Bullwinkle123
Platinum Member
Aging tractor virgin with a lot of need but no experience. Been living on a 180 parcel for 10 years, and I'm just getting too old to do things by hand. I'm also tired of paying other people to use their tractors for what are essentially routine maintenance chores, so here I am, asking these questions.
These are the things I _must_ do with the tractor:
Based on the above, if I'm thinking correctly, I would want FEL, blade, grappler, and large-ish cart (4x8? 3x6 or something seems small but maybe more practical for hauling my chainsaw and gas cans in the forest).
The following things would be _nice_, but are secondary for one reason or another.
In general, the driveway environment is a layer of gravel on top of schist. Dig down more than a couple of inches and you're hitting rock, and sometimes it's sticking up through the mid-point of the driveway. The fields and forest can be quite muddy, though hopefully I never have to be out there in mud season. Though with this climate change ... who knows. It's 59 degrees in January and my field is melted today, and the high winds put another tree down just this morning. I usually leave tree clearing (other than the driveway) for better weather.
I'm getting closer to retirement, and seeking a bit of mechanical muscle to help with the things I used to do by hand. My biggest concern about whether getting a tractor is a bad idea is that I had to have back surgery last year (which automatically pushed back my whole purchasing plans a year), and now I wonder if trying to twist to see behind me while, say, grading the driveway, would be too hard. Or are there some tractors with rotating seats that would make this easy? Don't see how, gotta look where you're driving too. Either way, I'm ambulatory and can flex, but my days of wrestling 300 lb. objects are forcibly behind me. I'm also concerned about whether I can even swap a FEL for a grapple on the front, or if the the parts require too much lifting for me to manage. Damned back.
All advice welcome, including "how to" buying advice. I've looked up various "new tractor" places in the Southern VT, NH, and western MA area. Buying used might be good, but I have no idea where to look for it (farming mags, forums, whatever). Of course the attachments I want are a big factor here. I'm guessing I also need a trailer for my truck to haul the tractor and attachments home and/or for service if I can't service it myself, so another expense. All I've got now is clueless wish lists, a bad back, and a sometimes functional checkbook. Maybe I need to find a guy getting rid of all his toys in a used package deal.
Thanks in advance for this request #3,012,998 on newbie tractor advice.
These are the things I _must_ do with the tractor:
- Fill/grade the gravel driveway when it washes out. Guessing it's about 0.1 mile in length (with large turnout), reasonably level. Figuring on FEL and rear blade for this every-couple-of-years task. (You'd think this isn't worth spending on a tractor, but I've spent $11k on this in the last 10 years, and there's almost more to come).
- Moving downed trees. A FE grappler seems like the bees knees if I can do a few saw cuts and grab piles of fallen small branches and 4-8 foot trunk pieces and move them to the brush/tree piles, if only so my aging back doesn't have to pick up most of the crap to put it in a cart. Or are these things really just fantasies and not so useful? The youtube videos sure make it look great.
- Annual brush-hogging. **** saplings grow quickly. 5 acre field on a slope, not sure what degree of incline or how to measure. It has some steep-ish sections, but doesn't seem to place a burden on the people who've been dealing with it the last 10 years.
- Haul brush & weeds and general yard or fallen tree detritus. When I get done with my weed whackers, chain saw, or whatever I'm cleaning up, there's just a lot of stuff to haul, and the nearest place to dump it is at the edge of 5-ish acres of field/yard, sometimes up-hill, which is a hike I'm tired of making with hand carts and aging muscle power.
Based on the above, if I'm thinking correctly, I would want FEL, blade, grappler, and large-ish cart (4x8? 3x6 or something seems small but maybe more practical for hauling my chainsaw and gas cans in the forest).
The following things would be _nice_, but are secondary for one reason or another.
- Haul logs in from the forest for subsequent cutting/splitting for a wood gasification boiler. I don't have the boiler (won't unless I get a tractor), and I don't really want to invest in a log arch. It's a wishlist situation now. Hauling large log lengths would probably halve the lifting work I need to do. (Younger days I'd move logs with a log arch I built - but my arch isn't ready for a tractor or larger logs).
- Till field plots for gardening. Unfortunately I'd also need to break hard ground that hasn't been farmed in a long time, so ... two attachments. Probably not worth the cost for me.
- Mow: I probably have about 1.5 acres of lawn but I'm not planning on using the tractor for mowing. Seems like a real tractor is going to be too heavy, un-maneuverable, and mashing my grass mercilessly. I would rather the tractor was fit for the primary purposes. Between that and all the stone walls a regular mower is probably better, though expensive (most of the guys who mow my yard have some expensive zero turn radius mower).
- Snow blow the driveway. Leary of this because I don't know how it'll work on my long gravel driveway, and whether tractors are any good for it. My 24" snowblower did great on a tiny paved driveway at my old house, but my VT driveway is a beast. Still, it sure would be nice to stop paying a guy to plow and occasionally bring in earth moving equipment because the plow can't move the snow far enough.
- Backhoe. The only times I'd want this is when I need to clean existing culverts, dig new ones, and maybe it would help me dig new holes for fruit trees. Worth it? Doesn't seem like it for initial planning.
In general, the driveway environment is a layer of gravel on top of schist. Dig down more than a couple of inches and you're hitting rock, and sometimes it's sticking up through the mid-point of the driveway. The fields and forest can be quite muddy, though hopefully I never have to be out there in mud season. Though with this climate change ... who knows. It's 59 degrees in January and my field is melted today, and the high winds put another tree down just this morning. I usually leave tree clearing (other than the driveway) for better weather.
I'm getting closer to retirement, and seeking a bit of mechanical muscle to help with the things I used to do by hand. My biggest concern about whether getting a tractor is a bad idea is that I had to have back surgery last year (which automatically pushed back my whole purchasing plans a year), and now I wonder if trying to twist to see behind me while, say, grading the driveway, would be too hard. Or are there some tractors with rotating seats that would make this easy? Don't see how, gotta look where you're driving too. Either way, I'm ambulatory and can flex, but my days of wrestling 300 lb. objects are forcibly behind me. I'm also concerned about whether I can even swap a FEL for a grapple on the front, or if the the parts require too much lifting for me to manage. Damned back.
All advice welcome, including "how to" buying advice. I've looked up various "new tractor" places in the Southern VT, NH, and western MA area. Buying used might be good, but I have no idea where to look for it (farming mags, forums, whatever). Of course the attachments I want are a big factor here. I'm guessing I also need a trailer for my truck to haul the tractor and attachments home and/or for service if I can't service it myself, so another expense. All I've got now is clueless wish lists, a bad back, and a sometimes functional checkbook. Maybe I need to find a guy getting rid of all his toys in a used package deal.
Thanks in advance for this request #3,012,998 on newbie tractor advice.