Anonymous Poster
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- Sep 27, 2005
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Help from all y\'all experts please
Ok another new tractor buyer here that is getting more confused the more he looks.
Background – Bought a house outside of Houston TX on 4 acres. Mostly flat all open no trees or obstacles. The property does slope off to a lake and grass right up to the water almost. All along the front and side there is a 15-20’ wide V-shaped drainage ditch which needs to be cut. Some of the “field” part is smooth other parts are rough with 6-12” clumps of grass in some areas, some areas eroded near the lake, some areas are muddy and some areas are pretty rough not to mention the sometimes foot high fire ant mounds. Pictures worth a 1000 words hopefully I did this link right: Photos
Not knowing anything about trying to cut this much grass we bought a Scotts 20hp 48” cut riding mower because we didn’t know any better and the JD salesman said this was all we needed. The Scotts is fantastic for cutting the nice St. Augustine sodded area that is around the house but once in the field it isn’t as good. It gets the job done but I feel I am tearing it up trying to cut everything. On the grass clumps I have to cut back to ¼ speed and the ride is really bumpy like riding over bowling balls. The eroded areas I have to stay away from as the holes will swallow the tires and the thing gets stuck even it a little standing water. It does the drainage ditches pretty well with a few areas being just too steep.
I am getting tired of beating the little Scotts machine and myself to death just cutting the grass. My lovely wife has authorized the purchase of a real tractor this year (or was it I bugged her enough until she just said yes). Keeping the Scotts for the grass around the house.
The age old question for the experts here now is which tractor to buy. Yes I have read most of the similar posts recently but like I said I am getting really confused by all this. I know a few things I want for sure. I want a FEL, we have extensive landscaping and it nearly killed me last year moving 8 cubic yards of mulch around the house by hand, plus I need to fill in some of the low areas and get the drainage working a little better and I know the FEL will come in handy for other projects. I know I want a rear mount mower as opposed to mid mount. Probably looking at 4WD for the ditches, slope to lake and the wet areas and mud. Probably looking at new, can’t find too much good used stuff of what I want.
I would like to stay at or under $15,000. There is a good JD place 10 minutes away and Kubota 15 minutes away. New Holland a bit further, don’t see or really want much else other than the big 3.
Before y’all start the Kubota BX series and JD 2000 series are just too small, don’t want them, ain’t gonna work. Recently looked at Kubota 7500 and 2710 both maybe the size I need? Kubota 2600 and 3000 too big? JD 790 was nice. NH TC24D was nice.
So what do all the experts here say is the best size and the best value for my situation???
Oh also brush hog or finish mower?
Ok another new tractor buyer here that is getting more confused the more he looks.
Background – Bought a house outside of Houston TX on 4 acres. Mostly flat all open no trees or obstacles. The property does slope off to a lake and grass right up to the water almost. All along the front and side there is a 15-20’ wide V-shaped drainage ditch which needs to be cut. Some of the “field” part is smooth other parts are rough with 6-12” clumps of grass in some areas, some areas eroded near the lake, some areas are muddy and some areas are pretty rough not to mention the sometimes foot high fire ant mounds. Pictures worth a 1000 words hopefully I did this link right: Photos
Not knowing anything about trying to cut this much grass we bought a Scotts 20hp 48” cut riding mower because we didn’t know any better and the JD salesman said this was all we needed. The Scotts is fantastic for cutting the nice St. Augustine sodded area that is around the house but once in the field it isn’t as good. It gets the job done but I feel I am tearing it up trying to cut everything. On the grass clumps I have to cut back to ¼ speed and the ride is really bumpy like riding over bowling balls. The eroded areas I have to stay away from as the holes will swallow the tires and the thing gets stuck even it a little standing water. It does the drainage ditches pretty well with a few areas being just too steep.
I am getting tired of beating the little Scotts machine and myself to death just cutting the grass. My lovely wife has authorized the purchase of a real tractor this year (or was it I bugged her enough until she just said yes). Keeping the Scotts for the grass around the house.
The age old question for the experts here now is which tractor to buy. Yes I have read most of the similar posts recently but like I said I am getting really confused by all this. I know a few things I want for sure. I want a FEL, we have extensive landscaping and it nearly killed me last year moving 8 cubic yards of mulch around the house by hand, plus I need to fill in some of the low areas and get the drainage working a little better and I know the FEL will come in handy for other projects. I know I want a rear mount mower as opposed to mid mount. Probably looking at 4WD for the ditches, slope to lake and the wet areas and mud. Probably looking at new, can’t find too much good used stuff of what I want.
I would like to stay at or under $15,000. There is a good JD place 10 minutes away and Kubota 15 minutes away. New Holland a bit further, don’t see or really want much else other than the big 3.
Before y’all start the Kubota BX series and JD 2000 series are just too small, don’t want them, ain’t gonna work. Recently looked at Kubota 7500 and 2710 both maybe the size I need? Kubota 2600 and 3000 too big? JD 790 was nice. NH TC24D was nice.
So what do all the experts here say is the best size and the best value for my situation???
Oh also brush hog or finish mower?
