Hello and CK20Hst purchase

m1greg · Aug 25, 2004

First of all a big hello to everyone. I have been reading posts on this forum for about a year and have picked up a lot of pointers. Thanks to all! Now on to the tractor. I have been looking at the CK20Hst with a loader and box blade combination. I have about a 1000' drive with hill to maintain and plow. I also maintain 2 acres of grass and am leaning toward a RFM finish mower for next year.
I've gotten qoutes from two dealers and the price for the tractor and loader was the same from both 12,500 for tractor w/ R4s and loader. The dealers being in different states I was suprised to see no price difference. Has anybody haggled a better price or is this just the going rate?

Bob_Skurka · Aug 25, 2004

Welcome to TBN.

I think if you fill out your profile so we know where you are it might help. Tractor pricing is regional and you are not giving much to go on. I live within a mile of a state line, it is easy for me to get prices from 2 states and still deal with local dealers, is that what you did or did you get one local and one long distance quote? Or did you get two long distance quotes? Also, more information about the tractor would be helpful. Is it gear or hydrostic drive. As for is the tractor the right choice for you, again if we knew if the driveway was paved, gravel or dirt it would help, and how much land you have, and what other things you intend to do with the machine all those things come into play to determine size and capabilities of the proper machine.

m1greg · Aug 25, 2004

Sorry for the lack of information. ( I updated my profile. )
I checked with one local (<50 miles away and one long distance ~ 600 miles away.) I guess you could say they are both in the midwest though. I am located in S.E. Michigan.
Here's my needs from the tractor.
Hydrostatic drive. ( I thought the Hst in the CK line up meant Hydro. ) It is just easier to use and is what I am familiar with.
Need to mow 2 acres that is moderately hilly, has a few trees and a pond to mow around.
Need to be able to grade a gravel driveway that contains two 90` bends through the tree line, up a 12' hill ( don't know the grade of the slope ) to the main road. (aprox 1000ft long.)
I would like to maintain the lawn and once or twice yearly grade the road. In the winter I intend to plow the drive. I currently have a 2wd J.D. 455 with a front blade but the tractor cant make it up the hill in snow over 2.5 inches. ( not enough traction or clearence.) Other odd jobs include moving mulch / rocks and other landscaping materials as my wife sees fit. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

KiotiJohn · Aug 25, 2004

HST does mean hydrostatic, and it's sometimes easy to miss those things at first, so we'll forgive Bob his transgression, okay?
The price you received is better than many I've seen, being right about in the ballpark of best prices.
I believe the tractor will do just fine for your purposes, but I can't really comment to the snow stuff as I live in Florida. I think the extra weight should do you some good as you will have a little more traction (I think it's heavier than the JD).
I think you'll find the 4WD will help a lot with traction as well. As for maintaining your lawn, a rear finish mower (RFM) is probably a good choice, and a lot of members have reported satisfaction with using a mid mount mower (MMM) as well. I personally would prefer the RFM.
Since you're only going to need to work the road about once or twice a year, there shouldn't be a problem with that, just will go a little slower than if you were using a much larger tractor with larger implements. The CK20 can easily handle 4' and some 5' implements (I prefer 4' for most due to trees).

Bob_Skurka · Aug 25, 2004

HST does mean hydrostatic, and it's sometimes easy to miss those things at first, so we'll forgive Bob his transgression, okay?


John, chalk it up to blindness. . . I simply didn't see it in the original post until after I saw the response. And I think you are right about the CK20 being able to easily handle the tasks. The length of the drive might be asking a lot for a small machine, but if it is to be done twice a year that shouldn't overwhelm the tractor. I switched from a RFM to a MMM on my New Holland this summer. I believe both types of mowers have advantages, if I was doing a lot of FEL or grading work, I'd much prefer the RFM. However, I've really gotten to like the MMM lately, and since I have more than one tractor available, I tend NOT to use the NH for things like pulling a box blade because for that, I believe bigger is better and have a blade that is too large for that machine.

Regarding mowing . . . A high quality RFM will easily give as good a cut as a MMM. I prefer BEFCO finish mowers, they are probably the best, or certainly one of the best of the premium brand mowers with features that are not even available on brands like First Choice, Howse, King Kutter and the other discount brands. My take on mowers, for people who use their tractors for mowing, is that if you add up the hours you spend mowing and compare that to the hours you use ALL other implements COMBINED, typically what you find is that your mower deck will get twice as many hours of work as everything else. Because of that it makes sense to buy a quality brand. When I traded my 60" 10+ year old Befco deck in, I got a heck of a trade in price, and the dealer put it on his lot for $850 . . . which is not a heck of a lot cheaper than a brand new discount brand (many brand new discount 60" RFM decks run from $950 to $1295). So that says a lot about the quality of the brand and the durability of the brand. Unfortunately Befco is expensive so many people don't consider them. But if a lower price brand lasts 5 to 7 years, and a Befco is still going strong at 10 to 15 years, the price up front would actually be cheaper. I only got rid of mine because I needed space in my garage and switching to a MMM provided that.

KiotiJohn · Aug 25, 2004

( John, chalk it up to blindness. . . I simply didn't see it in the original post until after I saw the response. )
I've forgotten how many times I've done the same thing. Another thing that seems to be happening more often! (forgetting). /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif John

virgil · Aug 25, 2004

well put mr Kiotijohn

Steve_Miller · Aug 25, 2004

Welcome to the forum. I just sold my Kubota B7200DT a month ago and bought (although not in my yard yet) a CK20 gear, w/FEL and Backhoe for $21500 cdn (approx $15350 US). I live in Nova Scotia. As far as it being enough tractor for maintaining a driveway, I've maintained my 1200' driveway for the last 15 years with the smaller Kubota with no problems what so ever. This includes grading, snow plowing(with a 7' blade) and snowblowing (4' rear blower). If you can't push it, blow it. I think (hope) it will be even easier with the heavier Kioti. I don't think you will have any problems with this size, you just have to find the limitations of the tractor you are using.

Steve

m1greg · Aug 26, 2004

No harm intended by my reply Bob. I thought I might have overlooked something in the Hst designation. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
Curious what makes the Befco better? ( thickness of deck, bearings, etc? ) I was offered a RFM of the First Choice brand and could use some pointers of things to look for.
One of the reasons I would like a RFM is to trim back some of the Cat tails that encircle the pond. ( Honey I sunk the tractor! )

KiotiJohn · Aug 26, 2004

( One of the reasons I would like a RFM is to trim back some of the Cat tails that encircle the pond. ( Honey I sunk the tractor! ) )
A rear finish mower is really designed for cutting grass. More woody types of growth are best handled with a brush cutter/shredder/brushhog. I'm not saying the finish mower won't cut cat tails, but they will be hard on the deck and the thinner finish blades as opposed to the thick rotary cutter blades. John