Looking to buy my first tractor

[Creamer]

There is very little that I have not been able to accomplish with my 1710 - 28 engine hp. that includes maintaining a 1/4 mile long driveway for 25 years and excavating for 40 x 60" building with a box blade. the excavation took me about 8 hours of tractor work and it was my first time in hard packed clay. My tractor has diamond tread rears as well so not the best for traction. In doing the excavation I had to move about 3' deep on one side and only about 12" on the other but it was a lot of dirt to move. I could have done it faster with bigger equipment but eight hours wasn't long for a one time thing.

It is small and handy to skid logs with and haul firewood. I drive it on my lawn at any time of the year. It is quick off and on and works with all my implements.

Brands - you have heard it. I think my Shibaura built Ford was one of the best back in 1983 but you won't be disappointed with any of the major brands. I had not heard anybody mention the Massey Ferguson (iseki built) tractors. they are becoming real popular in my area probably because we have a couple of great dealers but my friends who have them really like the tractor.

The only things I would like a larger tractor for is use as a mobile work platform for around my buildings and trimming trees - something a little more stable than my little CUT and also for heavier pallet fork work like taking a ton or so pallet off of a truck.

 

[Wagtail]

Great advice from everyone... high 30hp-low40hp. Have a good hard 'think' about any future use you can think of for your tractor 'cause if the only major use you're going to use it for is the driveway, well, it'll be sitting idle for quite a while in-between jobs. For the price of a CUT, you'd be better off hiring out the task.

You did very well to talk to that bloke on his Kubota = real hands-on advice. Do more of that if you can with local neighbours. They'll also know the local dealerships and their reputations for sales, service and parts. Basically which ones will support you best in the long run. Then go and talk to those dealership(s). A great dealership (in my experience) is nothing like a car dealership; they will ask you questions and then recommend a tractor (their colour, of course ) that you need.

That includes John Deere. Several blokes have mentioned steering clear of JD; we usually don't colour bash, here on TBN. It's bad form. If you don't check out JD or Kubota you may miss out on a tractor that fits you to a 'T'.

Buying a tractor can be a daunting task. They are expensive tools (let alone the attachments/implements). However, they do tend to last for decades.

 

[GManBart]

Been looking at some of the LS tractors and it seems that for about the same hp and implements on a Kubota, the LS is about 5k cheaper. Never heard of LS until I posted on this forum...are they a good tractor?.....good as Kubota or even Kioti?

I haven't priced new CUTs in two or three years but when I compared machines as equal as possible, Kubota was $10K more than LS. Little things add up quickly and many things that are options on some brands are standard on LS. Make sure you ask about remotes, SSQA on the FEL, etc to get a real final price.

I think LS is right up there in quality with any brand. I sold mine to buy something much bigger but there are a lot of LS owners here and the complaints are fairly minor. Considering unhappy owners are usually more vocal than happy owners, I think that's a good sign.