Decided on LX3310, but....

[Seanmells]

Local dealer tells me they are being discontinued and the few they have for inventory have cabs. Which we don't want....

We recently purchased a property with 48 acres. A little over 7 is cleared and will eventually have things like orchard, annual and perennial garden, some small scale livestock. It has been hayed previously, but we are hoping to establish and maintain most of the unused space to naturalized meadows. We will definitely be putting in and cleaning up trails in the wooded part, as well potentially a small off-grid cabin for guests (parents).

As it stands, we need a tractor for mowing paths in the meadow, mowing the orchard, snow removal, and basic loader work.

After going to look at tractors in person last weekend, my partner became convinced we should we looking at an LX over a B (smaller, if functional, is better in her mind). It seemed like it was a good compromise with some room to grow into attachment wise and practical enough to handle both woods and fields.

What do we do now?!?! Dealer all but agreed that the B series is too small. He thought the LX2610 might be sufficient for now, but as soon as I mentioned a woodchipper is on our wishlist he thought it might be underpowered. LX3520 is probably going to be an even harder sell to the lady of the house. Before we went and kicked some tires I thought a standard L could be the ticket, but I think looking ahead to the future we should probably have that mid PTO. Grand L is definitely beyond what we were hoping to spend.

Last little hiccup is the dealer says bellymowers are real hard to come by in the area, he said he'd go with rear though conceded that she might prefer using the MMM. Should I work on convincing her a rear mower might actually be better (could back it up underneath trees in the orchard, and would be much easier to remove when going in the woods) or stick with the midmount plan.


This website has been a great aid as I research before our first purchase.

 

[RMS]

I run a woodland mills wc68 chipper on the back of my lx2610 with no problems. I also have a flail mower that I use to maintain trails around our fields.

 

[GeoHorn]

Bein’ as how yall’ are up-nawth…. and plannin’ to ride that tracter in that white-stuff snow… shouldn’t your reconsider a Cab model …with heat and AC?

(jes’ came back from yore neck of the woods las summer…. ate as many of yer oisters and lobst’rs in Peneobscot as I cud…. liked Acadia Nat’l area a whole LOT.)

Seriously, a beautiful area of the U.S. I’d missed all these years.

 

[Seanmells]

I run a woodland mills wc68 chipper on the back of my lx2610 with no problems. I also have a flail mower that I use to maintain trails around our fields.

That's great to hear! As I'm new to this all, is the chassis size the same for the LX2610 and LX3310. While I'd like the extra horsepower, the clearance is most important.

 

[nbryan]

but as soon as I mentioned a woodchipper is on our wishlist he thought it might be underpowered.

I'm running a Woodland Mills WC68 chipper very nicely behind my B2650! And that's NOT W. M.s smallest 3-point chipper.

Don't let that dealer's doubts about running a chipper with our basically-the-same machine dissuade you from considering the LX2610. The WM68 eats branches and logs up to 6" green as fast as 2 of us can stuff its chute full.

Plus from 6 years with my B2650 and 119 acres of various meadow and forest/bush in a climate that gets lots of snow and plenty of heat now too, SE Manitoba, it eats the snowbanks with the 63" B2782B blower just fine as well.

And just for a kicker, I decided to actually carefully track my hours per 20L tank fill and the last fill ran 14 hours. That's with varied, moderate loads including 3 hours trenching with my backhoe.

So VERY good fuel economy.

And she's a surprisingly strong and sturdy beast, as I've thrown a LOT at it. Just keep MAINTAINED.

 

[Seanmells]

Bein’ as how yall’ are up-nawth…. and plannin’ to ride that tracter in that white-stuff snow… shouldn’t your reconsider a Cab model …with heat and AC?

(jes’ came back from yore neck of the woods las summer…. ate as many of yer oisters and lobst’rs in Peneobscot as I cud…. liked Acadia Nat’l area a whole LOT.)
Seriously, a beautiful area of the U.S. I’d missed all these years.

Dealer told me cab would be nice for snow, but a negative for everything else it sounds like we are doing, plus $$$.
I currently shovel the driveway and paths at a cabin we own in the mountains and snowblow the driveway at our current house. Once you've lived here for a few decades you get pretty used to just having to bundle up in the winter. Figure we can always add one down the line if we start going soft.

Glad to hear you had a nice time! We currently live in the big ol' city of Portland, but are excited to head up the coast and have a little more land to make our dreams come true. Couldn't wait to get out of Maine when I was younger; short time after college I couldn't imagine living anywhere else!

 

[RMS]

I'm about an hour northwest of Portland and I really like the cab all year round. Keeps warm while playing in the snow and keeps cool, bug and dust free in the summer. The cab was well worth the extra $$ for me.

 

[Seanmells]

I'm running a Woodland Mills WC68 chipper very nicely behind my B2650! And that's NOT W. M.s smallest 3-point chipper.

Don't let that dealer's doubts about running a chipper with our basically-the-same machine dissuade you from considering the LX2610. The WM68 eats branches and logs up to 6" green as fast as 2 of us can stuff its chute full.

Plus from 6 years with my B2650 and 119 acres of various meadow and forest/bush in a climate that gets lots of snow and plenty of heat now too, SE Manitoba, it eats the snowbanks with the 63" B2782B blower just fine as well.

And just for a kicker, I decided to actually carefully track my hours per 20L tank fill and the last fill ran 14 hours. That's with varied, moderate loads including 3 hours trenching with my backhoe.

So VERY good fuel economy.

And she's a surprisingly strong and sturdy beast, as I've thrown a LOT at it. Just keep MAINTAINED.

I'm wondering if I'm getting to hung up on the mindset of always go a little bigger. If you've been satisfied with your B2650 seems like we might also be with a LX2610.

To make matters a little more interesting, I found a dealer further away that still has some LX3310's in stock, so I'm asking for a quote on both machines. We want to get the right tractor for our property both now and in the future, but any money we can save basically immediately goes to other projects and improvements we are hoping to make so.....

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Just my two cents…

Before buying a machine or implements think about setting a criteria for your expectations…what does ‘better’ mean? Don’t worry about the HP or acreage, worry about the work. If you can not explain the work to the dealer how will they size the machine for you? Dealer wants to sell you a tractor. If you come back in a year they will want to sell you a tractor…

As an example if you want to do loader work how much weight do you want the machine to lift and transfer. In the case of mowing why would a MMM be ‘better’ than a rear mower? If it’s space constraints, sure…if it’s using for trails and brush and grass, maybe MMM is not better…even if finish mowing I am not sure why a MMM would be better at mowing. I have two machines one with a MMM and one with a rear…space constraint is only reason I would ever buy a MMM again. Rear 3 pt hook up is much easier to attach, maintain, and remove for when you don’t need it in…there is no downside to me other than how much space they hang off the back. But there are also flail mowers which don’t stick out so far. Finally regarding size, weight and stance is the limiting factor, not HP, of what you can do from pushing/pulling/lifting. Personally I’d recommend buy at least one size larger than you think you need and buy as much as you can for that matter, even if it means shopping used. Used is a sort of a sellers market recently, but especially for a first tractor if not sure maybe buy something to get you started for a year or so with intention to upgrade when know what you will really need. With that size of property more than one machine is not unusual. If suffering from sticker shop, hire out the mowing and see what shows up to do the work…decide you really want to do yourself, or for that price someone else can do it.

 

[nbryan]

I'm wondering if I'm getting to hung up on the mindset of always go a little bigger. If you've been satisfied with your B2650 seems like we might also be with a LX2610.

To make matters a little more interesting, I found a dealer further away that still has some LX3310's in stock, so I'm asking for a quote on both machines. We want to get the right tractor for our property both now and in the future, but any money we can save basically immediately goes to other projects and improvements we are hoping to make so.....

Well if you're hoping to be able someday to regularly carry around 1000+lbs round bales of hay, or do a lot of heavy bush hog work, or serious landscaping/road building, then yes a step up from the B50/LX series would likely be wise.
But I've managed, maybe a little more slowly, do accomplish all the above mentioned work, including regularly lugging around 1000+lb crates of firewood.
Plus the 26HP has no added emissions controls like the dpf that the B3350/LX3310.

And I mentioned excellent fuel economy.

I'm obviously not in the oft-touted camp of "go bigger than you think you'll need" with tractors.
I'm more "do the job well and reliably in a reasonable time" tractor kind of thinker. Then anything needing very occasional major muscle i call the neighbor equipment contractor with huge machines.

 

[Daferris]

I have a lot of woods and yes the cab would be a problem unless I owned a glass company.
I have an LX2610 and run the Woodland Mills WG24 stump grinder without any issues. The pluses with the LX2610 is the simplicity of the motor (no DPF no regen concerns). I have not missed the extra HP of a LX3310 nor the added price of it. I caution you on the MMM I had one on my old B7510 It was a PITA all ways smashing into the ground when doing loader work. It didn't take long to attach or remove but was just a pain if your doing it every week. My solution was to buy a good Zero Turn mower and I haven't looked back... Yes it's an extra motor to maintain but with all my trees it's much faster to mow with.

 

[Seanmells]

Partner went for rear mount mower, so that somewhat settles that problem. She does want a mid PTO still "just in case".

Sounding like I might be joining you all with an LX2610.

 

[jyoutz]

Local dealer tells me they are being discontinued and the few they have for inventory have cabs. Which we don't want....

We recently purchased a property with 48 acres. A little over 7 is cleared and will eventually have things like orchard, annual and perennial garden, some small scale livestock. It has been hayed previously, but we are hoping to establish and maintain most of the unused space to naturalized meadows. We will definitely be putting in and cleaning up trails in the wooded part, as well potentially a small off-grid cabin for guests (parents).

As it stands, we need a tractor for mowing paths in the meadow, mowing the orchard, snow removal, and basic loader work.

After going to look at tractors in person last weekend, my partner became convinced we should we looking at an LX over a B (smaller, if functional, is better in her mind). It seemed like it was a good compromise with some room to grow into attachment wise and practical enough to handle both woods and fields.

What do we do now?!?! Dealer all but agreed that the B series is too small. He thought the LX2610 might be sufficient for now, but as soon as I mentioned a woodchipper is on our wishlist he thought it might be underpowered. LX3520 is probably going to be an even harder sell to the lady of the house. Before we went and kicked some tires I thought a standard L could be the ticket, but I think looking ahead to the future we should probably have that mid PTO. Grand L is definitely beyond what we were hoping to spend.

Last little hiccup is the dealer says bellymowers are real hard to come by in the area, he said he'd go with rear though conceded that she might prefer using the MMM. Should I work on convincing her a rear mower might actually be better (could back it up underneath trees in the orchard, and would be much easier to remove when going in the woods) or stick with the midmount plan.


This website has been a great aid as I research before our first purchase.

Unless the tractor is dedicated to just mowing a mid mower is a pain. It gets in the way for doing 3ph and and dirt work, and isn’t fun to remove and install frequently. For your size property, you will find things that need doing beyond your current vision. I suspect that you will want to upgrade to an L or MX series machine over time. I would go bigger with a rotary cutter or rear finish mower and buy her a riding mower for close in trimming.

 

[S-G-R]

I went from a LX2610 with a 60" mmm to a LX3310 with a Landpride FDR2684 rear finish mower. The mid mount was a pain in the ass taking on and off. It greatly affected ground clearance so you would probably be doing the swap often. The dpf initially was a turnoff after hearing about the issues with the B3350. I didn't look into the changes that were done to improve the LX3310 which is why I went with the 2610. I found the tractor great in the beginning but found it to be underpowered so I traded it on a 3310.

I went with the tall R14's for a bit of extra ground clearance and the extra power is noticeable pushing into a pile of soil or aggergrate. The largest difference was the boost in pto hp. The tiller and rear mower respond well with the 3310 and I went from mowing in low range on the 2610 to medium range on the 3310. That made a huge difference in mowing time. I find the 3310 does use more fuel but not a significant amount more. The tractor also works fine if it starts a regen and I work it as i normally would.

 

[Seanmells]

Unless the tractor is dedicated to just mowing a mid mower is a pain. It gets in the way for doing 3ph and and dirt work, and isn’t fun to remove and install frequently. For your size property, you will find things that need doing beyond your current vision. I suspect that you will want to upgrade to an L or MX series machine over time. I would go bigger with a rotary cutter or rear finish mower and buy her a riding mower for close in trimming.

Current plan is to rent (or potentially borrow as we've had neighborly offers) whenever we need a larger more specialized piece of equipment. You could be right that we may eventually outgrow an LX in the long term. At that time we'd probably just trade up or maybe even add to the fleet. After going to the dealer I can tell my partner would be very resistant to something much larger until we prove we consistently need it.

 

[dbertheau]

We recently purchased a LX3310. Picked it over a LX2610 because of the PTO HP...19 with LX2610 vs 27 with the LX3310. And we did go for the cab for heat while snow blowing.

We have a front mid-PTO snow blower (last Feb we had 5' of wet snow fall in 4 days)...PTO HP makes a difference when blowing the wet snow that we get.

We also have a WoodMaxx WM-8M wood chipper. This chipper lists minimum PTO HP of 19. And lists up to 8" diameter capable. Talking to WoodMaxx they indicated that while up to 8" capable, 19 HP will not chip that size. Even at 27 HP, I find that 6" softwood is max and oak will be smaller. In general, oak at 4" and larger will be used for firewood...

While these examples may not directly apply to your use case, with the lower PTO HP of these tractors a little gain in HP can make an effective difference. 27 PTO HP is an important gain for our use over the 19 PTO HP of the LX2610.

The DPF regen does not bother us or slow down operation. We've had many trucks, cars and RVs that regen and we are used to the process.

 

[GeoHorn]

Current plan is to rent (or potentially borrow as we've had neighborly offers) whenever we need a larger more specialized piece of equipment. You could be right that we may eventually outgrow an LX in the long term. At that time we'd probably just trade up or maybe even add to the fleet. After going to the dealer I can tell my partner would be very resistant to something much larger until we prove we consistently need it.

Good way to lose a good neighbor is to screw-up their equipment (regardless of how eager they are to loan it to you.)
Good way to get what you want is to lose a partner. (Just kidding)

Good way to become disappointed and waste money is to purchase too small a tool for the job.

(larger anchors, engines, bilge-pumps are always good)

jyoutz above has a possible solution.

 

[mcmxi]

Good way to become disappointed and waste money is to purchase too small a tool for the job.

I bet way more people buy too small rather than too big. My journey was a BX25D > MX6000 open station > MX6000 cab & M6060 cab. I think it's fairly obvious what my recommendation would be re the size of the tractor.

As for a cab, it simply makes the tractor more usable and way more comfortable/enjoyable under a wider range of conditions. Can you run a rotary cutter in 100F/80% RH weather behind an open station wearing a dust mask, googles, sunscreen and bug repellant? Can you move gravel or firewood around in the rain using an open station? Can you blow or push snow around in the dark with an open station when it's 20F outside? The answer to all these scenarios is absolutely? I've been there and done that, and although running an open station on a nice day is a great feeling, there are way more downsides than upsides.

The OP mentioned trees and clearance, and I get that. A cab is more likely to get damaged around trees for sure, and if working in wooded areas is on the agenda then an open station probably makes a lot more sense.

 

[SteveBX23]

Current plan is to rent (or potentially borrow as we've had neighborly offers) whenever we need a larger more specialized piece of equipment. You could be right that we may eventually outgrow an LX in the long term. At that time we'd probably just trade up or maybe even add to the fleet. After going to the dealer I can tell my partner would be very resistant to something much larger until we prove we consistently need it.

Did you land on the 2610? I am waiting on one myself, looking forward to it.

 

[Starman2112]

Ive had my Lx2610 for 2 years now with over 100 hours on it for 5 acres. My step father is a hard core farmer type and gives me all my advice. Hes the kinda guy that actually has a classic Tractor collection (1950's and older). He suggested the Lx2610 over the 3310 due mainly to the emissions of the diesels (and Im very surprised he even suggested a Kubota since hes an "American car" kinda guy".

Saying this, I wish I had gone with a bigger tractor for the many things I use it for. I cant imaging having this tractor with 40+ acres. I would love to have a bigger L series now with 30+ HP. I have 3 fields that I brush hog (Land pride) and I sure wish it was 2 feet wider. As it is now, it takes me forever to mow the 2.5 acres and at times just doesn't feel like it has the power to mow it as well as I would like. I have a lot of trees and heavy landscaping (Im on my 5th 10' x 10' burn pile this year alone with a grapple) and would love to have a chipper that can handle larger limbs.