Never owned a compact utility tractor, yet

MoMower · Jun 2, 2014

GPintheMitten said:
It might take a while to find the right deal, but I bought used with only about 115 hours. In my case it was a B2620 with a mmm and loader. I have recently added a BH6500 backhoe that was never used by the original owner.

I see others once in a while for sale on Craigslist. When you're ready, try using SearchTempest to expand the cities to search in.

People buy stuff and then change their minds to buy bigger, smaller or just get rid of it. In my case, I saved a lot of money.

As to size, I would think a BX or similar size in other brands would be fine for what you described.

As far as I know, for the pool, you pull the liner and demo the sides (maybe galvanized metal panels about 3 feet tall all around), then back fill. I helped my FIL put in an inground pool 30 years ago, The sides were as described and the bottom and tapered sides were sand screeded and worked like concrete. Then a plastic liner covered everything. A mechanical or hydraulic thumb would come in handy for the demo.

By the way, nice job on the water management on the current house.

Used can definitely be a money saver, and good used machines are out there. I did not mean a total condemnation of the used market, I could not find the right machine, equipped as I wanted at the right price. The closest I came was around 12k for a used when the new one cost me 16.5k. Happy land and tractor hunting, you will not be disappointed owning a tractor.

Kan1ck · Jun 2, 2014

I am pretty sure this is a vinyl liner pool. I took photos Saturday and am posting one here for opinions of it being vinyl liner, or not.
In 1982, I helped a friend (who was a co-worker at my job) build a 24' X 32' vinyl liner pool, but his pool was a genuine rectangle with square corners, whereas this pool is oval shaped.
Anyhow, I'm basing my presumption of a vinyl liner on the fact that the top 12" of the pool below the coped edge is a pattern of multi colors and not simply "pool paint".
Yes, I remember how we had a big "pool party" one weekend at his house to lay in the sand and drop in the liner, and get that puppy filling up right away. He and his wife had a lot of nieces and nephews that must have owed them a lot of debt, because there were about 20 good strong hands there that Saturday to help mix the sand (1 part Portland cement to 10 parts sand), tote the sand in 5 gallon buckets, and lay in the sand and screed it out followed by a quick, light troweling. I still have half of the liner section that we had to cut out to open the main drain port in the bottom of the "hopper" (deepest spot in pool) after filling the pool to a depth of about 8". The piece of liner is a memento that he shared with me to mark that time in history. He died about 8 years ago and his wife passed about a year after he did.

GPintheMitten · Jun 2, 2014

Hard to say for sure, but it looks similar to the way I remember my FIL's pool. Had a similar cove at the top into which we fastened the liner. The pattern seems like it is vinyl. But could be tiles.

The pool could probably be resurrected by dip netting out the debris, shock treatments etc. But then again if you have no young people, it's probably best to get rid of it.

8N Ren · Jun 2, 2014

Everyone I know with a pool resents it, they take over your life. Pumps, filters, chemicals, pH levels.........no thanks, if I want to swim I'll hit up one of the many pits near the house.

GPintheMitten · Jun 2, 2014

8N Ren said:
Everyone I know with a pool resents it, they take over your life. Pumps, filters, chemicals, pH levels.........no thanks, if I want to swim I'll hit up one of the many pits near the house.

Yah, my FIL built it for his kids and grandkids. He spent a lot of time and money on building it and maintaining it. When his house was up for sale, he always made sure the pool and yard was in great shape and he sat by the pool with lemonade, making it appear as the life of riley. A coworker of his bought the place and said, man could I relax around here.

Cherokee140 · Jun 2, 2014

Used is a possibility, but just about everyone of the big players offer 0%.....this gives another big question to used. If you pay cash for the machine then yes you can save money....if you have to finance it like most of us the line between used and new gets VERY thin. You also get new machine warranty, and there are no questions on how it was taken care of before you.

ironpen · Jun 2, 2014

The pool looks bad, but could be cleaned up pretty easily. Not using the filters, pumps, etc. doesn't hurt them. That would be a LOT cheaper than your planned fill in. Of course, if you don't want it.....then ok. But this is not the disaster you are thinking it is. Ours looked much worse when we bought the house....had fish living in it, etc. Pumps had not been used in 3 years. Simply drained, cleansed and turned it on.

Guesseral · Jun 2, 2014

Not sure if you have thought about it but have you taken into account just how much it is going to cost to fill that pool in? Just the hauling in of the materials will be expensive, the cost of the fill isn't that bad but the trucking is a killer! Before I would buy the house I would probably get an estimate of what it will cost to fill it in.

oldpilgrim · Jun 2, 2014

Guesseral said:
Not sure if you have thought about it but have you taken into account just how much it is going to cost to fill that pool in? Just the hauling in of the materials will be expensive, the cost of the fill isn't that bad but the trucking is a killer! Before I would buy the house I would probably get an estimate of what it will cost to fill it in.

A quick off the cuff estimate based on dimensions given brings it to 60-65 cu yds of fill, estimating a 5 foot average depth.

Dunno what it would cost to truck that in.

varmint · Jun 2, 2014

Someone already mentioned 4shorts and his B25D- be sure to look into that. My 2 cents worth would be to go ahead and get a small tractor with what you need, take good care of it, and you should be able to sell it for most of what you paid when your projects are finally done. Renting is okay if you only have one thing to do, and want to tackle it and be done, but ongoing requirements are something else. Having a useful little tractor around for when you want it is a blessing.