Greetings! This is my first post on TBN. Just reading these posts are scaring me. I, like Rollings Farms, am in South Carolina as well. I have 45 acres about an hour from Columbia and only have about 6 or 7 total acres to bush hog and disc. (also sandy soil) The rest are pines and some hardwoods. Some of it is along a powerline, about 3 acres of open field and the rest 150 yds long by 30 feet wide that I plant for deer food plots. For the last 5 years I've been hiring the work out so the ground has been turned a few times. I am wanting to buy a tractor and start doing the work (play) myself but have gotten so much conflicting info from dealers that now I don't know what I need. I prefer a compact and looked at the JD 2520. One dealer says good with 5' disc and cutter, one says only good with 4' implements and one says too small for what I need to do. Have been looking hard at Kubota compacts but almost afraid to go with Japanese considering the problems right now in Japan. Maybe problems with parts availability in the future. Starting to consider the JD 3032E now. Any advice would surely be appreciated.
What size tractor would pull this disc with ease?
- Thread starter RollingsFarms
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N80
Super Member
I think you should buy whichever brand you like but I would not worry about Kubota in light of Japan's current problems. Kubota is a huge company.
Anyway, I still have my Kubota L4400. It is 45 hp, 4wd and fairly light. I pull a 7' disk through tough soil with no problems. Pull a 2 bottom plow with no problems. I use a 6' JD rotary cutter with no problems. Landscape rake is 7', all other implements are 6'. All that is to say that you should be fine with smallish tractor in the 45-50 hp range. A heavier tractor might be a plus for you but do not forget your towing capability. If you have an F250 or 2500 level truck it won't make much difference, but if you have a 1/2 ton truck those pounds start to push the limits pretty quick.
Anyway, I still have my Kubota L4400. It is 45 hp, 4wd and fairly light. I pull a 7' disk through tough soil with no problems. Pull a 2 bottom plow with no problems. I use a 6' JD rotary cutter with no problems. Landscape rake is 7', all other implements are 6'. All that is to say that you should be fine with smallish tractor in the 45-50 hp range. A heavier tractor might be a plus for you but do not forget your towing capability. If you have an F250 or 2500 level truck it won't make much difference, but if you have a 1/2 ton truck those pounds start to push the limits pretty quick.
Thank you for the info. The L4400 is a nice tractor. I looked at it at the Palmetto Sportsmans Classic but it is more money than I want to spend. I'm looking for something in the 30HP range. Maybe the L3200 or the JD 3032E. I will not be using anything larger than a 5' rotary cutter or 5' disc harrow. One thing about the JD 3032E is that the HST has only 2 speeds where I believe the L3200 has a 3 speed range. I'm wondering if 2 speed range will be a problem for disking or cutting. Any ideas? Thanks
nybirdman
Super Member
With a tractor the size of the L3200 I think you would be better served with a tiller rather than a disc.Some thing you could pull would not weigh a lot and would take multiple passes to do what a tiller would do in one pass.I tried a three point disc with a L3130 in our soil it didn't work very well.I plow and roto-till.
Welcome to TBN, RM2005. Good advice so far. Both Kubota and Deere make excellent equipment, are big companies that have been around for a long time and will be around in the future... don't let sales talk or other misinformation mislead you about the Japanese manufacturers.
With all due respect, I'm thinking you've got the cart before the horse somewhat here. You're letting an implement you own dictate the size of tractor you need, instead of first looking at the work to be done and sizing both the tractor and the implements to the job.
A rotary tiller seems like a good solution for what you want to do, since, other than that monster disc you have, you really don't need a 70-100 hp tractor for the work you do on your 7 cleared acres. A 30-40 hp compact with loader, 5 or 6 ft. tiller, 5 or 6 ft. brush cutter, maybe some other implements like a box blade would do everything just fine, I would think.
There are any number of good Deere and Kubota models to choose from in that size range, and you'll have equipment that will last a long time and hold its value. I would recommend an HST model for a tiller... they can creep at the extremely slow speeds needed when running a tiller. Otherwise, find one that fits your taste and budget.
With all due respect, I'm thinking you've got the cart before the horse somewhat here. You're letting an implement you own dictate the size of tractor you need, instead of first looking at the work to be done and sizing both the tractor and the implements to the job.
A rotary tiller seems like a good solution for what you want to do, since, other than that monster disc you have, you really don't need a 70-100 hp tractor for the work you do on your 7 cleared acres. A 30-40 hp compact with loader, 5 or 6 ft. tiller, 5 or 6 ft. brush cutter, maybe some other implements like a box blade would do everything just fine, I would think.
There are any number of good Deere and Kubota models to choose from in that size range, and you'll have equipment that will last a long time and hold its value. I would recommend an HST model for a tiller... they can creep at the extremely slow speeds needed when running a tiller. Otherwise, find one that fits your taste and budget.
LeadPoison
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2005
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- Kubota M4900