Tractor Sizes

[jay_ch28]

I know you guys probably answer a lot of these questions, and I've read a lot of them myself. I figured that I would enter my own scenario anyway.

I have a 70 acre farm (used to be a farm). Most of the property is covered in forest. The terrain varies from sand to gravel to ledge, with the fields being mostly flat, but the forest very steep in places.

The tractor will have to
1. finish mow about 10 acres of field (my private golf course)
2. keep up the 1/4 mile dirt driveway (summer & winter)
3. keep up the motocross track (1/2 mile)
4. remove fire wood from the forest
5. remove the existing fencing around the property

Those are the main tasks I will be asking of the machine in that order.

I was looking to get a 72" finishing mower rear mound, rear discharge, 72" landscaping rake with wheel kit, and a scarifier.

As far as my finances go I think I can spend about $20K on the machine. So it will be used, I've got a good used dealer in the area that has a 2001 TC35D with 244hrs. I took it for a test drive and it seems like a nice machine.

What is a good price for this machine?
What should I look for when purchasing a used machine?
Is this going to satisfy my needs?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance
Jay

 

[twabscs]

The TC35 would be okay for that size farm, but I'd go up to the TC45 if you could. Also, the price seems a bit high to me. There is a TC35 on IronSearch for $16.5K. I think you could get a new one (with loader) for around $20K.

Also, please fill in your profile so we know where you're from, etc.

Thanks,

 

[art]

You should be able to but one new for that with a little dickering if that is the size you want.

 

[RedDog]

I think what Jay said was he has 20K to spend on the tractor,, not necessarily that tractor.

He never said what the price was on this New Holland model.

I think you need a bigger tractor.

RedDog

 

[stovepipe]

Jay,

I was it the exact same situation with less property. I went with the kubota L3830, LA723 FEL, BH90 Backhoe, Bush Hog and Landscape rake, however, my budget was 10k more. I haven't built the Motocross track yet, I was thinking of re-shaping the land to create the table-top jumps. Did you bring in tons of fill to build the track ? What other jumps do you have ? (Step-ups, doubles etc.) How wide did you make the track ? My biggest concern is safety, My son is an excellent rider (kx125), but I worry about when he and his friends get together, you know, the testosterone starts flying.

 

[jay_ch28]

Stovepipe,
My track was originally built in one of the old pastures. It is relatively flat so what I did to build jumps was use the loader to dig down a few inches. Which was a bad idea becuase now all of the water collects on the track. If you can skim a few inches off of the whole area you will be much better off. I used a John Deere 410 backhoe to do most of this. If you can get a dozer you'll save lots of time.

My track now has 3 doubles (70', 50', & 30'), one step up, and one step down. If you are concerned with safety the best thing to build is a table top. Tabletops are great for the learning curve, plus if your son has friends coming over they can jump as long or as short as they want and still have fun. However this uses alot of dirt. You could always do what I did make doubles on to tabletops, which will give you alot more confidence knowing you can come up short and still be ok.

As for the width of the track it is mostly about 10-15' wide.

Hope this helps.


Hey twabscs,
I updated my profile for ya.


The machine I was talking about in my original post was $18500 and I was promised I'd get discounted prices on any implements I purchased at the same time. The new price I was quoted was between $20900-21200 plus tax. I would only have the budget to purchase the machine. I figured I'd be able to get the used machine and the implements for the price of a new one. After all the used one only has 244hrs.

The dealer said he could get me a 40D or 45D possibly if I was interested. What would be the best size for me?

Sorry this got pretty long.

Thanks for your help

 

[twabscs]

The reason I asked for you location is that it seems tractors are a bit pricier up in the northeast, and as you can see, they are a bit higher.

"What would be the best size for me?"

Hmmm, tough question as it's difficult to really pick the best size. It all depends. What most everyone here will say is that if you're undecided, always go bigger. I have the TC40D and I orginally had a 40 acre lot. In hindsight I should have picked up the 45D for an extra $1K or so. Now I have 160 acres and will be moving up to something like the TN75.

One benefit of buying new is that you can get better financing (maybe 0%). This brings the ultimate price down and you also have 2 years of warranty. A used tractor with 250 hours is still basically new, but as you'll find out, tractors don't depreciate like cars/trucks do, so it's hard to get a real "deal".

Well, this is getting long. Just some thoughts for you and another push to move up to the TC45 if you can spare a few more dollars.

 

[jay_ch28]

I was thinking about getting a tiller possibly. I'm not sure on the size or brand. My question is what size is needed for this? How big is big enough for (tractor/tiller)?

I'm thinking of using it for the track and a SMALL garden. I was going to use it on the track, by tilling the grass to make new sections or wider sections.

Thanks guys.

 

[jay_ch28]

Just thought I'd do a follow up.
I put a down payment on a 2002 TC40D (401hrs) *see attachment* this weekend. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone on this forum for their advice. I read many posts on many topics and the information was priceless.

Jay

 

[jay_ch28]

Sorry picture didn't attach for some reason.

Lets try again