[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Help me pick a small tractor (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 2/22/2017 8:09:23 PM EDT
| I recently had 5+ acres logged off that I want to clean up then have a dozer come in and push the stumps up and level everything off. A few may need to be dug out but most of the stuff was small and should push out. What kind of tractor should I be looking for? Looking for a older model for a few thousand bucks nothing fancy. |
|
Quoted:
Just have the dozer do it all. Be a LOT easier and faster and no need to buy a tractor. (from a guy who has a Kubota L3800 4x4 and an excavator on wooded land) Another recommendation for this, with a similar experience. I had about 10 acres logged and tried to tackle what was left with a Kubota MX4700. Huge PITA. |
| It is hard to find a decent tractor for a few thousand bucks, you will need 4 wheel drive and you defiantly want diesel. With 5 acres you will want a brush hog and you will want a front end loader, Just go to your Kubota dealer and sign up for a 0 interest $20000.00 unit. I have a BX 26 and a B3030, love them both. Dont tell the wife, let the payment book show up in the mailbox. "surprise"! |
|
Quoted:
It is hard to find a decent tractor for a few thousand bucks, you will need 4 wheel drive and you defiantly want diesel. With 5 acres you will want a brush hog and you will want a front end loader, Just go to your Kubota dealer and sign up for a 0 interest $20000.00 unit. I have a BX 26 and a B3030, love them both. Dont tell the wife, let the payment book show up in the mailbox. "surprise"! That may happen with a Deere 3039R this year 
|
|
Quoted:
That may happen with a Deere 3039R this year Quoted:
Quoted:
It is hard to find a decent tractor for a few thousand bucks, you will need 4 wheel drive and you defiantly want diesel. With 5 acres you will want a brush hog and you will want a front end loader, Just go to your Kubota dealer and sign up for a 0 interest $20000.00 unit. I have a BX 26 and a B3030, love them both. Dont tell the wife, let the payment book show up in the mailbox. "surprise"! That may happen with a Deere 3039R this year That will work too. Nothing wrong with a Deere. |
| This thread applies to me. I'm looking at the units with a backhoe attachment and front loader. I've found a well used B21 for under $11,000 and a nearly new B25D, not the D-1, for $15,000. The B25 has 4 more HP and weighs significantly less. For both the loader and backhoe wouldn't the heavier tractor be better? I will be doing a lot of scraping, digging, and pushing. |
|
Quoted:
Kubota makes good stuff but I absolutely despise the loader control mounted on the loader. Most unnatural and uncomfortable location for me personally, My 2015 Kubota B2650 has the loader control mounted on the tractor. I think it was just older models and the smaller BX tractors that used loader mounted controls. I use my tractor almost every week for all sorts of jobs, but if I had that many stumps there's no way I'd waste my time using my tractor to clear them out. |
|
Honestly a few thousand wont get you anything good with a loader on it. because of your price range I cant really suggest anything.
ETA: If you up your price range, look into a John deere 2240 or similar. Small enough to get around, built stout enough to last a life time on 5 acres. Will run a rotary mower, will handle a loader, a back blade. Pretty much whatever you throw at it. |
|
Quoted:
This thread applies to me. I'm looking at the units with a backhoe attachment and front loader. I've found a well used B21 for under $11,000 and a nearly new B25D, not the D-1, for $15,000. The B25 has 4 more HP and weighs significantly less. For both the loader and backhoe wouldn't the heavier tractor be better? I will be doing a lot of scraping, digging, and pushing. Heavier is definitely better. Check out early 2000s New Holland TC40 or 45. Can be had for less than $15 and are very heavily build solid tractors. |
|
Quoted:
My 2015 Kubota B2650 has the loader control mounted on the tractor. I think it was just older models and the smaller BX tractors that used loader mounted controls. Hmm, I'll have to go take a closer look. The L3901 I looked at last fall had it mounted to the loader. |
|
Ehh, too big to really be useful in the woods and I can always borrow larger equipment from a couple farmers I work for on the side. |
|
Pushing stumps with a tractor sucks. Tractors were not designed to do that and they struggle to pull stumps. If it was me I would get your tractor but I would rent a stump grinder for a few weekends and use the tractor for the clean up.
If you are patient you can find a farmall m with a loader in your price range. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
That may happen with a Deere 3039R this year Too small. 5075E at a minimum https://s8.postimg.org/e77fyn66d/IMG_4124.jpg I agree. I love my 3038 for working food plots once they're cleared, but we always use 60hp+ tractor or tracks for anything involving land clearing. You need weight and traction for what you're doing. Dozer is the way to go. Once it's cleared how you want, a small tractor or zero turn will be fine to maintain it depending on what you're doing with the land. |
|
Quoted:
Just have the dozer do it all. Be a LOT easier and faster and no need to buy a tractor. (from a guy who has a Kubota L3800 4x4 and an excavator on wooded land) Same here. My Kubota L3400 with backhoe took 8 machine hours over 3 days to dig up a 50' oak root system. A stump grinder rental might also work for you. |
|
Quoted:
This thread applies to me. I'm looking at the units with a backhoe attachment and front loader. I've found a well used B21 for under $11,000 and a nearly new B25D, not the D-1, for $15,000. The B25 has 4 more HP and weighs significantly less. For both the loader and backhoe wouldn't the heavier tractor be better? I will be doing a lot of scraping, digging, and pushing. The Backhoes on the B and BX Kubotas are about useless, too small to do much with them, a waste of money in my opinion. For as much as I use a backhoe I just rent a mini excavator for a day when I need one. Could put a hoe on either of my Kubotas but just not worth it. The sub-frames make the tractor very low clearance. |
|
Quoted:
Pushing stumps with a tractor sucks. Tractors were not designed to do that and they struggle to pull stumps. If it was me I would get your tractor but I would rent a stump grinder for a few weekends and use the tractor for the clean up. If you are patient you can find a farmall m with a loader in your price range. Farmall M's and super M's were the best, we had one when I was a teenager on a farm, I just sold a H a few months ago. Unfortunately if your not used to a clutch going back and for can be a bitch. |
|
Quoted:
The Backhoes on the B and BX Kubotas are about useless, too small to do much with them, a waste of money in my opinion. For as much as I use a backhoe I just rent a mini excavator for a day when I need one. Could put a hoe on either of my Kubotas but just not worth it. The sub-frames make the tractor very low clearance. Quoted:
Quoted:
This thread applies to me. I'm looking at the units with a backhoe attachment and front loader. I've found a well used B21 for under $11,000 and a nearly new B25D, not the D-1, for $15,000. The B25 has 4 more HP and weighs significantly less. For both the loader and backhoe wouldn't the heavier tractor be better? I will be doing a lot of scraping, digging, and pushing. The Backhoes on the B and BX Kubotas are about useless, too small to do much with them, a waste of money in my opinion. For as much as I use a backhoe I just rent a mini excavator for a day when I need one. Could put a hoe on either of my Kubotas but just not worth it. The sub-frames make the tractor very low clearance. My main use will be a lot of lite digging. I have just over 3 acres in town. The property is on a hill, has a creek, has a small pond partially dug out, and is over grown with honeysuckle bushes. The main uses would be to pull those out as my truck can't pull the larger ones and there are tons of smaller bushes. Other uses would be digging out the driveway to at least level the gravel off and leveling out the front yard. I also need to run a new water line from the street to the house. I would like to get it into the creek bed for cleaning that up and placing rock. The low clearance might be an issue though. The backhoe attachment on the B21 is supposed to be able to dig 8 feet and the B25 says it only digs 6 feet. Do you or anyone know if the older model actually digs that deep? |
|
I just bought a MF231. 38 hp tractor, mid 90s, no attachments.
While I'm not the best or most experienced person on one, I agree with the people saying that tractors are not great at that kind of work. I would have the stumps removed with other machinery. Use the tractor to do some grading, bush hogging, and other tasks. As someone who's been looking at tractors for the last few months, good luck at finding one for a few thousand, especially with any implements, including a front end loader. I got mine for 5k OTD delivered and thought I got a good deal. |
|
Quoted:
I agree. I love my 3038 for working food plots once they're cleared, but we always use 60hp+ tractor or tracks for anything involving land clearing. You need weight and traction for what you're doing. Dozer is the way to go. Once it's cleared how you want, a small tractor or zero turn will be fine to maintain it depending on what you're doing with the land. 3038 was my last tractor. I miss it sometimes. Not often. But sometimes. After driving dozens in all size ranges now I think a 4052 would be a better choice than the 3038, and probably the best overall pick for size, with some r3's and loader, quick hitch and 6' shredder, 6' land plane, 6' heavy duty discs or tiller. If I pulled that off I'd want to up the 5075 to a 6xxx, 100 go 125 range to pull 15-20ft batwing and bigger disks. |
|
Seriously? Burn the organic shit out of your pond with diesel. Rent a bigger hoe that can dig way deeper for a day to clear your pond. Get a utility sized tractor for everything else. Moving gravel, leveling driveways? Land plane/ box blade and bucket. An experienced operator can do it with just the bucket.
Burying a waterline? Potato plow or subsoiler and a slingshot shovel. You'd be amazed how much faster that is than using a mini-ex. Don't get me wrong, backhoes and mini-ex's are cool and fun toys and handy. But you won't get anywhere near as much use out of them as you will a good utility tractor, a couple implements and experience and creativity. |
|
My JD 2305 (present JD 1000 series equivalent) didn't have enough ass to pull much more than a 16" stump, and that was after I went around it and broke off as many root branches as I could get to.
As some stated, even a 3000 series JD might not be enough to get rid of stumps. |
|
I wouldn't use a tractor with front end loader for that type of work. Not designed for it.
If you are going to push around trees and dirt, even stuff that has already been dug up then buy or rent a dozer. We bought an older D7 years ago for $5K that ran good and had good undercarriage. |
|
Quoted:
Kubota makes good stuff but I absolutely despise the loader control mounted on the loader. Most unnatural and uncomfortable location for me personally, What really bugs me about Kubota compact tractors with hydrostatic trans (at least the older ones) is they somehow they expect you to be able to push the forward pedal and the steer brake with your right foot. 
ETA: I've got a Deere 855 with a loader and backhoe. It was made in 1988. Had it for 20 years or so and it has been mostly trouble free. I abuse it pushing up small trees and grading etc. I did tweak the loader pushing trees out so now it grades out of level. Like anything else wish I had a bigger one. |
|
Agree to use a dozer. But after having a tractor I won't go with out one.
Everyone here will recommend a Kubota or Deere. But if you've got a LS or Kioti dealer around you, go that route. Much better bang for your buck and model for model have much better capacities and generally are heavier. If there isn't a dealer I'd go Kubota. Deere's are pricey and are at the bottom of the list for capacity. |
|
Quoted:
I recently had 5+ acres logged off that I want to clean up then have a dozer come in and push the stumps up and level everything off. A few may need to be dug out but most of the stuff was small and should push out. What kind of tractor should I be looking for? Looking for a older model for a few thousand bucks nothing fancy. I got 22 acres, about 5 of which I plan to clear. After doing some research, my plan is to go with a BX25. My plan is: 1) I don't have many trees more than 12" in diameter. I've found I can shave the stumps down with a chainsaw so it's good enough. 2) When cutting down trees, I will cut the trunks for firewood and chip the branches with a chipper I attach to the PTO. 3) If anything needs excavating, I'll use the backhoe. FEL to move dirt around. |
|
Quoted:
What really bugs me about Kubota compact tractors with hydrostatic trans (at least the older ones) is they somehow they expect you to be able to push the forward pedal and the steer brake with your right foot.
ETA: I've got a Deere 855 with a loader and backhoe. It was made in 1988. Had it for 20 years or so and it has been mostly trouble free. I abuse it pushing up small trees and grading etc. I did tweak the loader pushing trees out so now it grades out of level. Like anything else wish I had a bigger one. Quoted:
Quoted:
Kubota makes good stuff but I absolutely despise the loader control mounted on the loader. Most unnatural and uncomfortable location for me personally, What really bugs me about Kubota compact tractors with hydrostatic trans (at least the older ones) is they somehow they expect you to be able to push the forward pedal and the steer brake with your right foot.
ETA: I've got a Deere 855 with a loader and backhoe. It was made in 1988. Had it for 20 years or so and it has been mostly trouble free. I abuse it pushing up small trees and grading etc. I did tweak the loader pushing trees out so now it grades out of level. Like anything else wish I had a bigger one. I'm pulling this figure out of my rear, but I would guess that 95% of those running hydrostatics would never independently brake anyways. Everytime I stop on the side of the road to look at a used one the pedals are still bolted together. |
|
Quoted:
I got 22 acres, about 5 of which I plan to clear. After doing some research, my plan is to go with a BX25. My plan is: 1) I don't have many trees more than 12" in diameter. I've found I can shave the stumps down with a chainsaw so it's good enough. 2) When cutting down trees, I will cut the trunks for firewood and chip the branches with a chipper I attach to the PTO. 3) If anything needs excavating, I'll use the backhoe. FEL to move dirt around. What chipper are you going to use? |
|
Quoted:
I got 22 acres, about 5 of which I plan to clear. After doing some research, my plan is to go with a BX25. My plan is: 1) I don't have many trees more than 12" in diameter. I've found I can shave the stumps down with a chainsaw so it's good enough. 2) When cutting down trees, I will cut the trunks for firewood and chip the branches with a chipper I attach to the PTO. 3) If anything needs excavating, I'll use the backhoe. FEL to move dirt around. |
|
I have a Kubota 4x4 tractor with a loader..
whenever I need to deal with trees and stumps I hire a local guy and his backhoe for $75 a hour. he can do more shit in a hour than I could do in a week.... if I could do it at all. if you want a tractor to play with, then get one..... but, just pay someone to come clean up those stumps. |
|
Quoted:
Seriously? Burn the organic shit out of your pond with diesel. Rent a bigger hoe that can dig way deeper for a day to clear your pond. Get a utility sized tractor for everything else. Moving gravel, leveling driveways? Land plane/ box blade and bucket. An experienced operator can do it with just the bucket. Burying a waterline? Potato plow or subsoiler and a slingshot shovel. You'd be amazed how much faster that is than using a mini-ex. Don't get me wrong, backhoes and mini-ex's are cool and fun toys and handy. But you won't get anywhere near as much use out of them as you will a good utility tractor, a couple implements and experience and creativity. I only have 3 acres and it is in town, it isn't like my parents farm. The driveways are maybe 200 feet long combined. The pond is more the size of a farm watering hole than anything else. It is already dug about 4 feet deep now and I'm not sure how much deeper it can go before hitting bedrock. The backhoe attachment can be removed and other 3 point implements put on. The gravel in the driveway needs to be dug up and then moved. Scraping it would really suck especially with the tree roots and large rocks in it. We had medium and large tractors on the farm. You aren't going to use a bucket to move the gravel on a well used driveway. Even the pull behind grader with a huge concrete block on top of it barely moved the surface gravel. The water line starts about 18" below the street level and the yard has a hill in it. I'll need to be digging 4 feet deep at some points. Plus I want to reroute where the line enters the house and will need to dig at least 4 feet to get it into the basement where I want it. I would much rather have a larger tractor but it is overkill for what I need and the smaller tractors will be much easier to maneuver in tight spaces. |
|
Quoted:
I'm pulling this figure out of my rear, but I would guess that 95% of those running hydrostatics would never independently brake anyways. Everytime I stop on the side of the road to look at a used one the pedals are still bolted together. Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Kubota makes good stuff but I absolutely despise the loader control mounted on the loader. Most unnatural and uncomfortable location for me personally, What really bugs me about Kubota compact tractors with hydrostatic trans (at least the older ones) is they somehow they expect you to be able to push the forward pedal and the steer brake with your right foot.
ETA: I've got a Deere 855 with a loader and backhoe. It was made in 1988. Had it for 20 years or so and it has been mostly trouble free. I abuse it pushing up small trees and grading etc. I did tweak the loader pushing trees out so now it grades out of level. Like anything else wish I had a bigger one. I'm pulling this figure out of my rear, but I would guess that 95% of those running hydrostatics would never independently brake anyways. Everytime I stop on the side of the road to look at a used one the pedals are still bolted together. To seller of said tractor: "damn bruh, Do you even operate" A couple people over the years have looked at me like I had three heads when trying to explain steer brakes. (Or is it stear breaks?) |
|
Quoted:
Hmm, I'll have to go take a closer look. The L3901 I looked at last fall had it mounted to the loader. Quoted:
Quoted:
My 2015 Kubota B2650 has the loader control mounted on the tractor. I think it was just older models and the smaller BX tractors that used loader mounted controls. Hmm, I'll have to go take a closer look. The L3901 I looked at last fall had it mounted to the loader. |
|
Quoted:
Everyone here will recommend a Kubota or Deere. But if you've got a LS or Kioti dealer around you, go that route. Much better bang for your buck and model for model have much better capacities and generally are heavier. If there isn't a dealer I'd go Kubota. Deere's are pricey and are at the bottom of the list for capacity. We have an LS dealer about an hour away. They seem to be a good value. For the OP:  John Deere 8100 and Rotor S stump grinder |