Part of the issue is you are looking to combine two tools into one.

Lawn mower. They mow grass and do a nice job of it without leaving ruts in the yard.

Tractor. As the name implies they are made to pull stuff using traction...I.E. Traction motor. They are heavy, as is necessary for traction.

You are asking about lawn "Tractors".  
Combining the two means ruts in the lawn, or an oversized lawnmower that wouldn't pull a fat broad out of a doughnut shop.

Take a trip to the local Deere or Kubota dealers shop.

If all you are going to be doing is pulling a garden trailer of cut wood around, and mowing, the better Riding mowers will work pretty well, as long as you can easily drop the deck for clearance, and reattach for mowing.

Tillers, snow blowers, plows, puts you in the Sub compact tractor arena. PTO and a 3 point system of some sort.
You wont find one sold at the Box stores. They sell bottom of the line, belt driven mowers, and don't support what they sell

Used Deere 1025's and are out there for around 8-12K if you look.
There really is no way to wear out the little snots, as the 25hp diesel is near bombproof.

http://www.tractorhouse.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=8789405

A good 2wd tractor with chains will do a lot
4wd is for getting out of trouble not into it

If shit gets real you need tracks not wheels

Well you're  lucky your don't need to run a PTO....haha.  

The 455 is a lawn mower, an expensive one too.  

Good note here.  

OP, this summer I hit the auctions hard with cash and bought a tremendous amount of used implements.  I felt like a thief at times for what I was getting.

I saw many 7-10 y/o STRONG Kubotas 40+hp go for less than 10K. These were 4x4 machines with loaders.  I kept kicking myself for not buying and reselling.
If you don't get in a bidding war with a knucklehead, you stand a great chance of getting a really good machine for a song.  That is another idea for you.

I know it has PTO but I can't find anything telling me if its live or not.  I know 8N's don't have live, but I'm not seeing anything about the 9

It has a PTO and a 3 pt.  

Not too expensive, they can be found for under $3k if you look.

You really don't know anything about JD do you?

As cool as that sounds, it's bullshit.  4 wheel drive rocks, and on a small tractor it makes all the difference in the world.  Try pulling a box scraper with chains, then try with 4 wheel drive.

Chains are nice, even nicer on 4 wheel drive.  

Don't buy anything older than mid 80s.  Mid 90s and up are better.  

I may be incorrect, but I believe the 9n is not live.

It is not 4 wheel drive it is front wheel assist

As I stated above, I almost never need FWA and I use my 955 several hrs per week

No shit?  

Kohler Elite 26 hp. One thing I had on my checklist was spin on oil and hydrostatic filters. It has both.

 

I plow my gravel driveway with an 07 cub lawn tractor.   I have about 200lbs of extra weight on it with aggs mounted on the back.         It is mediocre at best



I am in the process ( in my spare time  )   of restoring a black hood Wheel Horse.    It is a mule for its size.    

I don't disagree in full but for a novice operator 4wd will cause more trouble than it prevents


oh wow a box scraper

You win.  

if you want to do more than mow the grass, i would buy a tractor.

as many have said, the best thing about them, is they will last forever. you will go thru a bunch of cheap 2k mowers for what a decent used tractor costs.

i bought mine last year in a trade, traded a 450 rhino for a 1996, kubota 1750 4x4 tractor that needed a little TLC. it had 1000 hours on it.its 4x4, and has power steering, and is very easy to drive.  i had to do some minor repair work to it, but it starts right up every time and runs great. it came with a land pride finish mower on it that was worth quite a bit, and a grader box.

with the grader box, and the finish mower all total i have $8K in mine that INCLUDES with a bunch of small repairs, new seat, a seal and bearings, and some new tires. ill eventually probably have more money in implements than i have in the little tractor.

i have used it to spread gravel, drag logs, load implements on my trailer, carry firewood, mow the yard, and bush hog the farm.

im planning on buying some more implements for it this summer, i need

a disk,
bush hog
logging hitch
spreader
grader blade
maybe a tiller.....

  ill be using those to plant food plots i have planned.  grade the driveway at my farm ( 1/4 mile long), bush hog, mow, drag logs, haul firewood, and a ton of other stuff. its a pretty small tractor, but is doing everything i ask of it. its reliable and tough, and easy to haul on a trailer.  i have 100+ wooded acres and a 5 acre wooded yard to mess with, along with a bunch of logging trails i am working on making into access trails for hunting.

it also takes a belly mower, and with turf tires is a great little work horse.  save your money and keep your eyes open, and you can find some great deals with cash.

mine is a little 20hp.

eventually i will upgrade it, or buy a second tractor as i am probably going to be taking care of a 10 acre mini farm with cows, and my 120 acres thats about 40 miles away, be easier to leave one at the big farm, and one at the cow farm. need a bigger one for moving hay bales prob.




here is the same model as mine, but with turf tires.  also, the diesel uses very little fuel, i have been running the same 5 gallons of fuel for quite a while and am at 1/4 tank. much better than my old 2k craftsman gas mower got.

Front wheel assist on a tractor



four wheel drive



Any questions?

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/search/nva/hva

That is what I did. I got a gravely pro 148 for cutting grass and a yanmar 2210 tractor. Tne pro 148 is for cutting 2 acres and the tractor takes care of all the heavy work. I have a 4' bushhog, a potato plow,a 4' grader blade and a rear scoop. Also I have a 5' finishing mover for the tractor to back up the zero turn.Total cost to me was in the $10K . I am slowly clearing out the other 3 acres.

I bought a JD X749 a few years ago.  They don't make them anymore because of CPSC (I think) and weight limits.  You can still possibly find them used though.  The X75_ tractors sacrifice one of the following:  4 wheel steer, 4 wheel drive or Diesel.



Not cheap though, and the 3 point hitch is going to cost a lot.



Actually I like Swingset's advice.  Forget the really heavy duty stuff (3 point, bucket, etc.) unless you get a larger tractor, and save the mowing for mowers.



 

That's what I was thinking but I couldn't find anything to confirm it.  Thanks

Same here, 2 Craftsman mowers, both with Kohler twins.

tracks any questions

I have an old 1964 Ford 4000 backhoe. I paid 3000 for it, and with 500 more invested I can buy the 3 point hitch stuff, which I will do. It's in great condition for a back hoe.

Anyways,back to suggestions.  I have been searching Craigslist looking for those parts and see plenty of nice used Ford 4000s with stock front end loader for 3000 to 5000. Cheaper than a deere or whatever but still built very well.

If you are going mow a lot of grass a zero turn is what you seek,but they cost a ton. Find a smaller riding lawnmower and just mow with it. I have a John deerdriving mower that's older but hydor static drive and its only14hp. Saves tons of gas over my much more powerful sears mower whice has 18th or so and cuts the samewidth.

What do track machines have to do with whether or not compact tractors are designed as front wheel assist or 4wd?

Nothing

but tracks > wheels always

Get a Kubota bx series. Bx2920 with belly mower and front loader. Its really an overgrown lawn tractor with hydraulics and a pto.0% apr and great rebates right now.

wheels with bad brakes would have been better ?

In anything with a bucket or blade the bucket or blade is the ebrake

and yes I have slid sideways in things with tracks if I had wheels I would have rolled for sure

You will need to spend about $25K to have a halfway decent tractor that will be useful.

Nonsense

Nah 5-8 will get you going if you shop around and are mechanically decent

You do realize the guy is not looking to tear up his lawn, and not needing anything tracked...like most homeowners in the real world.
Right?

And for the record, tracks suck on a maint. standpoint.
Great if somebody else is paying though..

What is this lawn thing you speak of ?  

Ouch, I can't imagine a Suburban on Antero.  Bad turning radius and very wide.  I've been up there in a 1976 Bronco, and that was OK.  The YJs were a bit better.

this

And you can forget about the BX and B series. A little tractor is VERY limited. With tractors, ALWAYS buy more than you need.

Buy a TRACTOR to do tractor work.

Buy a MOWER to mow.

These "garden tractors" are just weak junk mowers that cost a fortune and mow grass slow. I bought a used Deere D105 (I think) for the acre around the house and an L series Kubota for the acreage.

If you want ONE vehicle to do everything....what you will end up doing is tearing up the $3500 lawn mower and wishing you had gone over and done the 60 months at 0% deal at Kubota and paid a lousy $250 a month for a L Series Kubota with a few attachments and a hydrostatic transmission.

If I had it to do again I would buy a 0 turn mower and the Kubota again and again...

Garden tractors are garbage.

Get a Kubota L Series tractor WITH A FRONT LOADER and a box blade, brush hog and drag harrow and you're good to go..

9n was before the 8n so no. 9n was first in 39, the 2n was war time in 42, and the 8n was in 47 but was a model year 48.

OP find yourself a 2wd JD 755 for about $3k-4k.  Most come with a 60" belly mower. Taking the mower off for tractor work is tough but not impossible, it is easier if you have a floor jack and a concrete slab on which to work.

These machines are very capable and durable.  They handle all the standard cat 1 implements.

This would be a good one

I use a D130 for mowing, no problems yet, but only a year old, use a quad with trailer for hauling.

 

I like that one and seems like low hours.

Seriously though I don't want to overkill. Aside from weekly mowing from possibly March, till November, it really would only be used for hauling wood from the woods. IT would just be a bonus if I could plow the driveway. But when I stated in the OP  I was under the impression that the garden tractors were perfectly capable of doing that. I'm sure if I had a "real" tractor with a front loader I would end up using it for other things but I'm not going to be tilling or dragging giant trees. I guess If I need to do that I could use the winch from my truck. Most likely I would be chainsawing the trees and loading them up so that I wouldn't have to carry them one by one all the way to the storage shed.

But I would need a mower that is capable of eating up tree branches, thick leaves, and pine needle.

Is this one that I would have to replace every three years?

http://todaysmower.com/2014/2014-craftsman-t5500-model-20403-54-22-hp-garden-tractor-review/

Probably.

I just got my first experience this year in to the 'real world' of garden tractors when my fiancee (now wife) and I bought our first house.  A buddy of mine gave us his Simplicity Legacy that needed some work to it -  I had never understood how someone could spend as much as a small car on a lawn / garden tractor  until we got this.  Everything on it is CRAZY overbuilt compared to the standard mowers you see in box store (most of which are MTD or AYP built).  We have the 48" front end loader on it and its one of those things you find a new use for almost every week, and it makes short work of mowing with a 60" deck.  IMO any of the 'dealer' brands would suit you well.  It would be really nice to step up in to the 'real' compact tractor world with something like a BX25, but at least around here they seem to be made of gold.

Do you ever use the front loader as a scaffle? Is that feasible? Cause I could see myself doing that quite abit for gutter clean out, repairs and the like.

Just to clarify I do not plan on removing any of the live standing trees. But during closing I noticed on the land there were about 10 downed trees all in the 4-5 story height range. i plan on removing them.

Dragging with a 3 pt is easier because you can lift the butt off the ground so it doesn't dig in and act like an anchor. You drag them log size to your firewood stack then finish sawing them beside the stack.  Less work.

Stay away from the Sears and other big box junk , they are not real garden tractors.

And yes you can stand in the bucket.  I have used mine to stand in while driving 8'  T posts we use for tomato stakes.

Thanks everyone for the input. I stopped by the john deere dealer today and talked to one of the mechanics (salesperson was out to lunch) he pretty much told me the same thing everyone here has told me. Said I would be running into a world of problems with what I want to use it for.

The model he recommended was a 4 cyl diesel compact. I think msrp was 11k. Obviously i could finance but i already Have a house note and a truck payment so I really am all in at around 5k cash.

Sooo I put an offer in on a kubota bx2230 2005 3 cyl diesel with 738 hours on it. It has the belly mower attachment.

This.

For $4,000 you can get a mower. Two or three times that for a small utility tractor.

I've put 1500 hours on a John Deere 870. Great rig, easy to work on and effective. Unless you need something industrial.