araw0727
New member
I moved into a small 2 acre lot in NEPA/Jackson PA. I looked at buying a garden tractor, and spent way too many hours looking at TuffTorq specs. Makes my eyes water just thinking about it. So, I gave up on all the reviews - information overload. Even the nice GTs are so much money; ultimately, I wanted to get into diesel and handle "ground-engaging" tasks. Learned a lot from lurking on this forum actually.
All my local dealers didn't seem to want to talk about anything technical regarding my property and how to work with it. Mostly salesman stuff - "We can get you anything, just get the tractor and get to work". I ended up ordering this 1720 from Bruno's in AK after talking with him for quite a while on the phone, and sending pics of what I'm trying to do. In the end, I bought from them...here's it being delivered.
I'm a n00b and here's what I did
I got this thing in the dead of winter. Had no idea how to use a loader or backhoe, or anything really. I'm a software engineer. Well, I read the whole manual. First thing I did was my driveway. What an adventure, destroying the gravel driveway, spreading salt... check. Good thing I got this tractor, because I was going to use it to grade the driveway anyway.
There she is. Had so much fun and then learned about float - too bad it was February. ****, you really gotta push on that control, like a quick snap. :-D
I hate plants so close to the foundation, time to clean the slate
That little backhoe seemed really large when I first got it. I actually ran it a lot slower just to not hit my house and stuff. I pulled out every single shrub , with ease. That was the most fun I'm gonna have in 2017. No trouble with power, really. It was dragging itself around. The size of the tractor allowed me to get really close to the house without breaking everything the ground or being scared I'd swing through the house.
Trees near my septic - GAH!
Wasn't too fond of all the trees in my backyard, so set to dig those out. For reference, about a foot, to a foot and half diameter. This was pretty tough, I dug too close and that did nothing. Finally, decided to make a moat around it after looking at similar BX videos online. Popped two out on my own, but it was a solid 40 minutes of seat time and using a pipe to find some deeper roots. Pretty easy, just requires more time.
The last one was nasty. It was heavy, and wet from the rain underneath, clinging to all the clay and rock. I had dug myself so deep, I was just pulling myself around and I got scared I'd fall in. My neighbor came over with his massive rig and picked it up effortlessly...very nice guy and definitely great resource to have around!
Finally, time to unearth the last acre of my property (WIP)
I looked a brush cutters, but didn't think it's work. I decided on the ratchet rake after much skepticism. It worked well! You just gotta take your time - but man it does work. I love this thing!
Here's before
After
Conclusion
Yeah, this thing rocks. It's definitely a little small on some of the larger things, but you can work the **** out of it to get stuff done. Perfect size, great price, and it has greatly helped me on small and large jobs. For the big stuff, make some friends
I hope this helps someone who's considering buying this tractor. I'm at 42 hours already, and I loved every moment of it.
BTW, the BroTek ripper rules...
All my local dealers didn't seem to want to talk about anything technical regarding my property and how to work with it. Mostly salesman stuff - "We can get you anything, just get the tractor and get to work". I ended up ordering this 1720 from Bruno's in AK after talking with him for quite a while on the phone, and sending pics of what I'm trying to do. In the end, I bought from them...here's it being delivered.
I'm a n00b and here's what I did
I got this thing in the dead of winter. Had no idea how to use a loader or backhoe, or anything really. I'm a software engineer. Well, I read the whole manual. First thing I did was my driveway. What an adventure, destroying the gravel driveway, spreading salt... check. Good thing I got this tractor, because I was going to use it to grade the driveway anyway.
There she is. Had so much fun and then learned about float - too bad it was February. ****, you really gotta push on that control, like a quick snap. :-D
I hate plants so close to the foundation, time to clean the slate
That little backhoe seemed really large when I first got it. I actually ran it a lot slower just to not hit my house and stuff. I pulled out every single shrub , with ease. That was the most fun I'm gonna have in 2017. No trouble with power, really. It was dragging itself around. The size of the tractor allowed me to get really close to the house without breaking everything the ground or being scared I'd swing through the house.
Trees near my septic - GAH!
Wasn't too fond of all the trees in my backyard, so set to dig those out. For reference, about a foot, to a foot and half diameter. This was pretty tough, I dug too close and that did nothing. Finally, decided to make a moat around it after looking at similar BX videos online. Popped two out on my own, but it was a solid 40 minutes of seat time and using a pipe to find some deeper roots. Pretty easy, just requires more time.
The last one was nasty. It was heavy, and wet from the rain underneath, clinging to all the clay and rock. I had dug myself so deep, I was just pulling myself around and I got scared I'd fall in. My neighbor came over with his massive rig and picked it up effortlessly...very nice guy and definitely great resource to have around!
Finally, time to unearth the last acre of my property (WIP)
I looked a brush cutters, but didn't think it's work. I decided on the ratchet rake after much skepticism. It worked well! You just gotta take your time - but man it does work. I love this thing!
Here's before
After
Conclusion
Yeah, this thing rocks. It's definitely a little small on some of the larger things, but you can work the **** out of it to get stuff done. Perfect size, great price, and it has greatly helped me on small and large jobs. For the big stuff, make some friends
I hope this helps someone who's considering buying this tractor. I'm at 42 hours already, and I loved every moment of it.
BTW, the BroTek ripper rules...
