Decision time: used or new NH?

BruceNorthEast · Dec 16, 2005

"here's something else to think about.. And this goes against my 'blue' blood. JD has the 5103 on sale for 12999.00 ... Not a bad price for 50 hp.. even if ti is 2wd and green.. " 

Soundguy, their Deere builder site shows $15672 for the base price (no loader).

I'm pretty well convinced that I want 4WD/MFWD, do you know if they've got any on sale & where I can learn more?

Thanks.
Bruce.

daTeacha · Dec 16, 2005

A bit more on hay making: I have a neighbor who milks about 200 Holsteins. He farms close to 600 acres, mostly rented, some of it from us. We get our hay from him as part of the rent. He's seriously thinking about getting out of the hay making end of it. He has all the equipment, but says the cost of maintaining the equipment, paying his help and running the tractors, it's not worth the effort. He figures things closely (what successful farmer doesn't?) and has pretty much decided that for him right now, hay is essentially a break even proposition, if that.

I have another friend who is milking 100 head and buying all his feed and making a living at it. Going up in size, a third area farmer is milking 700 and also buying all his feed.

Bottom line -- you will probably never amortize the cost of buying and maintaining haying equipment with just 30 acres to use it on.

wolc123 · Dec 16, 2005

Wow, that was a good price on the TC45 before all those additions. When I bought the JD 4120 12 spd, 400X loader with quick-attach hd bucket, the first price I was quoted was 22,700. When I later decided to add a block heater and loaded rear tires, the dealer threw them in and I wrote him a check for 22,700 when he delivered the machine (no charge for 40 mile haul). I will admit that from the sound of your intended usage (lawn work, etc) the mid size frame boomer is a much better fit than the large frame JD, but maybe you should check out some other nh dealers. It sounds like this guy is suckering you in then socking it to you. Also, just the tractor, loader should get you thru winter just fine, all that other stuff (mower, etc.) can wait until spring.

kozak · Dec 16, 2005

WoW !!

I marvel at your discipline !! Way to go. I don't think I could have managed that feat getting that close to buying. Sometimes you get so caught up in deciding you forget (me) that you can just walk away. There are many other Tractor machines out there. Just from this experience you will be in a much better buying position next time. And as my Company would say (not fully agreed) you just saved a whack of money. But definitely, waiting for additional funds puts you in a much better position next time to make a more comfortable purchase.

I think you just LOVE drawing IT out !! Why not.....it keeps the excitement RED hot !! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Soundguy · Dec 17, 2005

( Soundguy, their Deere builder site shows $15672 for the base price (no loader). )

The last 3 weeks I've been reading the heavy equipment trader catalogs. and I got one 2 days ago.. thaey are running double page adds, full color .. sometimes 2 or 3 in the same magazine... advertising the 5103 for 12999.$ plus financing options... so?

Soundguy

BruceNorthEast · Dec 17, 2005

daTeacha:

Thanks for the lesson "Bottom line -- you will probably never amortize the cost of buying and maintaining haying equipment with just 30 acres to use it on." - that pretty well puts the nail in it (and I've only got 20, maybe 80% usable for crops!). /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

A lot of people in the know are telling me the same thing.

Okay, if I cant grow hay with any chance of it paying (most) equipment costs, what can I grow that would? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
Bruce.

BruceNorthEast · Dec 17, 2005

Hi kozak:

What I didn't tell you is that I aged several years over that period, and was practically reduced to mush (several TBN members that I emailed privately can vouch for that!) /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Oh well, live and learn, get old, act like a little girl, have others laughing at you, ... oops, didn't mean to write that out loud! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

By the way, how do you like your TC35, does it do most everything you want it to? (I'm still considering one of those to reduce costs, might be the prudent move since it's my frst machine).
Bruce.

BruceNorthEast · Dec 17, 2005

Soundguy:

Thanks again for the info.

From reading your other posts it's pretty obvious you've got years of experience. So I'd like to know: if you could only have one tractor (at least for the next few years), would it be 2WD or 4WD? If money were tight, would you tend toward used/lesser FWD machines before going 2WD?

Bruce.

Soundguy · Dec 18, 2005

I did have a 4wd NH 1920 (33hp).. bought it 2yrs used, back in 2000, and then traded it back to the same dealer mid 2004 for a much larger 7610s (95hp). I've got a few tractors in the mid 20's and mid 30's hp.. all old iron, and 2wd... some smaller ones int he 'teen' hp, as well as an old jd trike...

The 2wd vs 4wd is basically a traction issue. The only 2 times I ever used 4wd on my NH 1920 were when i drove across a 'dry' riverbed and then suddenly sunk up to the op platform in muck... 4wd and diffy lock did nothing.. had to dig out wheels, and use ramps, timbers and a snatch strap and a vehicle setting on solid ground 20' away to get me out,. 3 hours later... 4wd seemed real useless to me... in fact.. it let me get stuck farther away from home than 2wd would have /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif. Second time I used it was when discing my pasture. Disc was a 3pt, and a heavy dual ganged 6' job.. made it hard to steer due to the draft.. had to have 4wd engaged and use breaks to steer at the end of rows... IE I was having a traction issue.

Traction can break down into a calculation of weight and hp, .. Ie.. my tractor had insuficient weight to put my hp to the ground.. I had plenty of engine to spare.. i could spin the wheels with the disc stuck firmly in the ground anchoring me, just digging holes./ That tractor weighed 3200# give or take.. and the disc? 800 plus some ballast weights.

Now.. that same disc on my big 2wd tractors.. like my ford 500 or NH 7610s.. those tractors are 6000# plus... each.. and had neary a problem pulling high draft implements in 2wd...

At this point... I'm not really into using small tractors too much.. I like bigger ones.. and mine are 2wd. if I need more tractor.. I'll add dual rears... Used is fine.. my 7610s was also 2ys used.. and a heck of a deal.

For the odd small project that I need a small tractor for. one of my ford 2wd units seems fine. On the very rare occasion that I use my ford 660 with fel to dig.. I do find that the rears just start to break traction as the bucket loads up.. same with the rear scoop on the 8n.. I'm sure 4wd would help that a little. But then I do so little digging and dirt moving that it isn't an issue for me.

My mt ford N's were designed to pull a 2 bottom 14" plow with only 2wd.... that's a fairly taxing job. I figure they are good for most things.. again.. save for a bit of loader work.. ( that and pow steering would be nice on the smaller ones... it's real nice onthe 2 big ones.. )

to answer your question.. I'd buy a larger 2wd machine vs a smaller 4wd machine... the weight makes up for the traction loss... but then.. I don't drive in the forest either. If size was an issue.. obviously 4wd would be attractive, to keep the traction positive..

Soundguy

kozak · Dec 19, 2005

BruceNorthEast,

Just love my Dynamo Hummm, has done everything I have asked of it & then some. Have done alot of FEL work (landscaping) & of course clearing snow.

Initially I was looking at a Case DX33 (33 HP, Class II Boomer) but fortunately was priced too high new. Came across the TC35D @ 79 hrs. & the rest is history. So many times now when I am working with the 6 ft. bucket, I reflect back on almost making the wrong decision if I had gone with the 33. (5 ft. bucket) I figure what takes me about 40 trips transporting horse manure during spring clean-up would take me 60 to 65 trips with the 5 ft. bucket. That's one of the reasons I always recommend going larger if undecided between a smaller or larger tractor. On the flip side, there are always tasks you come across that a smaller tractor would handle easier but I think the larger tasks far outweigh the smaller ones.

Next summer will be the real test for my machine as I want to get some boulders in (or at least very large rocks) to place on some berms I have created. Also want to borrow a back-hoe to do some digging around the house foundation. Would be real nice if I could bump up the lift capacity of my machine.

Hope You Find The Tractor Your Looking For Soon,

Vic