Bob_Skurka
Super Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
- Messages
- 7,615
Joey, I think most people who move to land buy (or at least look at buying) a tractor sized for their construction jobs and tend to disregard the future maintainence jobs.
The reality is you will spend a couple years CONSTRUCTING your landscape, but you will likely spend a decade or more MAINTAINING your landscape. That obviously does not apply to people who buy tractors to be used for farming, logging, etc. But for the homeowner with a few to a couple dozen acres who is building their dream home and fixing up the property as their own mini-estate, then you really need to ask yourself if some of the other features come into play. Mowing with a big tractor on a small property that is landscaped could be a pain, so is the FEL easy to remove and install? You'd probably want to pull the FEL every time you mow with a big tractor. Do you have low spots that will be mowed? A heavy tractor will leave ruts, so maybe going to a smaller size/lesser HP machine might lighten the weight enough and STILL give you 90% of the capabilities of a larger unit?
Just for reference, my TC24D is about 18" shorter (from the 3pt to the front of the bucket) than the B2910, it is 6hp less than the B2910, but the FEL probably gives me 80+% of the capacity of the bigger machine. It turns much tigher and the ROPS is about 10" lower so it fits through the woodland paths that I cut when the B2910 does not fit. I'm not pushing either brand, just giving you some examples.
Ask youself what you are really going to do. If you plan on living on your property for 12 years, and the first 2 years are building landscaping, the remaining 10 will be maintaining. Buy a tractor that will fill both needs. Generally I believe (JMHO) that a slightly smaller tractor is often a better choice. If you are not using a lot of ground engaging equipment, then a lighter tractor is very probably better in the long run. Size is relative. For one person a 33hp unit might be "small" for another a 21hp might be just right. But think LONG TERM and it might take a little longer to build something, but in the long run it might be a lot less time consuming to maintain.
Now all that said, if you are just going to plop a house on an open field, then buy a big honkin tractor and pull the biggest deck you can find. That will get the job done well and fast. If your wife starts talking about kidney shaped landscaping pods, birdbaths, and trails, then you can forget your dreams of mowing with a 15' batwing deck and focus on a 60" unit behind a small frame tractor.
The reality is you will spend a couple years CONSTRUCTING your landscape, but you will likely spend a decade or more MAINTAINING your landscape. That obviously does not apply to people who buy tractors to be used for farming, logging, etc. But for the homeowner with a few to a couple dozen acres who is building their dream home and fixing up the property as their own mini-estate, then you really need to ask yourself if some of the other features come into play. Mowing with a big tractor on a small property that is landscaped could be a pain, so is the FEL easy to remove and install? You'd probably want to pull the FEL every time you mow with a big tractor. Do you have low spots that will be mowed? A heavy tractor will leave ruts, so maybe going to a smaller size/lesser HP machine might lighten the weight enough and STILL give you 90% of the capabilities of a larger unit?
Just for reference, my TC24D is about 18" shorter (from the 3pt to the front of the bucket) than the B2910, it is 6hp less than the B2910, but the FEL probably gives me 80+% of the capacity of the bigger machine. It turns much tigher and the ROPS is about 10" lower so it fits through the woodland paths that I cut when the B2910 does not fit. I'm not pushing either brand, just giving you some examples.
Ask youself what you are really going to do. If you plan on living on your property for 12 years, and the first 2 years are building landscaping, the remaining 10 will be maintaining. Buy a tractor that will fill both needs. Generally I believe (JMHO) that a slightly smaller tractor is often a better choice. If you are not using a lot of ground engaging equipment, then a lighter tractor is very probably better in the long run. Size is relative. For one person a 33hp unit might be "small" for another a 21hp might be just right. But think LONG TERM and it might take a little longer to build something, but in the long run it might be a lot less time consuming to maintain.
Now all that said, if you are just going to plop a house on an open field, then buy a big honkin tractor and pull the biggest deck you can find. That will get the job done well and fast. If your wife starts talking about kidney shaped landscaping pods, birdbaths, and trails, then you can forget your dreams of mowing with a 15' batwing deck and focus on a 60" unit behind a small frame tractor.
