Buying Advice Please advise, what to buy?

[JOHNTHOMAS]

JohnThomas, bp, & TripleR, thanks for the replies and info.
I have a newbie question. I get FEL, but what is MMM? (mid mower mount??)

Thoughts on a blower. Regardless of the machine, I already have a small plow on a jeep that works well until the there is a windrow of snow on either side of the driveway. This winter I literally have run out of space to push snow and that is why I have "tractor fever". I think a blower would really help me out. I have seen pictures on TBN of F series and BXs that have cabs. I think they are either homemade or after-market outfits.

JT, question about the F. How well does it mow around trees. Is it as efficient at this as the ZTR?

A picture is worth a thousand words. I am going to try to attach a picture to this post so you can see an aerial view of the property that visually sums up my needs. Front 5 acres is kentucky blue grass with many trees. Back 2 acres is prairie grass with immature bare root seedlings planted last year.

Thanks again in advance.
http://s798.photobucket.com/albums/yy263/broncohieb/?action=view&current=IMG_1472.jpg

Beautiful place! Wow! Lots of trees! I've never used a ZTR but the F has the deck out in front of you and you can see/cut precisely with both sides of deck perfect, with rear discharge deck (it does blow grass up on battery and air intake). Some say a ZTR is faster and I won't dispute that in ground speed the ZTR may beat the F but in practical usage I don't think the ZTR would finish the job much faster if at all. I can't ride mine as fast as it will go because the ground is to rough. So, that a ZTR will run faster means nothing to me. The rear wheels turn not quite 90 degrees on F so I believe you can face a tree and cut wheels deep and swing around the tree if you want with some slight forward motion. With your ZTR deck under you I think the F would do trees better because your deck can drive under the trees ahead of you. I mow around mobile homes, trees and an open field and beside fences and I use the sides for my guides and can use both sides. I have to always remember the rear swings around in the back and when I hit a fence or something the memory always comes back. I'm still stuck on your main idea of keeping or trading the ZTR. If your happy with it I'd go for a BX without mowing deck to resolve the ground clearance. Here are pictures side by side of B and BX. The BX has a deck and B doesn't so ground clearance is sort of unclear but imagine BX without the mowing deck. I went to the B's because I needed higher ground clearance at the beginning of my landscaping but no longer do. I traded a B3200 FEL to a BX25 (includes FEL and Back hoe) and the actual new sales price is about the same for either model but the BX is a bit more manuverable.

 

[KU Gator]

Your picture does help. I would not thing a BX or B with a MMM (which as you guessed is a mid mount mower) would be desired with that many trees. In KS we don't usually get that much snow, but got about a foot on Christmas which wasn't a big deal to clear with the rear blade and FEL by Sunday. But the windrows were a problem when we got about 4 more inches a few days later and 30 MPH winds for 2 days. I cleared my drive 4 times in 24 hours and still got the truck stuck in it.

Attached is a link to Curtis cabs which seems to have options available. I can't give a review, as I don't have one but may help. A concern might be clearance if you are getting it through a normal garage door. Might work on a BX but probably not a B. My B won't go through my doors with the ROPS up.

Kubota Compact Tractor - BX50 Series

I would suspect even if you did not need the MMM, you would find a lot of uses for a small tractor with a FEL and maybe a few other attachments in the warm weather and the blower in the winter.

 

[newbury]

So you have a jeep w/ plow but the problem quickly becomes where to push the snow?

Perhaps a Stihl 441 would help greatly. If you thin the trees from close to the road so you could start off pushing it farther away your snowbank problem may be manageable. Perhaps just take out every other one.

And those trees will probably continue to grow.

Though I'd still recommend a B-series w/ a rear mount blower, FEL and backhoe.

 

[bp fick]

Honestly, your place is awesome!!! Yup, it sure is Tractor Worthy!!

OK, here's the deal. That place deserves a tractor. Buy a nice one!

For all you guys on here who get 4-9 inches of snow, like every other year, you just gotta try and comprehend how much 4 to 6 foot drifts require a real machine to deal with. Tons 'O snow. It's cold, it's heavy and it is so deep that a small tractor is wading in it. I would have to think hard and looooooong about getting just a wee bit bigger machine. 80 yards is 240 feet!!! Imagine most of it buried in 4-6 foot drifts. Dang. There'd be a cabbed B in my pole barn, or garage, but a BIG OLD sign that warned me to "Fold The ROPS Down" stupid. Of course, with the cab on.... aw shucks, anyhow, I'd do something!!

 

[LBrown59]

1*The BX1860 is just so darn lovable and affordable.
2*It is priced below its oversized brethren in the BX pack.
3* Yes,it has a few less ponies, although you'd likely never, ever notice working snow.
4*Yes, it's frame is 3" shorter, but one can barely tell. 5*And it's stock wheels and tires are slightly smaller in diameter, but again, it's not a big deal.
6* But at 8900 bucks list (you can do slightly better) for the basic tractor,
7* it cannot be beat by anything of which I am aware, price wise.

1*-6*Six of the exact reasons why I chose my BX1500 over a BX 2000 series .
7* You are absolutely correct .
No other manufacture makes anything like it.

 

[gdh]

Wow. Thank you everybody for your input.
I just got back from the local implement. They kind of muddied the water a bit for me. A salesman there thought a bx or a B with a FEL and rear snowblower was the way to go. To be quite honest, for whatever reason I really want a front mounted blower so that I can more easily and comfortably do the driveway. So now I am wondering, how big of a pain it would be to remove the FEL in October and put on the blower and then repeat the exchange in the spring. Will the FEL/snowblower exchange be more a hassle than it is worth?
gh

 

[gregg17]

takes less than 10 min to take fel off and put front mount blower on my bx2660 same in the spring. blower will work great for snow drifts after the ground freezes you can clean the yard off next to the drive way right up to the trees should help with the drifting. buy the front mount and cheap cab removing the snowdrifts 3 times a week will turn into a job you will enjoy until about the end of feb. ready for spring here in mn!!!!

 

[bp fick]

Here's thread on that subject:

front or rear mount snowbower - TractorByNet.com

There is a guy here on TBN, nicked smfcpacfp who likely owns the machine you might enjoy. He loves to post pictures of his rig. He posted on that thread and many others. He lives near Marquette in the U.P. so he deals with snow.

 

[gdh]

Holy cow, I would love something like smfcpacfp has. The BX is starting to look attractive with a front mount blower assuming I would not have trouble getting the FEL off in the late fall. It seems this may be the most reasonable in terms of $$. I love bpficks tricked out BX with the bigger wheels. The F series still lingers in my head. Whatever I choose I think I am going to covet something else because of that green grass on the other side of the fence. I welcome others thoughts regarding my situation.
gdh

 

[rpraymond]

gdh
When I bought my house over twenty five years ago I started with an old Jeep with a plow. It work most of the time but when the drifts got too deep it was a pain. Plus all the time needed to push snow back in anticipation of more snow. Many years and many machines later I use the L3430 with a cab and front mounted blower. I use it for other chores but I bought it for snow removal. Yes it was expensive, but I had a good down payment and 0% financing. Now it's paid for and it sits in the garage always ready and I can have the driveway cleared in 15 minutes no matter how drifted or deep. It's well cared for so if I ever sell it I can get back a substantial part of my investment. The L series is probably more than you need but if you plan on being in your home for many years you will be glad you bought what you needed every time you use it.
Hope this doesn't muddy things even more.