OK I'm ready to buy a TLB

[Timmerduder]

I've been looking for several months now and I am finally ready to buy a TLB. I have ten acres with slopes, hard ground, soft ground, rocks and lots of trees including pine and oak. The top 4 acres is a future pasture, the mid is where I already excavated and built my barn, did my septic and am almost ready to start the house. The bottom is where I dug the pond that will be 100'X150' when completed. You can see pics at: http://timmerduder.com/property.htm

I have hundreds of feet of trenching to do as well as digging on the rockpit of shale with the BH, I want to roto, scrape, hog, etc. with the tractor and use the FEL to move the rock and dirt around. I'd also like to auger and whatever else comes to mind.

I started looking at the 20-25HP range but decided I may need a bit more. The Kubota 3430 is sweet but about 30K TLB, the Massey in at 26K, the Kioti, Mahindra, Montana a bit less and the JD a lot more.

OK guys, give me the business.... there is a Kubota 3010 w/o BH close right now for 15K (400hrs) I think new is better. I like the Mahindra for the buck, the Kiotis are very nice too but a bit more spendy

Thanks,
Tim

 

[roxynoodle]

Since you're going to have to remove the backhoe to bush hog and use a PHD, I would say buy the biggest you can afford AND be able to remove the hoe easily. New isn't necessarily better; 400 hours is not much for a tractor if it has been maintained. Just bear in mind that adding the backhoe will also add about $5-6000 to the cost. All of the brands you mentioned should yield a quality unit so go look at them, sit in them, drive them and buy what is the most comfortable for you to operate.

 

[john_bud]

Tim,

Why not buy a used TLB in the 8-12K range and get all of your digging jobs done, then sell it? You won't lose much if anything on the deal. Then buy a tractor like the K 3010 or similar for your regular chores.

An old Ford 555 or 4500 in the 8-12K range will be 3x the digging machine that a 25-30K CUT will be. And digging is ROUGH on a tractor, why beat up a new one?

Just my thoughts.

jb