the mulch etc around the yard ( we have 1 acre plus and have done work for our community) and she added, a shovel and wheel barrow with your back is not the answer I want to hear" after 52 years with this great lady we were off to buy a BX tractor WITH FRONT LOADER. Actually the BX is all you need for up to several acres. They are lower to the ground but that makes getting on and off easier and being smaller they maneuver easier in tight spaces in the yard. Just remember, if using a middle mower with one either disconnect the front loader or watch how far they stick out..... ask me as I cleanly wiped out a fence post years ago

 

[rgr33]

My first two tractors didn’t have a fel, they were old, and cheap. When I finally upgraded to a diesel with fel, I cursed myself for all the hand labor and exhaustion I previously put myself through.
Never gonna go back.

 

[fruitcakesa]

Unanimous; get the FEL. You can always drop the bucket[if the tractor is set up for easy detach] if you don't want it on for other tasks/implements.
Definitely 4WD with the loader to maximize its capabilities.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Unless you have a union agreement on how many laborers you have to hire, a FEL of some type is essential even in your back yard.

I worked in Mexico one time and they had a skidster but they weren't allowed to scoop up the dirt with it. They could haul it and dump it but they had to have laborers with shovels put the dirt in the FEL.
They had a cherry picker but had to use laborers to unload 20 foot joints of heavy wall plastic pipe (about 10 to the joint) and then carry it 50 feet to stack. The cherry picker could have taken the whole load off the truck at once. The also unloaded 4" schedule 40 steel pipe the same way. Lots of stuff like that happened on that job. I guess that was the way we did it a couple hundred years ago.
Glad we can now individually own equipment that makes life a lot easier.

 

[Chris from Ontario]

Just to echo everyone else here, get it. You won't believe how you ever did without it.

 

[TnAndy]

Spend the money on the FEL that you might have spent on a tractor mounted backhoe. Most of them are underpowered pieces of crap. When you need to dig a hole, rent a real backhoe, or better still, a small excavator. The FEL will be 10 times more useful than the backhoe unit.

 

[3Ts]

The FEL will be 10 times more useful than the backhoe unit.

I agree and I have both.

 

[WM75Guy]

If you only plan on 1 tractor get it with a FEL. For a second tractor I bought my Boomer 8N without one as it is used almost exclusively to mow, occasionally it pulls the tiller.