Buying Advice Overwhelmed by All the Options!

[DuckSlayer1017]

I would get the loaded tires. That way you don't have to mess around with a ballast box and you wont be temped to pick up something with the box removed. I've been there on my Dad's JD 2320 and didn't like the feeling. My tractor weights about 3300 lbs with another 500lb of beet juice in the tires. The R4 tires leave no marks on the lawn. You said that you have a lot of trees on your property. The ballast box will make it harder to maneuver in the trees because of the extra length. One more thought, if doing loader work with a back blade or box blade you may not have the same ballast as having the ballast box on. It could affect your stability while doing dirt work with the blade on instead of the ballast box. If the tires are loaded then you don't even need to think twice about it.

 

[jeff9366]

I was trying to sort out whether I wanted a ballast box, loaded tires, or both. It's sounding like I should get the ballast box and skip the tires.

Use your Box Blade as counterbalance. Weight BEHIND the rear axle, on the Three Point Hitch, relieves stress on the front axle and front axle seals which are heavily stressed when the FEL is full and the tractor is bouncing over uneven ground.
Loaded tires provide provide weight but no counterbalance. Counterbalance weight is twice to thrice more effective pound per pound because it is cantilevered behind the tractor.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

I wouldn't put much emphasis on the HST pedal differences between the Deere and Kubota. My Deere garden tractor and my Kioti DK50SE both have the side by side pedals, and my Kubota has the typical Kubota pedal. Both types work fine, and transitioning from one to the other is not an issue.

There are more important differences to focus on.

 

[arrow]

In your case where you are requiring a size limitation, rops need to be less than 84". You want to clear up some of your woods but believe me when I tell you that you'll do this once. After that it grows in so fast, you'll give up that notion of going into the woods to "clean them up". You are correct to want to get a tractor in the 30 hp range. This will come in handy to run a 4' bush hog. You are not logging (or you didn't say you were) so you do not need that much weight. The B series Kubota is a good bet. Poop Deck ^ wisely states no matter what you get you'll become used to it. I hated my new Mahindra when I first got it when i kept comparing it ergonomics wise to my old JD 750. Now after a year, the Mahindra shuttle is infinitely faster than the 750 was control wise.

Nothing beats up a piece of equipment faster than "the woods" and is why one dealer is recommending the larger heavier tractor. If the woods is going to be a one or two off thing, get a tractor based on how you'll use it mostly and have some other guy with a land clearing cutter go in for you. I spend most of my time in the woods so a Mahindra 3016 with shuttle and ag tires comes in handy as one needs as much ground clearance as possible in these New England type woods. These woods tend to be very dense with many ground obstructions. I professionally logged this type of wood for 30 years and these woods would even do a job on logging skidders. If I were not doing woods stuff, one of the Max series tractors would be a much handier machine for me.

 

[Parkanzky]

In your case where you are requiring a size limitation, rops need to be less than 84". You want to clear up some of your woods but believe me when I tell you that you'll do this once. After that it grows in so fast, you'll give up that notion of going into the woods to "clean them up". You are correct to want to get a tractor in the 30 hp range. This will come in handy to run a 4' bush hog. You are not logging (or you didn't say you were) so you do not need that much weight. The B series Kubota is a good bet. Poop Deck ^ wisely states no matter what you get you'll become used to it. I hated my new Mahindra when I first got it when i kept comparing it ergonomics wise to my old JD 750. Now after a year, the Mahindra shuttle is infinitely faster than the 750 was control wise.

Nothing beats up a piece of equipment faster than "the woods" and is why one dealer is recommending the larger heavier tractor. If the woods is going to be a one or two off thing, get a tractor based on how you'll use it mostly and have some other guy with a land clearing cutter go in for you. I spend most of my time in the woods so a Mahindra 3016 with shuttle and ag tires comes in handy as one needs as much ground clearance as possible in these New England type woods. These woods tend to be very dense with many ground obstructions. I professionally logged this type of wood for 30 years and these woods would even do a job on logging skidders. If I were not doing woods stuff, one of the Max series tractors would be a much handier machine for me.

I'm not ruling out the Kubota because of the pedal. It's just a difference that I noticed and I do think that I prefer side-by-side. All the levers on the Deere seemed to be right where I wanted to reach them when I played with it. I'll see if the Kubota feels the same way when I finally get to drive one (nobody around here seems to have any assembled at the moment).
The ROPS on all these tractors is higher than a residential garage door when it's up. So I'll have to have it folded to park. It seems like there's no getting around that unless I build a "shed."

I want to do the initial clearing (cutting all the brush out of the wooded area of our property), then I'll see how it goes but I will at least want to keep a couple of narrow paths clear all the time. Any "logging" will be confined to hauling out downed trees or anything I cut down trying to make the woods nicer to look at. It won't be enough that I would mind having to cut the trees into chunks to pull them to the burn pile. I envision cutting anything I haul out to shorter than the width of the bucket. A lot of the existing "landscaping" is bordered by pine logs (probably from clearing the spot for the house 7 years ago). There are also a couple of really large brush piles at the back of the property. One of my first projects will be to gather all of that up and burn it.

There is no way to burn wood in the house, so I won't be splitting firewood or anything.

 

[TSO]

Welcome from the thumb area.

Like others have mentioned, check out LS tractors as well. (If you haven't already learned, LS makes the compact tractors for Case & New Holland, so if you've looked at those brands, you've already seen LS .... and buying directly from LS will save you a considerable amount of $$$)

For example, you can probably get an LS XR3032 or XR3037 hydro CAB tractor with loader, for $24k-$26k. If you haven't considered a cab, consider it, especially If you're going to be blowing snow with it in the winter (you'll be dry and warm, listening to the radio) or mowing in the summer (you'll enjoy a dust & bug free, air conditioned zone). I converted from open station tractors last year and have never looked back!

Just don't pass up at least considering LS ... you'll get way more for your money.

If you have a Massey dealer, check them out too. They make a real good tractor, albeit at a bit higher cost.

Good luck!

 

[Parkanzky]

I would get the loaded tires. That way you don't have to mess around with a ballast box and you wont be temped to pick up something with the box removed.

The Deere dealer told me that loading this size tires would only add a couple hundred pounds and not behind the axle. He told me that I'd still need a ballast box to work the loader, even with loaded tires.

 

[Parkanzky]

Welcome from the thumb area.

Like others have mentioned, check out LS tractors as well. (If you haven't already learned, LS makes the compact tractors for Case & New Holland, so if you've looked at those brands, you've already seen LS .... and buying directly from LS will save you a considerable amount of $$$)

For example, you can probably get an LS XR3032 or XR3037 hydro CAB tractor with loader, for $24k-$26k. If you haven't considered a cab, consider it, especially If you're going to be blowing snow with it in the winter (you'll be dry and warm, listening to the radio) or mowing in the summer (you'll enjoy a dust & bug free, air conditioned zone). I converted from open station tractors last year and have never looked back!

Just don't pass up at least considering LS ... you'll get way more for your money.

If you have a Massey dealer, check them out too. They make a real good tractor, albeit at a bit higher cost.

Good luck!

I'll need to check out the LS tractors. Their website doesn't allow me to configure a tractor online so it's hard to know the deal there.

I can't do a cab. The tractor has to fit through a residential garage door. So I need to be able to fold ROPS. I've used my father-in-law's ~90-100 HP Case tractors with and without cabs and liked the climate control in the cab but didn't like the extra hassle to get on and off the tractor. It was also a bit of a pain when we did anything in the woods (I always felt like I was destroying the cab with limbs and that broken glass was an imminent threat).

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

few notes.

Kubota L3301 is basically the same price as a B3350. Just does not have a mid-pto, which it sounds like your not using.

careful on using weights off the spec sheet, they are WAY low. You can't trailer anything bigger than a BX on a 3k trailer.

IMO.. these are big tractors for 4 acres. B2620 maybe worth looking at.

 

[Parkanzky]

few notes.

Kubota L3301 is basically the same price as a B3350. Just does not have a mid-pto, which it sounds like your not using.

careful on using weights off the spec sheet, they are WAY low. You can't trailer anything bigger than a BX on a 3k trailer.

IMO.. these are big tractors for 4 acres. B2620 maybe worth looking at.

I need the mid-pto for the front-mounted snowblower (which is the main way I'm justifying this purchase to my board of directors).

I looked at the 2025R and the B2620, but I'm reading that I'd need/want more PTO HP to run a 5' flail mower. I don't want to drop engine size to save a few thousand dollars and then regret the purchase later.