Buying Advice What to buy and what's in the HP numbers?

[KYDan]

I think you would find with a snow-blower the HST would work better than a geared tractor.Infinate speed control.With a cab/air conditioning and brush-hogging a little more HP will make life easier.We have two Kubota's and have had good luck with them;my choice would be the L4760 for your uses.
Dealer support is worth a whole lot to me.

Yes, the HST is great for that and loader use. My local dealer has JD and Kubota. After speaking with him when upgrading from an L2900 Kubota to either a 50 hp JD or Kubota he steered me to the Kubota MX5100 as I wanted a utility tractor without a lot of frills. 3 years later it has been a great tractor. The most important thing for me was service after the sale and that's basically why I was debating between the 2. Kioti had a lot of issues early on around here and earned a terrible reputation and it appears they have a much better tractor now, but there are no local dealers. I have some acquaintances that have newer Kiotis and them seem to be satisfied with them. Try a tractor with the HST and see what you think. They do add cost, but over time it isn't that much.

 

[supertaster]

That's a nice looking tractor. I just have a rear grader blade on my FE35 and my neck and torso get sore spending so many hours looking backwards.
I would like to plow the snow and clean up with the blower where appropriate, so a blade on an FEL is high on my wishlist.

 

[supertaster]

ya, money is a factor for sure. Its extravagant considering I don't do much beyond plowing the driveways. Getting my firewood is a short term task in the spring/fall. I certainly like Massey. The FE35 has been a tank especially considering I was inexperienced and didn't know the ins and outs of regular maintenance. Now it receives regular care, but after 50+yrs, it deserves a vacation. So, I have a bias for MF, but Kubota is quite common around these parts for small tractors.... I always want more HP/size, but $ determines what happens above 40HP. I would top out at 45-50HP most likely and for various reasons including a place to store it is going to cost more and more as the door gets taller.

 

[nybirdman]

Make sure you get the SSQA for the FEL,makes it a lot easier changing implements in the front.I like my FEL mounted snow plow(8ft).If you are plowing gravel;get one that floats the plow not the FEL.
My main tractor is an L4240HSTC,so similar size to what you are looking at.I also run a seven ft.rear blade in the winter.

 

[supertaster]

can you give more detail on your front blade?
brand, float, etc.
I haven't seen one that had the chain like a truck plow and certainly not that tall.
I have no FEL experience, so while understanding what "float" is, I haven't seen it in operation.

 

[TSO]

I made my own SSQA plow, using a western plow blade. I still haven't added a hydraulic cylinder, so it's manual turn (which is fine for now). But, I picked up the blade used for about $175, and have maybe another $175 in steel. If you can weld/fab, it's easy. It probably wouldn't cost all that much to have a metal shop do it.

 

[vtsnowedin]

Well you certainly have some good tractors to choose from. To get to your question about horse power. Many of the smaller tractors today have a lot more horsepower for their weight then traditional Ag tractors did or still do.
It gives you higher speeds when going on a hard surface and more power at the pto. to run increasingly more complicated and power hungry attachments. Pulling an implement in soft ground though you run out of traction before you run out of power and you can spin yourself stuck faster.
For comparison look at some you mentioned.:
Massey 1742 ......hp. 41.6..... wt w/cab......... 4068 .....wt/ hp 98.
Kubota L4060.... hp.. 42 ........wt /hydo/cab... 4134 .....wt/hp ...98
Koit1 DK45SE .... hp.. 45....... wt /no cab....... 4625... wt/hp. 103
JD 4044M .... hp. 43.1..... wt hydro/no cab 3770.. wt/hp 87.4
JD 5045E........... hp. 45 . wt no cab 5070 .. wt.hp 113
Now that might not seem like much difference but if you have a baler on behind you pushing you down hill having another thousand ponds on your side helps keep you from being pushed around.
Just something to consider as you shop.

 

[TSO]

Well you certainly have some good tractors to choose from. To get to your question about horse power. Many of the smaller tractors today have a lot more horsepower for their weight then traditional Ag tractors did or still do.
It gives you higher speeds when going on a hard surface and more power at the pto. to run increasingly more complicated and power hungry attachments. Pulling an implement in soft ground though you run out of traction before you run out of power and you can spin yourself stuck faster.
For comparison look at some you mentioned.:
Massey 1742 ......hp. 41.6..... wt w/cab......... 4068 .....wt/ hp 98.
Kubota L4060.... hp.. 42 ........wt /hydo/cab... 4134 .....wt/hp ...98
Koit1 DK45SE .... hp.. 45....... wt /no cab....... 4625... wt/hp. 103
JD 4044M .... hp. 43.1..... wt hydro/no cab 3770.. wt/hp 87.4
JD 5045E........... hp. 45 . wt no cab 5070 .. wt.hp 113
Now that might not seem like much difference but if you have a baler on behind you pushing you down hill having another thousand ponds on your side helps keep you from being pushed around.
Just something to consider as you shop.

That Kioti weight isn't accurate, without cab it's around 39xx lbs, and 43xx lbs cab. Just FYI. But your point about HP/weight & traction is spot on.

 

[vtsnowedin]

My plow is just an old Fisher eight foot with wings I made a attachment plate for. It uses the truck plow pistons for power angle of the loader third function( An option you'll find you like). It floats on the chain just like it did while on a pickup.

 

[vtsnowedin]

That Kioti weight isn't accurate, without cab it's around 39xx lbs, and 43xx lbs cab. Just FYI. But your point about HP/weight & traction is spot on.

It could be . I just pulled the weights from tractor data.com and they have some mistakes scattered around in their data.
Opps I went back and double checked. It is 4625 with cab according to them. And of course none of those weights include tire ballast or loader weight. my 5045E runs about 7800 as it sits in the driveway. Thats 173 lb/HP.