Overwhelmed with Choices

[DC61]

I needed a new tractor and was looking for something between 50 and 60 HP. I shopped for about 9 months and finally decided on the TYM T654. It was a little bigger than I was looking for but a dealership in Granbury TX made me a deal I couldn't pass up. My local dealership wouldn't match the price so I bought from the Granbury dealer. Took about 6 days from the time my check cleared to deliver it 250 miles away. Got it Dec. 10th and have put about 11 hours on it. I live in TX but work in Michigan so I don't have a lot of time at home. Planning on retiring in less than 2 years so the tractor is an early retirement present to myself. Main use is haying, shredding, plowing, seeding and dragging a 14 foot offset disc.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I needed a new tractor and was looking for something between 50 and 60 HP. I shopped for about 9 months and finally decided on the TYM T654. It was a little bigger than I was looking for but a dealership in Granbury TX made me a deal I couldn't pass up. My local dealership wouldn't match the price so I bought from the Granbury dealer. Took about 6 days from the time my check cleared to deliver it 250 miles away. Got it Dec. 10th and have put about 11 hours on it. I live in TX but work in Michigan so I don't have a lot of time at home. Planning on retiring in less than 2 years so the tractor is an early retirement present to myself. Main use is haying, shredding, plowing, seeding and dragging a 14 foot offset disc.

Not being a smart alleck, but what type of 14' offset disc are you planning on pulling with a 65 HP tractor? Just curious.

 

[shock]

I've owned a number of tractors, from 20hp to 64hp, over the past 15 years.
Here's my recommendation, first - get a Hydrostatic transmission. First time tractor owners will usually use up a clutch because they don't know how to operate a tractor properly.
2nd - read your operators manual...spend a couple hours on the machine, and then read it again.
There's a lot of decent brands out there, but all tractors break. I swear I won't ever buy a John Deere again, but always do. My last 7 tractors have been JD...... My current tractor is a 1999 and is a JD and I'm having difficulty finding some parts, so some of the smaller Mfg's may have this problem even sooner. Something to consider. Good luck!

 

[DC61]

Not being a smart alleck, but what type of 14' offset disc are you planning on pulling with a 65 HP tractor? Just curious.

Old JD. It's light weight. Made back in the late 1950's. I consider it more of a finishing disc.

 

[mike69440]

I’m not in a super big hurry, but it would be nice to have in the spring. I have a lot of dirt work to do as well as beds, limb/tree work, etc

Just remember Ag trctors are not construction machines.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Old JD. It's light weight. Made back in the late 1950's. I consider it more of a finishing disc.

10-4 I was just wondering because I have a 9' offset disc with 24"disc blades that weighs around 3000 lbs and at times it's all my 93 hp tractor wants.

 

[Seven Gables]

T

10-4 I was just wondering because I have a 9' offset disc with 24"disc blades that weighs around 3000 lbs and at times it's all my 93 hp tractor wants.View attachment 2410275

i like the looks of that disc, stout build . Interesting how Deere uses a leaf spring to keep constant tension on the axle.

 

[EddieWalker]

My first tractor was 37hp and really too small for anything. If you already have everything done on your land, and all you are doing in maintaining it, then smaller is fine. But for new land, and larger properties like your lease, I think you should consider something with more HP. My Deere is 65 hp and my Massey is 70 hp. I think that I could of gotten a lot more done, a lot faster if I had started out with these tractors instead of the smaller one. The main use for them is mowing. I can fly with the 6foot rotary cutter on the 65 hp tractor. That's probably too much power for it, but I also use that tractor for drilling post holes and moving round bales, so it's really ideal for what I'm doing.

Given your lot size and the lease land, you really need to be in the 50 hp range.

As for brands, almost all of them are pretty good. When I bought my Massey in 2022, I started out looking at used tractors at the local auction. They had every brand there, with a wide variety of sizes and ages. What surprised me is how old some of them looked even though they had very few hours on them. Some brands just don't hold up very long. That pretty much ruled out all the Korean and Indian countries for me. Kubota and Deere are the top brands for a reason. They also tend to be the most expensive. I went with Massey because I felt it had more features, it was more heavy duty then the other brands, for less money. Another brand that impressed me was Yanmar when I was looking, but I never test drove one because they didn't have one with 70 HP. I also liked that Massey doesn't use DEF on their 70 hp tractors. Case and New Holland don't either.

 

[M59]

EddieWalker is spot on with his point of not buying too small and you should be looking in the 50+ hp range given your stated projects and objectives. I personally started with a 60 hp machine, the used low hour Kubota M59 TLB with 230 hours, and later bought a 24 hp Mahindra Max 24 for the really really light duty stuff for a 13 acre hilly property with 3/8 mile long gravel driveway. Over time the M59 has proved too small for the bigger projects so recently added the 20K pound KX 80 to the lineup as the property expanded to 70 acres and lots more work.

Bottom line: Buy a used, as large as possible, good condition low hour TLB. Doesn't matter where you buy the TLB, just be sure you have a local reliable service point for service and parts. I bought the M59 from PA and had it delivered to NC.

You will find the TLB is about half of the total expense as the implements actually make the tractor useful. Ive added a root grapple for tree work and ground cleanup, a 9 foot box blade for driveway management, a SSQA hydraulic for post work, a SSQA set of 4K pound 48 inch forks, and 3 pt power rake for lawn landscape management.

About 2 years ago upgraded the pin on backhoe bucket to a quick attach mount that was huge improvement because I now can mount any of plentiful low cost used attachments available to the Kubota mini excavators up to the KX 40 size instead of relying on the proprietary M59 quick attach.

Hope this helps.

 

[arrow]

Buying a 5ac property with infinite trees, dirt work, lifting needs, etc. I also have been paying for someone to bushhog my hunting lease, 800ac but the roads aren’t that wide.

There are so many brands, I had no idea. The classics colors, plus LS Kioti MF Bad Boy on and on. I think I would like a 35hp, as most of them have a 2k lift capacity. 4x4 is a must, and a 3rd function would be nice due to the grapple.

Most of them are doing 0% which is a no brainer. I’m not going to need the strongest or nicest, but also don’t want the Temu version. What are some of the best buy’s right now? Budget isn’t crazy high because I have to buy a house, renovate, buy a ZTR, etc. Tractor can wait until spring but would rather buy ASAP if possible

Allow me to attempt to underwhelm you.
First, forget about brand.
2. Figure what you’re going to need implement wise to maintain your properties. In the hp realm you mention and even abit more, unless your dragging and stacking them after cutting down, trees and tractors are a bad mix. Tree removal needs either a tracked loader or good size excavator.
3. Most importantly, unless they are real jerks running an inept business, buy from your closest dealer.

All the predominant companies make a decent machine to do what you want.
Are some better built than another? yes.
But anything will do what you are asking and there are absolutely no guarantees of any brand not having something go wrong with it.
So, as to not have “presumptions” or “prophecies” enter into decision making which are etherial at best, buy from your closest dealer.