Buying Advice Looking for purachse advice

[Cataclysm]

New to the forum - been reading for several months. Started out dead set in buying a Mahindra then explored Kioti and finally LS. At this point, I have settled on LS and plan on that being what I buy - barring the unexpected. Never owned a tractor before and my tractor experience is limited to about 3 hours digging post holes.

Question: What size of tractor should I buy considering these anticipated uses?

House is on rocky ground north of Leander (Austin). Have 5 acres and a 100ft long dirt driveway. Plan to use the tractor to move dirt around, smooth driveway, and with a front end grapple move and stack cedar trees I plan to chainsaw off at ground level.

May also try to hire myself out to for various jobs i.e., brush hog, dirt moving, landscaping, tree clearing (chainsaw and grapple) etc. Who knows if that would ever come to fruition.

I am thinking of either 35-40 hp with most likely shuttle shift, if for not other reason the price difference would buy implements.

Looking at XG or XR series.

What say ye?

With moving dirt and moving downed trees you will like the heaver weight and higher lift capacities of the XR. You probably already know this but cedars have shallow root systems. If they are not too big you can put the FEL up about 6' and push them over. That will expose about half the root system. Then back up and catch the exposed root system with the FEL and push them out of the ground. Then stack them with the grapple bucket.

Good plan to put that tractor to work and make a little cash but as mentioned you really need commercial insurance to do that. $50 and hour is pretty thin. Something around $65 or $70 an hour once your skill set is there would be more realistic. You might want to look at the D.O.T rules for commercial vehicles and hauling stuff around.

I am also going to suggest that instead of buying that 20' trailer look at buying a dump bed trailer so you can haul the tractor and bring gravel, dirt ect to and from the job site. Something else to diversify with. If you don't go with the dump trailer then the 14K 20 footer is the way to go. Leaves room on the front for a drag or other implement and allows you to balance the load.

Everyone here says buy one size bigger tractor than you need and I mostly agree with that. Look at the XR4000 and XR4100 series. You will like the tractor weight and lift capacities for what you will be doing with your tractor.

One other thing I would mention is that with the LS you get 2 rear remotes standard which will get you top and tilt on that BB. I was quoted $1400 a piece for remotes at Mahindra and $1800 for the 3rd function valve to run the grapple. LS wanted $1100 for the 3rd function valve.

As far as SS or HST, I had a regular gear shift tractor with no SS for years and did fine. Then I drove a SS and thought that was all there was. Way handy and pretty simple. Now with reading everything on here and talking to a few people who actually use a HST daily I am now drinking the HST Koolaid. I went to the LS dealer and drove both the SS and HST extensively around his lot. On this next tractor I'm going with the HST.

Good luck with your decision!