Just moved to a little 10 acre property.  
I'm gonna need a tractor for plowing a garden, blading snow,  and moving a field.
Came across this on craigslist.
Is something like this a good deal?  
I have no experience with this type of stuff.
http://topeka.craigslist.org/grd/4666751792.html

I love the old  Fords.  You won't  go wrong with an old 2n as long as all the hoses and belts have been replaced.   The only issue you might have is pushing snow without 4 wheel drive but if you but some weights for the front and load the rear tires and maybe with chains you should be fine.   I've found that reversing the back blade and pushing snow backwards is the most efficient way with my lightweight JD 790.

For field mowing the finish cutter would be ok but you have to be cognizant that you need to turn the other way with a fixed rear mounted implement like that.  Turn wheel left and the implement swings right off the rear tire pivot zone.  If you're not used to it you can bash into stuff until you are.  Straight mowing should be ok,  just swing wide around the trees early.

I had an old ford 601 and I had a blade like that. I don't know how much snow you get but I lived in an area that got 200-300 inches a year and the blade was worthless for snow. I put tire chains on and a 15 gallon barrel on the rear draw bar and filled it with gravel for weight and put a snow blade on the front and it was a passable set up. Is there fluid in the rear tires? If not you may want to have them filled for more weight and traction.

If you aren't restricted due to maneuverability/transport/storage try to buy bigger than you need.  Do you need a front loader (they have a million uses)?  Look up the difference between the types of PTOs...live vs non-live.  Depending on how much mowing, how big a garden, your ability to fix stuff, and budget it may or not be a good choice.  












 

If you are looking at older model tractors you should study up a little bit on them. The Allis Chalmers WD, Farmall H and M,  and John Deere A and B models are all good tractors although most of them will not have a three point hitch unless they have been modified to accept one. You definitely want a three point hitch.


If you can, try to find an Ford 8N if you like those style of tractors. The later Jubilee model, 601 and 801 are better still. The biggest problem with the older Ford tractors are the brakes. Most of them don't have brakes that work very well. Also, if you look at an 8N try to find one that is not leaking oil out of the rear wheel hubs; another somewhat common problem.

I prefer the Ford 8N over a Ford 9N or 2N for a couple of reasons. The 8N has a fourth gear whereas the 9N and 2N are a three speed. The fourth gear is nice if you ever have to drive it any distance. Some 9N/2N's have had a Sherman transmission upgrade installed. The Sherman transmission gives it 6 forward and two reverse gears. There will be an extra shifter on either the left or right side of the transmission, although I don't recall which side it is on the 9N's.

The 9N and 2N have the clutch and left brake together on the left side and the right brake on the right side. The 8N has the clutch on the left side and the left and right brakes together on the right side. Having the brakes on the same side is better than the earlier 9N/2N setup.

The 8N has running boards for your feet to rest on and the 9N/2N has foot pegs like a motorcycle. Although many 9N's and 2N's had some type of running board retrofitted to them.

You can push snow with the little Fords but you have to do it in reverse. Chains for the tires help.

The 9N's are good tractors but the later models are the improved versions of it. I also should mention that 8N's and 9N's were sometimes rebuilt using parts from one or another to make a 8N/9N hybrid tractor.


Good luck

Part of the decision is how comfortable you are with working on your own equipment & how flexible you are regarding that equipment's availability for work at any given period of time.  Part of our decision to buy new was to reduce the likelihood of unexpected down time and repairs..  We needed pretty much the same type of functions on a mostly wooded 20 acre property here in NC .  We went with a JD 3038e with an FEL,  60" rotary cutter & box blade as a package deal.  In later years we added a rotary tiller, 6" chipper, potato plow, hiller and a finish mower for the "lawn" areas.

The FEL (front end loader) is probably the most used single implement, and gets used for everything from moving dirt to moving wood and carrying tools or equipment. Adding chain on forks to the bucket makes moving brush & logs much easier.  At this point in time I can't picture buying a tractor without one.

Nick

 
 

If you're gonna push/blade snow, you will need 4wd. I won't buy a tractor without a FEL. My current tractor is a JD 45hp diesel with 4wd and a FEL. Snow gets deep here in CO.

4 wheel drive and a front end loader are force multipliers that I can not live without.

What  they add in cost, they more than make up for in utility.

those old tractors can do a HELL of a lot of work.... the only advice i can give you, is to check out what spare parts might cost. you can buy some older tractors really cheap... but a simple part like a fuel pump, etc might cost you $1200.00, because theres no aftermarket, and factory parts are long gone.

i picked this little kubota up 3 months ago, by trading a yamaha rhino, and a generator.its a b1750 4x4, its only 20 hp, but its not bad for what im doing, which is mostly mowing in tight places, hauling small trees, and firewood, cleaning up the woods, and moving gravel, and probably a garden.  i then put around $2k in parts, iv got about $8k invested in it total, and i just started really using it for my intended jobs at my property a hour away. its small, and easy to transport, but still pretty capable. (tractors are not light.. even my little one, with fel, and finish mower runs around 2000lbs),  i love it, it came with a dirt box, and a finish mower, which is actually a really high quality one, and put me about $1800 ahead in implements. i am planning to buy a real bush hog, tiller, disk, grader blade ,logging hitch, and other stuff next summer. its small, but thats not a bad thing, i mowed the other day for 4 hours, and only used about 2 gallons of diesel.

iv used a few older tractors before... and one compact 4x4 john deere... i CAN tell you that if you do very much at all you will LOVE having a front end loader...... and 4x4 is also very, very nice to have. if you have a small tractor 4x4 is a must have, it triples the work you can do, as in many cases 2 wheel drive will just not cut it with the lighter tractor.

Should have mentioned it earlier, but check out the www.tractorbynet.com forum for a lot of tractor/implement/rural life  info.  Well worth checking out.

Nick

would not buy a tractor without a FEL.
would not buy a compact tractor (Kubota B series or similar size) without 4WD.
would not buy any tractor without a ROPS.
would prefer a tractor with a hydrostatic drive.

ar-jedi

I've just been through this very dilemma.  Among my options, I considered old Fords, which can be had around here for about $2k.  If I have a few hours free and want to run out to the farm to get some mowing done and wind up wrenching on the tractor for 2/3 of that time, I'm not going to be a happy camper.  I'm stretched pretty thin as it is so my time is valuable.  

So I looked at Kubota / JD / New Holland because that's what I can get parts for locally.  I would have considered other makes as well had there been dealers close by.  I didn't have the cash to pay $15k+ for a machine with a few hundred hours on it so I knew I'd have to finance.  By the time you took interest into account, it was cheaper to buy new since newish tractors hold their value well and 0% financing seems to be the industry norm at the moment.

I am now the proud owner of a 2013 JD 3038e (the 2014s have the complicated emissions controls crap on them) with a 60" mower and FEL.  I was going to skip out on the FEL but decided based on the advice here that I would regret that decision.  I can't say I use the FEL more than the mower at this point, but I've already used it enough for things that I couldn't have done otherwise that I feel strongly that it was the right decision.

What ever route you take, get the best you can afford.  Just like with guns, buy once, cry once.

I too have been considering a small to midsize tractor.

After seeing the pictures posted I went looking at the Kubota line. It appears for our 10 acres that a BX25D-1 with a 60" mower deck will work for us. It comes standard with an FEL and a backhoe. Some might think it is on the smallish side. Our property is fairly level with very few trees to worry about. Like all old pasture land it is not the smoothest to mow. We do have a driveway that is about 1/4 mile long that needs upkeep and repairs.

Thinking of adding a front blade. Also I need to fence in the whole property. What is the hives opinion on a post hole digger?


Not planning on gardening with it, but small garden should be possible.

I would avoid those old Fords. They're underpowered and slow. I have a '62 IH 404 to maintain about the same amount of property. It has the same issues as an old Ford but not quite so bad.  Just not enough tractor for what I want to do with it and it sucks fuel like it's still $.17 a gallon.. I expect you'll find the same thing. Once you start using it you'll discover how much you can do and you'll wish for something larger. Something with 35+ HP, a diesel engine, and power shift or a hydrostat will be a lot more useful. I doubt you'll ever regret going newer and bigger.

The old stuff seems to win if you don't want to deal with the cost of a new tractor and can be pretty handy yourself.



But as mentioned, parts can really be interesting on something used and abused that seems ok but winds up needing upkeep rather often.



I have a buddy who uses one of the older ford diesels for bush hogging a place, owner of place bought it and never goes out there so my buddy is near and uses dude's tractor to keep place decent.



My buddy can handle common issues with fuel filters and what not but I would not call him a diesel mechanic, just a handy sort of fella who works on his own stuff often but is not a paid and trained mechanic.



Anyway, this little ford has been great.  No major issues.



But he knows of another similar tractor and it has constant issues.



So knowing what you are buying is a big thing.



I compare the front end loader to a monster shovel and dolley.  You can shovel stuff in a wheel barrel and move it yourself or move big stuff using a mover's dolley and what not.



But that front end loader, within its weight limitations, can scoop and haul and move a lot of stuff.



Just having one when bushhogging can be handy if tree limbs are low or something.  



If messing with anything new research emissions a ton.



As far as a post hole digger, I would get one but tractor by net is the arfcom of tractors and if you pay attention you run into arfcommers over there.

If you go with a sub-compact & want to use a post hole digger, check first to see if the model you are interested in can provide enough lift at the three point hitch to line up the auger vertically.  Some smaller units (like the JD 1025R FILB we have at the house) are set up for category one implements, but do not have the full lift range that the category one specification implies.  It can still use a post hole digger, but I would need to either use a shorter auger or a digger unit designed  to accomodate  the  lower max lift.


Nick