New member tractor advice

[airbiscuit]

 

[RHanna]

I’m loving tractordata.com helps a lot

Is there a certain amount of hours that would worry y’all? I see a lot with either inaccurate hours, 1000-2000, and some near 8k to 10k which worries me. The really high hour ones are the larger tractors 100hp. Some with rebuilds

 

[airbiscuit]

For me, if it's a diesel and has been reasonably maintained, anything under 4,000 hours is a creampuff.

 

[paulsharvey]

When I worked for the county; I think one of their guidelines of when to surplus a machine; was 4000 hours for under 75 hp; and 6000 hours for over 75 hp; all diesel engine equipment. Now, does that mean they were worn to the point of worthless? No, that just what they used, as basically a reference that is about equivalent to 150,000 miles on a passenger vehicle. They wanted to surplus them while they still were running, and before Major repairs. Now, that 6000 hour 85 hp Right of Way mowing tractor, very well might last your life time with your use,

 

[airbiscuit]

 

[airbiscuit]

 

[milkman636]

I would think a 50-60 hp utility tractor in the 1500-3000 hour range could be picked up pretty reasonably and still have thousands of more hours of life left in it. There’s a few common things you can assess pretty quickly.

If all the joints look like they’ve seen grease and everything still feels tight, and oils and filters (air/oil/ fuel/hydraulic) have some evidence of being changed occasionally it’s probably worth testing out.

Check the radiator to see what it looks like inside from the top (oily, rusty, etc). If it looks good on top also try cracking the drain to peek at what comes out of the bottom. I’ve used the big solo cups for this before and just poured it back into the top afterwards.

Look over the battery and visible wiring and connections to see whether it all looks factory or pieced together in a scrap yard. .

Make sure you get to try the first start of the day too. Look for clean exhaust and check for pressure/combustion blow by in the crankcase. If it’s hard starting, needs ether, makes funny smoke, makes odd noises, or puffs out of someplace that’s not the exhaust, run away.

Put it on a grade and test the brakes to see if they hold. Also check the clutch to see how it grabs and holds too, try to check and see if there is any clutch adjustment left or if its worn out. If there’s slipping and you can see that adjustments have already been happening, or if all the adjustment has been taken up, run away. FYI, excessive clutch wear is more likely to be a problem on a tractor equipped with a dry clutch and loader than any other type of tractor. Loader-less gear driven tractors can have an extremely long clutch life with a good operator.

Also test the pto engagement and stopping. Doing all this with an implement attached would be best. Also, my recommendation would be to avoid any tractors with a transmission driven pto. If anything raises a concern in the pto process, run away.

If the fan belt and the filters have paint overspray on them, If there are tool marks on every bolt, if the battery doesn’t fit and you see butt splices and electric tape, etc…….run away!

Don’t rush and buy something that is questionable. Prices have been coming down and inventory has been going up. Patience could pay off handsomely in your search.

 

[Williy]

I'm in my 80's so I purchased all new don't care to be working
or fixing anything. I have had enough of that in the past. Now
its time for someone else to do the repairs that's why I purchased
all new.

willy

 

[parabians]

I maintained 25 acres of fields for a decade using an early 70's Ford 2000 with a 5' Woods rotary cutter that was bought used. The tractor was cheap, easy to maintain, and purred right along puling the 5' cutter. Just set your height, pick a gear, and mow. It's smaller size was also an asset for trail maintenance in the adjoining woods. Since I was primarily just keeping fields from turning into woods, I could work around my schedule and pick the days and weather I wanted to mow. The little open station tractor gave me plenty of opportunity to get to know every inch of the property.

From that first tractor I bumped up to a 2WD, 53 hp, gear-driven, John Deere 5210 utility tractor with a removeable loader. I ran that tractor for another decade doing the same things with a 6' mower. The Deere was much more robust and made things better. Plus, a loader really is a game changing attachment. And I think a lightly used 5000 series Deere with around 55 hp and a loader might be just the ticket for you too. There still appears to be a decent selection of pre-Tier 4 machines available on the market.

Second that. I've owned my 5210 with a 521 loader new since 2000. I baled 40 acres of hay for 20 years with that 5210. No problem pulling my NH conditioner mower or baler. Now it's retired with me to a smaller 15 acres and we just occasionally brush hog stuff and blade my two roads. I hired a guy to do bale hay on the new place.

 

[Maineuropa]

Based on your list, a MF 265 or similar will do what you listed, for around $6-10k. Moving more modern, and more expensive, something like JD 5205 would probably be between $12-20k. The other route, something like a TYM 574, brand new, with loader is like $33k. Set aside about $1600 for a 6-7 ft bushhog;

For 40-80 acres, you might want to explore a 9-10 ft bush hog, and that would probably push you towards around a 70 hp machine. I'm assuming we are talking about at Most mowing every two months, during growing season, maybe once between frost and spring; so probably around 4 times per year; a 6 ft mower, even at 5 mph will take a good long while. A 8-10 ft bush hog used is going to be $3500+; and new. probably more like $8500+.

In a perfect world; 6 ft cutter; 5 mph; is 3.6 acres/hour; a 9 ft mower is 5.5 acres/hour at 5 mph. You could maybe get it all cut in a weekend.

Edit: 80 acres, depending on condition, might be worth renting out to a farmer, if the terrain, soils, local economics make sense; might bring in enough to pay property taxes, keep it ag exempt, and put a Little in your pocket.

I too would give more thought to what those acres will be doing going forward. If it was just hayed you could gross $50k a year. Or consider leasing the land for cultivation. Or having an agreement with a local grower or hayer to work the fields. Brush hogging that acerage is going to be a lot of tractor time for what goal? A nice view? The tractors being recommended here (50hp, loader) all start at $50k if green plus mower/brush hog. A long range plan for the land would be wise.

 

[JimmyJ321]

Hire someone to cleanup your place that has the right size equipment the first time. Buy a 50-60 HP tractor with a good quality bushhog to maintain it. That way your costs won’t be out of site buying more tractor and bushhog than you need.

 

[Bentrim]

Food for thought--
Many years ago when I worked for a farm equipment dealer, there were folks who would come in and ask if we had any old tractors really cheap. They stated they only wanted to pull some logs out of the woods and didn't want to spend more than a few hundred on a tractor.
The owner of the dealership would then ask if they expected it to run, the clutch, transmission, and the brakes to work. They always replied "well yeah", he then went on to explain that all these had to work for anyone to use the tractor so there are no "cheap" tractors.
A good eye can get you a tractor at a good price, even if the tractor looks rough, look under the paint, pull the dipstick, look for worn spots (levers, pedals hitch parts etc.) look close to see if it has been regularly serviced. Just as with art and old cars sometimes a little polishing bring out the beauty of the item.

 

[TexasMax]

I purchased an older MF 1135, no front end loader since I have a Ford 7500 backhoe with loader. Retired, I just do what I feel like, when I feel like doing it. I bought a 16 ft used bushhog this year that only needed grease seals. I'm talking about 1970s equipment. The farm has about 180 acres, mostly cleared that needs cutting every year or two. This old equipment is as tough as an anvil. That old Perkins 6 cylinder diesel was the best investment I ever made. The batwing belongs to my nephew. If I can drive over it with the Massey, the bushing will cut it. Don't be afraid of old Tractors. Mine has been low maintenance but just remember to check and change oils/grease often and keep them clean after each use! They will last a lifetime if you do.

 

[stuartdds]

My 33 acres was similar 6yrs ago (few saplings 2-3" diameter 8-10' tall). I purchased a Kubota M7060 with cab and FEL with 400hrs on it (financed at 1.7%) and a VERY used 12' rigid deck bushhog (paid $2k cash). I had never driven a tractor before so I had to learn quickly. I was able to knock it all down with the bucket and not tear up my tractor... just went really slowly.

After 2-3yrs or mowing a couple times a year it finally got good grass throughout. Hiring someone to cut ditches for better drainage was critical. I maintain a lot of it with my 60" zero-turn, but use the bushhog 3-4x a year now. Now we've got driveways, a house, a barn, cow pasture, and 2 ponds. I could've hired someone to do all that, but maintaining and improving my property would be impossible without a tractor.

My vote - hire out cutting it the first time to knock down the thick stuff, then buy a tractor with a cab, FEL, and 12-15' batwing to maintain.

 

[John_Mc]

You might want to consider an alternate approach. Reading between the lines of your post (and I'll admit I may be way off here), it doesn't sound as though you are primarily concerned with earning income from the acres you would be mowing (such as haying it, or renting it out to someone who would hay it). You mentioned hunting. You'll attract a greater variety of wildlife by not keeping the entire 60-80 acres mowed down to grass the whole time. I have a small section of my land that was once pasture. I mowed it a couple of time per year for the first few years, wanting to keep it open. However, for the past 15+ years I've switched to a rotational mowing scheme: I mow 1/3 of the field once each year, then the next year I switch to another 1/3, and the final 1/3 the following year. Then I start over. I don't always break down the thirds exactly the same way. (Some times I do, some times I don't.) I do keep a few trails through the area mowed regularly. Occasionally, depending on how things are growing, I might skip a year entirely. Any mowing I do in this area is usually in the fall (other than trail mowing) - outside of the nesting season for ground-nesting birds

The goal is to keep the area in a variety of grassland/shrubland/sapling states, providing a much richer variety of habitat for wildlife. I have about 130 acres of mature woods adjacent to these rotationally mowed areas which provides different habitat. Neighboring farms have the pure grassland habitat well covered with their hay fields, so I don.t see the need to reproduce that in any large quantity on my own land. This rotationally mowed area still feels very open, and even something that has not been mowed in 3 years is still well within the capabilities of my 33 HP tractor and 5' medium duty brush mower. (In fact, as long as I haven;t let them get too big, I find mowing a field of fairly dense 3/4" diameter saplings takes significantly less horsepower than mowing a lush field of tall grasses.)

In your situation, you may want to mow the whole thing initially, especially if it's been a while. Though even then I'd urge holding off one one chunk of it for at least a year so as not to completely wipe out that habitat all at once. Let some of your first year mowing grow up for a year or so before going back and cutting the part you skipped the first time around.

If mowing for wildlife is something that interests you, it also may change your approach to equipment: Mowing 20 or 25 acres once (or maybe twice) a year is a whole different world than mowing 60-80 acres two or three times a year. You may want to hire someone to do that initial mowing for the first year or two, but after that, you can easily keep up with things with much smaller, less expensive equipment. I can mow a couple of acres an hour with my set up - maybe down to 1.5 acres/hour if things are really dense. I actually enjoy the time I spend on the tractor mowing. However, I'll admit it helps that I'm not doing anything near 60 acres.

Regardless of what strategy you choose, the size equipment you end up with will depend on your own personal preference for trade off between spending more time or spending more money. 20 acres with my compact tractor would be 10 hours of mowing in my conditions. If there were a lot of obstacles (rocks, trees, etc.), it would take me a bit more. a 40 HP tractor with a 7' brush hog would speed things up a bit: probably around 3 acres per hour.

For me, the added benefit of rotational mowing is that it frees up a lot of time for me to work in the woods, which is really where I like spending my time: harvesting firewood or saw logs for a project (usually bartered with a neighbor), improving wildlife habitat and timber growth, and maintaining our trail system

 

[paulsharvey]

I am no expert, so I'm a bit reluctant to suggest it, and it will be Ugly for 2 or 3 months, but controlled burns can be your friend. Kills off that brush, allows grasses to take back over. Then you can mow as desired. I would Not just randomly take the weed burner out there, but I would want to talk to the ag extension or someone for input first.

For hunting purposes, I would want some 8-12 ft wide mowed areas (maybe a couple times per year) meandering though mixed medium high grasses (3-6 ft), and some thicker areas, but not jungle or hay field style.

 

[Bobrown14]

LS MT3 with a cab and a 72" brush hog + 72" rear tiller + delivery from OK to Upstate NY for 31K$ with 20 hrs onit.

It was big when I first got it - we have 30 acres with 2 wood lots and fields that were left go for 15 years-ish so brush as high as the cab or higher. I can drive right thru the brush with the brush hog and take it down.

There are some trees/saplings that I cant cut with the rotary cutter but I just knock them down with my FEL and use a chain and put them on a brush pile to burn later.

Brush hog the fields 3x a year. Trying to clear the fields of brush to eventually grow grass which is mostly still there once the brush is cleared. Used to be grass fields for milk cows 40 years ago.

Also use the tractor to till food plots and push snow (1/4 mile driveway on a mountain so high).

Never lamented getting a cab with heat and AC - or a bigger tractor than I probably needed originally.

Specially loved the cab when brush hogging brush with hornets nests in them. Woowee soooo glad I didn't have the windows open.

Also sooo glad for a cab pushing snow when its -20F cold af and at night and snowing cant see my hand in front of me hard.

There are a few farmers around me with tractors without cabs - I never see them working in the summer or winter.

 

[Hodado]

You might consider leasing the fields and making money instead of spending it

 

[Paul McILwain]

An older jd 3020 and 6 or 8 foot bush hog for the small fields with saplings and an older 9 foot haybine, I have an international 1190 that is bullet proof for the other fields. I also have an older (70’s) versatile swather with 20 foot header and cab that I paid $500 for 10 years ago and still going strong for cutting trash fields. I use a ls5030c with cab and loader with Mitsubishi 58hp pre def engine for hay and snow with rear 6 foot blower

 

[Flogger]

I mow with a Massey MF 40 construction tractor. It has it's problems but it does the job every time I ask it to. It has a loader and is built like a Sherman tank. I assure you mowing 30 acres with a 6' mower is like a lifetime commitment though! Luck me I also have a 12' swather that more than cuts the time in half.