Bellville
Silver Member
I have been reading for months now, and find the wealth of information and experience here to be really helpfull. I have rented a tractor twice so far and am finally thinking seriously about buying. I found I got so much work done with the rental tractor that I keep thinking about renting more often and for longer time periods. As a point of reference the two tractors were a Kubota MX 5000 and a Kubota L3130.
I have 11 acres of gently (real gently) sloping land that is to be my future homestead. I will need to rough mow (about 4 of the acres), make and maintain a gravel driveway, grade the homesite and build fences. My budget for the tractor plus attachments is 16K.
I think I need a MFWD tractor with a FEL, 60" cutter, box blade and post hole digger.
Now for the hard part, before I was serious about buying I thought oh, I know what kind and size tractor I would buy, but now that it is for real, I am really confused. Is it too much to hope that I could buy the one tractor now that would be the one tractor I need? (I am close to 50), or do most folks buy one now, use it and then figure out what they really need a few years down the road.
I have read so many post here about people in a situation very similar to mine and it is so exciting to see them post about their new tractor (especially all the great pictures) /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif and how much they are enjoying it.
Anyway, on to my search..
I had to start somewhere, so last Saturday I went to my local John Deere dealer and told him what I wanted to do and he showed me a 790, MFWD, with 419 loader, LX5 cutter, 5' box blade and post hole digger, all well within my budget. I test drove the unit, had the wife try it too, nice tractor.
The next morning I got up and read the owners manual on the Deere web site (looked like it was easy to maintain) and researched the tractor here on TBN, (seems most owners complained of a problem with battery terminals), but overall most owners seem happy.
I had the following concerns after my research on this paticular tractor.
Is the tractor too light for what I want to do?
Is the lift capacity of the FEL and 3 point hitch to light?
Is the LX5 cutter tough enough for rough work?
Woud I regret not getting an HST?
What does the competition have to offer in a similar price range?
Any input would be greatly appreciated, I am going to go to the Kubota dealer this saturday and see what he shows me, after that on to the New Holland dealer the next weekend.
I have waited too long to jump on anything and would like to make a informed purchase, please feel free to offer any comments, recommendations or suggestions.
Thanks for your help!
-Jack
PS This is stressfull stuff
I have 11 acres of gently (real gently) sloping land that is to be my future homestead. I will need to rough mow (about 4 of the acres), make and maintain a gravel driveway, grade the homesite and build fences. My budget for the tractor plus attachments is 16K.
I think I need a MFWD tractor with a FEL, 60" cutter, box blade and post hole digger.
Now for the hard part, before I was serious about buying I thought oh, I know what kind and size tractor I would buy, but now that it is for real, I am really confused. Is it too much to hope that I could buy the one tractor now that would be the one tractor I need? (I am close to 50), or do most folks buy one now, use it and then figure out what they really need a few years down the road.
I have read so many post here about people in a situation very similar to mine and it is so exciting to see them post about their new tractor (especially all the great pictures) /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif and how much they are enjoying it.
Anyway, on to my search..
I had to start somewhere, so last Saturday I went to my local John Deere dealer and told him what I wanted to do and he showed me a 790, MFWD, with 419 loader, LX5 cutter, 5' box blade and post hole digger, all well within my budget. I test drove the unit, had the wife try it too, nice tractor.
The next morning I got up and read the owners manual on the Deere web site (looked like it was easy to maintain) and researched the tractor here on TBN, (seems most owners complained of a problem with battery terminals), but overall most owners seem happy.
I had the following concerns after my research on this paticular tractor.
Is the tractor too light for what I want to do?
Is the lift capacity of the FEL and 3 point hitch to light?
Is the LX5 cutter tough enough for rough work?
Woud I regret not getting an HST?
What does the competition have to offer in a similar price range?
Any input would be greatly appreciated, I am going to go to the Kubota dealer this saturday and see what he shows me, after that on to the New Holland dealer the next weekend.
I have waited too long to jump on anything and would like to make a informed purchase, please feel free to offer any comments, recommendations or suggestions.
Thanks for your help!
-Jack
PS This is stressfull stuff