RSR
Platinum Member
Ok, now that the question of to finance, or pay cash, has been beat to death (with lots of good insight) let's move on to more fun topics. What type of tractor to buy?
Warning, I have never been accused of being terse, so this may get long.
While I haven't been convinced to finance a purchase, I'm getting ever closer to the amount I feel I need for a cash purchase. So maybe now is a good time to start figuring out what exactly I need, as that is currently causing a conundrum for me.
Ok, so here are the particulars:
5 Acres of land, ~1/2 acre of lawn (no plans to mow with a tractor), the rest heavily wooded, very rocky, and uneven, on the side of a fairly gentle hill. I should mention there is an additional 5 acres next to us for sell. If the seller was willing to sell it at a reasonable price, we would likely buy it. (Currently it's listed at 50% over market value, and has been on the market for 4 years). We bought our lace 5 years ago. The seller kept an additional 30 acres, that they really don't do anything with (they moved to Florida). We've told them we'd love to buy it, and maybe that opportunity may come up down the road, but who knows.
My tasks:
1) First and foremost, snow removal and road maintenance. I live on a private road, with about 1/8 mile to clear and maintain. We get around 70-90 inches of snow a year, and it is extremely cold; very common to have days where the high stays below 0. It seems a cab is a must. The plan is a rear mount (not front due to cost) snow blower. There are not any places to pile any significant amounts of snow along the road. The question, then, is how much PTO Hp do I really need to complete the task in a reasonable amount of time? Currently I have an Ariens 28 in. deluxe walk behind snow blower. An average snowfall (6-8 inches) takes about 2 hours to clear. The snow is usually pretty dry and fluffy. We do get 1-2 Nor'easters a year that can dump 12+ inches of wet heavy snow. That takes 3+ hours.
What I can't seem to get a handle on is, for example, if I have 20 Hp at the PTO, how much quicker can I expect to remove snow compared to my current setup? What about if I have 30 Hp at the PTO? If I could compare impeller size and RPM on my snowblower to RPM and impeller size on another model, it would be straightforward to figure out how much more quickly I would be able to move snow. However, it seems virtually impossible to find those specs. So, practical experience please?
2) Woods maintenance. The woods are currently a mess with downed trees, etc. We heat by wood (see next point) and there is a good 20-30 cord of standing (or downed) dead wood that is currently just inaccessible. I'd like to be able to get into the woods and build some paths for access. There are currently some small ones, but there is significant work to be done on this front. In addition, the bulk of the trees are hard maple, so if I had access into the woods, I would play around with doing some Maple Sugaring in the future when my 3 boys get older (you know, free labor and all). Now, as shown in the picture, we live on VERY rocky ground (primarily granite I believe). Boulders range in size from football to VW bus.
My thought is a grapple and a heavy tractor would be needed for any serious progress on this front. There is no hurry, so I can just chip away at it a little bit at a time. The trade-off seems to be the size to handle/move large rocks with agility. Again, practical experience would be greatly appreciated here. I can calculate how much a granite boulder weighs, and try to estimate the needed lift capacity to move it around with say a grapple, but specs on paper are a lot different than real world experience as the center of mass is well past the pivot pins, not to mention the safety of it all.
3) Wood handling. We burn 20-25 face cord/year for heating during the winter. Currently I get a load that has been cut and split delivered, then stack it by hand in the wood shed, then once a week during the winter, move it to the garage. That takes a lot of time. In my mind, the way to handle this would be build up a bunch of wood pallet containers. Then, when the wood gets delivered, use a grapple to scoop it up and dump it in the pallet containers, use forks to stack the containers in the wood shed, and then simply transport them from the shed to garage with the tractor, as needed. That would save a ton of time if it could be done. Again, how much lift capacity would I really need to accomplish this? I can always build the carrying crates so they aren't as tall (just use more and stack them) to get the weight down, but there is a point of diminishing returns.
4) Landscaping. I'd like to harvest some of the rocks for building some retaining walls across the lawn. I'd like to move as large of rocks as possible, and have the capacity to lift and place them where I want with a grapple. Eventually, the plan is put in some walls, bring in a bunch of dirt, and terrace the lawn (which is currently just the side of a hill).
Tractor dealers:
Locally (< 30 minutes)
Kubota - Very good reputation
John Deere - Very good reputation (where I bought my snow blower)
Mahindra - New dealer (~2 years) another user on here had a very bad experience with this particular dealer
Reasonable driving distance (1-1.5 hours)
TYM - Seems to have a good reputation, but very small
LS - chainsaw shop that just started carrying them 1-2 years ago. Questionable.
Significant driving distance (1.5-2.5 hours)
Kioti (I'm not sure how big of a dealer they really are)
Possibly Branson and Yanmar
As I have researched tractors, I am leaning towards something like a Kioti CK4010SE (cab). But, if I could get away with less PTO HP, why not a CK2610, as they now come equipped with the higher capacity loader? I also like, on paper, the LS XR3135HC. Of course, at that point, for very little more money, why not bump up to a XR4140HC? And suddenly I have a 60Hp tractor ... You see where this leads me.
In reality, I think something like the Kubota B3350 makes a lot of sense, with good dealer support, etc. But I have a hard time getting over the price, and horribly anemic loaders.
So, this is where I'm at, suggestions, comments, etc. are greatly appreciated.
Warning, I have never been accused of being terse, so this may get long.
While I haven't been convinced to finance a purchase, I'm getting ever closer to the amount I feel I need for a cash purchase. So maybe now is a good time to start figuring out what exactly I need, as that is currently causing a conundrum for me.
Ok, so here are the particulars:
5 Acres of land, ~1/2 acre of lawn (no plans to mow with a tractor), the rest heavily wooded, very rocky, and uneven, on the side of a fairly gentle hill. I should mention there is an additional 5 acres next to us for sell. If the seller was willing to sell it at a reasonable price, we would likely buy it. (Currently it's listed at 50% over market value, and has been on the market for 4 years). We bought our lace 5 years ago. The seller kept an additional 30 acres, that they really don't do anything with (they moved to Florida). We've told them we'd love to buy it, and maybe that opportunity may come up down the road, but who knows.
My tasks:
1) First and foremost, snow removal and road maintenance. I live on a private road, with about 1/8 mile to clear and maintain. We get around 70-90 inches of snow a year, and it is extremely cold; very common to have days where the high stays below 0. It seems a cab is a must. The plan is a rear mount (not front due to cost) snow blower. There are not any places to pile any significant amounts of snow along the road. The question, then, is how much PTO Hp do I really need to complete the task in a reasonable amount of time? Currently I have an Ariens 28 in. deluxe walk behind snow blower. An average snowfall (6-8 inches) takes about 2 hours to clear. The snow is usually pretty dry and fluffy. We do get 1-2 Nor'easters a year that can dump 12+ inches of wet heavy snow. That takes 3+ hours.
What I can't seem to get a handle on is, for example, if I have 20 Hp at the PTO, how much quicker can I expect to remove snow compared to my current setup? What about if I have 30 Hp at the PTO? If I could compare impeller size and RPM on my snowblower to RPM and impeller size on another model, it would be straightforward to figure out how much more quickly I would be able to move snow. However, it seems virtually impossible to find those specs. So, practical experience please?
2) Woods maintenance. The woods are currently a mess with downed trees, etc. We heat by wood (see next point) and there is a good 20-30 cord of standing (or downed) dead wood that is currently just inaccessible. I'd like to be able to get into the woods and build some paths for access. There are currently some small ones, but there is significant work to be done on this front. In addition, the bulk of the trees are hard maple, so if I had access into the woods, I would play around with doing some Maple Sugaring in the future when my 3 boys get older (you know, free labor and all). Now, as shown in the picture, we live on VERY rocky ground (primarily granite I believe). Boulders range in size from football to VW bus.
My thought is a grapple and a heavy tractor would be needed for any serious progress on this front. There is no hurry, so I can just chip away at it a little bit at a time. The trade-off seems to be the size to handle/move large rocks with agility. Again, practical experience would be greatly appreciated here. I can calculate how much a granite boulder weighs, and try to estimate the needed lift capacity to move it around with say a grapple, but specs on paper are a lot different than real world experience as the center of mass is well past the pivot pins, not to mention the safety of it all.
3) Wood handling. We burn 20-25 face cord/year for heating during the winter. Currently I get a load that has been cut and split delivered, then stack it by hand in the wood shed, then once a week during the winter, move it to the garage. That takes a lot of time. In my mind, the way to handle this would be build up a bunch of wood pallet containers. Then, when the wood gets delivered, use a grapple to scoop it up and dump it in the pallet containers, use forks to stack the containers in the wood shed, and then simply transport them from the shed to garage with the tractor, as needed. That would save a ton of time if it could be done. Again, how much lift capacity would I really need to accomplish this? I can always build the carrying crates so they aren't as tall (just use more and stack them) to get the weight down, but there is a point of diminishing returns.
4) Landscaping. I'd like to harvest some of the rocks for building some retaining walls across the lawn. I'd like to move as large of rocks as possible, and have the capacity to lift and place them where I want with a grapple. Eventually, the plan is put in some walls, bring in a bunch of dirt, and terrace the lawn (which is currently just the side of a hill).
Tractor dealers:
Locally (< 30 minutes)
Kubota - Very good reputation
John Deere - Very good reputation (where I bought my snow blower)
Mahindra - New dealer (~2 years) another user on here had a very bad experience with this particular dealer
Reasonable driving distance (1-1.5 hours)
TYM - Seems to have a good reputation, but very small
LS - chainsaw shop that just started carrying them 1-2 years ago. Questionable.
Significant driving distance (1.5-2.5 hours)
Kioti (I'm not sure how big of a dealer they really are)
Possibly Branson and Yanmar
As I have researched tractors, I am leaning towards something like a Kioti CK4010SE (cab). But, if I could get away with less PTO HP, why not a CK2610, as they now come equipped with the higher capacity loader? I also like, on paper, the LS XR3135HC. Of course, at that point, for very little more money, why not bump up to a XR4140HC? And suddenly I have a 60Hp tractor ... You see where this leads me.
In reality, I think something like the Kubota B3350 makes a lot of sense, with good dealer support, etc. But I have a hard time getting over the price, and horribly anemic loaders.
So, this is where I'm at, suggestions, comments, etc. are greatly appreciated.
