Price Check need a used subcompact

[chacto]

I only have about one acre of garden, the garden is for my use only. Need a gt to use a tiller up to 4ft no bigger though. buying used probably older. don't want to spend much. right now choices seem to be a 400 jd with a belt tiller or a case 446 with hyd. tiller. Kinda looking for price i should be paying. pretty sure there both from the 80's. both are in decent shape with a lot of hours. Prices i should pay? should i look at something else?

 

[searcyfarms]

well not a lot to choose from back then other than SMALL GTs with belt drives and such.......and with their age you are going to be looking at possibly items that are difficult to get parts for, just guessing here as i don't have a lot of experience in those older GTs - im guessing an older Kubota/Deere/ford will be easiest to find just because most of the newer brands were not around then - what kind of budget you thinking? they do make gas powered rear hitch pull type tillers so that might be an option if you are on a limited budget. some of the old cubs had rear tine tillers/hitches/belt drive attachments but they were small on HP and small tiller footprint - and VERY slow due to the lack of power on them -

 

[dnw64]

I had a Case 444 (early '70s). A real workhorse, although I only used it for cutting grass and blowing snow. I understand some of them had hydraulic rear remotes and a tiller was a common optional implement. Believe it or not, the same tractor was made for decades, almost identically. Biggest difference is in power source, but I was getting parts as late as 3-4 years ago for my '72. There have been several ownership changes, they were most recently owned by Colt/Ingersoll as far as I know. There is a huge interest in them and there are many sites that offer support (via forums similar to this one) and parts.

All that said, I believe that a 16hp gas tractor is going to struggle with a 4' tiller, unless the ground is already very well worked. I would suggest looking for an early Kubota diesel of similar size, with a standard 3pt hitch. Not only will it likely be more up to the task, but it will be much more versatile. Believe me, once you have a tractor you will start to see all the other things you can do with it besides the one thing you bought it for.

OTOH, a budget is a budget, and if you are able to do what you need to with what you can afford, it's got to be better than turning over an acre by hand...

 

[dnw64]

Oh, and as far as price, I sold mine (14hp single) for $1400. I "lost" about $200 on it after owning/using it for 20 years (plus normal wear/tear and maintenance).