Buying Advice What do I need

[cyclonengineer]

Hi! Great site!

I just bought a 5 acre property and am looking for a tractor. I have no idea what I need, but can tell you what I want:

1. The driveway is close to 450' long. A bucket or blade attachment is a must. The driveway is also brick, if you have any advice on not destroying that one.
2. Mowing. We're moving from a 1/2 acre property to this one. The prior owners were keeping about 2 - 2 1/2 acres in lawn and the rest in native grass. Ideally, I'd like to be able to mow with one attachment and vary the technique as required.
3. Lifting. I'm a car/home improvement guy. It'd be nice to be able to fork a full pallet (<2000 lbs) to save my aging back.

I have no brand loyalty. Some of my farming/hobby farming co-workers have been making recommendations about Allis and Massey. I'm pretty open.

I am siding towards a gas tractor to keep things as simple as possible, but I have some limited diesel experience if turns out to be the better option.

Thanks!

Brooks

 

[dave1949]

Brick driveway, all 450' of it? Maybe a power broom would be handy?

 

[LAWALLSTRACTOR]

Hi! Great site!

I just bought a 5 acre property and am looking for a tractor. I have no idea what I need, but can tell you what I want:

1. The driveway is close to 450' long. A bucket or blade attachment is a must. The driveway is also brick, if you have any advice on not destroying that one.
2. Mowing. We're moving from a 1/2 acre property to this one. The prior owners were keeping about 2 - 2 1/2 acres in lawn and the rest in native grass. Ideally, I'd like to be able to mow with one attachment and vary the technique as required.
3. Lifting. I'm a car/home improvement guy. It'd be nice to be able to fork a full pallet (<2000 lbs) to save my aging back.

I have no brand loyalty. Some of my farming/hobby farming co-workers have been making recommendations about Allis and Massey. I'm pretty open.

I am siding towards a gas tractor to keep things as simple as possible, but I have some limited diesel experience if turns out to be the better option.

Thanks!

Brooks

You are going to need a tractor with about 3000# loader lift capacity to lift 2000# on a set of forks.

 

[cyclonengineer]

Brick driveway, all 450' of it? Maybe a power broom would be handy?

All of it. Hand laid. Someone crazy lived there before me.

 

[cyclonengineer]

You are going to need a tractor with about 3000# loader lift capacity to lift 2000# on a set of forks.

That seems like a pretty large tractor. If I skip the fork abilities, what are my best options?

 

[Ed of all trades]

Sub compact from a dealer near you.

 

[jpm1]

Personally i would down size the lift cpacity a bit, go with a nice Hydrostatic 4 wheel drive and look for a tire scraper to put on the front end loader. There used to to scrape manure on concrete floors in barns. This would work nice on paver driveway. . . .John

 

[jrdepew]

Brick driveway, all 450' of it? Maybe a power broom would be handy?

The local university uses power brooms on skidsteers to keep the sidewalks clean in the winter. They do an amazing job. I wonder how much snow these can move? How much snow does it take to become too much for a power broom?

Joe

 

[Baby Grand]

If you don't need to lift the forks/pallets more than 18", then you can probably achieve 2000# lifting with 3 point forks on a reasonably sized tractor.

 

[DKCDKC]

Talk to your neighbors and find who they say are the best tractor dealers. Check out farm stores and the like. Pick a good dealer. Then start talking tractor. Sounds like a good CUT would do for your needs. You have a pick of the mowers and brush cutters available. One might meet your requirement. Don't forget to actually drive the tractor before you buy. If it feels awkward or not right, try another size or another brand. But do buy from a good dealer. Service and advice will be very important for a new tractor owner.

I had experience only with gasoline tractors until 2000, then got a diesel. It was old, but a wonderful tractor. Diesel require so little maintenance that you have lots of time to figure it out. In 10 years I had one significant repair - and I got a neighbor to do that. Bought a new diesel CUT earlier this year because I was having trouble getting on the big unit.

I have seen local government folks plow brick or cobblestone streets with a blade with wooden skids or shoes on it. Seems to get all but a little snow, the rest melts or is bushed off. Lot depends on the smoothness of the pavers.

I'd go with forks on the 3pt hitch too. Even most CUTs can handle all you want.

 

[jenkinsph]

Hi! Great site!

I just bought a 5 acre property and am looking for a tractor. I have no idea what I need, but can tell you what I want:

1. The driveway is close to 450' long. A bucket or blade attachment is a must. The driveway is also brick, if you have any advice on not destroying that one.
2. Mowing. We're moving from a 1/2 acre property to this one. The prior owners were keeping about 2 - 2 1/2 acres in lawn and the rest in native grass. Ideally, I'd like to be able to mow with one attachment and vary the technique as required.
3. Lifting. I'm a car/home improvement guy. It'd be nice to be able to fork a full pallet (<2000 lbs) to save my aging back.

I have no brand loyalty. Some of my farming/hobby farming co-workers have been making recommendations about Allis and Massey. I'm pretty open.

I am siding towards a gas tractor to keep things as simple as possible, but I have some limited diesel experience if turns out to be the better option.

Thanks!

Brooks

A good lawn and garden tractor or sub compact tractor will do all of your lawn maintenance and mowing work. Lifting the 2000 lb pallets safely puts you into a much larger machine, make sure that is important enough to consider.

I am in the paver business and the first thing I would ask is how smooth are the pavers? Might wan't to make sure you don't have any sticking up. I would suggest a blade with rubber edge if the bricks are smooth. For general cleaning a backpack blower works real well and is quick.

I use a Deere x749 to do most of my lawn work including mowing, fertilizing, raking and collection. Lots of similar size options out there in other brands that would work well for you. For the fork lift work if this is important to you I would consider an older used fork lift, I know of several of my contractor friends who have bought these relatively cheap. I should also mention that my brick and paving wholesalers will all deliver the pallets of materials and stage them for me where needed, saves me alot of aggravation.

 

[cyclonengineer]

Thanks for the input!

The brick is fairly smooth, but has settled from traffic, so there might be a chance of scraping the center of the blade if I end up with a wide one. I'm flexible on the lifting abilities, I just thought it'd be nice if it had "all-around capabilities".

What do you recommend for a CUT? I've been looking older, like a wide-front Allis D17, they seem to change hands around here for $3-4k...not sure if that size is considered CUT or just small

 

[Gittyup]

For snow removal I would consider a blower with nylon skid shoes. But I think your budget is a little low. A used JD 455 with blower would be a good setup but will be in $5K+ range. A bit cheaper might be a jd 425 or 445 with same blower. but jd 400's are in high demand if you can find at all. You could use a scraper blade with a rubber edge. But this could pull up bricks. In NE I'm betting you get too much snow for a broom. You probably also want a light float on those brick too.

 

[whistlepig]

On the brick driveway I would do an ATV with a blade. These can move a lot of snow. I can't see a tractor with a FEL or blade not hooking the brick. A brick caught in a snow blower would also make for a very bad day.