I have joined the Brother and Sisterhood of the Orange Tractor...
We made the move, its beutiful, living in town my whole life I wept as a grown man when we moved in, space, peace, beauty...My kids, wife and I went sledding on our hill the night we moved it, it's perfect. But I'm lucky I have a good friend nearby with a big ol 75hp Kubota as I'm defenseless against the winter at the moment and its been bearing down... But no longer...
My B2601 should arrive next week! It comes with a FEL, MMM and a B2789 Snowblower on Turf Tires. The entire package I arrived at as what I "need"... She's not off the showroom new, but appears very well cared for, she's at 740hrs I believe. I had the dealer do the 800hr inspection in the negotiation, once that is finalized it will be headed my way. I can't wait.
It was quite the journey and I appreciate "all yawls" input... It helped a lot. I came close to going "off brand", I was temped by the TYM until I got on one and the step and fender flexed under my massive 170lb frame... I like the LS rather well, much better fit and finish than the TYM, but for a new one in my area it was only couple grand less than Kubota... So I ultimately decided that solid used was the way to go and get the brand who's Facebook page isn't filled with "may axle fell off, they say it should be here in just 11 months"...
I decided on the B2601 as my primary target, with the right b7800, b2920, b2650 or lx2610 buy pop up grab it. I decided on the the 2601 for several reason. I can mow with it for now while I decide if I want a ZT or what if I found one with a MMM. I want a tractor that can do real work with and yet be my "yard buddy" too in terms of often with me on yard chores and tasks, and though I was open to all those one step ups from this one they are still smaller than the "competitions" step up. Those all take a beefy step up in terms of weight and such compared to our orange ones. I think I started down the " it's only a little bigger but WAY more capable road" a step or two too far. The ones I listed above would be still perfectly reasonable. The TYM had those beat by several hundred pounds of weight if not a bit more. Well when my friend came and plowed me out his big tractor was a real bear to maneuver around my house area... Him and I were chatting and he said, "Hey if you are't in a hurry a little tractor will do all a big one will, it just takes longer" and I realized then at this property I do not want to be oversized and the B2601 fits all my basic need and then some. Especially after watching GP Outdoors when he had his, he worked it far harder than I will need to. I realized its 3.5 acres, it is not a farm... Some folks on some forums say all these 25hp tractors are a joke and you can't do anything without more... I think that's just a stretch, I don't recall most folks with more than a couple acres even needing more than a briggs and Stratton Rider 35 years ago... So I decided the b2601 it was unless I ran into a good buy on one of the others. After settling in on that, I found this one it it was set up to what my exact "gotta have day 1" list was, down to the tires so I pulled the trigger. I haven't sold my plane yet, so I did finance it, but figured I'll just pay it off when the airplane sells and at that time get her, her 3rd function and grapple, rototiller, forks and box blade...
Thanks for the help getting here...