New member from CNY

[Gr8Jeepin]

Good morning all. I found this site a week or so ago. If all goes well the wifey and I will be closing on our new home with 3.5 acres next week. I'm looking to upgrade the walk behinds with a SCUT/ CUT. It will be mostly used for projects and snow removal. She's not sure if she'll use it for lawn mowing our would rather just get a smaller dedicated mower.

I've read that in buying a tractor, you're "buying" the dealer. There is a Mahandra dealer 5 minutes down the road. Most of the other brands are within an hour's drive, give or take.

The daunting task of searching begins.

I grew up with a JD 750 and Challenger 285, so I'm not a newbie when it comes to using equipment, just the buying.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Have a fantastic day!!

Dave

 

[Thomas]

:welcome: to TBN Dave.
Lot of good folks here w. great advice so just ask a way.

 

[Gr8Jeepin]

I've been leaning towards the BX23s. I was quoted at $19,500 at one of my local Kubota dealers. I've seen the package deals with trailer at out of state dealers. Have anyone had good luck with those?

 

[oosik]

Welcome to TBN & the forum. A good dealer is more than a warm, fuzzy feeling.

 

[TBN Support]

:welcome:

Welcome to the forum!

:tractor: I'm going to move this thread over to our buying, pricing, and comparisons section.

 

[TBN Support]

:welcome:

Welcome to the forum!

:tractor: I'm going to move this thread over to our buying, pricing, and comparisons section.

 

[Wagtail]

G'day Mate and welcome to TBN from Downunder.

Enjoy the site.

 

[Tractorable]

The BX's are good machines and would be a good choice for 3.5 acres. You'll get different opinions here on whether to go with a mid mount mower for the BX for your lawn or to get a dedicated riding mower or zero turn.

Personally, I'd go with a dedicated mower for your lawn and use the BX for everything else.

 

[Olympus]

Depending on how many trees and obstacles are in your yard, you'll probably be better served with a dedicated zero turn mower. If you're flat and open with no trees or obstacles then a tractor and finish mower or belly mower might be fine.

The SCUT tractors tend to get "outgrown" quickly. You may want to look at a slightly larger size tractor.

Kubota is a good brand as is Mahindra. But also look at LS and Kioti as well. Go to their website and go to the dealer locator section and enter your zip code.

 

[Gr8Jeepin]

I just walked around the Mahindra line. The eMax are to small for me, I'm 6'5". The max 26xl seemed ok in size. I'm going to the Kioti dealer today to look at them. I'm not opposed to stepping up to the CUT. the subs are borderline in legroom for me.
The lawn is flat and new. No trees, flower beds, just scrub bushes around the perimeter and the house, a clean slate That's what the tractor will be for.

 

[Olympus]

Take a look at LS too. I'm a very big fan of LS.

 

[Gr8Jeepin]

Ok will do. Thanks

 

[Gr8Jeepin]

We'll the Kioti dealer was closed. I was just able to sit on a ck2610 and cs cab.
Then stopped at the Mahindra dealer. Took the 26xl and 1526 around the lot. The price difference was only about $500 more for the 1526. I'm not sure if that size would be too much. I know you can't have too much tractor. They seemed to be ok.
I've been trying to compare the same hp rated tractors to keep that as the common variable. But the problem with that is that I've got to omit the eMax as the layout of the loader controls hit my knee. On the 26xl there is a bit more clearance. The bx (which I just sat on) and the 1025R the controls are on the fender. The 1025R drove well also. The next size up would be the 3032 if I'm not mistaken.
Ok back to the spreadsheet...

 

[Olympus]

You definitely want something you can be comfortable on. And for $500 more to go to a larger frame machine, that would be a no-brainer for me.

Deere also makes a 3025E which is the same size as the 3032E, but with a 25HP engine.

 

[Gr8Jeepin]

Thank you, I went back on the website and saw the 3025E. If I don't use the tractor for mowing I'm not worried about taking the loader off. I'm realizing that the price of these tractors are actually very close when you compare apples to apples.
Now when I've gone thru the tractor house magazine I've seen some dealers that have tractor with multiple implements and a trailer for what seems like a great deal. Has anyone purchased one of those but been out of state from the dealer?

 

[Msamt]

You may want to add a column to the spreadsheet for tractor weight, which I believe is a better comparison than HP - tractors are mobile power plants, and the ability to pull, lift, and push are controlled quite equally by their overall weight.

Or just which color you like.
On that note, Careful with the mahindras, I've seen a few around here that fade pretty fast when left outside that appear to be pink after a year or two...
Good luck!

 

[Tractorable]

Two more options for your spreadsheet and to test drive. Check out the Kubota L2501, larger heavier frame size that might fit your 6'5" self better and get more work done. None of the emissions equipment on there either making it simple and reliable.

In the same way that Olympus is a big LS fan, I'm a big Yanmar fan. Yanmar built your old John Deere 750 and still supplies all of John Deere's engines so consider buying straight from the source, the 100 year old Japanese Yanmar company. There are six dealers within 50 miles of you. They offer the SA424 which is comparable to the other models you're looking at and if you want bigger/nicer they have the new YT235. They build the entire tractor from the ground up including the engine in their factory in Japan.

 

[Gr8Jeepin]

Thank you. Yes I've researched the Yanmar also. One nice thing about doing what I do I can actually access just about all of the manufacturers in my area. It's just finding the time outside of work to be able to play...I mean research.
Yes our little Yanmar diesel has worked great over the years. The tractor is quite tired tho.

 

[Gr8Jeepin]

The Mahindra dealer has a year old tractor/cab 26xl with a pink loader. He's really trying to get rid of it. I remember someone on a thread, look at the faded color of the tractors.

 

[Olympus]

Good point made about the Mahindra paint fading. Every one I've ever seen that's been stored outside is faded to a pink color. Makes them look terrible.

For LS, I'd take a look at the 3025 model. The shuttle shift version with loader is being advertised for $13,995 at my local dealer and they've selling like crazy. Another $1k will get you the hydrostatic tranny. That is a larger and heavier frame size machine than the SCUTs you're looking at.