What are the general rules of tractor sizes?

[newbury]

Sub Compact, compact, utility, ag -
What is the most agreed upon breakdown?

For instance:


Now I CAN'T tell HP from a distance but I can count steps.

I've a no-step 23HP


And a one step 50HP


And would like a two step

/edit
Apparently I wasn't clear in my question -
What is the general rule for what is a subcompact? under 25HP? little front wheels?
Or a Utility? Over 50 HP?
By Kubota's separation of classes Compact tractor covers everything from 17.5 to 62 HP, which entirely overlaps both their Sub-compact and their Economy Utility.

 

[Wolfy]

Decide how big of a tractor you want, then double it. :laughing:

 

[oosik]

Boy - ain't that the truth Wolfy. I started with a 28 hp and now have 64 hp.

 

[Deere Dude]

Get on TBN and ask the buds what is the best size to get. Wait until you get a few hundred posts and average them out and add 10 HP.

 

[cphilip]

Boy - ain't that the truth Wolfy. I started with a 28 hp and now have 64 hp.

I started with a 60 HP and now am happy owner of a 25. So it depends on how your situation unfolds.

 

[RandyT]

Most people basically need to pick a tractor 1 or 2 sizes above what they think they need.

 

[4570Man]

I started out at 32 hp. I’m currently tractorless, but will end up with a full sized backhoe. And hp isn’t everything. My L3240 would work circles around my grandpas l3800. The base tractor was nearly 1000 pounds lighter. The way they were setup the L3240 weighed around double what the l3800 did.

 

[RalphVa]

I started with 18.5 hp, which is completely adequate. Now cannot get a JD this low in hp. Would like to have a 2019R, but they don't make it. So, I mostly just run mine at max of about 2500 rpm vs. 3000 "PTO" speed, as that's all the power I need.

Ralph

 

[bdog]

Unless you have tight spots to get into get the biggest you can afford. Older farm tractors are great. I have a 130? Hp tractor and only have 25 acres. It is perfect for what I do. I have other equipment to get into tight spaces. If you do any plowing even on a hobby scale you will quickly find out that you need weight and HP to get anything done in a timely manner. My 130 hp tractor that weighs 15,000 lb and has dual rear tires can only pull a 10’ wide chisel plow. I had it 12’ wide originally and had to remove two shanks because it would stop the tractor. Now think about plowing up anything more than a small garden with 25hp and a 3000 lb machine. Sure it is doable but might take a week.

I have found aside from plowing most tractor things don’t take much hp.

 

[MossRoad]

We started out with an 8000# fully cabbed 50PTO HP tractor loader and ended up with a little 25HP 1500# articulated machine that does everything we need to do. We used the big machine to knock out the large tasks like cutting in the road, then downsized to a property maintenance sized machine to keep it up. Rented a tracked hoe for a day to put in a foundation for a garage. Life is good.