NEW BUYER IN TENNESSEE AND NEED OPINIONS

[kenhar]

Rule of thumb is 8hp per foot of cutter. The bigger tractor you can get, the better if tight areas are not a problem. If you need the extra power in the future, you got it. People got by for years without 4wd equipment. 4wd drive anything is handy but not always needed. 4wd equipment will turn over just as easy as 2wd on a hill side. Pulling and soft ground is where the 4wd advantage is realized.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

Tight budget for a 4wd loader tractor capable of handling a 6-7' brush hog. I suspect you would want something in the 50hp area for medium brush and a 7' mower, perhaps 40hp with a 6'.

My personal opinions :
I prefer Kubota machines and have had many years of good service with them. Parts and service available most anywhere. There are obviously other quality brands like Kioti, Yanmar, and TYM that will cost less.
Make sure you know what you're buying, as a whole lot of "manufacturers" sell rebranded machines from various countries.
I have 1200 problem free hours on a DPF emissions tractor, so I wouldn't automatically discount them.

Good luck with your search.

A LOT of great advice in that post. Remember that for the kind of work you're looking at doing, unless you have steep ground or wet ground, you might find a larger, older tractor to be the better value. A bit more HP and a little more mass won't hurt you.

 

[Redlined0002]

Hey guys, first post and need guidance in the purchase of my farm tractor. I have experience in commercial heavy equipment but want all info regarding my farm tractor purchase. I have a 14 acre plot with about 11 acres of pasture that needs to be brush hogged. Some steep areas so 4wd is a must…
Here is the list of questions and details i am working on:

HP rating and what size brush hog to go with it. Would like 6-7 foot if possible.
Brands which have good parts support for middle Tennessee.
Prefer pre emissions.
I’m an avid car and boat restoration guy so able to do several maintenance and repair tasks from my shop.
Hours I should consider on the vehicle based on how well it has been maintained.
I’m pretty much asking what you would do with a $21,000 budget living in my area with this land. I do need a loader.
Photo of land attached.
Post FB marketplace links if you want…..Ready to buy….

Many thanks..

I have 3 Kubota MX5100 4x4 for sale. 50hp. Will operate a 6' bushhog. Low hour, no emissions, no computer. 1 hydrostatic Transmission. 2 with standard transmission. All 3 are Shuttle Shift, quick connect loader and bucket. Uses bobcat quick connect equipment. Located in Waynesboro Tennessee. I can deliver.
John 904-813-4740

 

[bsekf]

Big Mahindra dealer on I-65 in north Alabama, a 5155 would work for you.

 

[AnotherBueller]

Rule of thumb is 8hp per foot of cutter. The bigger tractor you can get, the better if tight areas are not a problem. If you need the extra power in the future, you got it. People got by for years without 4wd equipment. 4wd drive anything is handy but not always needed. 4wd equipment will turn over just as easy as 2wd on a hill side. Pulling and soft ground is where the 4wd advantage is realized.

4wd helps a lot on steep down hill grades.
Skidding down hill with the rears locked in 2wd and no attachment to drop is an eye opening experience.

 

[Fields_mj]

My old 26hp 1710 handles my 6' brush hog just fine. I now have a 2008 New Holland TC40DA. I gave $16k for it in Jan, and paid another $1200 to have it delivered from Ark to Indiana. There were several TC40s available in the $12k-$18k range at the time, but mine was the only one with a cab and AC I"ve spent another $1100 making some repairs on it, but I'm glad that I bought it. For bush hogging areas like the ones in your photo, the cab and AC make things a LOT more comfortable on hot days.

 

[David in KY]

4wd helps a lot on steep down hill grades.
Skidding down hill with the rears locked in 2wd and no attachment to drop is an eye opening experience.

On my hills, I can barely get out of my parking spot without engaging 4WD! Seriously.

 

[Fields_mj]

4wd helps a lot on steep down hill grades.
Skidding down hill with the rears locked in 2wd and no attachment to drop is an eye opening experience.

Yeah, that would put a permanent crease in your seat for sure....

 

[rScotty]

Glad to see someone with mechanical ability looking for an older tractor.
Yes, $20K should buy a nice one. BTW, your land looks beautiful. Normally I'd say to consider 2wd machines, but with that much slope 4wd is going to be a necessity.

Does the type of transmission matter? Hydrostatic HST transmissions are so popular now that people ignore how far the standard geared transmissions have come in the past 30 years. You greatly expand the market by considering the various power shifting (clutchless) geared trannys. Most will have a everser lever too which instantly changes from forward to reverse in the same gear. Very handy for loader work.

The loader should have a quick change type bucket. It isn't important that the loader be demountable if the bucket can be dropped or replaced with a different front implement. .

You'll appreciate a tractor with large diameter front tires....and hopefully it has Ag type tires on Ag wheel rims that are adjustable for a wider stance. You want all the width you can get.

Many of us don't have that much land or that steep. You may find that the 40/50 hp tractors are more popular and more expensive than similar machines in the 60 to 90 hp range. Larger is gererally better for stability.

I'd personally stick with one of the major brands with that budget. Used implements and 3pt attachments may look rough, but that is where you can really save a lot of money over new ones. There is rarely anything wrong with a quality used implement that cannot be fixed, but for some reason used 3pt implements are a fraction of the cost of new.
Luck,
rScotty

 

[Fields_mj]

Many of us don't have that much land or that steep. You may find that the 40/50 hp tractors are more popular and more expensive than similar machines in the 60 to 90 hp range. Larger is gererally better for stability.

I found this to be true for the 30-35hp machines also. I was originally looking in that size. On a whim, I looked into 40 hp machines and found that there was very little (if any) price difference, and the machines were normally in better condition with lower hours. At least on the stuff I was looking at, the 25-30 hp machines seemed to command a premium, but there were a lot of them out there to choose from. 30-35hp was less of a premium, but the selection was also smaller. 40hp normally bumped me up into the next frame size, and my guess is that people who were interested in the larger frame size also wanted 50+ hp. My 40hp machine maxes out what I can fit on my equipment trailer (rear tires rub on the outer frame), and I was primarily needing more loader capacity. I was pretty sure I could get it with a 35hp machine, but the 40 hp gave me what I needed with room to spare. Point being, it seems that $$/HP for a CUT peaks at around 25hp. Going up in HP and/or weight doesn't usually increase the cost much.