Buying Advice What SHOULD I buy? Many questions from a newbie...

[MossflowerWoods]

I'll be kind... The hydraulics are powered by a pump inside the tractor which provides power to the FEL and the 3ph. The PTO is totally different, it's used for implements and powered by the transmission. The Mid-PTO is for a belly mower, or a front mounted snow blow (which is very nice).

If you have Kioti / Bobcat dealer around, I would / price / looked at some of their 30-35 hp tractors.


PS. and for God's sake... get to a dealer and test drive a few of them!!!!

teg,

#1 - Yes, you are kind (I was assuming the PTO powered the hydraulic pump I guess). A mid PTO seems like a waste on a medium or mor tractor because who would put a mower deck there??? The engineer in me is puzzled (and ignorant of tractors).

#2 - Yes, I have BOTH a Kioti and a Bobcat dealer fairly close (bob cat is closer). I wanted to ask if they were the same tractor (one is OEM, one is original?).

#3 - What is there to test drive? I can see if the controls are easier or harder to reach/understand, or if I were 7' tall and needed origami to fit in the seat. But what do I look for test driving? (I suspect it is fun though!).

I want to be smarter before I walk onto the tractor lot looking like a cityslicker in heat for some lugged tires and a FEL...

Thanks TEG.

David

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Bobcat tractors do NOT have 4wd (right) their website was not the most informative...

 

[foreman Etexas]

Bobcat tractors do NOT have 4wd (right) their website was not the most informative...

All brands offer 4wd

 

[foreman Etexas]

Well you can go to youtube and watch some videos on the tractors you find doing different task, the kioti and the bobcat have the same engine,pretty much the same tractor,would go with bobcat over kioti. Test driving: they have the gear,shuttle,and hst drive some and see the difference and pick what one works for you. Drive the different size your thinking see what one your most comfortable with seeing around the loader and everything.

 

[teg]

Bobcat tractors do NOT have 4wd (right) their website was not the most informative...

Their website sucks... I would *almost* not buy one from them for that reason

They are 4x4, not sure if they have only 2 wheel drive???

As for the 1, 2, 3 questions... 1. mid-pto is great if you have a front mounted snow blower. You don't have to turn around looking backwards all the time. Front mounted is expensive, tho.

2. Same tractor but finishing touches are different enough. Doesn't hurt to price them.

3. Test drive... well, it more of a "sit on" test... does it feel right for you. I was looking at a B7800 but it was too small. The L4400 was way too big. Besides, I could not transport it with my truck. I like the size of mine, and sometimes, I wished it was smaller for my trails (Don't repeat that on TBN).

 

[Farmwithjunk]

There is an old saying on here; don't know the origin: "Bigger isn't always better, sometimes bigger is just bigger."

A bigger tractor is going to pretty much suck in your yard and wife's big garden.

Depends on what you qualify as "bigger".....

A too small tractor is pretty much gonna suck EVERYWHERE....

Better to err slightly on the big side than to err on the small side....

Oh....and did I mention I tilled my garden this year with an 85hp tractor....Some would say that's WAY too big. Didn't seem to slow me down, get in the way, or "suck" in any way, shape or form...And I mow the yard with a 47hp/5200lb tractor.....with no "sucking" there either.

I bought a "little" Kubota 7510 last fall, just to have a small tractor. After being used to "bigger" tractors to do the same jobs I bought the Kubota for (the 47hp one I mentioned) that "little Kubota is just about useless.....

 

[TripleR]

RRR,

Exactly my fear...

I have another thread about an older 18hp Craftsman II with a 42" deck, front blade, rear blade, jake rake, disc, single bottom plow (I think that is all the attachments) that is probably GREAT in the garden, but too small for everything else, and I've likely got too much invested in it to keep it (I'm trying to figure out it's value).

I've already got a nice Deere LX266 16 hp mower for some of the "yard work"...

I'm really looking for that impossible "perfect" size I guess...

Heck, I probably can't afford a 50hp tractor even at 0%...

Maybe I'm in over my head...

It is almost always a balancing act. Some people can "do it all" quite well with one tractor and some can't. My father in law traded a MF 375 open station in on a cabbed Case CX70. I told him he should keep the smaller tractor as there were places we simply could not fit the bigger tractor. About two weeks after he made the trade, he had to go back and buy his old tractor back at a significant cost. We have kept a minimum of two tractors and lawn mower on that property ever since.

A lot of things go into buying the best tractor for any individual, so "go bigger/more HP is not always going to be the best advice just as "go smaller/less HP". I once bought a smaller tractor than I originally wanted and once went bigger and was right both times. The variables you mentioned do not lend themselves to simplistic answers.

Depends on what you qualify as "bigger".....

A too small tractor is pretty much gonna suck EVERYWHERE....

Better to err slightly on the big side than to err on the small side....

Oh....and did I mention I tilled my garden this year with an 85hp tractor....Some would say that's WAY too big. Didn't seem to slow me down, get in the way, or "suck" in any way, shape or form...And I mow the yard with a 47hp/5200lb tractor.....with no "sucking" there either.

I bought a "little" Kubota 7510 last fall, just to have a small tractor. After being used to "bigger" tractors to do the same jobs I bought the Kubota for (the 47hp one I mentioned) that "little Kubota is just about useless.....

Pretty much; think I said that: "Bigger isn't always better, sometimes, it is just bigger." So it seems by definition, I accept that sometimes it is.

My brothers live on one of our farms and the M8540 is totally useless as I can't even get close to their yards, homes etc. and would have to drive it through crops to get where they bush hog, so they use much smaller tractors Ford 600s in addition to a couple of open station 70 HP tractors. I have to really watch it taking my L5030 in there.

I too have mowed my yard with a big tractor, Case CX80 with a cab, but it would tear up the ground on my brothers' yards due to a different soil type.

The biggest tractor we can get in my mother's garden is a BX2660 and she doesn't even like it in there preferring at the age of 89 to work it up with a spade.

We don't have as many tractors and probably not as much land as you and I know we do different things, so what works for you may not work for us.

Of course I always must leave open the possibility I don't know what the heck I am talking about.

 

[Bigfoot62]

. . . I want to be smarter before I walk onto the tractor lot looking like a cityslicker in heat for some lugged tires and a FEL...

That was a really funny mental picture! Thanks for the laugh. :laughing:

 

[MossflowerWoods]

That was a really funny mental picture! Thanks for the laugh. :laughing:

You are welcome sir. I aims to peas...

 

[MossflowerWoods]

The biggest tractor we can get in my mother's garden is a BX2660 and she doesn't even like it in there preferring at the age of 89 to work it up with a spade.

Of course I always must leave open the possibility I don't know what the heck I am talking about.

RRR,

Sir I must tell you I shared all the data I got today here on TBN with my wife and she said "I don't want your tractor in my garden anyway. I want raised beds and I will turn them by hand."

Then she said "Go big or go home, I don't want to listen to you coming in the house complaining you should have bought a bigger tractor"...

I was wrong, and the devil must be chilly tonight...

Now all I got to do is find a way to afford it...