Learn me about tractors

docmirror said:
How about the 135?

http://www.tractorhouse.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=7734703

Nice tires in back, and a weird loader.
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135 is good, with the loader you could even put out big round bales on a three point spike without driving around in wheelie mode like I used to, good thing they have split brakes. A lot of the 135s had gasoline engines, which if you aren't working it hard and plowing and such will be cheaper for you to maintain as parts are a bunch cheaper and you don't have that damned Lucas pump to deal with.
 
Henning said:
135 is good, with the loader you could even put out big round bales on a three point spike without driving around in wheelie mode like I used to, good thing they have split brakes. A lot of the 135s had gasoline engines, which if you aren't working it hard and plowing and such will be cheaper for you to maintain as parts are a bunch cheaper and you don't have that damned Lucas pump to deal with.
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Hmmmmm it sounds like you know tractors Henning. Perhaps an ex-farmer? Perhaps a gentlemen farmer?
 
Location. I know of a really nice tractor for sale in your price range. Its a big tractor but no loader but one could be put on her I would think.
Mr. Holmes here at Holmes field purchased a new tractor last year and stop using this one. Not a thing wrong with it but she is big.
Its right in your price range though. But this is in Illinois.
 
wabower said:
My all-time fav was the four-wheel "Kubota wid a loada" that could do almost anything my MF 150 could do
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Dad had a Kubota B7100 4x4 16hp diesel with loader and belly mower, nice little tractor. He was pretty hard on equipment but it still ran like a champ when he sold it, it was 35yrs old. I came home once a summer and did the yearly PMs on it, other than that, diesel and the occasional repair.

If I needed a tractor I'd buy a good used one no question.
 
Kubotas are pretty lightweight these days, mahindras are much heavier.

Basically, a mahindra is an international. Good machines, at least I've had really good luck with mine and I've worked it hard.

@docmirror, I'd be hard pressed to suggest anything less than 50hp for you considering the task list you included in your original post. As others have said, that puts the Massey 165 front and center...or a Ford 4000. Good machines.
 
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timwinters said:
Kubotas are pretty lightweight these days, mahindras are much heavier.

Basically, a mahindra is an international. Good machines, at least I've had really good luck with mine and I've worked it hard.

@docmirror, I'd be hard pressed to suggest anything less than 50hp for you considering the task list you included in your original post.
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I'd agree with this sentiment. Especially if you're not going diesel.
Also, a gas tractor will burn a lot more fuel than a diesel. I can run my 65 a full work day at PTO speed on one 14 gallon tank. The Perkins 4-203 is a good motor. Buy a used 100 gallon transfer tank and you'll be a happy man.

I have a Kubota B 6200 4x4 with a loader. 16hp 3 cyl diesel. Great little tractor, but not heavy enough for your needs.
 
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One other thing to consider...IF you'll be dealing with hills...is "spin out rims" (I don't know what they're really called).

They reduce a 2 hour job of "stance width adjustment" to a five minute job. I had them on my ford 4200, I don't on my Mahindra. I miss them badly.
 
timwinters said:
One other thing to consider...IF you'll be dealing with hills...is "spin out rims" (I don't know what they're really called).

They reduce a 2 hour job of "stance width adjustment" to a five minute job. I had them on my ford 4200, I don't on my Mahindra. I miss them badly.
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This is exactly why I went with my 65. I have a LOT of hilly ground. I liked the idea of low and wide.
 
Have a Low Boy for sale also if anyone is interested.
 
I think I'm going to move the Kubota out to the hangar and promote her to airport tug. Kinda overkill, but she's had a hard life and deserves a break, at least for the winter.
 
Read most of the posts.
If you find something that runs and doesn't leak go ahead and buy it for 3,500. Then when you find out what it doesn't do well, trade up. Add another $3,500.
This will continue till your big projects are done ,then go back to your first tractor.
How do I know ? I have a Kubota, a Ford , and a New Holland. I have kept them all.
I mostly use the New Holland.
Get a skid steer for dirt, zero turn for mowing and a tractor with live PTO for all your other stuff.
The more equipment you have in your man cave the better
Seriously $3,500 won't do it
 
docmirror said:
Tractor data says 'live, independent optional'.

http://www.tractordata.com/industrial-tractors/000/1/1/116-ford-3400.html
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What kind of PTO you want is really important when looking at different tractors IMO. From your original post a live PTO would work fine for everything except perhaps mowing. If you are mowing in tight areas then I would want an independent. Without one in tight spaces you could get more done with a weed eater. In open spaces a live with an overrunning clutch would work fine for mowing.
 
el con said:
Read most of the posts.
If you find something that runs and doesn't leak go ahead and buy it for 3,500. Then when you find out what it doesn't do well, trade up. Add another $3,500.
This will continue till your big projects are done ,then go back to your first tractor.
How do I know ? I have a Kubota, a Ford , and a New Holland. I have kept them all.
I mostly use the New Holland.
Get a skid steer for dirt, zero turn for mowing and a tractor with live PTO for all your other stuff.
The more equipment you have in your man cave the better
Seriously $3,500 won't do it
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That's exactly how it goes. And before you know it, you end up with one of these. I call her the "Steel Breeze".

Equipment addiction is almost as powerful as aviation.
 

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Maybe I'll just borrow the neighbor's unit and rent the auger. I can do the rest with a pickup, my lawn tractor and some hand tools. I'm not going to spend $8k or more for a low use vehicle that will likely need plenty of mx.

That first Ferguson with a rebuild motor and clutch for $2500 cash is sounding better all the time. It's close to me, and will do about 80% of my tasks so far. I can buy a blade and rent the auger. No way I'm going all in for the jobs I have and spend too much. It's becoming philosophical at this point of 'how much crap do I need'.
 
docmirror said:
Maybe I'll just borrow the neighbor's unit and rent the auger. I can do the rest with a pickup, my lawn tractor and some hand tools. I'm not going to spend $8k or more for a low use vehicle that will likely need plenty of mx.

That first Ferguson with a rebuild motor and clutch for $2500 cash is sounding better all the time. It's close to me, and will do about 80% of my tasks so far. I can buy a blade and rent the auger. No way I'm going all in for the jobs I have and spend too much. It's becoming philosophical at this point of 'how much crap do I need'.
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That Ferguson has a PTO pump. Just be aware that you won't be able to use the loader or hydraulics other than the 3 point with an auger attached. Makes it tough to schlep the posts. But you could probably pay the neighbor $5 a hole to auger and be miles ahead.
 
docmirror said:
Maybe I'll just borrow the neighbor's unit and rent the auger. I can do the rest with a pickup, my lawn tractor and some hand tools. I'm not going to spend $8k or more for a low use vehicle that will likely need plenty of mx.

That first Ferguson with a rebuild motor and clutch for $2500 cash is sounding better all the time. It's close to me, and will do about 80% of my tasks so far. I can buy a blade and rent the auger. No way I'm going all in for the jobs I have and spend too much. It's becoming philosophical at this point of 'how much crap do I need'.
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That $2500 tractor will likely do you just fine. The only thing it won't do for you is mowing, but proper mowing decks (not bush hogs) are bloody expensive.
 
While we on the tractor theme.

Any recommendations for a compact 4WD. It looks like I will have about 1200ft of gravel driveway to keep in shape and 4 acres of meadow / orchard to mow. I dont need to lift or tow anything heavy and whatever I get, needs to be easy enough to handle that in a pinch, my 100lb wife could run a plow blade down to the road and back.

JD, Kubota, New Holland ?
Shift or hydrostatic ?
 
docmirror said:
It's becoming philosophical at this point of 'how much crap do I need'.
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You can never own too many devices powered by internal combustion engines :D .

It is called the 'cylinder index' and is a measure of manlyhood.
 
Serious snow work? Hydrostatic Kubota with a blower. You can even take it out for snow storms and make money with it.
 
Henning said:
Serious snow work?
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Not at all. Every third year or so. Just enough to be a factor and when it happens, it shuts everything down.

Hydrostatic Kubota with a blower. You can even take it out for snow storms and make money with it.
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I have a walk-behind 28in from my days in North Dakota. I fire it up every month or so just to keep it in running condition. One day, the neighbor kind of complained about the noise, I told her that once we have the next 12in snow, that sound will be music to her ears.
 
Henning said:
That $2500 tractor will likely do you just fine. The only thing it won't do for you is mowing, but proper mowing decks (not bush hogs) are bloody expensive.
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Nah. It's run a 5 foot Woods or King Kutter finish mower just fine. Used you can get them around $1k. The PTO pump is gonna be the pia.
 
Chip Sylverne said:
Nah. It's run a 5 foot Woods or King Kutter finish mower just fine. Used you can get them around $1k. The PTO pump is gonna be the pia.
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$1k is over 1/3rd of the tractor cost. Hydraulic pumps are bolt ons, simple.
 
Your bride will be much happier with the hydrostat. And Kubota's are bullet proof. But you pay for it up front. The 2wd Kubota you would hate.
 
Henning said:
$1k is over 1/3rd of the tractor cost. Hydraulic pumps are bolt ons, simple.
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well, yeah, but it's well short of a zero-turn. And the man has grass to mow. I don't think he expects to get a tractor and implement for $3,500.
 
I had a JD 317 with a 60" deck that could be quick-changed to a 48" blower in 15 minutes. The blower would throw our normal 4" snowfall and 3' drift about 40' and quickly demonstrated why anybody who ever used a blower will never again use a blade.

Only 300' of driveway for me, but another 1,200' for neighbors and school-bus turn-around and cleaning up after the snowplow. It was wonderful, kept it in the corner of the garage pointed at the driveway.
weilke said:
While we on the tractor theme.

Any recommendations for a compact 4WD. It looks like I will have about 1200ft of gravel driveway to keep in shape and 4 acres of meadow / orchard to mow. I dont need to lift or tow anything heavy and whatever I get, needs to be easy enough to handle that in a pinch, my 100lb wife could run a plow blade down to the road and back.

JD, Kubota, New Holland ?
Shift or hydrostatic ?
Click to expand...
 
weilke said:
You can never own too many devices powered by internal combustion engines :D .

It is called the 'cylinder index' and is a measure of manlyhood.
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I had a V12 BMW and a V12 Lamborghini. Added to my cylinder index nicely. They are both gone, gone, gone. :yes:
 
Henning said:
Hydraulic pumps are bolt ons, simple.
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Maybe. Depends of the Fergie. Front pumps are driven by the harmonic balancer, which may or may not be set up for accepting the shaft flange. Then, you need the front bracket or weight bar to bolt the pump to. And then the steering drag link may or may not interfere with the ability to turn left, so he might need to change steering arms. Then, he has to rig the plumbing and modify the transmission sump.

Could be $500. Could be $1,500.

Ask me how I know...
 
We have an inherited Long at the farm in OK, but I could have swapped it in the package of stuff I sold when we sold the KS ranch and kept my MF-135.

Have often wished I had done it, but have now delegated all tractor work to the help, so they drive the Long and I drive the Yukon.
 
Henning said:
Serious snow work? Hydrostatic Kubota with a blower. You can even take it out for snow storms and make money with it.
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FWIW I sold a Mitsubishi FWD 3 cylinder diesel tractor with a good front loader a few years ago for a bit less than $4000. It had a rear PTO and I used a 3Pt blower for clearing my driveway but that didn't work well for two reasons. One was that backing up and looking backwards was a pain in the neck and the other was with only two reverse gear ratios one was almost always too fast and the other too slow.

I replaced it with a slightly more powerful (new) JD hydrostatic model with a front mounted blower and it's way better but cost about five times as much.
 
gismo said:
FWIW I sold a Mitsubishi FWD 3 cylinder diesel tractor with a good front loader a few years ago for a bit less than $4000. It had a rear PTO and I used a 3Pt blower for clearing my driveway but that didn't work well for two reasons. One was that backing up and looking backwards was a pain in the neck and the other was with only two reverse gear ratios one was almost always too fast and the other too slow.

I replaced it with a slightly more powerful (new) JD hydrostatic model with a front mounted blower and it's way better but cost about five times as much.
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Yeah, rear mounted blowers would suck. I worked a New Holland TV 140 for a bit, that was an awesome rig, three point and PTO on both ends, a loader on one that could be replaced with a 16' header/swather, and the seat spun around for operating either direction.
 
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Chip Sylverne said:
That's exactly how it goes. And before you know it, you end up with one of these. I call her the "Steel Breeze".

Equipment addiction is almost as powerful as aviation.
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Yep got one of those also D3b Cat it's ok but wish I had a D5 with laser
I addition for the tractors.
14ft. finish batwing mower
10ft. finish 7 deck articulating mower
6ft. finish
6ft bush hog
7ft. back blade
6ft rototiller
7ft landscape rake
3 point post hole auger 8in. and 12"
loader on the New Holland bucket and pallet forks -quick attach
small JD lawn tractor for around the cones and other trimming.
And the list goes on.
Prickett Grooms is closed in the winter,thank goodness I don't have to snow plow.

It adds up quick, I try and hide all this from the wifes eyes.
Jewelry is expensive also.
 
I called on that Ferguson, it's only 20HP and there is no hydro pump, that's why there's a hydro pump on the PTO. So, if I want to use the PTO, I have to take the pump off after lifting the bucket up so I can see, and then attach my PTO device. There is no quick or easy way to mount a motor driven pump from the engine, but something could be adapted. The PTO is a live type which isn't the best option and since it only has 20HP there is limited lifting capacity, and he doesn't have any of the rebuild paperwork, just the word of some prev owner.

Not gonna work, despite the low price. I'm gonna look at the Ford 420 but it has a broken 3pt hitch which is chained up. He thinks it's an o-ring and I say 'fat chance'. More likely it will be the most expensive element to the 3pt or they would have tossed an o-ring in the circuit and solved that. The Ford is willing to negotiate, but it's also gonna need rear tires fairly soon and that about $1000 or more.
 
Yeah, suspected so. Even in that size range, a tractor that isn't a broken POS is going to be $5k or better. Considering your limited usage, do you have a neighbor to partner with on one? $7k can typically buy a decent machine.
 
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