Suggestions on tractor size

[4tillingdirt]

I am having a hard time making a decision on a tractor - been looking at 40 - 50 HP compact tractors. I have to sow my yard and my mom's - about 2 1/2 acres. Spread gravel and scrape 2 driveways that are both probably 250 feet long. Also use the tractor for doing some grading for a race track in back yard - go kart track. Need a loader for hauling mulch,etc. I know that probably sounds like something that a sub-compact tractor (20ish HP) can handle, but after seeing my brother use his boomer TC40 move 20 inch 14 foot logs I would also want to be able to do that as well if the need should arise. Just as for another example we had an old flowering peach tree that died and it was probably 12 feet tall and 10 inches thick at the base. Brother pulls up to it and jerks it right out of the ground with the FEL and a chain wrapped around the tree. How often does that happen - not very often obviously - so I am caught between buying what I know I will use it for and what I might use it for.

 

[Garrett Wiggins]

I would go check pull up the specs on a JohnDeere 4044m w/ D170 loader; that would make a great tractor for those tasks. Check that out on their website. I would buy the dealer not the color. Most manufactures below 50hp make decent tractors.

 

[Texasmark]

I suggested to a new neighbor that they buy green (and they did) because green has field service support required by some purchasers, like them which includes oil changes and all.

If you'll notice, no green in my corral. I go to the dealer to buy a tractor. If I need parts I buy them online with UPS delivery. I do my own work. Different strokes for different folks (a tv series).

 

[audsp98]

I am having a hard time making a decision on a tractor - been looking at 40 - 50 HP compact tractors. I have to sow my yard and my mom's - about 2 1/2 acres. Spread gravel and scrape 2 driveways that are both probably 250 feet long. Also use the tractor for doing some grading for a race track in back yard - go kart track. Need a loader for hauling mulch,etc. I know that probably sounds like something that a sub-compact tractor (20ish HP) can handle, but after seeing my brother use his boomer TC40 move 20 inch 14 foot logs I would also want to be able to do that as well if the need should arise. Just as for another example we had an old flowering peach tree that died and it was probably 12 feet tall and 10 inches thick at the base. Brother pulls up to it and jerks it right out of the ground with the FEL and a chain wrapped around the tree. How often does that happen - not very often obviously - so I am caught between buying what I know I will use it for and what I might use it for.

Something in the 30-40 HP range will be sufficient. You're going to run out of tractor weight before you run out of HP in most situations.

 

[jeff9366]

Diesel tractors lose power with altitude.

What is your altitude in Pinnacle, North Carolina?


If you consider tractors by bare weight, rather than horsepower, you will make a better decision.

You can buy a tractor with plenty of horsepower for the tasks you have enumerated yet incapable due to lack of weight. Weight = traction and balance. Weight is especially important if you will operate on sloping ground.

My first new tractor was a light-chassis Kubota B3300SU tractor-loader. Ample horsepower at 33 but at 1,700 pounds, bare tractor, not enough weight. I had the rear wheels off the ground often. Sold it to a local pastor, whose primary task is mowing the church grounds.

I bought a heavy-chassis Kubota L3560; 37 horsepower but 3,500 pounds, bare tractor, much more capable of tasks you have enumerated with inconsequential more horsepower. In three years I have never had the rear wheels in the air with proper Three Point Hitch counterbalance mounted.

The bare weight of a New Holland TC40 is around 3,500 pounds, the same bare tractor weight as my Kubota L3560.