L2502 vs L3302 vs ? HP or Skill Issues?

[GrumpyFarmer]

Looking to get a new tractor for a small ag business on a hilly property, maybe 5-10 acres but more greenhouses and grounds keeping than acreage farming if that makes sense. The actual property is larger but mostly unusable / unused. Mostly moving soil, maintaining a lot of small roads and then a bunch of small odd-jobs. Looking at a loader+forks and box scraper to start. Maybe a smaller mower/brushhog type attachment. The business isn't making tons of $$ so there isn't a blank check or anything.

We couldn't decide and ended up renting the L2502 w/ HST + Loader + Boxscraper. We really like the footprint size, not too big and not too small. The precision after driving around an older constructor-style backhoe is amazing. I feel like a surgeon on wheels. There will also be a lot of climbing on and off which fits the size. I think this tractor would be fine and is a safe bet but.... it seems a little under-powered in general. I'm not sure if its just the footprint or the horsepower or skill issues... "The Internet" seems a little unsure on if or what HP really affects at least with respect to going up in the same series. I'm mostly considering the extra ~8HP of the 3302. I know it will affect the PTO and I haven't tried the PTO yet(!) but that isn't a super common use case but I would probably be using the 60" landpride rotary mower in low and maybe 1 week in a year.

A few examples:

(1) Pushing into a roadbank with loader trying to dig with cutter blade attached and I bogged it out and killed it a few times. I was able to get going again immediately and backed off a lot and dug in a bit more slowly and methodically. This worked and is doable. (This might be me overloading the HST by metal-pedalling it, which the dealer mentioned)

(2) I kind of knew there were hills but didn't think about how much time is just spent driving from one place to the next. High seems pretty much useless which I saw in other threads too. Seems like medium with the throttle at the higher RPM setting is mostly doable for driving in general and light work but still seems to struggle on steeper hills. I don't need to be driving at 100MPH but don't want to be suffering through hours of excessive self reflection.

(3) Lifting wet soil up and out of a pile seems to cause it to struggle.

So I was hoping to get advice from people actually using these models:

- Do you pretty much have to have the RPMs bumped up to the 540 PTO setting almost all of the time?
- Do you end up burning through more diesel than expected?
- Do you drop the power out regularly trying to lift heavy loads or break out things with the loader? Or on very steep inclines?
- Do you have any issues with the DPF, eco filter thing? I'm not against the concept but just seems like something that might be buggy/glitchy. I was kind of avoiding it because it seemed like just "one more thing that could go wrong".
- Did anyone find that the 3302 made a difference over the 2502? Especially with overall power not just PTO.

Thanks for your time.

Good day.

For what you are planning to do with hobby farm / greenhouse operation, I’d recommend try to determine you likely scope of work:

1. Will you be transporting, lifting, hauling pallets of materials / supplies? How much will the pallets weigh? (It’s very common for a pallet full of block, feed, fertilizer, etc weigh 2k or there about. This should give some suggestion on lift capability. If moving trees that’s maybe a different scale to think about. What materials and what estimates weights you want to lift/move?

2. Do you have the greenhouse already and do you want the machine to be able to drive through? (Check the door size)

those two items may give some suggestion on size of machine and whether you want a loader or tractor.

once decide that think about size of implements to make good use of the size and capability of the machine.

From your demo use description, I agree with others that from the description asking more of the machine that it was intended to do.

Just my $.02.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

I love my 2501, and it has performed admirably for me.

However it sounds as if you need to step it up a bit.

If you rented one, and were running out of “power”, I think it would unwise to purchase a 2502.

Not many people buy a tractor and then wish they had “less power”.

So as pointed out, you might need to go “one (or 2?)" sizes up to be able to accomplish the work for a business or as @North Idaho Wolfman pointed out, possibly a “skid steer"

I am only a “hobby tractor” owner, not a business, so for me the simplicity of the emissions played a “bigger role” than for you possibly.

 

[Splinters and Sparks]

I went thru a similar debate a bit over a year ago. Our 13 acres is on a mountain side ranging from 1200' up to 2000' so the hills are steep. My buddy's 2502 just seemed underpowered to me so I went straight to the 3902. No regets at all.

I typically run 1800-2000 rpm in M, up and down hills with buckets of dirt, stone and firewood rounds, with no trouble. It powers my 6" brush hog just fine at the rated 540 pto rpm. It even drags fallen trees back up hill.

I'm very satisfied. My point being get the largest HP in the frame size that makes sense and you won't regret it.

 

[dogowner]

small update
- if i back out a reasonable amount using the loader in a soil pile it pulls in a full bucket fine, same with heavier DG/rock mix (although this was a bit more finicky)
- mostly use 2000 RPMs for everything except idling, light work on flat ground and driving downhill, which sounds like "normal"
- can go uphill in medium at 2000 RPMS just fine with no load; speed seems fine especially since it gets real bouncy with nothing in it, kind of slow at 1500
- can go uphill in medium with a full bucket load also seems fine, not sure if its the frame size or what but doesn't seem like I'd want to go fast anyways, downhill is a LOT worse, i think maybe the boxscraper isn't enough offset weight if you have a very full bucket load, probably would be going slow in both cases (bucket was positioned down as low as possible to try to keep center of gravity low)
- pretty sure me "killing it" before was just overloading it by smashing down the HST, if I "let it work" it either can't do it and i have to back off a bit or it just needs to be slow and LOW and it will get to it

final conclusions:
- 2502 could probably do everything we want it just might do it slower and always at 2000 RPM
- learn how to drive a tractor before testing it

 

[dogowner]

small update
- if i back out a reasonable amount using the loader in a soil pile it pulls in a full bucket fine, same with heavier DG/rock mix (although this was a bit more finicky)
- mostly use 2000 RPMs for everything except idling, light work on flat ground and driving downhill, which sounds like "normal"
- can go uphill in medium at 2000 RPMS just fine with no load; speed seems fine especially since it gets real bouncy with nothing in it, kind of slow at 1500
- can go uphill in medium with a full bucket load also seems fine, not sure if its the frame size or what but doesn't seem like I'd want to go fast anyways, downhill is a LOT worse, i think maybe the boxscraper isn't enough offset weight if you have a very full bucket load, probably would be going slow in both cases (bucket was positioned down as low as possible to try to keep center of gravity low)
- pretty sure me "killing it" before was just overloading it by smashing down the HST, if I "let it work" it either can't do it and i have to back off a bit or it just needs to be slow and LOW and it will get to it

final conclusions:
- 2502 could probably do everything we want it just might do it slower and always at 2000 RPM
- learn how to drive a tractor before testing it

 

[Rdrcr]

small update
- if i back out a reasonable amount using the loader in a soil pile it pulls in a full bucket fine, same with heavier DG/rock mix (although this was a bit more finicky)
- mostly use 2000 RPMs for everything except idling, light work on flat ground and driving downhill, which sounds like "normal"
- can go uphill in medium at 2000 RPMS just fine with no load; speed seems fine especially since it gets real bouncy with nothing in it, kind of slow at 1500
- can go uphill in medium with a full bucket load also seems fine, not sure if its the frame size or what but doesn't seem like I'd want to go fast anyways, downhill is a LOT worse, i think maybe the boxscraper isn't enough offset weight if you have a very full bucket load, probably would be going slow in both cases (bucket was positioned down as low as possible to try to keep center of gravity low)
- pretty sure me "killing it" before was just overloading it by smashing down the HST, if I "let it work" it either can't do it and i have to back off a bit or it just needs to be slow and LOW and it will get to it

final conclusions:
- 2502 could probably do everything we want it just might do it slower and always at 2000 RPM
- learn how to drive a tractor before testing it

Make sure you’re in 4WD when going downhill (with or without a load).

Mike