John Deere 5045E for residential do-all??

[techwrtr2]

I maintain 12 acres with my old 855. I occasionally wish it were bigger but mostly when doing loader work. It handles my 72" MMM or 72" rear mount easily, even when I've neglected to mow for while.

I cannot speak for more recent tractors, not like I'm buying anytime soon. I can say that for most things I do the 855 is as close to perfect as a machine in that size can be. If you're mowing around things, the HST is as much of an advantage as when doing loader work. Were I mowing a large open area with no obstacles, then a geared transmission would be fine to me.

 

[jenkinsph]

I would recommend a separate mower and wood splitter from the tractor. For your tractor uses the 5045e will work but I much prefer the hydrostatic transmissions.

 

[kthompson]

While thinking on the weight of the tractor do not overlook setup for the front end loader will add a good bit of rear end weight to it. I have same loader on a 5525 with rear wheel weights and loaded rear tires. That adds a lot to the tractors weight. No idea how my tractor compares to your model in weight but I would never consider using mine on my lawn and have had it on it many times using the fel and it is just way to heavy for mowing to me and I have used tractor (Kubota M6800) a few times with no issue but not near as heavy.

BTW just replaced my old fel with a 240 and like it.

 

[9973720wb19]

5000 series is a lot of tractor for 11 acres. I'd think about a 3000-4000 then purchase a Zero Turn with the savings.

 

[MF283]

4044 would be a great step up, two transmission offerings.

 

[dieselcrawler]

That's a heavy tractor. My little 3005 is what I use on my 118 ac. I couldn't/can't afford a larger one, but aside from the loader capacity, it has mowed fields with 5' brush hog, pulled logs out of the woods, hauls horse manure regularly. Great tractor for the size, power, and cost. Unless you are dealing with huge logs (timber) the 5045 will be too much for the yard. Even with the light (by comparison) 3005, we still have the BX for Yard mowing duty, rare the 3005 gets a yard pass, restricted to fields, per the wife.