34 Acres and 1/4 mile gravel driveway

[scott_vt]

Good Morning,

With that budget and those options for oems, I'd go LS. You won't get much of a Kubota for $40k compared to the other 2.

Torvy, very good recommendation! Kubota is a great tractor but 40K probably won’t get you what you need unless you go with a good used machine !

 

[Bearcat81]

A dream come true property was purchased. I now have a 1/4 mile gravel driveway. I suspect I need a tractor and a box blade to maintain it. I might need snow removal too.

In my area I have LS, Kubota, and Mahindra dealerships.

Any suggestions?

Kubota. IMO=hands down. engines made by them; engineered to last-not to price. Owned two (less than 30 HP)--more HP, I'd go Red or Blue (their own engines). Just sayin. Next one for us is a Farmall 75......

 

[Lavender Valley]

A dream come true property was purchased. I now have a 1/4 mile gravel driveway. I suspect I need a tractor and a box blade to maintain it. I might need snow removal too.

In my area I have LS, Kubota, and Mahindra dealerships.

Any suggestions?

I have a 36Hp Iseki and use a 6' box blade. The tractor has a hydraulic top link and hydraulic tilt, this combination is perfect for grading gravel roads and driveways. I found box blades work the best when half full of gravel, it stops them from jumping and allows cutting and filling and with the tilt it's easy to form a crown in the road. The Iseki has brilliant draught control that keeps the box blade at the same level when the tractor goes over humps and holes.

 

[RiverHill]

I have a similar driveway to maintain to my property. I bought a TYM 5520ch back in April. I would have loved a Kubota or Deere, but the prices were outrageous. Mahindra seemed like a lot of tractor for the money, but fit and finish wasn’t as good. LS did seem decent when I looked, I just didn’t like my local dealer so I didn’t look too hard. I’ve had no complaints with my TYM so far.

Box blade sure does a better job than a simple back blade, but having read up on them a land plane is on my list to purchase.

 

[ding beep]

OP stated:

A dream come true property was purchased...
In my area I have LS, Kubota, and Mahindra dealerships.

Now that you're done shopping tractors, its time to shop those dealerships. Close proximity is important for most of us. Fair, friendly, reliable, trustworthy dealers are better IMHO than driving across state lines to score an advertised deal. Shopping several dealers may also reveal some hidden used gems? l hope you find a nice tractor, and a good dealership to go with it!
RiverHill said:

I would have loved a Kubota or Deere, but the prices were outrageous. Mahindra seemed like a lot of tractor for the money, but fit and finish wasn’t as good. LS did seem decent when I looked, I just didn’t like my local dealer so I didn’t look too hard. I’ve had no complaints with my TYM so far.

Sounds like you found a good dealer to sell you a nice tractor. My local Mahindra dealer sold me a nice machine, and has been there for me while shopping for additional implements. Service is fair and honest. l have heard of supply-chain issues with parts (my neighbor's [larger] model) an universal experience during the pandemic?

 

[BubbaSam]

It sounds like a well built driveway. Drive it at 10 mph and your "maintenence" will be limited or at least prolong the frequency.
Good luck with your new property, you'll enjoy it.
After having a "land plane", I'd never recommend a box blade for driveway maintenance.

I have to agree with RustyIron...
I have both a box blade as well as a land plane. I also have a driveway and road to my shop (both gravel) and ONLY use the land plane now. SO much better! I'm actually considering selling my box blade.

 

[BubbaSam]

I have a similar driveway to maintain to my property. I bought a TYM 5520ch back in April. I would have loved a Kubota or Deere, but the prices were outrageous. Mahindra seemed like a lot of tractor for the money, but fit and finish wasn’t as good. LS did seem decent when I looked, I just didn’t like my local dealer so I didn’t look too hard. I’ve had no complaints with my TYM so far.

Box blade sure does a better job than a simple back blade, but having read up on them a land plane is on my list to purchase.

I have to agree with RiverHill as well...
Land plane is the way to go. It's to bad there's not a Kioti dealer near as I have found it to be an EXCELLENT tractor! I've done things with with my CK30HST i NEVER thought I would be able to do.

 

[Smokeydog]

So, something people miss with gravel/rock/"stabalized drives", to some degree, quit messing with it. What I mean, you don't need or want to be grading that thing every few weeks, unless the is a major problem. I see people complaining about grass growing... so. Couple minor dips, leave it. Every time you regrade, you're lossing up the material

Exactly right. Most of the time I used a grader blade it was backwards for shallower grade. Landplane is also a gentle grader and more important better controlling and distributing fines to maintain a hard pack. Don’t pretend to understand all the magic but certainly appreciate the results.