Tractor Sizing need advice on Kubota size

[newtarheel]

I have just bought an 8+ acre parcel in North Carolina. About an acre is lawn and the rest is woods with thick undergrowth. I have plans to landscape – including digging a pond, building berms, tilling vegetable gardens, clearing underbrush, pulling stumps, moving rocks, etc.
My question: Is the Kubota B7800 too much tractor for that kind of work? Or should I aim for the B7510? And would the B7510 be a better machine for me than the BX24?
I’d appreciate your recommendation.
Whatever the model, I think it will need a front-end loader, a backhoe, and a tiller. I already have a mowing machine.

 

[mike69440]

My humble opinion is that thee B7800 is way to small a machine. Look at a 3400 L series or look at a Kioti or other heavy built ractor. Kubota tractors are light and good power to weight.

You could hire out the heavy work then use a B7800 or B7610 to clean up and do the grounds keeping. Over the long term that may be best option.

I have an old B7200 as well as the L39 and there are a lot of things I can do with that little guy I would be doing with hand tools if I just had only the L39.

 

[Doc_Bob]

Grand L5030.
Bob

 

[newtarheel]

Thanks, Mike, Doc. I'm getting a little worried that anything below an L series in the Kubota line isn't much good for anything beyond pushing around a few twigs?

 

[texasjohn]

My first impression was that with 8 acres you didn't need a heavy duty tractor. Then, I read carefully your ambitions for the acreage. If you really mean all you say, including lots of pond and dirt work, then my opinion is that you need a 50hp class tractor.

You couldn't go wrong with a Grand 5030L .... if you want more details how I've modified mine, send me a PM.

 

[cpellis]

Everyone seems to want you to buy as much tractor as possible, and I guess that's OK. But to answer your question, I have 10 acres and bought a B7500 about 3 years ago. It would be comparable to the B7510 now. I don't finish mow with it, but I have a loader, rotary cutter, box blade, scraper blade,48 inch tiller and a landscape rake. We are currently having a new house built. I put the driveways in, leveled out all the dirt from the basement and moved several triaxle truckloads of fill dirt and topsoil. The B7500 is a great tractor, and will do about anything that the larger tractors wil do. It just takes you longer. The B7500 is a great size tractor for small acerage, and will definetely move more than a few small twigs.

 

[Cornflake]

I Bought a B2910 few years ago.. moved a drainage ditch that ran too close to the house... wish I had a bigger tractor sometimes... it can be done just takes time.

depends how big of a pond you want and how soon you want it... the biggest part though is how much is your budget?

I love the Hydrostatic trans and would never give up my 4WD.

good luck.

 

[Henro]

My question: Is the Kubota B7800 too much tractor for that kind of work? Or should I aim for the B7510? And would the B7510 be a better machine for me than the BX24?

I have put 665 hours on my B2910 (same as the 7800 in reality) on 3.7 acres, mostly all of it digging, moving hundreds of tons of fill, trenching and so on. Very little grass cutting, but it was excellent at that before I bought a BX2200 to handle grass cutting chores.

The 7800 is a nice size small tractor. Large is not the answer to everything. You have to think long term too, unless you have money to burn, then all bets are off...

The B7800's limitation is loader capacity and weight of the tractor itself. You just will not get the same amount of work done per hour as you could with a larger tractor. But you will get in to places that are tight, and do things like that where the larger tractor might not be able to.

I don't mean to imply that the LA402 loader is a whimp. It is not by any means. It is just numbers that are different. The L series loaders can pick up more, but 900 lbs is still a lot...

The BX in my opinion just does not have the weight to do the same work and the 7800. There is an amazing difference when pulling something like a rake or rear blade. By 2910 keeps going in conditions where my bx just spins the wheels. Now this is not to say that the B7800 would not spin the wheels under conditions where an L series would keep on going...and going...

The BX also has ground clearance issues and the 3PH is really a limited cat1.

There are many here with L series tractors who have five acres and seem happy with them. Very happy with them.

With ten acres and a lot of work to do I would myself probably go with something like an L3430. Tractors get smaller with use; bigger at first could turn out to be just right in the end. I know when I started looking the B2910 was just too big for me to consider. Then when I saw the way tractors get cheaper by the pound, as you go up in size I decided to buy what I thought was way too large for my needs, and it turned out that it was the perfect choice.

Frills are important too. Extendable lower links on the 3PH arms are worth their weight in gold when it comes time to hook up (and remove) a heavy implement. And you come to appreciate a suspension seat after you spend hours and hours bouncing over rough stuff (each time mine bottoms out I appreciate what it is doing for me most of the time when it is not hitting the stops!)

Hope this makes some sense.

 

[Doc_Bob]

Thanks, Mike, Doc. I'm getting a little worried that anything below an L series in the Kubota line isn't much good for anything beyond pushing around a few twigs?

Anything you can get will push around more than a few twigs .

Nothing makes up for size. I used a Kubota Grand L3830 and NH TC40DA. Both wonderful machines. I bought a used TN70A. Having used all three in the same situation, I now understand why folks go for power and size. The TN70A is a brute and can do in one scoop what the 3830 and 40DA might take 1 1/2 scoops.

But, BIG tractors are not always the answer. More money, more fuel and not as nimble.

But, do not limit yourself. Go for what meets your needs ($$, job, space). Kubota makes great tractors. Try some of their big ones. just to at least be able to say you looked and tried them. Don't decide without looking that you don't need a BIG tractor. You maybe surprised.
Bob

 

[newtarheel]

I'm grateful for a lot of good information, here. To begin with, I might have misled by writing that I wanted to dig a pond. I should have specified that I was planning a garden-variety, decorative pond for goldfish and lily pads. But I think I now understand more the need for adequate weight and horsepower, and my sense of what is a "large" tractor has sure changed. I now have my eye on an L-series machine, but I think my budget ($22,000-$23,000) is going to keep me firmly anchored in reality, by which I mean a B7610 (with FEL, BH and tiller) or -- if I can find a dealer in North Carolina who is desperate to move inventory, a B7800 with the same implements. Thanks again for some very useful information. I'll keep you all posted.