Used tractor recommendation for 40 acre property for $15-20k?

[hks003]

I recently bought a 2014 LS G3038 and a 5ft Howse bush hog for around $12,500. It has 140 hours on it. A guy bought it to drag logs out of the woods, but then didn't want to be that rough on something that cost that much, so he used his dad's old JD to do that and his dad used the LS to mow his yard and grade his driveway. The thing was spotless. I've since put about 7 hours on it using the bucket with ratchet rake to rake up leaves, pinestraw, and limbs that the winter rains here in SE Arkansas so kindly knocked out of all my trees for me. Could I use a smaller tractor to do most of my tasks? Probably. Will I be glad I have a 40 HP whenever time comes to haul it to the deer lease and bush hog, disc, and plant several acres? Probably.

The guy I bought it from sold it for what the dealer told him he could sell it for instead of taking $10k on a trade in. I still came out on top I think, since tractor house shows that tractor with 300+ hours selling for $15k-$17k. I plan to use it to mow the majority of my 4 acres to save the wear of small limbs, roots, and bumps on my zero turn. I also plan to reclaim some of my land that briars and weeds have over taken. The more tractor you can get, the more jobs you'll realize you can do that maybe you hadn't thought about before.

I'm a big advocate for the LS, Kioti, and TYMs of the world. They pack more value per $ in with more features than do the "name" brands, and they are still solid machines. With my LS, the only thing I initially saw that I wasn't a fan of was parts availability. Then, I found out that it's the exact same tractor as a NH Workmaster 40, and the parts are interchangeable. I have a NH dealer 30 minutes from my house and it's between where I work and home, so it's easily accessible. I don't have a warranty, but my dad and I are fairly decent mechanics, so I plan to do basic stuff myself.

 

[arnoldziffel]

Not to hijack this thread, but I have a very similar situation like the OP.

45 mostly clay acres, 20 of which are open fields that need brush hogging. Like the OP we have a high water table (beaver dam problems) much of the year.

I too am in the middle of selecting a tractor and am about ready to go with a 42 hp, 4100 pound machine (5100 pounds with loader) with R1 tires. BUT I'm concerned that this machine might be too heavy also.

Respectfully, do you think a BX size machine really could do 20 acres of brush hogging about 4 times per year? (Rural New York State, only 5 - 6 months of field grass growing). Due to my water concerns, I too have considered a smaller 24hp machine that weighs about 2600 pounds with loader and R4 tires.

I can only afford one machine. I'm also concerned I'll make the wrong choice.

 

[prof fate]

I brush hog 22ish acres of horse pasture, wet in places. 4x4 and R4 tires work great. The 6' brush hog is 950 lb..so I'm a big heavy machine out there. and last year was the wettest year on record for our area. By far.

I had a smaller kubota, 1500lb, 2wd, 4' brush hog...the 6' is 50% wider and I STILL spend 18 hours to mow it all. Mainly because 5 acres of it is rutted (from wet mowing in the past) and you can't go fast if you want to have a back or kidneys live thru it.

Lower grass you can mow faster, taller (4 to 5' tall at times) weeds are almost easier than foot to 2' tall grass.

I mow 5 times a year - trying to keep the weeds from going to seed and 6 to 8 per mowing adds up REAL fast!

And a bigger tractor is much more comfortable in a rough pasture.

 

[TheMadOne]

Not to hijack this thread, but I have a very similar situation like the OP.

45 mostly clay acres, 20 of which are open fields that need brush hogging. Like the OP we have a high water table (beaver dam problems) much of the year.

I too am in the middle of selecting a tractor and am about ready to go with a 42 hp, 4100 pound machine (5100 pounds with loader) with R1 tires. BUT I'm concerned that this machine might be too heavy also.

Respectfully, do you think a BX size machine really could do 20 acres of brush hogging about 4 times per year? (Rural New York State, only 5 - 6 months of field grass growing). Due to my water concerns, I too have considered a smaller 24hp machine that weighs about 2600 pounds with loader and R4 tires.

I can only afford one machine. I'm also concerned I'll make the wrong choice.

Weight on wet ground can be offset by tire selection. Compaction is every farmer's enemy.

A BX 2380 comes standard with 26x12-12 turf tires on the rear. It weighs 1443lbs.

The Massey 4225 I linked a bit ago comes standard with 14.9-24 ag tires on the rear. It weighs 6665lbs.

BX tires diameter is 26".

4225 tire diameter is 49.5.

That's a 90% increase.

BX tires are 12" wide.

4225 tires are 15" wide.

That's a 25% increase.

The big one is flat plate.

The 4225 rear tires each have a flat plate of 150 square inches.(varies by brand, but that's the ballpark)

The BX rear tires each have a flat plate of 60 square inches(again, varies by brand).

I'm only looking at the rears because I couldn't find a flat plate spec for 18x8.5-10 tires.

Each rear tire on the Massey has more area in contact with the ground than both tires on the BX.

Assuming that each tire takes an even share of the load, each tire on the Massey would have to support 1666.25lbs(not even going to try and work in the loaders). Each BX tire would have to support 360.75lbs.

So, we have our areas, and our weights. Now we can do some PSI calculations. I'm doing these off the cuff, so apologies if my math is weird.

For the BX we have 360.75lbs and 60 square inches. So divide. You end up within a rounding error of 6 PSI.

For the Massey we have 1666.25lbs and 150 square inches. Divide again. You end up with 11 PSI.

So despite being over four and a half times more massive, the Massey doesn't quite exert double the amount of pressure on each inch of ground.

Is it more pressure on the ground? Yes. But it does not scale linearly with tractor weight. There's probably heavier tractors than the Massey with lower ground pressure numbers. I'm not going to do the math, but a Challenger tracked machine that weighs 30,000lbs has a huge flat plate in the form of the tracks.

What this means is that a larger machine can often do as well, or in some case better, than a smaller one in wet conditions due to its ability to spread the load.

 

[newbury]

Since no one else has brought it up-
Look a public auctions.
First a little background -
Most "public entities" have funding cycles and must budget for equipment maintenance, new equipment etc. And they sell the equipment they replace.
Occasionally what they are selling is totally run into the ground, but often it is not.

In 2013 I bought an M4700 w/1400 hrs for $11.5K




Last year about the same thing came up again
Public Surplus: Auction #2152321

this time w 633 hours and sold for $12.7K.

These are good, well maintained but used 50 hp tractors.

If you have maintained cars for years the repairs I've had to do would seem simple - mostly replace a few hydraulic hoses and get a FEL cylinder rebuilt.

These bargains pop up all the time. In the DC area I've tracked about 50 since 2015.

It's worth looking into.

 

[MossRoad]

Not to hijack this thread, but I have a very similar situation like the OP.

45 mostly clay acres, 20 of which are open fields that need brush hogging. Like the OP we have a high water table (beaver dam problems) much of the year.

I too am in the middle of selecting a tractor and am about ready to go with a 42 hp, 4100 pound machine (5100 pounds with loader) with R1 tires. BUT I'm concerned that this machine might be too heavy also.

Respectfully, do you think a BX size machine really could do 20 acres of brush hogging about 4 times per year? (Rural New York State, only 5 - 6 months of field grass growing). Due to my water concerns, I too have considered a smaller 24hp machine that weighs about 2600 pounds with loader and R4 tires.

I can only afford one machine. I'm also concerned I'll make the wrong choice.

20 acre 4 times a year with a BX? Depends how much time you have. Somewhere on TBN someone once posted a link to a calculator that you can plug in your cutter width and speed and it will calculate approx how many acres per hour you can do. I have a 60" finish mower and it takes me about 30 minutes to mow an acre. Brush cutting goes a lot slower for me, as that is usually higher grasses, which takes more of a load, and my brush cutter is a foot narrower. So about 50 minutes per acre with my 48" brush cutter in tall grass. 20 acres would take me about 17 hours. That's realistically about 3 days, given breaks, refueling, etc.... 4 times a year, that would take me 12 days! Yikes. I'd need a bigger machine. :laughing:

 

[searcyfarms]

id be looking in the 50HP/5K lb range

 

[sd455dan]

Weight on wet ground can be offset by tire selection. Compaction is every farmer's enemy.

A BX 2380 comes standard with 26x12-12 turf tires on the rear. It weighs 1443lbs.

The Massey 4225 I linked a bit ago comes standard with 14.9-24 ag tires on the rear. It weighs 6665lbs.

BX tires diameter is 26".

4225 tire diameter is 49.5.

That's a 90% increase.

BX tires are 12" wide.

4225 tires are 15" wide.

That's a 25% increase.

The big one is flat plate.

The 4225 rear tires each have a flat plate of 150 square inches.(varies by brand, but that's the ballpark)

The BX rear tires each have a flat plate of 60 square inches(again, varies by brand).

I'm only looking at the rears because I couldn't find a flat plate spec for 18x8.5-10 tires.

Each rear tire on the Massey has more area in contact with the ground than both tires on the BX.

Assuming that each tire takes an even share of the load, each tire on the Massey would have to support 1666.25lbs(not even going to try and work in the loaders). Each BX tire would have to support 360.75lbs.

So, we have our areas, and our weights. Now we can do some PSI calculations. I'm doing these off the cuff, so apologies if my math is weird.

For the BX we have 360.75lbs and 60 square inches. So divide. You end up within a rounding error of 6 PSI.

For the Massey we have 1666.25lbs and 150 square inches. Divide again. You end up with 11 PSI.

So despite being over four and a half times more massive, the Massey doesn't quite exert double the amount of pressure on each inch of ground.

Is it more pressure on the ground? Yes. But it does not scale linearly with tractor weight. There's probably heavier tractors than the Massey with lower ground pressure numbers. I'm not going to do the math, but a Challenger tracked machine that weighs 30,000lbs has a huge flat plate in the form of the tracks.

What this means is that a larger machine can often do as well, or in some case better, than a smaller one in wet conditions due to its ability to spread the load.

Very true

Another consideration when mowing anything but truly flat and smooth ground, at least from my mowing experience is

how my back feels after mowing a similar sized field with my ~8000 lb ( FEL still mounted) tractor with 14.9 x 28 tires And a shock absorbed suspension seat.

Can't imagine how it would feel after mowing a bit rough field of 20 acres with BX sized tires/machine...

Sure a BX will probably handle it, but may want to also buy a kidney belt...

 

[searcyfarms]

50hp/5K would be the absolute minimum i would get for comfort/work/traction/usability I have multiple sized tractors and the ONLY time i pick a smaller tractor is to get into a tight spot, i pick the bigger/more powerful tractor/heavier 90% of the time = WHY, its already been said, safer, more comfortable, not overusing the tractor, not doing things that are questionable, less strain on everything and everyone.

Example, You are out running your little tractor, got her wound up WIDE OPEN, working it to death and having to clutch, gear down, watch temp gauges, blah blah, you get on the bigger tractor, run it at half throttle, less noise, less worry, just tool along and get done quicker.........you are not near as tired/stressed/fatigued when you crawl off a bigger tractor in a case like that.

I love my smaller tractors for what i do with them, BUT they get the least amount of use and i have plenty of opportunity to use them.

Do yourself a favor, figure out what the smallest path is you are going to make and the tightest spot and how many times you will be there vs doing the majority of the work you want/need to do and go with the midsized compromise. You wont be sorry as you will by getting something that is smaller. Trust me i have already spent that money twice ;-)

 

[MossRoad]

50hp/5K would be the absolute minimum i would get for comfort/work/traction/usability I have multiple sized tractors and the ONLY time i pick a smaller tractor is to get into a tight spot, i pick the bigger/more powerful tractor/heavier 90% of the time = WHY, its already been said, safer, more comfortable, not overusing the tractor, not doing things that are questionable, less strain on everything and everyone.

Example, You are out running your little tractor, got her wound up WIDE OPEN, working it to death and having to clutch, gear down, watch temp gauges, blah blah, you get on the bigger tractor, run it at half throttle, less noise, less worry, just tool along and get done quicker.........you are not near as tired/stressed/fatigued when you crawl off a bigger tractor in a case like that.

I love my smaller tractors for what i do with them, BUT they get the least amount of use and i have plenty of opportunity to use them.

Do yourself a favor, figure out what the smallest path is you are going to make and the tightest spot and how many times you will be there vs doing the majority of the work you want/need to do and go with the midsized compromise. You wont be sorry as you will by getting something that is smaller. Trust me i have already spent that money twice ;-)

Don't think you can run any sized machine at half throttle to maintain proper PTO RPMs on the mower.

And you don't have to clutch and gear down on an HST.

 

[searcyfarms]

if you dont have enough power/traction/comfort/safety it doesnt matter what speed you run the under rated tractor, it might be running WOT but the engine is lugged down running far less and trying to spin up a loaded up mower so its not turning any faster or moving physically, than a tractor running half to 3/4 throttle consistently on the PTO and engine/mph. Up/Down with speed of the engine and tractor absolutely wears you out - i rarely run my equipment WOT unless in a hurry - you will do yourself a favor over and over with fuel consumption/wear n tear/safety/comfort/I have even adapted the 1000rpm to 540 so i can run the mower at standard rpm and tractor engine at slower speed to save fuel/wear/all the stuff that reduces life things. Its well worth it in my book. I would always advise anyone to have more tractor than not enough.

 

[Streetcar]

7

Since no one else has brought it up-
Look a public auctions.
First a little background -
Most "public entities" have funding cycles and must budget for equipment maintenance, new equipment etc. And they sell the equipment they replace.
Occasionally what they are selling is totally run into the ground, but often it is not.

In 2013 I bought an M4700 w/1400 hrs for $11.5K
View attachment 596883
View attachment 596884
View attachment 596885

Last year about the same thing came up again
Public Surplus: Auction #2152321

this time w 633 hours and sold for $12.7K.

These are good, well maintained but used 50 hp tractors.

If you have maintained cars for years the repairs I've had to do would seem simple - mostly replace a few hydraulic hoses and get a FEL cylinder rebuilt.

These bargains pop up all the time. In the DC area I've tracked about 50 since 2015.

It's worth looking into.

Not sure what part of Ohio op is in ,but in southern Ohio public tractors sell for a premium of several thousand. Also local tractors are Deere Kubota primarily

 

[Professor Marvel]

I suspect you will get your best useful value with a 4wd gear transmission tractor around 40-50 hp. I like a hydrostatic tractor much better but that convenience comes with a price. I would certainly go 4wd with the land you described. I have just found that there is a noticeable difference in price between hydro and gear drive. I don't think brand is that significant. Buying used i would stick with the better known ones. Kubota, NH/Ford, JD(probably paying a premium just for green), etc. New I think there are probably more solid choices available. You will rarely regret going larger than you think you need. 4wd makes a smaller tractor bigger.
Others have offered plenty of good advice

EDIT: if your price range does not include implements you should be able to get into a good hydro tractor at that price.

 

[MossRoad]

if you dont have enough power/traction/comfort/safety it doesnt matter what speed you run the under rated tractor, it might be running WOT but the engine is lugged down running far less and trying to spin up a loaded up mower so its not turning any faster or moving physically, than a tractor running half to 3/4 throttle consistently on the PTO and engine/mph. Up/Down with speed of the engine and tractor absolutely wears you out - i rarely run my equipment WOT unless in a hurry - you will do yourself a favor over and over with fuel consumption/wear n tear/safety/comfort/I have even adapted the 1000rpm to 540 so i can run the mower at standard rpm and tractor engine at slower speed to save fuel/wear/all the stuff that reduces life things. Its well worth it in my book. I would always advise anyone to have more tractor than not enough.

My late 70's IH2500b 50hp tractor loader manual specifically states to run the engine at PTO RPMS when operating PTO powered equipment, and it also specifically states to run the engine at that RPM or higher to maintain proper engine and transmission cooling and to provide maximum braking power through the transmission. You're not supposed to run it at lower RPMs when working. It also provides an audible and visual warning indicator if you lug the transmission. All you have to do is let off of the directional pedal to reduce load on the engine. Anyone that runs an engine at WOT and doesn't back off the load if it starts lugging should probably get a refresher course in machine operation.

It's not like the OP is going to get a mower that's larger than the rated capacity for his machine. Hopefully, he'd get a mower that's sized properly to his machine. Yes, it will take him longer to mow than a larger machine, but no, it won't be some unbearable burden on the machine.

 

[searcyfarms]

ive had more issues running things at WOT than at reduced speeds - maybe its just me - kind of like my dad told me when riding a horse - the faster you go the bigger the crash

 

[Turbys_1700]

I traded in a New Holland Workmaster 50 a couple years ago. IMHO it is the right size for a 50 acre property. It is a 5K pound machine. A new unit in this size will be more than your budget. I would look for a used machine in this size/weight/capacity within your budget. Look for extendable lower links, 3 point hitch adjustment from the rear of the tractor, and at the very least a shuttle shift with a couple of hydraulic rear remotes. It will not be easy but doable. You should be able to find something in the 2K hour range. If maintained well you will be good to go.

The easiest solution is to go new with warranty. You will get better financing than used but less capacity.

Keep us updated on your progress. A lot of good advise on here.

 

[MossRoad]

ive had more issues running things at WOT than at reduced speeds - maybe its just me - kind of like my dad told me when riding a horse - the faster you go the bigger the crash

PTO speed isn't WOT on most machines.