Do I Need a Tractor?

[LakeCleElum]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

Care to mention where your green machine was made?

Depends:

As of 2006, the Deere & Company employs approximately 47,000 people in 27 countries worldwide, including the United States, Australia, Turkey, Canada, United Kingdom, China, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, India, Poland, and Mexico, among many others. Inside the United States, the company's primary locations are its administrative center in Moline, Illinois, as well as various locations in the Midwest and southeastern United States. Most manufacturing sites are in Iowa or Illinois, as well as locations in Europe.

[unclebilly]

Nope. All of the small green tractors (under 83 HP in the 5083E series) are made in India.

The M series is still made in western countries.

I researched this pretty hard before buying a new Kubota for my farm.

[willtel]

I care more about where it works than where it was built.

https://www.deere.com/en_US/corporate/our_company/news_and_media/press_releases/2014/agriculture/2014nov19-one-millionth-tractor.page

John Deere - Augusta builds the 1 Family, 2 Family, 3 Family, and 4 Family Compact Utility Tractors that are popular with homeowners, small farmers, landscape contractors and commercial users.

The 5 Family Utility Tractors are also built at John Deere - Augusta and are frequently used by farmers, vineyards, construction companies, commercial mowers, and golf courses.

[willtel]

I hit 50 hours on the machine over the weekend. Zero issues so far other than the hydraulic caps and plugs getting pulled off in brush and a broken tail light from hitting a tree. I'll do the 50 hour service myself. I'm really happy with the machine and it has been a tremendous help in maintaining my property.

The last task was bringing a new air compressor down the driveway and into the garage.
Compressor by willtel, on Flickr

[targa911S]

best tool i ever bought..I wish I had your high lift....nice!

[Mark Henry]

When you have a fair-sized property, the reason to have a good sized tractor is for when your neighbor, who is putting in a pool, offers you 12 free tri-axle loads of fill.
Perfect for building up a low, wet tractor path.

I'll try to remember to post a pic tomorrow when his guy brings the 13th (last) load of fill.

[LakeCleElum]

Used my JD today. Cut 13 pickup loads of firewood in past 2 weeks. Hauled last few trees with the tractor when I could drive no higher.....

[Evans, Marv]

Looks like it's maxed out on the front end. Did you still have much traction with the back wheels?

[LakeCleElum]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

Looks like it's maxed out on the front end. Did you still have much traction with the back wheels?

Marv: Towed the logs within 1/4 mile of the house and then hauled in this way to not tear up our road. You are correct; it was very tippy hanging that much weight off the bucket. Easy way to cut rounds though.....

[Evans, Marv]

I moved a 6x8 shed using fork attachments on the bucket of my L frame Kubota. It was pretty scary and I had a pretty stout Howse scraper on the back. I was glad I only had to move it about 50 ft.

[dad911]

Helps to have a counterweight/ballastbox on the back when using loader.

[MotoSook]

[Edit: crap, my corp server blocks some content, didn't realize this was an old thread he already bought a tractor, which I can't see because the picture is blocked )

2.5 acres with .8 acres to mow, I would say you don't NEED a tractor. It's nice to have a tractor for the heavy work, but you'll never use the PTO or the brush hog as much as you think.

I have 16 acres and 1.0+ mile of trails around my property. I also mow a minimum of 6 acres. I have a big John Deere industrial (yellow) front end loader, a 19HP Case diesel tractor with a belly deck for mowing and a Husqvarna zero-turn mower. This past year I've pretty much kept the property groomed with the zero-turn. The Case tractor---I couldn't find a belt (NLA) for the mower deck despite the tractor being newer than my Deere. The front end loader I use to move dirt and very heavy things but it sits most of the time.

For 2.5 acres, you could rent heavy equipment when you need it. I rented an excavator when I needed to build a retaining wall and moved about 40,000 lbs of boulders. It was about $400/weekend and I don't have to maintain or store it. They delivered to my house and picked it up when I was done.

My Case has a 60" deck and my zero turn has a 46" deck. I can do all my mowing with the zeroturn faster than I can with the Case. It's big and slow. The zero turn just zips over stuff. I've used it to cut underbrush and very high grass...no problems.

So I would say rent the chipper when you need it, and get a good zero turn.

[willtel]

I'll admit that the brushhog has only been used 4 times in the first year but I expect that to be continual as the seasons pass. I used it last at the end of the summer and it will be used again once I'm finished with all the leaf cleanup from fall to mince the leaves and clear out any weeds and saplings still in place from the summer.

I did the 50hr service on the tractor myself. Hydralic fluid change and filter along with cleaning the pre-filter. I also did an oil and filter change. It is pretty easy to work on.

50hr Service by willtel, on Flickr
50hr Service by willtel, on Flickr
Oil pump suction screen by willtel, on Flickr

[Seahawk]

Nice rig. Deere really know what they are doing.

We will hit, and I only say this to let you know that you won't be able to kill your tractor no matter how hard you try, our 1200 hour maintenance on one of my MF 2300's and 1400 hours on the other. I bought them both new a year apart starting in 2003.

I mow with them both but the hour discrepancy is because I use the one with the front end loader a lot more.

The big tractor is at 3600 hour and will get serviced as well.

Small diesels rule.

[Mark Henry]

Originally Posted by Mark Henry

When you have a fair-sized property, the reason to have a good sized tractor is for when your neighbor, who is putting in a pool, offers you 12 free tri-axle loads of fill.
Perfect for building up a low, wet tractor path.

I'll try to remember to post a pic tomorrow when his guy brings the 13th (last) load of fill.

Here's some pics of the tractor path through the low spot into my back forty. In the spring and if it wasn't frozen in the winter, the only things that could get into in my back forty was the tractor, ATV, etc.
I wish I had of taken a before picture. The free fill I got from the neighbor raised the path 18". In the spring I'll buy a couple loads of gravel and this will become a 4 season driveway into the back.

[Mark Henry]

My next project, which I already have half done, is adapting this front end loader to my tractor.
I still have a fair bit of welding and the hydraulics to hook up, but the hard part of figuring out the mount is done.

This is a Frey loader with an early quick disconnect set up. The whole loader can be removed or installed, by myself, in about 20 minutes. The attachments are also quick change, I have a bucket and a hay fork.

[Mark Henry]

Cool tool I made a couple weeks ago that most tractor owners should have ...
Tire bead breaker
It should be able to break the bead on any tire from an ATV right up to a open pit dump truck. No problem on a 30" tractor tire.

[Mark Henry]

[Mark Henry]

Taking the loader back off to finish welding the mount and hook up the hydraulic spool.

[Racerbvd]

1958 Porsche tractor Junior