Two tractors or one - need help deciding

[bdog]

I currently have a 4440. It doesn’t have a loader and is two wheel drive. It also has long axles for duals and even with the duals removed is overwidth for hauling purposes. I have owned it 7 years and it has been a great machine at my house which is on 30 acres. I have a tracked skid steer I use for loader work.

I recently bought 330 acres located a little over an hour away. It has some steep terrain and MFWD is needed to get around. Needs there are shredding, blading probably ten miles of roads, cleaning up brush from when we bulldozed these roads, planting some food plots for deer. There are about 40 acres that were once farmed that are grown up now. I plan to turn some of them in to food plots but don’t envision more than 15 or so acres total of food plots. A stout loader is a must as well we feed a lot of corn and protein to the deer and are needing to move 2,000 lb pallets of feed around regularly as well as moving the heavy feeders and deer blinds around. I have been hauling my skid steer back and forth and it is often a pain as I often need to be able to lift heavy things at both places on a regular basis.

I visited with a few dealers and they are offering around 20k trade in on my tractor. A similar sized machine (but not over width for hauling purposes)with MFWD, cab, loader, and a hydro shuttle is going to run around 60k. Alternatively I could buy a smaller machine outright for around 40k. Same out of pocket cost either way.

Trying to decide if I should trade in my 4440 and have one larger machine or keep it and buy a smaller machine?

If I had one larger machine I would likely need to haul it back and forth some but not a lot. This I guess would be viewed as a con but a pro would be it would be more capable in every way. A smaller machine would likely get left at the distant property full time.

I’m intentionally leaving brands out of this but the smaller tractors I am looking at are in the 75 HP range and the larger ones are in the 125HP range.

 

[sea2summit]

I would keep it and get a second smaller tractor. That gives redundancy if one goes down and allows more freedom to work different land without having to worry about how to get the tractor there to do work.

 

[the old grind]

I learned to do all my tasks within a certain hp rating (25-35). That let me buy more than one CUT (some 'pre-owned) to reduce changing 3PH or FEL implements. (buckets, flail mower, grapples, etc)

Seat-hopping vs frequent tool changes works for me. I tend to use the smallest tractor for a job, but there's a lot of 'overlap' in abilty & usage(s). When one machine goes down for service or breakage (don't see that much with lo hours/machine) I'm never more than a tool change away from getting the job done. JMHO, YMMV.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Redundancy is ALWAYS a sweet option to have. Especially when there is a bit of overlap in capability.

 

[bdog]

I agree redundancy is good but the 4440 is useless at the distant property. No loader, 2WD, I doubt it could even make it to half the acreage as there is a large canyon that more or less cuts the property in half. Hauling it would also be a huge issue due to the width. The only benefit to keeping it is use around my house. With my skid steer available for loader work all the tractor gets used for is plowing, planting, and shredding.

 

[the old grind]

I did pretty well shopping for used CUTs in the 25-35 hp range with features I wanted (HST. FEL), <4k lbs 'wet' with FEL for trailering and for $9k- $13k US to play. What my three have in common is being sourced from one brand I've never had issues with out of four. (Shibaura)

IMO the best thing about Deere CUTs is Yanmar power, what put Atomic Four out of biz for sailboat auxiliary power. I'd only avoid engines that rev > 3k rpm, and there's a lot of variety within the Deere brand. That said, I confess to having at least two of everything. (cars, trucks, tractors, mills, lathes, air compressors, welders, etc)

 

[Hay Dude]

I agree redundancy is good but the 4440 is useless at the distant property. No loader, 2WD, I doubt it could even make it to half the acreage as there is a large canyon that more or less cuts the property in half. Hauling it would also be a huge issue due to the width. The only benefit to keeping it is use around my house. With my skid steer available for loader work all the tractor gets used for is plowing, planting, and shredding.

Sounds like you have already answered your question. If I could get 20k off by trading the 4440 in, and was keeping the skid steer, I’d get the bigger new tractor. Just go as big as you can, so you don’t feel like you were wishing for more.
My guess is no matter what you do, the new tractor will get all the seat time. The 4440 will mostly be sittin. Might as well get a nice size frame and the 125HP.
Never seemed to feel like I had too big of a tractor, but many times too small.

 

[rScotty]

I wonder just what it would take to find a modern tractor comperable to the old 4440? It says a lot when a dealer is willing to offer that much on a 40 year old tractor.

 

[Hay Dude]

I wonder just what it would take to find a modern tractor comperable to the old 4440? It says a lot when a dealer is willing to offer that much on a 40 year old tractor.

Those tractors are well liked, and held their value.

 

[Looking4new]

In my way of thinking, you should have one tractor of whichever make suits your fancy, for every implement you use. Getting rid of the 4440 sounds like a good deal, but you could shorten the axles on it and bring it down to legal width, too and keep it. Or you could get a loader for it and carry on.