Long Steep Gravel Driveway - Which Tractor?

[Pirate]

My driveway is a mess and will require a regular blading to keep it decent. Which compact should I buy? I really only need a blade, preferably front, diesel, and 4WD. I'm trying to keep the cost down without buying a piece of junk. Thanks.

 

[Pirate]

Bump. Anyone? A little help here please. This driveway is 850 feet long and is so steep my car has to crawl up it or it will spit gravel everywhere. Should I bother with a good brand name or go with some Chinese gizmo?

 

[jmc]

If you fill out your profile, we can better guess if you're talking about moving snow or gravel. Also, what's steep in Indiana is flat in West Virgina.

 

[DavesTractor]

Pirate,

Welcome. I think responses are slow as this is such a subjective question. If you ask this in the Chinese section of TBN, they will tell you that those tractors are nice and heavy, simple and a great value, especially if you like to tinker. If you ask this in many of the other brand specific sections of TBN, they will tell you why not to buy a Chinese tractor, including stories of how bad they are. The Yanmar guys will tell you about their quality, but the Kubota guys might retort about the various gray market issues. I sell Branson and Mahindra, so I'd tell you how great they are (I'm resisting that right now...but it's hard /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif).

If you just have this basic task, a good used tractor with a blade or some sort of a float on the back will keep a driveway nice. If it is really steep, go only with 4wd in a compact, or with a heavy 2wd tractor. Good used machines are hard to find. If you go new, it sounds like you don't need all the bells and whistles.

 

[Ken_CT]

What price range are you looking at? It would help people understand your needs better if you would fill out your profile.

 

[normde2001]

I don't understand why guys get so hung up on that profile, steep gravel drive, along with how much you want to spend, is all anyone needs to know.

 

[Pirate]

Around 4-5K. Part of the deal about only wanting a blade is because I have a neighbor that would want to use a tractor for mowing his pasture. I'm not ready to become the rental place, so I only am concerned about a blade to keep it smooth. FWD is absolutely necessary. Not too small as I may want to drag some timber back up the drive.

 

[Harleymsn]

Well now you have gotten to a real sticky part of the matter here. $4-5K with 4wd is almost unheard of. You may get lucky and find a small used gray market 4wd, but most likely you are looking at spending at least $7-8k for a decent used one. For a new chinese or used major brand figure more like $10-12k.
If this is for a one time job and maybe a once or twice a year maintanence of the drive and that is all you intend to use it for, I would consider hiring somebody to do it for you. The other option is to rent one for a weekend. I know that RSC rents 30hp 4wd Kubota's with a blade and a front loader for a couple hundred dollars for a weekend.

 

[djg]

Pirate, I suggest you do what I did: research here on TBN awhile. I ended up buying an old 4WD Kubota on ebay for less than $4K.

 

[JSUnlimited]

Pirate,

My drive turns into a washboard everytime it rains hard. I too ended up buying a used Kubota B-1550 (17hp, 4x4, MMM) from a neighbor for $7000. I used it for a couple of years mowing and bought a Woods 60" blade to maintain my hellish limestone driveway. We had just built a 2500+ sq. ft. house and had no money in the budget for a tractor so this one worked OKAY for a couple of years. I took good care of it and traded it in for $6200 and bought my 24hp New Holland and it works even better.....but now I have a tractor payment. As you may have found out...tractors are not cheap, however invest in a good one and take GOOD care of it and you won't lose.