Buying Advice Tractor or mower?

[Grandad4]

I'm still not sure where that leaves my 'intermediate' tasks though - bush hogging around 3 acres and breaking new ground for gardens. I'm concerned those jobs are too big for a fancy mower but too small for a real tractor.

Also on sizing - my local deere dealer (no particular affiliation there, but they are the closest dealer of the big three) recommended an x320 with deck, blower, chains and weights for $7k if I only want to cut the grass and blow the snow, but as I was saying they are pushing for the 1023E (which they have 0% financing on) to do "everything".

I'd agree with Soundguy's approach. Get a basic mower for the lawn work and a compact for the other near-term work like snow removal, bush hogging, food plots, etc. As noted earlier, something a bit larger than the 1023E would give you more capability without costing a great amount more. If you shop among the other good brands, you may or may not find a better value than what you've found so far.

Later you can bring in some big iron for the heavy work, if needed.

 

[DMW]

If you wait to save up the money, something will always come up to delay the purchase. Bite the bullet now, and get the most tractor & implements that you can comfortably afford. Sometimes implements can included in the 0% financing. Shop around, there can be a big difference in price between dealers.

A subcompact can do everything you described. Personally I would go for a scut (JD2305/1023,Kubota BX2360,MF GC2400, Kioti CK20hst etc.) with FEL, box blade (also used as counterweight), mid mount mower, rear snowblower, tiller?. Front mount snowblowers are nice but pricey. The MMM will take care of all the grass cutting. Turf tires, can always use chains in winter IF needed.

Take care of it , and every time you look at it you will consider it money well spent, and disbelief that you were ever able to get along without it .

Dennis

 

[dodge man]

The big question is how much money can you spend. If you bought a new compact tractor with all the toys, its easy to spend over 20k. Even a sub compact with all the toys can start getting close to 20k. If you buy used, you can save some money. I know I felt like I wasted my money buying cheaper riding mowers before I bought a sub-compact. The difference is I have twice as much finish mowing than you would be.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Trying to find one tractor to do everything is like trying to find the one piece of welding equipment to do everything, they just dont exist. If I were you, I would get a mower for the yard (I prefer the zero turn models) and then go for a used 30-45HP 4 wd tractor with FEL (adding a rear snow blower as an option for snow removal as this is practical use for the FEL). I mow about 5 acres of lawn using my ZTR mower because I can do it faster than using my tractor with 7 foot bush hog. I use the tractor with FEL to haul brush from woods clean up, move dirt, pull disc for garden work, dig holes etc. With regard to your stump pulling, I doubt any tractor you could comfortably use with any other task is going to pull a 12-14" stump without lots of digging and cutting of the roots so I wouldnt count on that work being done with a tractor. Likely use for that would be a rented back hoe or contract it to a professional operator with a trackhoe. I can usually get green pine trees up to 6" in diameter out with the FEL but you can warp your FEL if you arent careful doing this (see my post on this) Thorn trees and sweet gum will play havoc with your equipment if you arent careful. I have found that $80 an hour for a JD 550 LGP dozer is dollars well spent when it comes to major tree clearing, stump pulling, land leveling etc. especially where I live when at any time, you can hook a large rock and bend or break some of your equipment.

 

[JDgreen227]

If you wait to save up the money, something will always come up to delay the purchase. Bite the bullet now, and get the most tractor & implements that you can comfortably afford. Sometimes implements can included in the 0% financing. Shop around, there can be a big difference in price between dealers.

A subcompact can do everything you described. Personally I would go for a scut (JD2305/1023,Kubota BX2360,MF GC2400, Kioti CK20hst etc.) with FEL, box blade (also used as counterweight), mid mount mower, rear snowblower, tiller?. Front mount snowblowers are nice but pricey. The MMM will take care of all the grass cutting. Turf tires, can always use chains in winter IF needed.

Take care of it , and every time you look at it you will consider it money well spent, and disbelief that you were ever able to get along without it .

Dennis

Excellent post.....:thumbsup: !!! I agree with your reasoning in advising the OP to buy something decent now, one of the things many first time buyers overlook is the excellent trade-in/resale value of a SCUT or CUT versus a LT or GT. When you spend the extra bucks to buy a strong and durable tractor, it's not so much a purchase as it is an INVESTMENT. I invested nearly 24 grand to buy my CUT and attachments package 9 years ago, yet it has paid for itself time and again, and the resale value is far superior to what I expected.

As the old saying goes: "Buy the best equipment you can afford, and you will never regret it".

 

[canoetrpr]

I'm with Soundguy. I was in a similar situation when we bought our place. About 1 acre of grass, 10 acres of pasture, woods that I mow a small trail in.

I was originally looking for one tractor with a MMM until I found out what a MMM attachment costs! Instead I bought a dedicated Husquvarna riding mower for the mowing around the house and a Kubota L3400 CUT for the rest of the farm.

Believe me the loader is key. It will make your tractor at least 2x more usable.

I would bite the bullet now and get a CUT. If you don't want to spend much you can go with an economy model like a L3200 / L3800 much like my L3400 or look for used machines with a few hundred hours of those types of models. Others to consider are the Kioti CK25-30. Deere and others have good CUTS as well. The JD 790 is a great economy model that they used to sell and can be had with a manual non sync transmission for a really good price with a few hundred hours. Hydro is king IMHO but I'd rather be with a CUT and a loader on your property than without one.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with whatever you do.

 

[Pete Judd]

I love my CUT, and if you don't have to finance, craigs list, is a great place to pick things up. I have both a CUT with a finish mower, and a small "lawn" tractor to do our place. Let someone else pay for the first couple of years of depreceation, like buying a car. My CUT is around 30 years old, and runs like it was build yesterday. But cash in hand is what is needed to do craigslist.

 

[aquafiend]

Thanks again for all the responses.

Based on this thread and a bit of calling around / budget checking, I'm currently thinking of the following:

-Small, cheap mower for the lawn, possibly used or on sale.

-Bite the bullet and get a compact / subcompact that can handle the snow (thinking FEL + rear blade, mostly to save money and get a loader in the deal), the bush hogging, and the garden jobs. I'll keep it out of the woods (except maybe to move brush or bring in firewood).

-Wait for clearer needs / projects in the woods and look for a bigger (40+ hp?), old 2wd tractor in a few years.

For the compact, I'm currently looking at the JD 2320 (seems like a worthwhile step up in functionality from the 1023 for not too much more) and the kubota B2320 or 2620. Looking at new because of the financing deals and because my other half is highly supportive (!).

Thoughts & critiques of this plan highly appreciated!

 

[JDgreen227]

Thanks again for all the responses.

Based on this thread and a bit of calling around / budget checking, I'm currently thinking of the following:

-Small, cheap mower for the lawn, possibly used or on sale.

-Bite the bullet and get a compact / subcompact that can handle the snow (thinking FEL + rear blade, mostly to save money and get a loader in the deal), the bush hogging, and the garden jobs. I'll keep it out of the woods (except maybe to move brush or bring in firewood).

-Wait for clearer needs / projects in the woods and look for a bigger (40+ hp?), old 2wd tractor in a few years.

For the compact, I'm currently looking at the JD 2320 (seems like a worthwhile step up in functionality from the 1023 for not too much more) and the kubota B2320 or 2620. Looking at new because of the financing deals and because my other half is highly supportive (!).

Thoughts & critiques of this plan highly appreciated!

Looks good to me, I have always preferred the FEL/RB attachments for moving snow, as a blower is a lot more costly and is a single use attachment, although they do a cleaner job of moving snow. Both your suggested choices for a compact are well built, reliable tractors.

 

[dodge man]

Sounds to me like you are on the right track.

 

[aquafiend]

Another update:

Haven't had a great response from the local kubota dealer but the local deere guys have been great. So it looks like I'll be going for the deere - I'd rather have good dealer support, since it seems like both brands are well respected.

I played around with the 2320 on the lot and it seemed nice and easy to use (for this first-time buyer). They actually have the 2320 already set up with most of the attachments I wanted, so that might be the one. First question: is there any concern buying one off the lot rather than new from the factory? They have quoted with a discount, but I would have thought it would be discounted from msrp no matter what.

Second question: When I started asking questions about larger models (3000 series), the sales guy pointed out that they have a 3032E with loader for almost the same price. He seemed to think it was a toss up between them. Should I be considering this one since it's available? The sales guy said that the 3032E has an older/worse transmission than the 2320 and no mid PTO. I also think the loader does not come off as easily. Now that I'm home I'm regretting not driving the 3032 to check manouverability for mowing. The main thing that's giving me pause is the fact that two gardening attachments the dealer said would fit the 2320 (frontier one bottom plow and subsoiler) are listed for 25-50 HP - and the 2320 comes in at 24.1 by spec. Not sure if that's a problem, as it seems like 24HP is plenty to pull a small plow, but maybe I'm wrong.

3032E pros: more HP, more lift capacity.
3032E cons: worse transmission? no mid PTO (but not currently planning on using it), harder to take off loader (but will probably leave it on all the time, except for maintenance?). A bit more expensive. Seems like it might have less ground clearance than 2320.

I would also probably prefer the lighter 2320 for soil compaction, etc. unless the weight is necessary for the tasks I have.

Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[Grandad4]

Either of those models would work well for your needs, I would think. I'd lean toward the 3032E because it's heavier and seems better suited to your land preparation/clearing and snow removal work. If you had more mowing, it would be the other way around. Maybe some of the TBN folks that know the JD models well will have more comments.

 

[Gittyup]

Go for the bigger, heavier tractor. You won't need a mid pto if you are buying a separate lawn mower. I think the 2320 is too small. The 2520 would be OK. Don't buy too small and regret it.

It seems you are only considering JD and Kubota. Good tractors. But, you pay for it, and other makers actually have better platforms for certain configurations. You are doing yourself a disservice if you don't look at MF, NH, Kioti, bobcat, mahindra, branson, TYM, and cub cadet.

On the mower, I recommend a used JD 400 series. These are awesome at mowing, and can be found with push blades and/or snowblowers. These are much better machines, even at used, than a new X300 series.

 

[aquafiend]

Gittyup: thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately in order to jump to the CUT level I'm limited to the brands that have financing deals. I'm also a bit nervous about service/dealer support so I'm trying to go with someone local. After going through your list there is a MF dealer and a bobcat dealer close to me, so I've asked for quotes on the MF1526 and the bobcat CT225 - thanks for the heads up. Oh, and my local Kioti and Kubota dealers have not returned emails / phone calls ...

 

[Gittyup]

Many dealers won't give you the best price via email or phone. They want to know you are a serious buyer, not a competitor just fishing for prices. They also want to see your face in the showroom.

Just about all of them offer some kind of special finances/incentives, and you can get way more tractor for your money many times for brands other than deere and Kubota.

It is best to drive them all. It isn't easy to compare without doing so. Rare do any two offer the same options/features. For example, I've test driven the 2320. Like it a lot for an over sized lawn mower (BX-like) that can do some light loader work. But the CT225 is much more tractor, for probably less money: weight, lift capacity, hydraulic flow, hp, 3 range HST, etc. If you compared these side by side it would quickly be clear which is the heavier duty tractor. I think you'll find the same with the MF, though you may not save any money in that brand. Mahindra, TYM, and Branson also offer great value/performance.

Yes dealer is very important. Make sure you buy from a good one. But, they don't necessarily need to be close by. My dealer is over 250 miles away. Support has been excellent and I saved thousands over the closer guys. Dealer has come to my house twice and performed repairs right in my driveway. I doubt the closer guys would have given me any better service.

If you are going with a separate lawn mower, you want your tractor to be built to do real tractor work. The 2320 isn't.