Buying my first tractor

[Brandon101884]

Hello all!

My wife has decided I need a tractor in order to complete my ever growing 滴oney-do list. I致e only recently begun the search so my knowledge isn稚 exactly extensive at this point. I have a 20 acre property, mostly wooded, so no real farming will happen. I値l be using it to build a shooting backstop, clear out some wooded sections, flatten the cleared out sections, clear out paths, create some kind of garden area... who knows. Pushing snow down a half mile driveway. My theme seems to have a lot to do with moving dirt.

I e looked at John Deere, great tractors. I have a riding mower and it痴 a blessing. They seem to have everything simplified. The only drawbacks I致e seen are their power and price. I知 not sure why their bucket lifting poundage is so low. I can稚 remember the model exactly (I believe it was a family 3 model) but it痴 lofting pounds was around 1500. That seems very low to me. Or is that normal for mid size tractors? I致e been looking at New Holland but their website is difficult without prices listed, the same with TYM. I致e looked at mahindra and Kubota as well. It seems like pretty much everything is similar.

I really do not want to be the guy who goes to push brush, or move a pile of dirt, rocks, whatever and have to say to myself... I should have gone bigger. So, what should I be looking for exactly? My price range is no more than $25,000. Well. It can be more, I just don稚 want it to be.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

You don't really say, but is your plan to buy new? Or will you be shopping used? Makes a huge difference.

 

[Brandon101884]

I plan on buying new

 

[flusher]

35-45 hp (engine), power steering, hydrostatic tranny, front end loader (FEL) with 6-ft wide bucket and skid steer quick attach, dual rear hydraulic remotes (3 is better), R1 ag tires loaded with suitable liquid for your climate.

Test drive the ones you like and ask questions of the dealer. Check out his service area and parts department to see if they meet your requirements.

Good luck

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I think doing a lot of dirt work = a medium to large CUT. Hp and tractor weight are your 2 biggest factors. Sure FEL lift too, but having the tractor weight and grunt to drag that full box blade or land plane. I sure wouldn't go any lighter than 35 hp and 4k in bare tractor weight. More would be better. Are you going to cut trees down and grind stumps, or try to pull them out or dig them out?

How much snow? Big difference in demand if we're talking 6"-10" annual snowfall vs. 4'-6' per snowstorm and 20'-30' annual snowfall. We had a record snowfall last year, and guys were literally running out of places to push snow. Times like that a snowblower is solid gold.

Try to figure out what attachments you need to power (from pto), and which one will be the biggest pto hp demand. Then make sure whatever unit you end up with can meet that capacity demand. A tractor is like an air compressor, it needs the capacity to drive the tools, but it is the tools that actually do the work. Brush hog, wood chipper, tiller, snow blower? What about ground engaging tools, plow, box blade, land plane, cultivator?

Don't forget to add cost of attachments to your budget, or you'll end up with a tractor and limited tools to get the work done.

 

[MESSMAKER]

You can probably get buy with a 5 foot bucket and at least 30hp. Weight should be at least 3000lb. Bigger might be better but you are in danger of running out of budget.

 

[Brandon101884]

I think doing a lot of dirt work = a medium to large CUT. Hp and tractor weight are your 2 biggest factors. Sure FEL lift too, but having the tractor weight and grunt to drag that full box blade or land plane. I sure wouldn't go any lighter than 35 hp and 4k in bare tractor weight. More would be better. Are you going to cut trees down and grind stumps, or try to pull them out or dig them out?

How much snow? Big difference in demand if we're talking 6"-10" annual snowfall vs. 4'-6' per snowstorm and 20'-30' annual snowfall. We had a record snowfall last year, and guys were literally running out of places to push snow. Times like that a snowblower is solid gold.

Try to figure out what attachments you need to power (from pto), and which one will be the biggest pto hp demand. Then make sure whatever unit you end up with can meet that capacity demand. A tractor is like an air compressor, it needs the capacity to drive the tools, but it is the tools that actually do the work. Brush hog, wood chipper, tiller, snow blower? What about ground engaging tools, plow, box blade, land plane, cultivator?

Don't forget to add cost of attachments to your budget, or you'll end up with a tractor and limited tools to get the work done.

I値l always chainsaw a tree down, I doubt I値l be able tomafford a tractor that is able to pull a stump out. That seems like a ton of power would be needed.

As for snow, it痴 always a toss up around here. Could get half a foot to a foot at a time, could get a few inches. The main thing with that is aside from my driveway I壇 push/move the snow off of the side road leading to the main roads because of them not being plowed.

 

[Piston]

Try to figure out what attachments you need to power (from pto), and which one will be the biggest pto hp demand. Then make sure whatever unit you end up with can meet that capacity demand. A tractor is like an air compressor, it needs the capacity to drive the tools, but it is the tools that actually do the work. Brush hog, wood chipper, tiller, snow blower? What about ground engaging tools, plow, box blade, land plane, cultivator?

Don't forget to add cost of attachments to your budget, or you'll end up with a tractor and limited tools to get the work done.

Excellent advice here! The implements get the work done, the tractor is just the engine that drives them.
(Tractors themselves, are pretty much useless with no implements/attachments)

 

[Brandon101884]

Excellent advice here! The implements get the work done, the tractor is just the engine that drives them.
(Tractors themselves, are pretty much useless with no implements/attachments)

I agree, pretty solid information. Thank you.

 

[DieselBound]

Yup, Slowpoke has provided great guidance.

I always spend a lot of time forcing myself to define my requirements first. Have to tell you, when I got my first tractor (B7800) I really didn't have a clue as to what I needed a tractor to do: I did know I needed to do a lot of brush mowing (and the tractor has done an amazing job at that). That tractor was purchased used. I've never bought any new machine/vehicle (other than my lawn mower!) until I bought my Kioti NX5510. When I went to buy my second tractor I knew a LOT more of what I needed. So far my NX5510 has done everything that I've wanted it to do, and that's all to do with my due diligence in defining my requirements.

So, first think through all the things you believe that you need your tractor to do. Do so not necessarily from the point of it being a tractor, but from the point of a job that needs to be done. You may find that a tractor isn't going to be able to do the things you think you need to do: or you'd need a much bigger one. Don't lock yourself into defining what your tractor is going to do, but defining what you need to get the jobs you need done, done. Keep in mind that, in most cases, you can always rent equipment for doing infrequent jobs: I rent excavators and, for one time only- to drill some holes for fence posts, a skid steer.

I've mashed up my B7800 pretty good. I'm very leery of pushing my NX5510 because it's new. With something that's already used you might not feel quite so bad about smashing something up. AND, you WILL, eventually, smash things up! I'm thankful that I had my B7800 to learn on. If I'd started out with my NX5510 I'm sure that I'd have really messed up: getting a big piece of machinery unstuck is no fun; I learned from a smaller machine how to be careful how NOT to get stuck; also learned how to get unstuck.

 

[Steve1300]

Well sir, I knew that I was going to need help to take care of my property and my Mom's. I knew very little about tractors and I purchased a subcompact BX2200. I used it for 13 years with its very limited capability. I had to work slower and still got things done, but as I should have expected; a task too big for my tractor did happen. It is really amazing what a subcompact CAN do.

I bought a larger tractor after those 13 years and I do the tasks much quicker now. There are STILL jobs where I would like a bigger tractor, but I can make do. (such as rig up something to increase leverage and pullAbility to operate the attachments is a defining feature.

Enough steel to take the load is another. It is surprising to me how much a large frame 25HP tractor can do in lifting or using a backhoe. However, when pulling ground-engaging equipment; more grunt is important.

I would go larger than my vision tells me because it is like a closet for your wife - eventually it will be too small.

 

[oosik]

Thirty five years ago - when we moved on the property - I started with a 25 hp Ford 1700. Ten years ago I traded the Ford in for a 62 hp Kubota. All the 25 hp jobs were completed and I needed more WEIGHT and hp to get the final projects completed. Horse power may move the tractor but weight gets the job completed.

 

[Brandon101884]

So much great advice here. As I’m searching and adding up what attachments I will need and how much PTO ill be using and this and that... I’m starting to consider purchasing a used one. As I read earlier, I’m bound to ding it up, it’s a tractor. I plan on using it like one. Ive been looking and to get something that really isn’t too old, and has a few hours on it, will save me a bunch, and most of these have attachments coming with them. Hmmmm

 

[drizler]

Don’t forget to shop for deals. They are randomly out there as long as you’re not hung up on the brand . You can often swing deals on interest rates, free financing and other conditions that greatly affect price and payment overall. Shop around. A guy I know is right now working a deal with New Holland. Supposedly getting a mid 40s hp 4 wad with bucket, plow ,back hoe , blade and snow blower IIRC for $44ish K, all new. Whether it will happen I really don’t know but he’s working on it sounds like a pretty good deal. I don’t know the details on it all yet as he has to get back to me . I also don’t know if it’s some deal that NH have going or it’s just something with the Local dealership being hungry. The point is don’t just settle on what the sticker price says. Make the give you stuff to sweeten the deal.

If at all possible make sure to get a machine with a SSQD skid steer quick disconnect loader setup on the bucket arms. SSQD is the industry standard. Which makes buying things later on from places like Craig’s List much easier.

Pay the extra for the little extension that goes on the 3 pt hitch on one side. It’s only a couple hundred but and you won’t be chasing bars and levers because you dropped it on a bit of a dip when you finished last job.

Another under $200 option for us cold country types here is a block heater. I just leave mine plugged in so I don’t have to let it idle forever to do something during the winter. These like the 3 point extensions are nice little tidbits to get the dealer to toss in to sweeten the deal for you. If you hammer out a deal and some slick salesman tries to slip something in on you right when you are about to sign the paper walk right out the door. I did and ended up with a better tractor elsewhere. Those are my suggestions , now get shopping. Just remember , ONLY SUCKERS PAY STICKER PRICE!!!!