Is an L3560 too big for me?

[richarsm]

I'm having a bit of analysis paralysis here. We recently bought a house in Michigan, and I'm in need of a tractor. There's 14 acres total with ~5.5 acres of woods and ~8.5 acres of grass. Not fields, but more like finished lawn. I have attached a very crude picture of the property for illustration. It is a relatively flat piece of land. I need the tractor primarily for snowblowing and maintaining 1000' of driveway. Ideally, I'd like to use it for mowing the open areas as well, but I realize I will also need an additional machine to mow around the house. I was originally thinking a B2650 would be a good do-it-all machine, but I'm pretty well convinced it's too small. I also test drove one and detested the treadle pedal arrangement. I find the pedal on the Grand L much more acceptable. As of now, I've narrowed down the search to a JD 3039/3046R or a Kubota L3560. The Kubota looks to be a larger and much more stout tractor and weighs about 600lbs more than the JD. The JD is obviously lighter and I assume a little more maneuverable. I don't think tractor weight will play in my favor here as ground engaging work will be relatively limited. Is a Grand L too heavy to finish mow what is essentially lawn? I could add more to this post, but I'll leave it at that for now.

 

[diesel85]

If you can afford it, go for it. I own ~10 acres, and I really could use a bigger tractor.

I'm looking to get a L3901 to replace my BX2200. Talk about an upgrade.

As far as mowing lawns, I plan on using that L3901 I mention to mow the lawn. It better not be destroying my lawn, lol.

In fact, my local country club uses a L4310 with turfs with a bat wing to mow the fairways.

 

[jeff9366]

An L3560 is tractor nirvana.

I trust you would mow the 8.5 acres of grass with a Three Point Hitch mounted Finish Mower.

I operate over turf with air inflated R4/industrial tires several days every week without damage. My soil is Florida sandy-loam.

Opt for the high capacity LA805 Loader.

If you will opt for front PTO for a front snowblower carefully establish the final front PTO price with aLL the necessary bits.

MORE: L356 front PTO site:tractorbynet.com - Google Search

 

[richarsm]

Yes, I was thinking a 7' finish mower or possibly 8' if it will handle it. My hesitancy is that the place doesn't have a whole lot of "tractor work" that needs to be done, aside from repairing the driveway, which is pretty bad. If the place needed work, I'd go even bigger with the tractor.

I would like to get a sawmill eventually, so it would be nice to be able to handle large logs. If I go 3560, I'll definitely get the larger loader. I can afford it, though the $11k option for the front snowblower makes me a little sick.

 

[4570Man]

If it’s dry you won’t have any trouble with that size machine. Earlier spring and late fall when there’s no options to mow except when it’s wet you’ll probably have issues. Drop the loader off and you won’t have any trouble mowing around the house. A 21” push mower or a few extra minutes with the string trimmer will easily take care of what’s left.

 

[5030]

My philosophy is, no tractor is big enough, the only limitation is your finances. I'm on my 10th and 11th Kubota's. Every time I bought one new, I went bigger except the last time when I bought the same size for the sake of maintenance items and fluid capacities.

Don't use mine for mowing lawns, have a 60" zero turn mower for that and I mow just under 7 acres. of lawn every other week. Mine are for my Michigan hay business mainly but I'm always finding uses around the farm for them as well.

 

[chim]

We have 3-1/2 acres with trees, creek, sheds, house, etc and the L4240HSTC with loaded R4's and a 7-1/2' Caroni RFM is the lawn mower. It cuts close enough to everything so there's no need for a walk-behind mower for trimming. Whatever the Kubota doesn't reach can be done with one 20V battery in the DeWalt string trimmer.

 

[RjCorazza]

I finish mow my lawn on occasion with an L4060 and Befco 7' mower with satisfactory results. There are some at areas down by my stream that are frequently too wet to get into, but the zero turn also has issues there.
In Michigan, I would want a larger machine for snow (meaning the L3560), particularly on a long driveway. I opted for an L4060 mostly for snow removal clearing 15 or so residential driveways. A cab is also a big plus when it's cold out.

 

[jeff9366]

$11k option for the front snowblower makes me a little sick.

Blowers are for deep snow.

Will a snow PUSH BOX serve?
VIDEO: TRACTOR SNOW PUSH BOX - YouTube



YOUR LOCATION WOULD HELP THIS THREAD DEVELOP.

 

[BRMyers]

I have a L3560 that we use on the small family 80 acre farm. It has been a wonderful tractor and the cab is very nice, but the nicest feature is the HST+ transmission.