Buying Advice Questions about potential purchase, not sure where to start

[ning]

OP may not want to fool with changing attachments on the FEL. I'm not sure what attachments she'd want for the FEL anyway or if she could find them in a size that's appropriate to the B7510 since so many are designed for skid steers designed to lift much more weight.

Clamp-on bucket forks would probably do fine for a batch of small logs or brush.

 

[Williy]

The best way to find a tractor to suit you is to try every tractor you can get your hands on this way you can check
out the build quality, are all the controls easy to get to and
what tractors have options as standard that other tractors
have as options just so you won't be kicking yourself in the
a** later

willy

 

[airbiscuit]

There's a little bit of zen involved in the decision process.

 

[2manyrocks]

Clamp-on bucket forks would probably do fine for a batch of small logs or brush.

Looking at her pictures, I didn't notice a lot of material to even need forks. Others may see it differently.

 

[airbiscuit]

Correct. A tractor with a loader, a rough cut mower and a rear blade will do a whole lot of work for her.

 

[WinterDeere]

Correct. A tractor with a loader, a rough cut mower and a rear blade will do a whole lot of work for her.

Agreed. And I would absolutely never buy a machine with a pinned bucket for dual use as a mower, despite @2manyrocks question about the actual need to switch FEL implements, because she's likely going to find that dropping the bucket before mowing and retrieving it when done is the quickest way to make the machine lighter and more maneuverable.

Dropping the whole loader is much better yet, but even as relatively easy as that is, dicking around with hydraulic hoses for every weekly mowing gets old real fast. Dropping a bucket off a JDQA or SSQA loader is a very fast and easy compromise, and removes a lot of the extended weight that turns your machine into a bucking bronco at mowing speeds.

 

[Milo]

Quick attach loader ends are ideal obviously. But the whole loader came off my B7500 in 3 minutes so I often removed it to mow. However removing the mowing deck took 10 minutes and another 10-15 to put it back on so when using the loader during mowing season I often left it on. It did raise up out of the way pretty well and in that position was good for rough cutting the field.

 

[Runner]

Quick attach loader ends are ideal obviously. But the whole loader came off my B7500 in 3 minutes so I often removed it to mow. However removing the mowing deck took 10 minutes and another 10-15 to put it back on so when using the loader during mowing season I often left it on. It did raise up out of the way pretty well and in that position was good for rough cutting the field.

This is why I went to a rear finish mower and the belly mower sits in the barn. Most times I need to use the loader for bucket or forks for minor jobs, the mower just stays on (making a great counter weight), but if I want more clearance/maneuverability, it goes off and on in a minute.

 

[2manyrocks]

It's okay to call me lazy, but I wouldn't remove the bucket even if it was a quick attach just to mow that area.

 

[rScotty]

It's okay to call me lazy, but I wouldn't remove the bucket even if it was a quick attach just to mow that area.

I was thinking back, and over the years about seven of our tractors have had Front End Loaders (FEL). Early ones did not; they were just for ag and 3pt implements. But for the chore & landscaping work that we do now instead of farming, a FEL is our single most useful implement. I really LIKE looking forward while working instead of always looking back over my shoulder.

The Kubota is our first tractor with SSQA on the FEL, but from now they will all have it. Not just for the ability to use other types of front end implements. Often it is handy not to have anything hanging off of the front of the tractor. With SSQA it takes only a moment to drop or attach a bucket.
rScotty