Now it's my turn to ask the old-what should I get question. here is my situation. Have 2 properties:
1-6 acres mostly forest and scree some mowing (mix of brush hogging and small lawn),hilly with 1/2 mile gravel drive in northwest Montana. we get a little over 100 inches annually but usually in alot of smaller snows.
want to use tractor for maintaining road(winter and summer), helping with thinning forest. brush hogging and small amount of mowing.
2-30 acres mostly woods, very hilly transitioning to bottom land. Uses here small amount of mowing, mostly clearing and maintaining old roads and brush hogging some forestry and road/trail building. Winter clearing to be done with ariens walk behind blower
(1336 dle pro-anybody know any thing good or bad on this?)
previous tractor was ford 1710 for brush hogging and loader work with a 12 hp gravely handling the mowing and blowing
currently the front runners seem to be:
1.kubota 7800,3030,used 2910- seem very nice, my concerns are stability on steeper terrain and whether they are large enough to grade my road (have no experience grading). Resale seems good and 3ph implements are every where. Seem fairly agile for a CUT.
2.PT 1430-like the PT concept a lot-especially the stability,agility and ease of changing implements. Maintenance and lack of dealers don't scare me a ton but they temper the resale value which means if I get one I better be fairly sure it's the right thing. true concerns are winter starts, NVH (noise vibration and harshness) and how well it would do maintaining the roads (have read comments on TBN that ground engagement is not their strong suit). Is the 1430 the right size?
attachments are proprietary, resale fair,freight cost significant to montana
3.Toolcat family-only listed because I love the feature set- existing models are too large I believe (tow weight and overall size a concern)-smaller model said to be coming. Great resale, attachments widely available
Friend just got a PT 425 (atwood ) which I should get to use in a couple of weeks and I might be able to get to Tazewell soon after.
Just trying to get experienced inputs in the interim.
thoughts?
Many Thanks
1-6 acres mostly forest and scree some mowing (mix of brush hogging and small lawn),hilly with 1/2 mile gravel drive in northwest Montana. we get a little over 100 inches annually but usually in alot of smaller snows.
want to use tractor for maintaining road(winter and summer), helping with thinning forest. brush hogging and small amount of mowing.
2-30 acres mostly woods, very hilly transitioning to bottom land. Uses here small amount of mowing, mostly clearing and maintaining old roads and brush hogging some forestry and road/trail building. Winter clearing to be done with ariens walk behind blower
(1336 dle pro-anybody know any thing good or bad on this?)
previous tractor was ford 1710 for brush hogging and loader work with a 12 hp gravely handling the mowing and blowing
currently the front runners seem to be:
1.kubota 7800,3030,used 2910- seem very nice, my concerns are stability on steeper terrain and whether they are large enough to grade my road (have no experience grading). Resale seems good and 3ph implements are every where. Seem fairly agile for a CUT.
2.PT 1430-like the PT concept a lot-especially the stability,agility and ease of changing implements. Maintenance and lack of dealers don't scare me a ton but they temper the resale value which means if I get one I better be fairly sure it's the right thing. true concerns are winter starts, NVH (noise vibration and harshness) and how well it would do maintaining the roads (have read comments on TBN that ground engagement is not their strong suit). Is the 1430 the right size?
attachments are proprietary, resale fair,freight cost significant to montana
3.Toolcat family-only listed because I love the feature set- existing models are too large I believe (tow weight and overall size a concern)-smaller model said to be coming. Great resale, attachments widely available
Friend just got a PT 425 (atwood ) which I should get to use in a couple of weeks and I might be able to get to Tazewell soon after.
Just trying to get experienced inputs in the interim.
thoughts?
Many Thanks