Buying Advice Newbie tractor advice

[coaster33]

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[jeff9366]

Your Gator, if it is a heavy one, with the addition of an all-terrain dump trailer, should take care of a lot of your barn, farm animal, snow and garden tasks, mitigating your perceived need for two tractors. I have a friend in Iowa who moves a lot of snow with his heavy Gator and a front snow plow.

LINK: MUTS - Multi-Use Trailer System for your ATV, Quad and 4 Wheeler
- Welcome


Others here are more qualified to comment on converting hydraulic powered skid steer implements to tractor use. However, the best plan may be to sell these off and buy tractor implements. Alternately, I believe a hybrid Bob Cat "Tool Cat" could use the hydraulic powered implements but still work at many "tractor" chores and provide plenty of front lift for heavy hay bales. However, a Tool Cat is twice the money to what you are considering.

LINK: Tootcat site:tractorbynet.com - Google Search

Skid Steers are designed to PUSH. Implements are front mounted. Skid Steers do not have mechanical PTO connections, they use relatively inefficient, quite expensive, hydraulic powered implements. Usually minimal ground clearance.


Tractors are designed to PULL, hence characteristic, outsize, rear wheels. Ground contact implements are mounted on the rear Three Point Hitch, which has an efficient mechanical PTO connection at its center. Implements are relatively cheap. Tractors have 12" to 14" ground clearance.

Tractor Front End Loaders are designed to LIFT. When operators apply Skid Steer PUSHING loads to FEL arms, failure occurs.

 

[varmint]

Have you considered selling the hydro blower, since, as you state, the Vancouver area doesn't get a lot of snow?

I agree with your evaluations of Kubota and Mahindra, and I hate to say it, but the Deere, while pretty pricey for a used tractor (I thought Kubotas held their value!?), might be your best bet. Its hydraulic output is listed at 12+ gpm net, but that should work if the blower is rated for 13? The Deere has two loaders listed, and the larger one certainly would handle your 2000 lb loads.

 

[TheMadOne]

I think it should be fairly simple to kludge something together for a PTO pump to power the Snow blower. 13 Gallons at 540 RPM would need a 20-25 gallon tank, the pump itself, PTO shaft, some hoses, and a quick coupler. Could rig the whole thing up to the 3pt as ballast while having the blower on the front.

How mechanically inclined are you?

The grapple's third function shouldn't use that much oil to work a cylinder(or 2).

I'm not familiar with conditioners.

 

[jeff9366]

Tractors with a Category 1 (size) Three Point Hitch run from 20-horsepower to 45-horsepower.

Tractors with a Category 2 (size) Three Point Hitch run from 40-horsepower to 100-horsepower.

The availability, volume and competitive pricing is in Category 1 implements.

I would research HEAVY, 4-WD, tractors within the Category 1 (size) Three Point Hitch universe.

Specifically, research Kubota L4760 with LA1055 Loader and Kubota L5060 with same LA 1055 Loader.

LINK: Tractors - Grand L60 Series | Kubota Tractor Corporation



2,000 pounds lift capacity on the Three Point Hitch costs nothing compared to 2,000 pounds lift capacity on the FEL.

My little L3560 will lift 2,650 pounds on the Three Point Hitch.

How high do you need to lift pallets?

LINK: 3-Pt pallet forks site:tractorbynet.com - Google Search

 

[TheMadOne]

I don't like buying used, so the JD is out for me. How's parts availability on the Mahindra? That's one thing that really made me shy away from them. "We can usually get parts in two or three days", they said. Nope, no thank you. May be different in your area.

 

[paulfun9]

I don't like buying used, so the JD is out for me. How's parts availability on the Mahindra? That's one thing that really made me shy away from them. "We can usually get parts in two or three days", they said. Nope, no thank you. May be different in your area.

"We can usually get parts in two or three days" That's the same answer I got from every brand tractor I looked at. JD and Kubota included. Simply put I haven't had to order any parts for my newest tractor yet but did order some add-on's for it and they were all to the dealership just as fast as any Deere or Kubota part or add-on I have ever ordered and in JD's case when it came to broken parts they were actually the slowest to call my home and tell me the part was in. Weather that was the dealership lacking or JD as a hole the Phone call to me letting me know my stuff is in is the indicator for me. Not some bull-**** line from a salesman behind the counter trying to tell me they overlooked my part and it was here two days before they called me. Sorry but if that's the answer this time and last time and the time before that I have to believe that something else is up and they are trying to fill the gap for some reason..

 

[Grandad4]

I need a loader to lift 2,000lbs on a pallet so think gator won't work, but thanks for idea.
Also never thought of diff between skid steer and tractor attachments and makes lots of sense.
Will probably post a classified ad soon.
Thanks

You've got some demanding requirements. Safely lifting 2,000 lb pallets is really not a job for a "compact" type tractor, even if the hydraulics might barely do the job. If you didn't need a monster loader, the two tractor plan you've described would be more feasible. A 30-40 hp modern compact and an older 75-100 hp 2 wd farm tractor would be a good combination.

An alternative to consider is a single tractor in the utiity class that could handle the pallets and some of your other requirements as well. With Kubota, the M7060 would be a beginning example of such a machine, with larger ones as well; the other manufacturers each have similar models. That type of machine would also give you the hydraulic flow to run your blower and give you a shot at getting on with your hay and corn production plans, although I don't know that you could make the numbers work with only 22 acres. Even investing in smaller used attachments, getting started may be prohibitively expensive. Maybe some of those who actually do that will have a comment about that.

 

[TheMadOne]

"We can usually get parts in two or three days" That's the same answer I got from every brand tractor I looked at. JD and Kubota included. Simply put I haven't had to order any parts for my newest tractor yet but did order some add-on's for it and they were all to the dealership just as fast as any Deere or Kubota part or add-on I have ever ordered and in JD's case when it came to broken parts they were actually the slowest to call my home and tell me the part was in. Weather that was the dealership lacking or JD as a hole the Phone call to me letting me know my stuff is in is the indicator for me. Not some bull-**** line from a salesman behind the counter trying to tell me they overlooked my part and it was here two days before they called me. Sorry but if that's the answer this time and last time and the time before that I have to believe that something else is up and they are trying to fill the gap for some reason..

I'm sorry if I touched a nerve. That was because of both the response and the casual attitude. Like being down for a few days isn't a big deal. It's not for me, but someone who's never met me and doesn't know my circumstances or what I intend to use the tractor for assuming it wasn't bothered me. We hadn't even talked about what tractor I was looking for yet! What if I was thinking of buying a 105P to hay with? Then being down for a few days could be a disaster.

And I don't know what part of PA you're in, but if you're near me, the local JD dealer is a pretty frickin terrible representative of the brand. I've dealt with other JD dealers who are miles above them when it comes to service.

 

[paulfun9]

I'm sorry if I touched a nerve. That was because of both the response and the casual attitude. Like being down for a few days isn't a big deal. It's not for me, but someone who's never met me and doesn't know my circumstances or what I intend to use the tractor for assuming it wasn't bothered me. We hadn't even talked about what tractor I was looking for yet! What if I was thinking of buying a 105P to hay with? Then being down for a few days could be a disaster.

And I don't know what part of PA you're in, but if you're near me, the local JD dealer is a pretty frickin terrible representative of the brand. I've dealt with other JD dealers who are miles above them when it comes to service.

You didn't touch any nerves at all.

I just don't see the difference between the actual service. One dealership or brand promise the world to you and takes a few days to get a steering knuckle but you are waiting for 2 weeks for the hard parts for the tranny. while the other dealer tells you We can usually get them in a few days and you get the steering knuckle in a few days but are waiting for 2 weeks for the parts for the tranny.

Yes getting into the bigger AG machines will change things but we have been discussing much smaller tractors in this thread so far.


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