Compact Tractor

Uncle has a 4400 that just broke its own hood one day!! Seriously he went out to use it and the plastic hood was cracked.

 

If buying new or newer I too would look at kioti and manihandra. The latter still has all metal body.

 

After reading the first page of threads, I like the idea of getting a used machine and getting the attachments that I need either with it or used before buying new. The Diesel engines do last a long time when used and cared for the right way.
BS, you definitely have a reason to need one, with what you have described so far. My brother lives in NJ and has a small horse farm and he uses a small new holland, along the same lines at the kubota your looking at. It does all his farm chores for him and then some.

 

I think that tractor will go to the scrap yard with a cracked hood!

 

OK... Here's my 2 cents... It really depends on your yard and your expectations. If your expecting to manicure a yard, I would say no. If your soil is really dry and drains well with few trees etc, you will be OK.

A lawn tractor is reasonably cheap compared to what your buying. I personally would think more about what you want the tractor to do, tilling, front loading, snowblowing and not worry about the $1000 lawn tractor you can buy or already own. Focus on what you want to do with the tractor, pick the appropriate size and HP and try to pick up what you need used. Like the others said, its not a whole lot more to buy new, depending on how "used" you go. They do hold their value well. You pay more for the brand names but they hold their value better and parts are readily available.

Its hard to do everything well with one tractor.

 

I think you've hit all the important stuff Fan, and what a great bunch of comments from everyone here... all something to think about. I'd only add again, if you get a tractor with a bucket loader, absolutely get a 4wd. Doesn't matter as much what color the tractor is compared to that 4wd when you put weight in the bucket. And, I know you can use ballast on back, but it just makes the tractor heavier and heavier. One thing I know to be true of anybody who decides to buy a small tractor with a loader... your wife will always think you've got some sort of ailment because you won't be able to stop smiling... Hydraulics RULE !!!

 

Like fan said if you want well manicured use the money the mower deck cost on an individual lawn mower. I mow mine with the tractor when in a hurry but use a toro proline walk behind when time allows. I'm not much into mowing and as long as its green I'm good.

 

I also like the idea of buying a ridding mower just to cut your grass…. give or take the size of lawn and terrain.

Last year I was in the market for a used compact tractor. Everything I was finding was $15000 or more. If you did find one under $15000, there was always a catch…. old, needs work or sold quick. I ended up buying a older John Deere back hoe for $5000. I don't regret it one bit as this tractor is bigger and better than all the compacts I was looking at. Yea she needed a few thing along the way, but thats whats gonna happen when the tractor was made in 1965 lololol. This backhoe is actually the same tractor as a deere 1020, but painted yellow and has a wayyyy bigger hydraulic pump. The best part is that I can take off the rear hoe and run any 3 point attachments or anything with pto.

I have about 15 acres of land that I mow with garden tractors. By no means is it well manicured lololol. I do know that if I tried mowing it with my backhoe that i wouldn't be able to get into a lot of tight places like i can with the garden tractor…. It would be the same way too if I had bought a compact tractor.

About a month ago, lady luck was on my side, I seen a nice jd garden tractor for sale on the side of the road. It was a 2003 GT245 with only 600hrs and had a 54" deck. The gentleman was selling it for a friend of his that passed and was only asking $1200 for it. It was in great shape and needed nothing, so I bought it. I was in the market for another garden tractor anyways. I have a older Troy Bilt gtx18(Bolens Duratrac) with 48" deck and was looking for another garden tractor, so the wife could mow with me too. After a few hours of mowing with the John deere, I was really impressed. It does not have shaft drive, power steering or power lift like the troy bilt, but it does mow better and quicker. PLus it has the tuff torque K71 tranny which I must say that I'm very impressed with…. My murray lawn tractor has a tuff torque k46 tranny and she feels like she's gonna crap out any day now.

The moral is that you will figure out a plan and/or what direction to go once you figure out whats gonna work best for you and your property.

 

My wife usually mows the few acres at the farm on the mtd rider thats 42" cut. We only mow 3-4x a season so its always overgrown. When she was pregnant I mowed it with my 24hp yanmar and a 72" Bush hog finish mower. That was a load on it due to the grass height but I still got it cut was faster than her on the mower. But I would still have to get on the mower for like 30 mins and then weed eater. A big finish mower just can't get close esp since I am running it behind a gear tractor I am not shifting and reversing all the time.

 

If you have 2.5 acres, and let's say you mow 1.5 - 2.0 of it, a tractor is going to save you minutes, not hours, over your current lawn tractor. You probably couldn't sell the lawn tractor and break even buying a good rear finish or belly mower. I'd be inclined to keep mowing with the lawn tractor until it dies, then consider mowing with the tractor.

How long do you plan on having this tractor? New vs. used prices can be very close on these types of things. If you plan on keeping it 20-30 years, an extra couple grand for a new piece of equipment and the peace of mind that comes with it is worth the extra $75/year over the life of the machine (for me). If you see yourself parting ways with it in 5 years, absolutely don't buy new.

 

Very good point.

All this mowing talk has me thinking... turf install?!

 

If you mow a lot any diesel weather its a ZT orr tractor will save you in fuel . The MTD 15hp mower will use about 3.5 gallons of gas to cut what my 24hp tractor will cut in 1.5 gallons of diesel at the most. And that is with me turning that 72" mower with the thing running g at full operation rpm. If I were mowing say 3x as much as I do thats a lot of money in fuel savings over a season.

 

That's not because it is diesel though. We had a 26HP Kohler and a 32 HP Yanmar mounted on damm near the same ZTR and the diesel was better on fuel, but it wasn't 75% better like you describe. Maybe 10%, 15% tops.

An MTD mower is going to be a lot less efficient than just about anything. My old MTD 21HP mower would burn about 1.5 gallons per acre. My 31HP gas ZTR burns about .6.

 

I've been known to cut some grass. Did 200 acres a week for a couple years.

 

Sounds like golf course mowing?

 

I've been thinking about one of these tractors as well. Something like the BX2670 with a loader and mower deck. I need something small and strong to move broken machines into the shop and being versatile is a big plus for me.

Anyone know how these mower decks are removed/installed? Does it take a lot of time and effort?

 

Just went and looked at that tractor's pics. Not familiar with KBs but it looks as tho it's a lot like my JD with the gauge depth wheels mounted with round vertical shafts so they can be rotated for easier removal of the deck. You lift the deck up and turn those 90 degrees, drop the deck down, disconnect, and then roll the deck out from under the tractor. Goes perty easy after a time or two. That's a nice lookin tractor btw.

 

Two large public parks, a cemetery, and 3 very large industrial sites, one of which was irrigated and a twice a week contract. Then a bunch of smaller accounts.