Buying Advice Is it possible to go too big?

[JohnnyMX]

I went from .25 acres to 60 which is half pasture, half tree farm and started off with a smaller 25hp Kubota (245DT) because it was free to me. Looking back that was mistake that cost me more in the long run. I now have an MX5200 with loaded tires and a FEL. Buy the tractor once so you can size your implements. If you go from something small to something much larger later, chances are your implements are not going to match. I now have multiple undersized implements that I try to get buy with and am changing out as necessary. Get a grapple and a cutter of your choice to help tame your wall of green.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

I read 2 of 8 pages on the thread, then jumped to the end. Hope I didnt miss anything. But here is my thought. Dont waste your money on a 30-40 hp tractor. You will be frustrated by its limitations. Dont sell any timber off your land until you have been there a couple years, unless it comes down in the clearing of a build site.
You are on flat land. That makes it much easier to handle a tractor and learn the ropes. My first and only tractor is a 73 hp Kioti. I am on very hilly terrain at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. That Kubota you have your eyes on would be a real good size to do a lot of work. Leasing some of that land out would also be a pretty good idea. No matter what you get, you will probably buy something else too. If you have lots of thick stuff but not massive trees where you want your trails, consider hiring someone with a forestry mulcher to come in there and cut the trails. They could probably do it in a day or two and you could then maintain it with ease. Good luck.

 

[Xfaxman]

I read 2 of 8 pages on the thread, then jumped to the end. Hope I didnt miss anything.

Depending on your setting of how many posts per page, you may have missed the best machine for the OP, Post # 26: Buying Advice - Is it possible to go too big?

My setting is 50 posts per page.

 

[PaultheMaleNurse]

Clearly I'm no expert, but I've been seeing a lot of videos of gravel driveway maintenance that use box blades, land planes, and landscape rakes. For those suggesting other machines besides a normal tractor, can you run all of those items and if so what size?

 

[PuffyC]

I didn't read all 9 pages of responses so my apologies if this has already been covered. Also didn't see where you were located. When we bought our place it was almost the exact scenario you describe and here's what I would say:

Building a gravel road: We've gone down that road (no pun intended) a couple times and the answer is real easy: hire that out. I wouldn't touch that with a 100 foot pole. No way no how. Never. You want no part of building 1500-3000 feet of gravel road yourself, especially if all you have is a tractor - don't care how big it is. However, you can maintain 1500-3000 ft of gravel road easily with any compact.

Timber and trails, light grading and gardening: Been there too. Cabs are terrible in the woods and so is a tractor that's too big. This stuff is all pretty easy, any compact open tractor will do great and is usually better.

Mowing: Don't mow with a tractor if there's any way you can possibly avoid it. Seriously. If your pasture is big just lease it out for hay. If it's small (5 acres or less) get a ZTR. You'll question that logic when you have to write a check for a $10,000 lawn mower but a year later you'll view it as some of the best money you spent.

As for the rest, smaller tractors aren't "learners", they're just appropriately sized tools for the jobs they're doing. Some feel bigger and heavier is always better but keep in mind:

- If you plan on trailering it anywhere for any reason, smaller and lighter is easier, cheaper, and I'd argue safer. And trust me, you'll want to trailer it somewhere. You get an M4 with a loader and a trailer to hold it, you're probably over 10,000 pounds which is more than some standard F150s are rated.
- Bigger and heavier means it's not as maneuverable or nimble in tight places like woods and trails.
- Bigger and heavier is usually more expensive to buy and will cost you more to use.
- Bigger and heavier will tear up your yard just by driving across it. May not sound like a big deal but I promise, it's a big deal.
- Bigger and heavier is harder to store, assuming you don't plan on leaving it sitting in the yard and don't have a proper building you can use.

You'll end up doing many other things that you haven't even thought of, and that's the great thing about having a tractor, but with all that said you probably already know where I'm going. Honestly something like a 3 series Deere is all you'd need.

I sometimes dream of getting a big tractor with a cab and all that other big tractor stuff just because they're cool and I love tractors. I may go there some day, but if I do it won't be because it's a better tool for the jobs I have on a place that sounds just like yours.

 

[greenerdreams]

look at what was done through history clearing land with much lesser machines than we have today. you do not need huge or new(all machines nowadays will last thousands of hours). 4x4 is great but usually unnecessary especially if you have two machines, I have a 4x4 truck and a 4x4 bobcat and things still get stuck but with another machine it is easy to rescue your equipment. bigger isn't really better, I have used some tiny machines that still can do an incredible amount of work. my opinion is buy two machines used for less than the price of one new and do far more. I have a mini ex and a bobcat and can do everything i need. I have attachments for the bobcat and can rent anything i don't need to use often. the ex has a thumb and that is all you will need. I use my ex far more than the bobcat, even though the bobcat is used as a FEL most of its hours. I do agree with letting someone else hay and harvest your property, unless you find that you really like mowing. there really isn't any 'intro' time, you will be able to run equipment almost immediately. Things just get much more efficient the longer you operate. Lastly, If you buy these two machines used you can probably afford a dump trailer or even an older dumptruck and be able to do anything you want at any time and save yourself a lot of money and waiting on other people.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Too big? That may be true with women. I don't see how with tractors. Maybe stay under 150 hp.

 

[Jac65]

My dad was right, the larger the machine, the safer they are and easier to operate. I started running a Case 450 dozer by myself at 11 years old, my dad just showed me how to operate it, left me with lunch and water on my 11th birthday and said, "you'll remember this". Later I graduated to a D7 dozer and was amazed how much work I could get done and how much safer it was.

And I'm going to disagree with you on this. I'll bet you don't even remember a time when you didn't know how to operate a tractor. Growing up doing something is very different than learning as an adult, and bigger is only safer if you actually know and understand how to use the equipment you are riding. I know some kids who are hobby racers that can drive circles around me and most anyone else, yet you can't count the number of Hellcats or Demons that are wrapped around trees and put in ditches because competent adults don't have the proper skillset for the equipment. Most of the issues I've had were because I was trying to work beyond the limits of my equipment and that can put you in a scary situation. The problem is that new tractor operators don't really understand the real world functional limits of the equipment until they put time in the seat. Id hate to have made those early mistakes on a machine that could do 5x the damage of my small one.

 

[DieselBound]

Jac65 nails it.

I've clipped a fence line with my NX5510, snagged a post with the grapple: narrow pathway with tree branches and I was lower to not snag branches. I was lucky in that I built an insanely strong fence; any other fence would have been ripped up: I felt the tractor start to strain due to resistance that the post was putting up against being pushed over and I immediately released my foot from the travel pedal. Last summer I snagged my pole shed's roof, once again due to low hanging branches and visibility. Worst was clipping a pole/post on my wood shed (in my fuel bay); just like with my fence, I built this shed insanely strong (no lower bracing, which actually might have been beneficial in allowing a little more flex). Have also managed to snag my fence with my rotary cutter's tail wheel and with my flail: stuff is a lot further away with bigger tractors and equipment. NEVER did anything like this with my B7800; reason being is that visibility is far easier due to it being a smaller machine: and ducking branches isn't as much an issue because the loader doesn't raise as high. NOTE: NO, I'm not going to go around trimming thousands of branches. I had more than sufficient seat time in my NX5510, so it wasn't a newbie issue. And this brings up the point that even if "experienced" you can still mess up (duh), and with something bigger the mess-ups cans be significantly more problematic. And just wait until you break something on a larger tractor- MUCH more in repair costs. There's also maintenance: the amount of hydraulic fluid used in larger tractors is exponentially more; that's more cost, more time to change and deal with old fluid.

I was nervous operating my NX5510 when I first got it, and at that time I was NOT a tractor newbie: perhaps 900 hours on my B7800, as well as dozens of hours with excavators and skidsteers. If nothing else, operate anything, especially BIG tractors, with a sense of nervousness.

The aim of anyone making a decision is to know all the issues, good and bad.

 

[Jac65]

Too big? That may be true with women. I don't see how with tractors. Maybe stay under 150 hp

"Stay under 150" Seems like good advice for tractors and women!