Choosing my first tractor

[Kirby72]

Newbie here, so sorry in advance for the newbie questions....

I recently moved to my little paradise in the foothills of the mountains in Eastern Washington. We bought a house on 6.5 hilly, and mostly forested, acres. My pipe dream would be to someday buy the adjoining forested property so that my total domain would be about 35 acres (although, this may never happen ). I am looking for my first tractor and would love some help sorting through all of the choices. Purpose for said tractor:

-Snow removal on my 200 yard long driveway and the large parking area in front of the house and (future) shop. Ability to occasionally remove snow on community driveway (additional 600 yards) when the neighbor can’t do it. Both driveway sections have some hills. Google says we get about 50 inches of snow per year, but the winter of 2016-2017 was 2 or 3 times that!!

-work on the same gravel driveway(s) when it is not snowing: grading, occasional gravel work.

-logging. Removing/thinning trees on hilly property for fire wise purposes and keeping the forest healthy. Turning the logs into firewood.

-Thinning/removing brush in the forest, particularly near our home (for fire control)

-general hauling and loader work

-landscaping. (Adding/spreading dirt/topsoil to our lawn). I will mow with our riding lawnmower.

Other considerations: I am leaning towards a cab model as It will make life more pleasant for snow removal chores. Storage of tractor will either be in my existing garage (8 ft tall door) or in my future shop with gigantic doors.

Any help or advice would be appreciated...

 

[ericm979]

Brush over about 2" diameter will be too much for the implements that can run on a 35hp tractor. They make small PTO forestry mulchers that can do 4" or more but they require a larger tractor with more hp. And those mulchers are not cheap. We have brush ranging from 2" to 6" or more. I cut them with a chain saw, chip what I can with an 8" pto chipper and pile the rest to rot. Burning is not allowed in my county. I've cleared quite a bit around the house in the last year and a half. It's not fast like a forestry mulcher but it's kind of relaxing.

 

[jeff9366]

Dealing with snow will determine the minimum weight tractor you need. If you get enough tractor for handling snow on your hilly property you will have enough tractor weight and horsepower for the other tasks you designated.

I recommend a tractor of 3,500 pounds to 4,500 pounds bare tractor weight.

Kubota is the only tractor line I am knowledgable about so I have to start there. The Kubota tractors available with cabs in this weight range are the Kubota Grand Ls, also known as the /60 series after model suffix. (Neither the Kubota standard Ls nor the MX series are available with cabs.)

I own and operate the lightest Grand L, an L3560; 3,500 pounds bare tractor, 37-horsepower. A particularly nice, compact size for 6-1/2 acres.

There are five heavier, more powerful Grand L models built on a single chassis/frame: all 4,000 - 4,400 pounds, bare tractor weight. L4060/L4760 have naturally aspirated engines. L5060/L5460 and L6060 have the same engine with addition of a turbo-charger. (Turbo, additional cooling capacity and wheels/tires account for weight spread.)

What is your altitude? Tractors lose about 3% of engine horsepower for every 1,000 foot increment of altitude, over 500'. So if you are at 5,000' you lose around 15% of sea level engine power with naturally aspirated engines. In addition, the cab weights 500 to 600 pounds and it takes power to move cab weight up hills. Turbochargers force air into the engine, eliminating altitude power loss.

So, for snow moving the naturally aspirated L3560/Cab may have just barely sufficient power for your needs or be OUT.

The L4060 is probably OUT, leaving the L4760 naturally aspirated tractor and turbocharged L5060/L5460/L6060 as potential choices.

None of these cab models will enter a 96" garage door.


VIDEOS: Kubota Grand L6 Series walk around and feature review by Messick's - YouTube

5 Most Common: Compact Tractor Attachments - YouTube

Kubota Grand L66 Auto-hitch and attachments (walk around and demo) - YouTube

Hillside Stability - What Is Safe? - TMT - YouTube


KUBOTA WEB SITE:
https://www.kubotausa.com/docs/default-source/brochure-sheets/l60.pdf?sfvrsn=bad1e991_6

 

[jeff9366]

Kubota does offer lighter, cabbed tractors.
VIDEO: How to clear snow using your loader - Kubota B265

Cab Compact Tractor - YouTube

*NEW* Land Pride Snow Pushboxes for BX, B & L Series Kubota Compact Tractors - YouTube



B3350, may be enough for your non-snow tasks. B2650 with cab will not have sufficient horsepower for hills.
Open station models are 88.4" tall. Cab models MAY be several inches taller.
B3350: 1,896 pounds, bare tractor, 2,447 pounds with cab.

KUBOTA WEB SITE: https://www.kubotausa.com/products/tractors/compact/b50

 

[Kirby72]

Elevation at my house is 2000 feet.

 

[jeff9366]

INSERT YOUR LOCATION INTO YOUR T-B-N PROFILE.

MORE TRACTORS ON HILLS:
choosing tractor for hilly land site:tractorbynet.com - Google Search

 

[RalphVa]

Don't need weight to push snow if you're willing to put chains on. I had a Gravely with a big snow plow here the first 3 years. It pushed snow well with chains on the tires.

For your case, a rear snow blower and front FEL would work well. A friend of mine in Winchester has had an old Kubota with this combo for many years, on a long gravel driveway. I've an FEL and rear blade, but have had need for a snow blower a couple of years here in central Va.

Ralph

 

[8u9ey3]

I went with the Massey Ferguson 1749. The 1700 series is a newer line that MF put out a coulple years ago. I looked at the normal brands before picking the MF. You can buy a cheaper tractor but you'll be hard pressed to find one that "fits" any better than the MF. All the controls are placed in spots that are easy to get to. For most controls I don't have to take my elbows off the arm rests. Means a lot if you pull long hours on a tractor.

 

[North Woods]

-logging. Removing/thinning trees on hilly property for fire wise purposes and keeping the forest healthy. Turning the logs into firewood.

IMO this is the prime driver for you. In Eastern Washington the logs can easily be 4' diameter or more. Where you are I am thinking 2' +. Find tractor weight, FEL capacity, and counter weight set up then figure in hills that you may have negotiate. Once you get to that capacity I think snow will be covered. Even if it is the wet and heavy kind although I think you tend to get dry and lighter most of the time.

Once you get that ball parked then you might consider closest dealer(s). There are several brands I would consider but they do not have competent dealers in my area.

 

[ericm979]

Thinning for fire safety and forest health usually involves removing brush and small tree and leaving the mature trees. You'd want to remove mature trees next to buildings of course, and you have to handle them when they fall down. I had a couple 5' madrones fall this winter. An 8' section of lower trunk was too large for the grapple on my Branson. As it was going to firewood anyhow I sectioned it into rounds where it lay, quartered those and then used the tractor to move them. I don't think I could have picked up that section of trunk with my tractor's loader anyhow.

An important use of my tractor for fire safety is running a pto chipper. Even if there wasn't too much red tape to make burning practical I'd want a chipper anyhow as it can be run any time of the year and can be used under trees. If you want to chip larger material you'll need power. I have an 8" chipper and when chipping 6" or larger I have to slow the chipper feed to a crawl or stop the feed alltogether to let the tractor get the chipper flywheel back up to speed. Having more than 37hp would be useful for that task.