I am going to put in another vote for a used 4x5 and support it with a copy of a post I put up on the Weekend Freedom Machines forum a couple weeks ago:
In praise of the 455
A few weeks ago I asked about the towing capacity of the 455 in reference to pulling a pretty big spreader. One guy said not to pull anything heavier than the tractor. Another said that he had pulled a 4000 pound trailer with an X485. I decided to try it empty first and then see how much of a load of top dressing material I could safely add to the spreader. I am happy and proud to report that the 455 handled even a heaped up hopper of wet sand with no problems whatsoever. Those loads had to be pushing 2700 to 2800 pounds. When I was pointed downhill, all I had to do was ease off the hydro a little to slow down or stop. No slipping or sliding at all. Going uphill, I had to lean on the pedal a little, but it never stalled, slipped, or stopped.
Good thing, too. The spreader is a Turfco Mete-R-Matic II. I bought it off evilBay back in March, took it completely apart, cleaned everything, replaced what needed replacing and sprayed the whole thing JD Green. It lays down a perfectly even layer - 5 feet wide - of whatever you're spreading. I spread about a quarter inch of compost and then an eighth inch of sand on an acre of lawn. A hopper of compost lasted about 5 minutes and a hopper of sand lasted about 10. If I had been forced to use my big tractor for both filling and towing the spreader, it would have made for a very long day. With the 455 spreading and the 4410 filling, I got the whole thing done in about 3 hours.
Now the original poster is going to have a hard time getting a 425, 445, or 455 for "around 2k". But, he could probably find a serviceable 140 or maybe even a 318 for that kind of money, and personally, I would rather have that than a brand new 2k machine.
