As Big As you can Buy

[SethO]

Every few days someone asks for advice about buying a tractor. The default and popular answer is that one should buy the BIGGEST possible of course considering price and all.

I will like members to post excatly how much time they spend REGULARLY using their tractors for recurring duties such as mowing. Digging, grading and snow clearing just does not occur often enough. This I believe will help clarify whether we are buying as big as we can because it is neccessary, or just to make a statement about having a big tractor.

 

[chrisjbell]

Well, not everyone would agree with you, but I think I do. I wish I'd gotten a larger tractor.

But I don't use mine for finish mowing at all. I have a lawn tractor for the groomed area around the house - the "big" tractor is used for things other than mowing. Now, having said that, I do use it for brush hogging quite a bit, which one could argue is "mowing", but that is definately an area where bigger is better.

I brush hog my pastures about three or four times a year. The rest of the time I use the tractor for digging, grading, hauling gravel, maintaining driveways and roads, keeping ditches in good shape, and keeping my wheelbarrow out of business /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. There's more - I have a sprayer, which I use to maintain my trees, kill weeds along fencelines, and other assorted stuff like that. No snow duties out here /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif.

So I don't "mow" with it much. The tractor is in use several times a week, in general, and even if you want to count brush hogging as mowing I'd say that certainly less than 10% (maybe less than 5%) of my time is spent cutting grass.

Now, if your point is that people who buy tractors for mowing shouldn't do the "bigger is better" thing, I agree. If you want a lawn mower, get a lawn mower. But I think most people on this forum have a fair amount of land and therefore put the tractor to much more use than just mowing.

 

[Rick Jay]

SethO

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( This I believe will help clarify whether we are buying as big as we can because it is neccessary, or just to make a statement about having a big tractor. )</font>

I think you left out one other possibility, and probably the most important, and that is ECONOMICS .

Once you've committed to the purchase of a tractor and implements, it is sometimes just a better deal to get a larger machine.

Of course, this needs to be tempered with what actually fits on your property AND into your budget.

I don't use my B2910 for mowing and I don't use it regularly. I bought it mostly to move dirt and snow. By most peoples calculations, I shouldn't even have a tractor. When I decided I was going to get one, although the Kubota B7500 would have done everything I wanted, I felt the larger one was a better deal (more capacity and capability to move stuff for proportionately fewer additional $$$). I haven't regretted my decision. Even if I were buying today, although I would look long and hard at the BX22 (It is a great tractor!) I would probably still see the B2910 as a better deal and buy it, assuming I was in the same financial situation.

Of course, it is possible to buy a tractor that is too big, but I've yet to see anyone on this board suggest to anyone that they buy the biggest tractor available. Everyone's useage, acreage and financial situation is different. Ultimately, it's up to the purchaser to make sure the tractor they get meets most of their needs.

I don't know if that info is of any help to you. Hopefully it is to someone. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

~Rick

 

[frank_f15]

MY ANSWER to that question is to buy the biggest tractor u will need to complete your tasks 95% of the time! best ans i could give. times i would like one bigger, then times i would like one smaller. the age old question IS BIGGER BETTER? not necessarialy so. MHO

 

[BigDave]

I moved up from a 18hp 48" riding mower to a 33hp tractor. I put less than 50hrs/year on the rider, but I will have over 100 hundred hours this year on the tractor. The odd thing is I reduced my mowing time by more than half. I can't believe I lived without a FEL for soo long. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

P.S. I bought the biggest tractor that would fit in my shed. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[MossRoad]

In answer to your question:

<font color="blue"> I will like members to post excatly how much time they spend REGULARLY using their tractors for recurring duties such as mowing. </font>

I posted this back in November.

<font color="green">9 months and 75 hours on my Power Trac PT425. About 1/2 hour a week mowing for the last 6 months. 2 hrs of brush hogging, maybe 10 hours of snow plowing and surprisingly, the other 50 hours is loader work!!! I thought I was buying a lawnmower that could do part time loader work and I ended up with a loader that does part time mowing </font>

I really wanted a lawn mower that could do other things. I was shocked at how much more other things I do than mowing. I think the reason is I used to spend about an hour and a half to two hours a week mowing with a little Simplicity Yoeman tractor with a 26" deck. Now I only spend about a half an hour mowing and have time for more projects. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[thcri]

SethO,

I don't know if I really understand what you are trying to say here? I firmly believe when everyone says buy the biggest, it is for that classification of tractor for the majority of tasks involved. The recomendations given here are just that, recomendations. Very seldom do I see here that someone bought to big. But I see a lot of people saying they bought to small, including myself. Most people here would laugh at me when I only mow 2 acres with a 29 horsepower tractor. But it is not the acreage, it is the hills and the amount of dirt I have to move on hills. I originally had a 21 hp. After just about tipping it over 3 or 4 times I said enough was enough. Every post I have seen here there is always someone to say buy big and someone to say you don't need that big. I feel TBN is a place for people to feel people out and get recomendations. No one here has to buy big just because someone said to buy big.

I have moved about 75% of my dirt and the majority of things I have left to do is mowing my lawn and no one can tell me I have to large of tractor.


my .02 cents.

murph

 

[grandad]

Maybe we shouldn't generalize, but it seems like the TBN regulars who have seen it all figure users often underestimate what they will get into - and I guess I'm living proof! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I bought big (Kub L4610) and here are some of my stats. I finished up mowing last fall with about 75 hours on the tractor and it's now at 125 hours and we haven't even started mowing this year. Almost all of that 50 hours was loader and box blade work, with some (really) muddy trail transport work for good measure.

Having moved more than 200 tons of gravel to build a semi-passable lane in my woods (1/2 mile for each round trip), I needed a tractor and loader that could haul almost a ton at a time over hilly, uneven ground.

I don't have any idea if that's typical of your garden variety compact tractor owner's requirements, but I definitely wouldn't have wanted anything smaller. If it were just mowing my open space, sure, a smaller tractor (2910 or 3010, for instance) would have been fine.

Making a "statement" shouldn't be the point... the machinery should match the expected applications.

 

[hazmat]

Interesting discussion. I have a TC18, which is small even by compact tractor standards, only being one step bigger than the "sub compacts". After demoing turf tires this weekend, I realized I definitely made a mistake when I purchased the tractor with R4's,

I bought the tractor last year, in the end of may, after "mud" season. Even then it marked up the lawn a bit. This spring, I am making a muddy mess /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif. I should have gotten the turfs as my soil is soft sandy-loam, and even my "little" tractor is making dents.

When I was researching my purchase here on TBN, 90+% of the advice was R4's. Even talking with my dealer he said R4's are the best all around tire, good for loader work, snow removal etc, not too bad on the lawn. I let my testosterone get the best of me, as the R4 tires looked manlier. Bottom line, what works for most, doesn't necissarily work in every situation. If possible demo the machine & setup you want at your property under typical working conditions.

Luckily for me, my dealer is working with me (price wise) to correct my mistake, but the wife ain't on board. She understands that I screwed up, but feels that the money is better spent elsewhere right now /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif. Hmmm which is the better combo, turfs + sleeping in the dog house, or R4's plus sleeping with my lovely bride? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[thcri]

Haz,

I would keep the R4's and sleep with your wife. If you watch it and only mow on dryer days I think you will be ok. I have slept in the dog house, it is no fun. Especially when you actually have a dog and it kicks you out.


murph