Buying Advice Deciding what to buy for my 1ST tractor.

[WxMan85]

Sorry LS, I had caps lock on and never gave it a thought to change it. Here is the edited version of my first post. Thanks for the info and god bless!!

I have been in a joint custody situation using my father in laws Kioti CK30 with loader and backhoe, (which by the way, you all of this fine forum helped him decide almost 20 years ago to buy), he says hello and thank you for your all’s plethora of knowledge and experience!

I have grown up using this tractor as I dated and then married his daughter, we then 3 years ago moved back close to them and bought 10 acres. I have used it as well as paid a per job price to, use a case 580 Super L from down the road when the project was too big for the CK30 for the last 3 years. The CK30 has 996 hours on it and I don’t want to add another 5 or 6 hundred hours for the next portion of major projects to it. I am replacing all cylinder seals, changing filters and fluids, and tie rod ends and giving it back to its greener pasture home.

Now the big question for me is what in the world do I want and need to buy!?!? As stated earlier, we are on 10 acres, with the possibility in the future to double to 20. My 10 is 60% trees and 40% sandstone boulders with a little shell and dirt mixed in, (not kidding) good ole north eastern Oklahoma land! We are going to clear cut and dig out roots where needed on the fence line which on the 10 acres is about 3/8 of a mile of clearing, build a 40x50 shop with 16’ ceilings (so I need to also be able to fly 50’ trusses), clear cut and remove cedar stumps and a few less than 10” diameter (2-4) trees and stumps for a 30 tree orchard and garden, dig about 750 feet of water lines and electric, cut in a new 400’ driveway, and last but absolutely not least a pond that will be about 3/8 of an acre when it’s full. Now the pond is going to be a cheat by a bit as I am using an already cut in creek that runs diagonally across the property. I will only have to dig down about 5 to 8 feet in half of the pond as the creek has cut the other half out and then build a dam. Still that said, it alone is still a big project and have been quoted 15k for someone to come in and cut it and bring clay in if they cannot locate a pocket of clay on the property, or from when they dig out the pond. They did say it would be closer to 10k if they can locate clay.

So what tractor would you all recommend for all of this work? I don’t really have the money to go over 35k to 40k for something. I have a love for the Kioti brand as I have used one for nearly 20 years, and they have stood behind their product, even out of warranty and that speaks volumes to me!! I have read some about Mahindra and the company and line of products does intrigue me quite a bit. That said I don’t have much knowledge on them other than what I have read about the last few days of researching. I know that I have to lift and move a ton of materials, dig a ton, and build a ton of projects . So lifting and digging are main requirements. The extras would be nice, but those 2 items are the main have to’s for that price. Any and all advice is welcomed and appreciated!

With all of this said, I can possibly purchase a different 580 Super L that is a 97’ open air cab with about 3200 hours that I have known for 90% of its life for about 20k. It just had all new hoses and cylinder seals replaced and fluids changed out. I would have to buy new tires, so that is going to be a couple thousand more on top of purchase price……Thoughts?

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Maybe break this up into paragraphs..... I gave up reading it about a quarter way through.
And, why are you yelling?

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

That Case would probably be your best bet. Fix, clean, maintain, restore it.
For your needs, it would be a better choice. When you are done with a lot of the 'heavy' stuff, you could sell it for at least what you paid for it. Maybe more if you get it fixed up. Then, buy a CUT to do the routine stuff later.

 

[WxMan85]

LS what if I did not have the 580L option, what would you recommend then?

 

[BigGG]

LS what if I did not have the 580L option, what would you recommend then?

Before I got to the last paragraph I was thinking, you've got experience with a full-size TLB, you should know if it's too much or too little.

 

[rgr33]

The tractor you need for construction, might well be bigger and more robust than the tractor that works best for your ongoing maintenance work.

If it were me, I would go with the 580L, until all the big jobs are completed, then settle into a nice comfortable cabbed 35 to 45 hp Kioti/LS/ Kubota. Whatever brand suits you.

If you could swing it, it would be nice to keep the 580, for the unforeseen heavy construction jobs you come up with in the future.

I have been on my place for 37 years, and there’s always something that needs building or improving.

 

[Carl_NH]

You know the machine and history so for the money and capability the 580L definitely. There are very few options in your price range to do what you want to do in an efficient manner. (smaller machine will do it in 2-3x the time)

Sure, you can find a used 40-50 HP utliity tractor with backhoe in that (35-40K) price range, but for your work go full sized now and sell later.

 

[scaredychicken]

I was going to say GRAPPLE

Then i re-read the title and post, and realized that you are in market for a tractor, not an implement.

Kioti has some nice units. Find out what is the minimum requirement for your needs, ... and then go bigger, perhaps next size up

 

[WxMan85]

Before I got to the last paragraph I was thinking, you've got experience with a full-size TLB, you should know if it's too much or too little.

I do agree with your statement. I just wanted to tap into the collective knowledge of everyone here before I went and spent that kind of money. I feel that the CK30 is to small of a machine. I was looking at getting at least a 45hp CUT, but wanted some other opinions in the matter. Thank you for your response.

 

[WxMan85]

I was going to say GRAPPLE

Then i re-read the title and post, and realized that you are in market for a tractor, not an implement.

Kioti has some nice units. Find out what is the minimum requirement for your needs, ... and then go bigger, perhaps next size up

I would love to have a grapple!! I have seen some 5 in 1 buckets and grapples that are amazing! I would love to go to a bigger Kioti, but trying to get the boss to stretch the purse a little more is very much a challenge!