Pick a tractor for me

[Peeps]

First off let me give a disclaimer. Realistically I probably won’t be buying till closer to my retirement (6 yrs) but you never know. It will be used for work around my 40 which I will be living on when I retire. Projects include mowing/tilling food plots, maintaining trail system, front end loader work-dirt and moving brush piles and chunked logs. Also some snow removal. Part of my retirement plan is to do cash tractor work for people such as plot work. My neighbor does this and is always flooded with more requests than he can handle. I have John Deere, Branson, and TYM dealers within 45 minutes of the land but plan on getting a trailer so most other brand dealers are within 1 1/2 hr drive. Was thinking something around 40 hp?

 

[j-bird]

I am a fan of the green paint....but that is because I have one (and love it) and secondly, in my area every town big enough to have a McDonalds has a Deere dealership, so parts and service are at every turn should I need it. When I was shopping I also found that the green paint wasn't significantly more expensive than what I would call the other top tier brands either. You hope you never need the support of parts and service, but it certainly is something you need to consider in my opinion.

In my opinion...must haves for a tractor:
If you need 40hp....get 45 or 50 if you can afford it. Very seldom do people want a smaller tractor.
Front end loader is a MUST have.....they are as handy as a pocket on a shirt.
Front wheel assist and a rear dif lock are a MUST have....power is worthless without traction.
Industrial or ag tires for real work.....unless you simply want an oversized lawn mower. See my comment about traction.
Cat 1 hitch....most are pretty standard now.

Traction is VERY important when working in the snow, doing tillage or on slopes. Nothing will frustrate you more than having all that power and it's simply wasted on a spinning wheel and your stuck, can't do what you want or worse something slips and something bad happens. Weight has a place in the traction discussion as well. You don't need to focus on it, but there is some advantages (and disadvantages) to a heavier machine as well.

Shop around when the time comes and see what you like the best. A good machine should be a once in a lifetime purchase so get what you want and need for the long haul. I will warn you that if you have a trailer for it.....you will be surprised just how many "friends" you have that have a need to borrow it as well.

 

[buckdeer1]

Agree between those a JD for sure

 

[Tree Spud]

I would also agree on JD between those and as long as you will have to trailer or have the dealer pick-up, seriously consider a Kubota. I have been very pleased with my MX5800 for all the food plot and habitat work I do on our farm.

Both Kubota and JD were discussed here recently, see link below ...
Kubota & JD

 

[jsasker007]

I don't think 40 hp will be enough for you. 40 hp will give you about 30 hp at the pto----you can find stuff that will run run off of 30 pto hp but those things will be pretty small and take a lot more time to get jobs done than larger pto equipment/attachments. Time is money. jmho.

 

[Apple Junkie]

Let me start by saying I am not a tractor expert, but I was in the same position as you are now one year ago. I have both JD and Kubota dealers in my area and both are reputable. Also, I owned a smaller Kubota earlier, and was very happy with it.

When I went looking for my next tractor, I decided to buy a good, low hours, used one as opposed to a new one. I considered 30 to 40 hp tractors, but I found the 30ish hp models had everything I needed (loader, hydro, 4x4, and weight for traction). This applied to both the Kubota and JD models. I should note, I don't do any work for other folks, so what works for me may not be right for you. That said, I ended up with a used JD 3033R with 500 hrs. for roughly 17k because I thought it offered the best value I could find at the time. If you do your research on the different models (http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/index.html) and prices in your area (https://www.tractorhouse.com/), you will be in a position to make a good decision for you. Good luck… retirement rocks!

 

[rocksnstumps]

I would ignore hp as the first criteria. First on my list if you wanna have customers and that means going to their property would be picking the largest frame size and loader combo that will fit on whatever trailer you are willing to purchase and pull with your current rig. That will give you a family of horsepower to choose from in that series. I'd pick the middle hp one after that. Why pay for highest hp in that series if you really can't lift more or likely get those extra few ponies to the ground before spinning. Ok, you get benefit if you work exclusively on dry concrete. Don't forget to consider weight of loaded tires as part of your hauling equation along with a good duty cutter or whatever. In my case that makes my 42 hp tractor with loader, loaded tires, and cutter weigh 6500 lbs without even driving it on a trailer. That 7000 lb car hauler (remember gotta subtract off the trailer weight from that 7000) is not an option.