What to buy for my WA. property

[arrmateyj]

There are sure a lot of helpful and friendly people in this forum. Sorry about the pics taking too long. However, I am not computer savvy and am pretty amazed I got them here in the first place.

LarryD , I'm pretty sure I won't need the plow. We are actually moving to Whidbey Island and just visited last month. We got out before the snow hit.

Jim

 

[BTDT]

Do you have any pictures of the house from the road? If you go with a tractor that has loader/backhoe I don't see a problem, but a lot of opportunity. I would dig out sides of hills and put in retaining walls, use the spoil to fill in other areas. Then all you would have left is level areas that are on different levels, which should be easy to mow. Get a tractor with a removable backhoe, so you can use front or rear mounted snowblower, mowers, etc. Man I envy you, think of all the seat time you have ahead of you. I will leave brand and color to your choosing. Have fun and good luck.

 

[LBrown59]

Your land is very hilly. I would stay away from compact utility tractors. They are too unstable on hilly land. Articulated tractors would make more sense. The PowerTracs would be great (425 or 420) and the other articulated tractors such as Steiner or Ventrec (?sp). There are all sorts of useful purpose built attachments for the PTs. They are really the "Swiss Army Knives" of the tractor world. Check out the PowerTrac forum and ask Bob Skurka about his Ventrec.

Such a steep hilly place.

 

[IslandTractor]

LBrown59: I was so hoping that your New Year's Resolution for 2007 would be to stop using the dorky and excessive font/color combinations in your posts. Ah well, maybe next year.

 

[AndyM]

I'm currently looking at a similar property on slightly more than two acres, and I've already decided my New Holland TC18, or other similar CUT's, wouldn't work there. I'll be following this thread, as while I believe a CUT is out of the question on the hills, a SCUT like a Kubota BX may work since they have a lower center of gravity than my CUT, but I would also check out the previous suggestions of articulated tractors; I know I will be if we buy this property.

 

[IslandTractor]

while I believe a CUT is out of the question on the hills, a SCUT like a Kubota BX may work since they have a lower center of gravity than my CUT, but I would also check out the previous suggestions of articulated tractors.

The BXs are certainly incrementally better than CUTs but I don't think they are stable enough to handle the types of hills shown in the original posters property. Even the articulated tractors will need to be run up and down a lot of those hilly bits.

Powertrac makes some very specific hill mowers ($$$$) but if it were me, I'd be looking at a PT425 and reverse the wheels for greater track width. With a few implements and transport to the west coast you'd be in the $15000-18,000 range I'd guess. Again, I would suggest posting this question specifically on the PT forum as there are a number of guys there who don't really read the more general CUT related forums.

 

[coasterez]

Carefully consider the FEL lift height of the powertracs before you buy. Make sure it will work for you.

 

[PBinWA]

I would seriously consider Ventrac or perhaps Caroni from Italy. You need to be really careful on those steep hills. I have a neighbor with a BX2230 and he won't ride it on hills that I take my bigger taller tractor on.

The pucker factor is something that you need to consider. Some people don't mind getting a little tippy and others hate it.

 

[LBrown59]

I would seriously consider Ventrac or perhaps Caroni from Italy. You need to be really careful on those steep hills.

I have a neighbor with a BX2230 and he won't ride it on hills that I take my bigger taller tractor on.

The pucker factor is something that you need to consider. .

This sounds odd to me.
I've found the bigger the tractor the greater The Pucker Factor on a given slope.
I have a CC GT2554 that i use on certain areas of my land that I won't take the BX23 on due to the Pucker Principal

 

[LBrown59]

LBrown59: I was so hoping that your New Year's Resolution for 2007 would be to stop using the dorky and excessive font/color combinations in your posts. Ah well, maybe next year.

New Year's Resolutions are made to be broken so I don't bother with them.