I dont have a clue! What tractor?

[Timber]

Well take a look at the koiti. I know that is a decent tractor. I don't know about there compact line but I know people hear like them. See in the compact world the are not a lot of dealer marketing to that demographic. That is why Kubota,ford and Deer are the big 3 in compact tractors. Now the B7800 is the tractor I have and it would work great for you. It can lift a 1000 pounds at the fel. amid is a great work horse. If you think Kubota anything in the B series would be great for you

 

[roxynoodle]

Nearest Kioti dealer is Columbus, Ohio. That is the reason I didn't look at them. I really didn't want to haul it that far if it needed warranty work or if they required they service it to keep the warranty (although the tractors themselves did interest me). In NW Ohio you are pretty much limited to the big 3 if you want a dealer close by. If having a dealer close by isn't important then we do have just about anything except the Chinese tractors.

 

[Oleozz]

I would really hate to recommed anything that I haven't owned or had a close personal friend own and use for some length of time. I had a JD 870 for my 100 acres that I used for 7 years, it was a great tractor and I would recommend that size tractor (28hp) for your acerage but it was to small for my size farm. I now own a Kioti 45 hp cab tractor and it's approaching more the size of tractor that I would say to use for what I own but I would not
encourage anyone to buy it yet. I only have 120 hours on the tractor and as far as I'm concerned it has not passed the test of time. That's why I enjoy this site, real people giving real life experiences on what they've found to be proven and true. (Usually)

 

[BryanM]

What kind of price am I looking at for a b7610 or B7800. I have also looked at the Jd 2320 which would compare more to the B7610. But dont have a clue what a good price is? Of course I would like a fel on !

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I'm more inclined to buy and use older tractors myself. I'm using one that's going on 36 years old. I've found it to be every bit as reliable as a newer one.....and they can be bought considerabley cheaper. Since you're still in the position to buy whatever you want, I'd look at something in the 30 to 45 HP range, possibley something from the late '60's or on in to the 70's. There's wher the best buys are at. Not completely worn out, not QUITE a full blown "collectable" just yet, somewhat modern, and still offering O.E.M. parts from dealers. I favor the 100 or 200 series Massey Fergusons, then the "thousand series" Fords. Those old Masseys have Perkins diesels. They are the most reliable, most fuel efficient, cheapest to maintain small diesels ever built. (The 152 Perkins is still used to this day in an updated state, more than 50 years after it made its debut)

Now, another idea. A good friend of mine has established contacts with a finance company that handles loans on new tractors from a couple local dealers. They have directed him to several tractors that were right on the verge of being repo-ed. He was able to pay off the note and bail out the previous owner, bagging a nice tractor at a very good price.

 

[tensaw12]

Would you not worry, if they weren't able to pay for the tractor, would they have money to have properly maintained it

 

[Soundguy]

I agree. While I enjoy using my 2002 NH 7610s to mow with ( 10' or 15' mower ).. I am equally happy mowing with my 1975 ford 5000. And with the 10' mower.. they mow exactly the same. I've never tried the 15' mower on the 5000.. I know at least 2 people that do mow with them like that.. but i imagine it is just pasture clipping. 67 pto hp only goes so far...

In fact.. there were 2 seperate occasions* where my 7610s was 'broke down' for a month at a time for annoying reasons, and during that time, I could just go out and hop on my 32yr old tractor fire it up, and be mowing in 5 minutes..

* When i first got my 15' mower I found out that my 2nd remote had an internal defect inthe valve pack. It took me a week of rebuilding and testing the valve after getting a rebuild kit to determine it wasn't a seal / oring issue. Took another week to remove the entire remote kit and take it in for service.. where they again rebuilt it... still didn't work... finally had to schedule tractor to be picked up.. end result was they found me a used valve pack off a salvage tractor and installed it.. total down time was right at a month.. as the tractor really couldn't be run with the remotes disassembled due to that unit being a single pump unit, with all the pilots and pow steering coming off the valve pack and top cover...

2nd time was an electrical phantom that took me weeks to trace down. I'd be running along, turn a corner and tractor would die.

Ended up being a combination of things... a few chaffed wires in the starting, and horn and lamp circuits, and a bad switch or two.. plus a bad connection in the fuse panel... took me forever to finally get the tractor where it would not stall by hitting the horn, or turning on the headlamps and the hazard lamps and crossing my fingers... The old 5000 had none of that mumbo jumbo ( fuel cutout solenoid )... just batterym genny, starting circuit, and lamp circuits... and 3 sending units... oil, fuel, and temp... Rewireing that tractor was a breeze.. if you don't count the flaky lucas generator and voltage regulator...

New don't always mean better.

Soundguy

I'm more inclined to buy and use older tractors myself. I'm using one that's going on 36 years old. I've found it to be every bit as reliable as a newer one.....and they can be bought considerabley cheaper. .

 

[jlmaloon]

Bryan, I am also in your same position in terms of just purchasing 11 acres, building a barn and a new home. I have been getting quotes on the B7610 and JD 2320 from many dealers here in central Ohio. JD seems to be giving me a better buy. I have a number of quotes on the JD 2320, R4 tires, 62DMMM w/mechanical lift, and the 200cx loader with hood guard for 16k, if I am going with the 0/36 financing. If I pay cash, they will give me an additional 2% off. This seems to be a pretty good price after scouring this website for many hours. The JD also fit me much better and came with a few extras that the Kubota did not. My quotes for the B7610 with the MMM and
Fel were all about $800 more. Hope this helps.

 

[LoneCowboy]

for 5 acres, i would want something in the 27 to 35 hp range.
You think you only want it for X, but you'll want it for Y and Z, and something bigger than a SCUT is way mroe useful for almost exactly the same money.

My neighbor has 5 acres and a 20hp JD (I dunno the model number, JD model numbers make no sense to me) and he struggles. He put too big of stuff on it (his fault, not tractors) and it's beating itself to death. It probably won't make 1000 hours and it shoudl easily make 3 to 4000 hours. (of course, he's an idiot, so take that with some advice)
However, the tractor is SLOW, the FEL is SLOW and it's not nearly big enough to do many things. (PHD? got fences, you'll want that, i use mine a ton, tiller/ripper, you can get small ones, but on 5 acres they just disappear and tillers wiegh a ton).

For 5 acres, about 30hp seems about right
4wd (you never know, mud, snow, etc, and 2wd and FEL work can be frustrating)

Nearest dealers? you should exclude any of the ones that aren't near and/or you don't like. Dealer support is key.

Have you thought about Massey Fergeson (AGCO, same thing)? Their 1500 series is cheaper than the equivilent JD.
Also, the NH boomer TC tractors are pretty sweet.