Advice on tractor for 7.5 acres - Mowing pasture and general use - L3902? What flail mower?

[redman135]

Some food for thought,
Stability, rear wheels: are at the narrowest setting by default. For hills you a wide track for safty.
1) get 2 peice rims and adjust to the widest setting, you will find a big improvment in "feel" and stability. note you can also get non adjustable rims so ASK if unsure.
2) add spacers to widen the wheels( see manufacturers recommendations)
3) dual rear wheels. very stabile but also the greatest cost. note get a quick relaese type as the old style permanant bolted on as obselete.

Front end loader: travel with it LOW. DON'T drive around with it up high on slopes are sooner or later you will roll the tractor.
associated point, get the wide FRONT tyre option ,this will reduce ruttting in soft conditions, and also provide a slightly better ride.
Definatlty get 3rd service.ie grapple. Hydraulis at time of purchase are cheaper than retro fitting.

If you have a choice get the larger hydraulic pump option as more and more attatchments are being made hydraulic.

Rear hydraulic outlets: are in PAIRS. 2 outlets = 2 pairs.

How high is your shed, and how high is the ROPS/Cab? If you don't have a shed measure the height of a tractor 3 sizes up to future proof.

Ergonomics. don't stop with Kubota, look at others. The ergonomis are slightly different between manufacturerers and a small difference can have big efffects.

As your skill increases you always get "mission creep", the only question is how far.

Lastly don't be afraid to ask questions, EVERYONE was a rookie at some stage. When you do find an answer to a question be sure to post it, partly to satisfy our curiosity and partly if somebobdy in the future has the same problem they can use your experiance to solve thier problem.

Good Luck

 

[Yander]

For mowing that much I would want something with at least 25 PTO horsepower which gives you the ability to run a 6 ft rear finish mower.

I think you're l3901 will more than do that. Check your local FB marketplace and Craigslist for used rear finish mowers around here they are cheap and plentiful.

Don't let the dealer talk you into a mid Mount mower. I don't think a flail mower is a terrible option if you decide you don't want to mow it as often. With a rear finish mower you will need to mow it probably once a month.

 

[big bubba]

agree w/Jeff to put bulk of budget into tractor & go w/MX series. pick up implements as you can. in the long run, you'll thank yourself

 

[Hughman]

With a rear finish mower you will need to mow it probably once a month.

He said he was in nor cal. I mow with my rfm about 3-4 times a year. By May the mower comes off the tractor. Too much fire hazard.

 

[masseyrider]

Hilly? Definitely get 4 wheel drive.
Hilly? Get more Hp. Not to overkill but an extra 10-15 can be a huge bonus at some point.
Hilly? Set it up wide. Don't bother with narrow design models.
I have 6 acres and I run 2 55 PTO Hp tractors. Gives me the option of running larger equipment if it becomes available.
My 8 foot Bush Hog when the grass gets tall, say past knee high, is already heavy work.

 

[Egon]

Mowing on hills: make sure you’ve got enough HP for the mower and hill climbing.

Otherwise Go looking for a tractor that fits the budget!

 

[jeff9366]

 

[Yander]

He said he was in nor cal. I mow with my rfm about 3-4 times a year. By May the mower comes off the tractor. Too much fire hazard.

Oh, yeah, you apparently don't get the growth we get here where you can sit and watch it grow this time of year until the end of July where it slows down but we mow sometimes into Nov.

 

[2manyrocks]

It’s a budget killer but, here’s a ZTR for hills;

View attachment 793355

It’s a Cub Cadet Pro Z 560 s KW and runs around $12K. It’s built like a tank and mows hills quickly and safely.

Mike

Your post got me looking into slope mowers. By no means exhaustive or definitive, but it looks to me like the options are Steiners, Powertracs, Ventracs, Kut-Kwicks, Harper Turf, and maybe a few others, Price wise, the Cub Cadet offerings look to me to be about 1/2 of the cost of the other options if all someone is doing is cutting lawn height grass on a slope up to 20 degrees.

I wish I could figure out a way to convert one of the Cub Cadet steering zero turn models into a rough cut mower to cut some hillside briar patches.

edit: local dealer had a demo pro 900 in stock for under $13k. He said it wouldn't be good for briar patches, and given the ground clearance for the mowing deck, I agree. I didn't see an easy, effective way of modifying it, either.
He said the larger model that handles up to 40 degree slopes sells as fast as they can get them in, but they can't get enough of them to meet demand.

 

[onobed]

Ventrac does a great job on hills. Pending the slope of the property you may want to include that in your consideration.

No PTO but a series of other attachments that are extremely useful.

I found a Kubota without the wider axles was not stable enough for me.

 

[350c]

I agree with the OP, the Husqvarna gt52xls that he inherited with the property is fine for doing the bulk of the mowing for a season or two. Or at least until he gets a feel for that chore.

For the tractor, nobody never really understands what a good thing a compact tractor is on a small acreage until they have one. I'd concentrate on a good name brand - Kubota is excellent - with a loader and in the 35 to 45 hp range. No cab, 4wd, universal tread, nice loader with extra front hydraulics plus oneset of hydraulic remotes on the back, and a standard 5 foot pull type brush hog mower. All of that will do 90 percent of the jobs, will retain more than 90% of the value, and can be traded or added to after you get a feel for the property.

You don't need to get everything at once. Tractors are univeral platforms. Get any good one and you can always add to it.

If you want to really treat yourself on uneven terrain, consider one of the Kubotas with the optional HST Plus (HST+) auto load-compensating transmissions.
luck,
rScotty

rScotty, you mention a "standard 5 foot pull type brush hog mower". When you say brush hog, do you mean something heavier/stronger than a finish mower? I've been looking for a pull type 5' or 6' bush-hog type mower (lot less stress/vibration on tractor than 3-point hitch models, imho), for use behind a JD 2038R, with no success. I have a 6' finish mower I use for clipping hay field after season, but don't want to abuse it mowing small trees, bushes, brush, etc. Any suggestions where I might locate something more suitable? Thanks in advance.

 

[Deanes]

It’s a budget killer but, here’s a ZTR for hills;

View attachment 793355

It’s a Cub Cadet Pro Z 560 s KW and runs around $12K. It’s built like a tank and mows hills quickly and safely.

Mike

I'm sure it works fine, but I've slid sideways a lot with those tires. For hills, I recommend a much more aggressive tire.

 

[Rdrcr]

I'm sure it works fine, but I've slid sideways a lot with those tires. For hills, I recommend a much more aggressive tire.

Are you referring to those tires mounted to a standard lap-bar steering ZTR? Then, yes, those tires will slip and slide on hills, including on my property during several ZTR demos.

However, if you believe the performance of those tires are the same on the Cub Cadet PRO Z S model equipped with a steering wheel and 4-wheel steering, you’re mistaken.

These tires do not slip or slide on the Cub Cadet which is the reason I bought it over all other ZTR options.

Mike

 

[Trouthill]

I use the large Kubota Zero Turn mowers (ZD331 & ZD1511 - 60" rear discharge decks) on very hilly Virginia property for the most part. They out-mow the L4400 (Kubota tractor with 6' Bushhog) by a wide margin as long as the grass isn't over 14". Just don't bother with turf tires. I use Carlisle WT300 and even better Carlisle VersaTurf on the zeros. This vastly improves their capabilities on hills. If you are navigating VERY steep hills or have tall brush or unseen holes, the tractor wins. If you have flat spots at top and bottom, mow up and down the hills. Even with spacers the L4400 is less stable than the MX6000 (same body as MX5400), though I also added spacers there. The L4400 wants to overheat under heavy grass and going up the very steep sections. The MX6000 has no problem at all.

I recommend getting aggressive tires on a heavy duty zero turn mower to try first. You will continue to use it for many areas regardless. Then get a tractor - so handy with the loader (and hopefully plumbed for a future grapple) you'll wonder how you went without. I use a Woodmaxx 9000 chipper and it runs fine on either tractor and does an excellent job reducing tree piles to fine chips - perhaps an important fire reduction tool for your area.

If you eventually go with a tractor, I recommend filled R1 (Ag tires) for best traction.

 

[jswann1975]

Others know more about the equipment... Here are a few critical tips if you've never run a tractor and are the sort of person who can go to school on other people's mistakes:

Be super careful operating front end loader on hills, it is easier than you think to turn a machine over and a raised loader changes center of gravity substantially.

If you are mowing dry grass with lots of chaff check the radiator screen often and watch the temp gauge like a hawk. You can overheat and burn an engine up pretty quickly if radiator is plugged.

 

[masseyrider]

Others know more about the equipment... Here are a few critical tips if you've never run a tractor and are the sort of person who can go to school on other people's mistakes:

Be super careful operating front end loader on hills, it is easier than you think to turn a machine over and a raised loader changes center of gravity substantially.

If you are mowing dry grass with lots of chaff check the radiator screen often and watch the temp gauge like a hawk. You can overheat and burn an engine up pretty quickly if radiator is plugged.

The neighbor was mowing a couple acres of grass next door.
The dandelions where thick and the blossoms were in seed.
I saw him stop and get off his massey135 and walk around it cursing.
Being curious and just a bit nosey I went over to see what was happening.
"Piece of s--t useless garbage tractor..." :F---ing thing is overheated again"
I asked if I could take a look.
Opened the front grill cover and the rad was packed with the white fluff from the dandelions seed.
Not just some, but like someone put a full pillow in there. It came out in almost a single lump.
Told him to start the tractor and the temp guage went to normal almost immediately.
Tough little tractor. By all rights it should have warped a head or some such damage.
Nick was like that, zero maintenance and bitched about the quality of something when it failed.
He refused to grease things because it made them dirty.

 

[YNORUM]

My Kubota dealer was adament that a PTO chipper is a horrible idea for and tractor. He did sell me a nice L3560- cant recommend the Grand L's enough. I'm working 7 acres of woods with some wet areas.

 

[Msamt]

I went down about the same path as you 10 years ago
Bought 10 acres, 4-5 meadow, the rest woods.
I wanted the Kioti CK35, wife had me get the DK45, ballast of the bigger machine made the biggest difference.
First purchase was grapple, best thing for a tractor.
Build a 3pth counterweight, it’ll do wonders for your loader work.
Mowed with a 6ft rear finish mower for Years 2-6, Exmark 60” zero turn ever since. Tractor was slow, used more fuel, didn’t handle sharp turns as well, but it was fun! ZT was 1/2 the time, way more maneuverable, and more comfortable, it’s kinda fun too!
Getting one machine to do as much as possible was what i started out moving toward, but realized you need more than 1.
For hill mowing (which i do commercially), the ZT, stander, or walk behind is always better for me. Commercial mowers are really different (and more expensive) but to me it was night and day.
When it comes to trees and brush, my DR walk behind brush hog is unbeatable, more work than the tractor, but what it can do and where it can go is amazing.
I borrow a chipper when I need it, but I would rent one before buying one, as it would add to the many implements that are sitting out there rusting (one project tools: back blade,York rake) but they are all sellable.
my advice is buy as much tractor as you can, 4WD or nothing, get a better tires for your ZT or get a walk behind or stander for areas where the ZT isn’t good. I’d rent implements that are rare usage (chipper,etc).

But….
start looking at grapple videos, it’s amazing what you can do with one.
good luck, and it didn’t happen without pictures!
MT

 

[Hughman]

My Kubota dealer was adament that a PTO chipper is a horrible idea for and tractor.

I wonder why? I'm loving our new chipper. Wonder why we waited so long to get one.

 

[Bobrown14]

Well I paid 32K delivered for the tractor in my profile over der <------ with a 72" rotary mower and filled tires. Its a beast at 52hp - you will learn quickly how to drive on hills. Inna tractor the seat sits pretty high up so your comfort level will be slow going until you figure out your not going to tip over.

We also have a 52" ztr mower for the weekly grass we cut. Its not that great on a hill most tractors aren't you gotta figure out how to do it safely.

Your 4-8 cuts a season is probably closer to 4-5. Get a rotary cutter and you can make hay when the sun shines all day long.

Can also think about getting a roto-tiller for a garden - good ones are 2-3K$

Also can seed the really hilly spots with wild flowers and then just cut 1x in spring and 1x late fall (or not). Make it easy on yourself, cutting a field 8x a year is basically cutting grass.... let it grow and just finish cut where you need to. Typically around these parts we cut around the fields finish height about 6-10 feet (2-3 passes) and let the center of the field grow to hay and cut with rotary mower.

Also maybe there's a farmer around close by that likes to grow hay. If its an easy cut they might help there but onna hill meh.

Plus 2 on Woodmax products. Can get a 3pt hitch chipper and take it with you and/or do burn piles.

Another implement to think about is a grapple. GREAT for brush management and picking up tree debris.