HELP, I need a tractor

[vonsmog]

I cut 5 ac. with a Kubota with 72" mid mount deck. Takes about 2 hours. Also have a FEL, bush hog for cutting trails to tree stands, 60" front snow blower, forks for the 3 pt. hitch. I put about 100 hrs. on mine a year and it does all I want it to do. Can barrow other implements for the 3 pt. hitch from the neighbors. Something that you can't do with a zero turn. A FEL is the best wheel barrow you will ever have! Can even get the wife to cut the grass every once in a while!

[Seahawk]

I can echo Von's post.

When I bought the farm here, there was already an old tractor with a bush hog. I bought two diesel mid mounts and put a FEL on one. The mowing deck is 70 inches on both.

We mow about 7 acres as well.

My recommendation is to get something like Vons has. The larger tractor that came with with the farm also had an FEL. I have never owned a Kubota but have heard great things about them.

Here is Jack ten years ago on the smaller MF:



Looking over the FEL:



Both still run great at 1600 or so hours each.

[LakeCleElum]

Yes, you are authorized to "need" a tractor. A belly mower will give you a much nicer cut than a brush hog. Notice the tires Von has on that Kubota, important for a nice lawn.

Get a FEL, you will use it all the time. I used mine to load a motorcycle into a pickup when I sold the bike last week. New owner was happy not to mess with a slippery ramp in the snow. Check out the "Do I need a Tractor" thread here.

[l.a.brooks]

[Charles Freeborn]

Or you could go au natural and get a herd of goats...

[willtel]

My tractor thread may be helpful.

Do I Need a Tractor?

I ended up with a new John Deere 1025r because buying used wasn't much cheaper than a new one and they offer 0% financing.

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by pen15

You will find new John Deere tractors are only slightly more expensive than used for the smaller machines. A 5075 is way too big for 7 acres. Look at the 2 series machines with a belly mower. Rear mounted rotary cutter will not leave a nice finish.

A JD5075E is made in India as are all of the smaller Deeres.

I bought a Kubota M7060 in 2013 and it is the real deal. It handles a 2000 round bale no problem, runs a 14' haybine, a 530 baler, a post pounder, has a 7' bucket on it, and runs a bale buster just fine.

I also have an old Ford flail mower I use with it.

[rusnak]

Originally Posted by rusnak

Try SearchTempest: Search all of Craigslist nationwide & more Set it for 450 miles. Look in "Farm and Garden" and use keyword "tractor". I would buy a Kubota, Ford, or Deere. You'll find a lot of Fords in the central valley, which are OK, but you'll have to tow it over the grapevine. You might also call the rental yards such as US Rentals, Hertz, or Pape. Bakersfield is actually ground zero for construction equipment auctions. Used construction equipment capital of the world. And there is a large Ag equipment show going on right now in Tulare, CA. And if you are in an area that has grass fires, I'd disc the field, not mow it. And get a box scraper to make fire breaks closer to the house. You want to leave zero fuel for at least a 60' fire break.

Do whatever makes you happy, but.....

[pen15]

If you decide to shop for a new compact tractor you must compare the way John Deere and kubota set up their hydrostatic foot pedal assy. The Deere uses the tip of your foot for fwd and rev. Two separate pedals side by side. Kubota uses one single pedal, push toe to move forward, push heel to go backward. You cannot push with your heel. It's ridiculous and I have no idea why anyone would buy one after even a short test drive. I own a Deere 2320 and today at work borrowed a new kubota from the rental co next door for some parking lot maint and could barely walk on my right leg after 20 minutes in it.

[Bill Douglas]

Or an old Massey Fergy. A lot cheaper and very reliable.

Being a Kiwi; may I recommend 50 sheep instead

[billybek]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Or an old Massey Fergy. A lot cheaper and very reliable.

Being a Kiwi; may I recommend 50 sheep instead

Pepper agrees with Bill....

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by pen15

If you decide to shop for a new compact tractor you must compare the way John Deere and kubota set up their hydrostatic foot pedal assy. The Deere uses the tip of your foot for fwd and rev. Two separate pedals side by side. Kubota uses one single pedal, push toe to move forward, push heel to go backward. You cannot push with your heel.

Maybe the problem is YOU cannot push with your heel. I have no problem at all with the "rocker switch" direction control. You put your foot on the pedal and press with your toe to go forward or press with your heel to back up. You never have to take your foot off the pedal. No need to switch from one pedal to another. Easy.

[jwasbury]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Maybe the problem is YOU cannot push with your heel. I have no problem at all with the "rocker switch" direction control. You put your foot on the pedal and press with your toe to go forward or press with your heel to back up. You never have to take your foot off the pedal. No need to switch from one pedal to another. Easy.

I too have never once experienced an issue with the hydro foot controls on my Kubota B2320. Its been a great machine for maintaining my 13.5 acres in PA.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

This business about the forward/reverse pedals is funny because I have one garden tractor with the heel reverse and another with the deere type setup.

The only problem I have is getting in the habit of using one and then switching between the two tractors and screwing it all up.

I'll also add, that I haven't had many fatigue issues with the heel reverse either***.



***One issue I did run into was when I rebuilt the tractor with the heel reverse setup, the return springs are finicky and need to be set up right, or there is too much/little pressure on the pedal and it will not center in neutral correctly. If the poster with the heel reverse is doing a lot of reverse work, especially looking over their shoulder doing reverse 3-point implement work, I would look into either trying to get a better angle on the seat to see if you could get more leverage over the heel pedal, and look at those springs to make sure they are set up correctly.

I ended up removing my return springs (f and r) entirely because one was missing and the other was too powerful, and I could not get a replacement of the right tension to keep the pedal centered. Probably not entirely safe, but since I disabled all the other safety garbage, the tractor isn't going to be winning any Ralph Nader awards anyway. It works great now and really does reduce fatigue (My fatigue was from going forward against the full pressure of one return spring without the opposing spring to balance out the forces- and reduce the pressure needed to hit the forward pedal). Call it a poor man's cruise control. Safe? Nope, but I don't think the factory cruise control on my JD is entirely safe either, especially when mowing.

All the other tractors with the heel reverse I have owned (with the proper setup)never have given me fatigue issues. It was only when the springs were setup wrong that it gave trouble. Removed the resistance / effort needed goes down. But you didn't hear that from me!

addendumendummm.... Upon further deep pontification and serious introspective reflection, I think if someone is going to be doing a LOT of reverse 3 point implement work, that I would give a slight edge to the John Deere setup, but I'm talking about spending 3-4 hours looking backwards over shoulder at whatever they are doing behind the tractor. For predominately mowing stuff, I think it would be a wash. I would say this based on my experience. Results may vary.

[Crowbob]

The reverse heel is NOT a problem.

In fact, when doing reverse work, the heel pedal is less of a reach. Also, if the pedal is properly adjusted reverse is used as a brake.

[Crowbob]

[E38Driver]

Thanks for all the help. I now am looking at Massey Ferguson. I'll let everyone know what I get when I get it.
Dave

[ckelly78z]

A front end loader FEL is absolutely a neccesity on a small farm. I use mine to load firewood into the truck, or those really large diameter rounds onto my log splitter. I have spread out 60 tons of ground up pavement on my driveways and smoothed it all out(when they resurfaced the road out front), and have spread multiple truck loads of stone/gravel/dirt when we built our horse riding arena. Everyday, I am moving firewood to the house/hay to the horses/mowing 5 acres.

My JD 955 picks up 1200# with the FEL, and many times, I have to mount weights on the drawbar to keep the rear wheels (4x4) on the ground from so much weight in the bucket.

[unclebilly]

Massey's are nice Japanese made tractor. Not as nice as a Kubota but still pretty nice.

[Evans, Marv]

I went through an evolution concerning tractors on my property at the time I was building. First I bought a ten hp. lawn & garden tractor with a trailer to haul stuff around. I soon realized it wasn't enough tractor and looked around for a replacement. I then bought an old Kubota gray market tractor equivalent to the B7100 with 16 hp. It had a tiller, blade and a couple of other implements. They were handy, but I soon realized I needed something quite a bit heavier to get things done. So I ended up with a Kubota L frame from around the year 2,000 with a loader and rear deck mower. Nice thing was it only had 510 hours at the time. I sold the mower attachment for $600. So now I have a box scraper, landscape rake, rear forks, and a couple of other things I can use with it, but the FEL is the important thing. It's the tractor I should have started out with, but of course didn't have the experience to know that. I still have & use the small Kubota and love them both.