Hi! This is my first post here. I live on five acres of former citrus orchard in southern California. I have a well-used Bobcat 753 (with a Kubota engine!) which I have been using to help maintain my property. The only attachments I have are a plain, toothless bucket and set of pallet forks. My main needs are weed abatement and occasional dirt road repair. My weed abatement technique consists of waiting until everything is dry, brittle, and looking for a good spark, and then scraping it all off the ground with the bucket. The bucket is also marginally useful for getting rid of ruts, since the smooth edge tends to just scrape along the top of the hard packed soil here without getting much bite.
The soil here is hard and dry, though the roads get quite slippery occasionally during the rainy season. But it's mostly hard, dry soil here. It doesn't snow here. The dirt roads get badly rutted from the few weeks of rain every winter, and every spring we need to get rid of weeds before the dry, hot summer. If there are two things southern California is good at, it's earthquakes and wildfires.
My 5 acre property has a little valley running across it, with about 40 feet of elevation difference between the low and high points of the property. Most of the ground is still terraced from formerly being a grapefruit orchard, though I've been gradually smoothing it out with the Bobcat over the last several years.
I have often considered getting a hydraulically driven brush cutter attachment and a toothed bucket, but now I'm starting to think that a small tractor would be a more practical tool for my needs than the Bobcat is. I love that Bobcat and have gotten plenty of use out of it, but I'm starting to consider replacing it with a nice little tractor, and I've been having fun researching them online for the last several days. Looking at Craigslist and Equipment Trader makes me think that I may be able to get most of the original purchase price (ignoring inflation) back out of that Bobcat in a private party sale.
My research so far has me most interested in going either blue or orange, and at the moment I am leaning pretty heavily towards orange. I think the BX series is a bit small for what I want to do here. I was awfully interested in the B3350SU, but now I've swung over to looking at the L2501. I get the feeling that the extra 1000 pounds would do me more good than the extra horsepower, when it comes to things like dragging a box scraper through the hard soil here. My neighbor has a 4x4 Ford 1710 + loader which they are quite happy with, and from the specifications, it looks like the L2501 is in the same ball park to me. Their 1710 is geared, but I think I would rather have hydrostatic transmission. I'm already used to hydrostatic drive from my Bobcat, so I don't expect to have the negative reaction that I've seen some folks express to hearing hydrostatic whine. My neighbors say that I definitely want a 4x4 tractor for the terrain here, and I agree with them.
I would definitely get a loader if I replace the Bobcat instead of keeping it and adding a tractor. I think that the most useful 3 point attachments for me will be a brush cutter and a box scraper. I think I will also get a post hole auger. If I can find a way to afford it, I would sure love to get a backhoe, too... but that might be too extravagant. I'd spring for the quick-attach option on the loader, so that I could keep my Bobcat forks and use them on the new tractor (I think?).
I plan to visit one or more of the local orange dealers very soon. I gather that there are financing options which might not last past the end of the month?
I would enjoy reading any opinions y'all might have about this. While I naturally lust after more horsepower, I have the impression that the L2510 ought to have enough for my needs, at a lower price, and without the added complexity of a diesel particulate filter. About the only specific question I have is whether the L2501HST would have enough power to run a 5 foot flail mower like this one if I ever decided to upgrade to one.
Oh, and one other thing: I gather that the telescopic lower links that are available on the B50 series tractors aren't offered on the L series. Are there any aftermarket ways to add that feature? I have not used a 3 point hitch yet, but that 2" of slop in the telescopic links looks like it would be awfully nice when changing implements.
The soil here is hard and dry, though the roads get quite slippery occasionally during the rainy season. But it's mostly hard, dry soil here. It doesn't snow here. The dirt roads get badly rutted from the few weeks of rain every winter, and every spring we need to get rid of weeds before the dry, hot summer. If there are two things southern California is good at, it's earthquakes and wildfires.
My 5 acre property has a little valley running across it, with about 40 feet of elevation difference between the low and high points of the property. Most of the ground is still terraced from formerly being a grapefruit orchard, though I've been gradually smoothing it out with the Bobcat over the last several years.
I have often considered getting a hydraulically driven brush cutter attachment and a toothed bucket, but now I'm starting to think that a small tractor would be a more practical tool for my needs than the Bobcat is. I love that Bobcat and have gotten plenty of use out of it, but I'm starting to consider replacing it with a nice little tractor, and I've been having fun researching them online for the last several days. Looking at Craigslist and Equipment Trader makes me think that I may be able to get most of the original purchase price (ignoring inflation) back out of that Bobcat in a private party sale.
My research so far has me most interested in going either blue or orange, and at the moment I am leaning pretty heavily towards orange. I think the BX series is a bit small for what I want to do here. I was awfully interested in the B3350SU, but now I've swung over to looking at the L2501. I get the feeling that the extra 1000 pounds would do me more good than the extra horsepower, when it comes to things like dragging a box scraper through the hard soil here. My neighbor has a 4x4 Ford 1710 + loader which they are quite happy with, and from the specifications, it looks like the L2501 is in the same ball park to me. Their 1710 is geared, but I think I would rather have hydrostatic transmission. I'm already used to hydrostatic drive from my Bobcat, so I don't expect to have the negative reaction that I've seen some folks express to hearing hydrostatic whine. My neighbors say that I definitely want a 4x4 tractor for the terrain here, and I agree with them.
I would definitely get a loader if I replace the Bobcat instead of keeping it and adding a tractor. I think that the most useful 3 point attachments for me will be a brush cutter and a box scraper. I think I will also get a post hole auger. If I can find a way to afford it, I would sure love to get a backhoe, too... but that might be too extravagant. I'd spring for the quick-attach option on the loader, so that I could keep my Bobcat forks and use them on the new tractor (I think?).
I plan to visit one or more of the local orange dealers very soon. I gather that there are financing options which might not last past the end of the month?
I would enjoy reading any opinions y'all might have about this. While I naturally lust after more horsepower, I have the impression that the L2510 ought to have enough for my needs, at a lower price, and without the added complexity of a diesel particulate filter. About the only specific question I have is whether the L2501HST would have enough power to run a 5 foot flail mower like this one if I ever decided to upgrade to one.
Oh, and one other thing: I gather that the telescopic lower links that are available on the B50 series tractors aren't offered on the L series. Are there any aftermarket ways to add that feature? I have not used a 3 point hitch yet, but that 2" of slop in the telescopic links looks like it would be awfully nice when changing implements.
