Compact or sub compact tractor?

[sirbuildalot]

Sorry, things got a little out of hand. For 5 acres total, with 3 acres being grass, and a 600 ft driveway I'd pick a machine that is around 2500 lbs, and has at least 32-36" rear rubber, and a full cat 1 hitch. I think for a max of 20 grand you could get that combo with implements in a few brands. Test drive a few and go from there.

 

[CaseyForrest]

My Kobota is 33 years old, It's been in the shop once. I don't think service will be an issue.

Heres to hoping... Just under 300 hours on the clock right now. But they've been hard earned hours.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I've been mowing the same lot for over 40 years and one thing I figured out years ago is mowing more often will take less time.
My kabota has 3 forward gears with a high/low range. If I mow once a week and the grass is high, I have to mow in #1 high range it takes me 3 hours.
If I mow twice a week, I can run in #2 high and it only takes me an hour to mow the same spot. I can mow once a week and spend 3 hours. Or twice a week and only spend 2 hours. I save time and run hours on the tractor. It's also easier on the tractor because it's working less.

I just run my ZTR roughly wide open speed. If it mows good, it it half mows oh well, I'm not running a golf course.

It handles it just fine till the grass is 8" or taller, then it'll lay some of it down if I don't slow down.

Thankfully mowing season is short. I mow roughly 2-3 times a month. My neighbor who is old and retired I swear must mow every other day, just cause he can I guess.

My ~10 year old machine has maybe 250 hrs on it.

That being said, the ZTR mows WAY better than a tractor. My Dad has a 30hp Kioti, I wouldn't want to mow an average yard with it.
Maybe a flat field with nothing in the way, but even still the ZTR would be quicker.

If it was me, I'd buy a used real tractor and a ZTR.
My brother bough a late 70s ~100hp International with loader, snowblower for under 10k. Only had ~1000hrs on a complete rebuild.

20k for a glorified Sears garden tractor is ridiculous!

 

[CaseyForrest]

Back on point....

I did look at the BX series and 10 series JD..... Im glad I chose to jump up to a CUT. There are times now where it would be nice to have more tractor.... Case in point....

My next project is replacing the single 12" CMP culvert under our drive with 4 12" Double Wall ADS culverts. I need more capacity to handle the flow that comes across our property and the last rain/snow melt event actually took out part of the drive. I don't have a lot of room for a drastic elevation change and I likely wont have the recommended 12" of cover over the pipe. So today I purchased 2 pallets, 112 bags of 60# quickcrete. The kids and I handloaded the 2 pallets, evenly split onto 5 pallets on my trailer. I was hoping that the 21 bags on each pallet (the remainder were laid loose in the trailer) wouldn't be to much for the 2650 to pick up... but it was. Ended up 900 pounds was the magic number. A BX would have been less.

The concrete is basically going to go in as "flowable fill" to support the pipe.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Back on point....

I did look at the BX series and 10 series JD..... Im glad I chose to jump up to a CUT. There are times now where it would be nice to have more tractor.... Case in point....

My next project is replacing the single 12" CMP culvert under our drive with 4 12" Double Wall ADS culverts. I need more capacity to handle the flow that comes across our property and the last rain/snow melt event actually took out part of the drive. I don't have a lot of room for a drastic elevation change and I likely wont have the recommended 12" of cover over the pipe. So today I purchased 2 pallets, 112 bags of 60# quickcrete. The kids and I handloaded the 2 pallets, evenly split onto 5 pallets on my trailer. I was hoping that the 21 bags on each pallet (the remainder were laid loose in the trailer) wouldn't be to much for the 2650 to pick up... but it was. Ended up 900 pounds was the magic number. A BX would have been less.

The concrete is basically going to go in as "flowable fill" to support the pipe.

That's one of the things that sucks with the baby tractors, super low lift capacity.

BTW I didn't realize they made small bags of Quickcrete.
We fenced in about 500 acres and all the 6x6 wood posts got concreted in using 80lb bags. Mixed by hand, 1/2 a bag per post.

I later found we had an old concrete mixer here at the shop. I would have fabbed up a Quick Tach mount to the skid steer!

 

[CaseyForrest]

The 60#'ers were specifically because the kids were helping. And I needed help. The 80# bags would have guaranteed I did all the work.

 

[NSMaple1]

That wasn't the case when I bought my Kubota. The deal was worked prior to any mention of financing or trade. No price changed when I took the 0% financing. The dealer took the value of my trade off the bottom line.

Maybe that's how Kioti structures their deals... I would have went elsewhere.

I suspect that the dealer or sales guy was assuming you would be doing 0% financing, or used his numbers based on that. Then once you got the deal worked - if you had offered paying cash & pressed for a discount for doing so, you quite likely would have gotten one. Quite sure he wouldn't have worked a deal out starting from the low side of his numbers - i.e., his cash purchase side. They would be working from their high side. Then if a cash purchase came into the talk after a deal was worked but the buyer didn't press for a discount, they would be upping their margin by that much.

 

[CaseyForrest]

I suspect that the dealer or sales guy was assuming you would be doing 0% financing, or used his numbers based on that. Then once you got the deal worked - if you had offered paying cash & pressed for a discount for doing so, you quite likely would have gotten one. Quite sure he wouldn't have worked a deal out starting from the low side of his numbers - i.e., his cash purchase side. They would be working from their high side. Then if a cash purchase came into the talk after a deal was worked but the buyer didn't press for a discount, they would be upping their margin by that much.

You may be right.

Buts that's a lot of hypotheticals.

sent from a field

 

[Big_Eddy]

Back to the original question.
I have an older JD855 CUT with loader and backhoe. About 25HP at the PTO. It has turfs on the rear and R4s on the fronts.
I have 2 acres of (treed) grass and 75 acres of woods.
Runs a 5' bush hog, 5' snowblower and 4" chipper with ease. I also have a 60" mower for it, but I never mount it.

I use my CUT in the woods almost exclusively. It's a great size for getting into tight spots and cutting and hauling out firewood. We make maple syrup every spring, and it tows my 100 gallon tank trailers with ease. On dry ground, the tractor is unstoppable. However I have never skidded a log with it, but I can tell you for sure - unless it was a small log, flat pull, good dry ground - it would not move it. It's all about traction. Pulling a 5x7 trailer loaded with firewood up any kind of slope in snow or on hard frozen ground is questionable. The rear turfs start to slip long before the tractor runs out of grunt. Same with wet leaves or mud.

If I had to do it again, I would buy larger (slightly), with Ag tires all around. I certainly wouldn't want anything smaller.

That said - the OP said he would be doing mostly mowing. His needs may be different. I don't mow with the tractor as I have too many trees too close together and it's too big. Sure - it makes short work of the open sections and up the orchard rows, but it just isn't maneuverable on the "landscaped" portion of the lawn. I use a large lawn tractor instead.

 

[Mustang71]

I plan on industrial tires. Ag tires would be to much for the yard. But I had my last tractor stuck and that's not a good place to be. The lawn tractor gets stuck all the time but it's a home depot special. I'm not sure how easy mowing will be at first but with a loader and 6 chainsaws I should be able to adjust some things if I have to. Most of the trees in the way are ash trees and they won't be around much longer.

 

[blackdogon57]

Don’t underestimate turf tires. My JD has 3000 plus hours over 13 years and the rear tires are mint. On my second set of fronts. I run a 60 inch belly deck in the summer and a 60 inch FEL mouted plow in the winter. I ran a commercial firewood busines for many years and used this machine to load the processor. Never had to be pulled out of the mud or snow. The odd time you get stuck the down pressure on the FEL will get you out. This machine was about 28k new and the dealer recently told me he would give me 10-12k on a trade. Pretty good value despite the higher up front cost. If you do basic maintenance these tractors will last indefinitely. Good luck with what ever you decide to buy.

 

[CaseyForrest]

Ditto on turf tires. I bought mine with the industrial tires and ended up swapping them out for turfs. I don't regret it one bit.

But I also don't take my tractor into the woods. If I did, I wouldn't have changed the tires. The front turfs do not have the same sidewalls the r4 tires do.

 

[Mustang71]

I'm not "going" into the woods but my house is in the woods sourounded by wet lands so it can get tricky in some parts of the yard. What's the issue with the r4 tires? Do they tear up the lawn or something?

 

[CaseyForrest]

They are a little more aggressive on the turf. Its not bad.... The turfs handle snow removal a bit better.

 

[sb47]

I like the turfs too. Mine are 33 years old and still going. The biggest problem with compact tractors is there weight. Put water in the tires and run lower pressure to give you more weight and traction. Pick the right gear and my little tractor like most tractors will turn the tires regardless if it moves or not. I can mow even on wet grass without much damage with turfs, I would do it with lugged tires though. I can see getting hung up on a wet root with turfs where lugged tires may work better. I guess, pick your poison.

 

[blackdogon57]

I like the turfs too. Mine are 33 years old and still going. The biggest problem with compact tractors is there weight. Put water in the tires and run lower pressure to give you more weight and traction. Pick the right gear and my little tractor like most tractors will turn the tires regardless if it moves or not. I can mow even on wet grass without much damage with turfs, I would do it with lugged tires though. I can see getting hung up on a wet root with turfs where lugged tires may work better. I guess, pick your poison.

I agree, counterweight is needed for loader work and helps for plowing but I find the extra weight causes turf damage. I attach a 3pt box full of concrete. Does the trick.

 

[hseII]

I plan on industrial tires. Ag tires would be to much for the yard. But I had my last tractor stuck and that's not a good place to be. The lawn tractor gets stuck all the time but it's a home depot special. I'm not sure how easy mowing will be at first but with a loader and 6 chainsaws I should be able to adjust some things if I have to. Most of the trees in the way are ash trees and they won't be around much longer.

R4 FTW!

 

[Mustang71]

Alright I'm set on a compact tractor like I thought i was before. So now let's hear about tires. Ag tires are out of the question. I'm not worried about traction mowing. I have snow removal covered but maybe a front mount snow blower some day would be nice. I want decent tires for loader work but not ones that will destroy the grass that's y I thought r4.

 

[CaseyForrest]

You'll likely be fine with the r4 if you're set on them. They do handle weight better.

 

[Mustang71]

Don't want this again.