New Holland Vs other brand suggestions??

[Boondox]

DuckHnt -- I'm one of many who bought too small the first time and had to trade up. I was lucky; my small used Kubota sold for more than I had originally paid for it. Others have not fared so well on the resale front. I have 155 forested acres, but except for road maintenance and harvesting firewood, most of the time my L3010 stays in my 7 acre meadow. And yet, I often wish I had gone to 35+HP. So definitely consider bigger.

On the buying out of state thing. I did, but only after getting assurances from my local dealer that in exchange for buying my implements from him, I would not get bumped to the back of the service line. And in the process of buying from him I found he is a really great guy and a businessman with solid ethics. Next time, even if it costs a couple thou more, I'll buy from him. But that's another issue. Is buying implements locally under the same arrangement something you could do? Hate to see anybody stranded in service limbo...

Pete

 

[Bird]

I have a cousin who bought a TC29D 3 or 4 years ago. He has 40 acres, a pond, some ravines, and mostly heavily wooded (and will leave most of it wooded). He bought the tractor with loader, R4 tires, Bush Hog brand post hole digger, 5' tiller, 5' brush hog, and 5' box blade all at the same time ($21,800 if I remember right) and the dealer mistakenly delivered a 6' box blade instead of the 5' one.

He went with the New Holland instead of Kubota simply because a friend was the New Holland salesman, even though the dealership is nearly 150 miles from his place.

I think the only problem he's had with the tractor is the tilt wheel mechanism that other members on this forum have had fail. And he's mostly satisfied with the tractor, but I think he wishes he'd bought a little bigger one (he's considered trading up) and he wishes he'd gotten R1 tires.

So I think you, too, will be fairly well "satisfied" with your choice, but like the other guys, I think you'll be even happier with it if you go a size or two bigger if you feel you can afford it.

 

[icat]

Ah, the 'ole HP debate rears its ugly head again. Here's the catch. The TC29 is rated at 29 HP, but the PTO rating is only 25.1 HP in a manual configuration and 23.6 HP in a hydro. The PTO ratings are important because most (not all) impliments are run off the PTO. As such, with a TC29 you're limited to a 5' rotary cutter if you follow the mfg. recommendations. If you go up to the TC35D, then the hydro has 29.1 HP and you should be able to pull a 6' cutter with ease. The extra 6 or so HP will allow you to run larger impliments that will save you time in the field.

 

[fishman]

I have a Kubota b2910 which is somewhat comparable to the TC29D. I am quite satisfied with its performance on my 10 acres and don't need a larger tractor (although sometimes I might want a bigger one. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

However, the TC40D my Dad owns is in a completely different class. A real animal compared to my "little" tractor. If you are going to do much serious dirtwork you will want a heavy tractor with a very capable loader.

His tractor cost 5k more than mine, but it will do at least twice the work in the same amount of time. If he ever sells it, he'll recoup most of that 5k differential. The true cost of a tractor is not necessarily the purchase price.

I for one am glad I did not go smaller.

 

[rockyridgefarm]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( In case you did not know the TC29D is changing to the TC29DA. From what others have said the front axle is getting beefed up and the loader is going to the (14LA) curved arm style like the 16LA the 14LA loader will have greater capacity than the current loader. The hood will also change cosmeticly (some pics are in the NH forum) )</font>

Styman's point is very important! I was very interested in Blue, until I realized the class II loaders wouldn't work for me. I ended up on a Deere, because the loader was closer to the NH Class III, in the size that was closer to the Class II. For me the Deere ended up being cheaper, to boot.

Now if the 14LA had been available, it is very easy to believe I'd be colored blue.

 

[Typhoon]

Ok, this is my take on it, and remember, this is only an opinion. I have 50 acres. 30 of it is timber, the rest I have farmed by a farmer friend of mine. I recently had some of my timber cut so im dragging the huge tops out of the woods almost daily trying to clean it up. Im also hauling alot of firewood to different firewood piles with it. I tilled up, filled in large ditches, and smoothed out 4 acres and planted grass all with the boxblade and FEL. I dug a rather large drainage ditch for my driveway, and installed two 24' stainless culverts with the FEL. I uprooted several small trees and spread rock almost 1/8th of a mile for my driveway. I also Keep the whole place bush-hogged nicely around the perimeter of the woods. I have a 5' bush hog, and I am surprised with the stuff this thing will cut. These things I mentioned are only a small portion of the things I have been able to EASILY accomplish with the TC29D and im sure could do much more if I wanted. It is an extremely versitile tractor, im overly impressed with it. Tons of power, if you can imagine, I actually cut down an oak tree that was about 18" at the base, and pulled the entire thing all at once out of the woods. My wife couldnt believe it. Everybody on here will give you good advice, and many of them have been at this for YEARS! And they are the reason I have the tractor I do now. I know some are saying you might need a bigger unit. HECK YEAH YOU DO!! hehe... I wish I had a 300hp unit. But, I cannot afford 200 thousand dollars, so I got the best I could for the money. The 29 handles my 50 acres with ease. Hope this helps!
/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Bob_Skurka]

My .02. . . most people will find it easier to MAINTAIN their property with a smaller tractor and find it easier to BUILD/TEAR DOWN with a larger tractor.

In your case you are doing both. But the question is going to be for how long? And the other question is will you ever take over real farming chores such as plowing or is that a dream of yours for "someday" in the future?

I think you'd be real happy with a 35 or 40 or 45 hp tractor while you are tearing stuff down and building things.

I think you'd be real happy with a 25 to 30 hp tractor to maintain the property.

So the question is how much money do you have? Or if like most, tractors are major investments and you only get one, then the question becomes how much of a compramise are you willing to make?

I guess I'd look at the TC29 or the TC33 as a good starting point, the frame size is midsize and that makes them easy to get in and out of tight spots. They are nice size for mowing and maintaining and about as big as you want to go for doing that type of work unless you have really big fields to groom, etc. And that is as small as you want to go for some of the projects you really are looking at. The bigger the tractor the faster the construction projects will get done, there is no question about that. But after the first couple years of hard work, you will still have that big tractor and will you need it? At that point you are mowing the lawn with something the size of a HUMMER and probably tearing it up too.

You are looking for the ideal tractor. Ain't no such thing for your job. Or maybe if you face the reality that you are compramising betweeen different jobs, then you are buying something that is just about right for the LONG TERM by splitting the middle and realizing that some jobs will take longer, but for other jobs the tractor will be overkill.

Is the TC29 the perfect machine? I think you are close to right for the long term. You will wish you had something bigger a lot of days. You will be grateful you didn't go up in size on other days.

My general feeling is you buy the frame size you need and get the most power on that frame you can get. So if I am correct, the TC33 is built on the same frame as the TC29, and I would go up in HP scale but I'd probably stick with that class.

I needed a smaller tractor this year. I looked at the TC18 because the tractor is mostly going to be a mowing machine and used to maintain paths in the woods and some ditches, all things were a small tractor makes sense. Then I looked at the TC 21 and 24. Same frame, same basic size. I bought the 24 and love it. I still pull out a bigger tractor for some work, but the 24 now gets 85% of the hours of use on my property.

Get the size that best suits you long term. Then put the biggest engine you can get into that size. Just my opinion.

 

[PineRidge]

Murpheys Law: You can never have too much HP... You will all need to excuse me, my testosterones are getting away from me again. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif