Not sure what comparable models are available now, but I was looking at a larger B series and L3200. I chose the L3800 after receiving some great advice, 9 years later I think the L4600 would have been better. I move dirt, rocks, wood, trees, construction stuff, anything that needs to go from point A to B- I'm not sure what I would do without one. No regrets though, just get some seat time and do your best to learn the limits on whatever you get. Filled tires can also help with safety.
New property - SWPA
- Thread starter rcsracing
- Start date
In a few inches, just like winter car tires they do great. On my 24hp, any thing less than 4-5 inches, they do great.
Love r14 style tires. Not terrible on the yard, good enough to pull my single bottom plow and not traction issues in the typical mud.
For me it gets back to just having 5 acres.
I almost decided to move up to an L series a couple years ago, but came to my senses and decided that my B2910 was good enough for what I need.
But that is just me. Still 5 acres might not offer a lot of need for a larger tractor. Even then, if money is no object why not buy big? Unless big has disadvantages not apparent at first on a small piece of property.
Consider the options carefully. Not always easy to do, without a lot of tractor experience.
I almost decided to move up to an L series a couple years ago, but came to my senses and decided that my B2910 was good enough for what I need.
But that is just me. Still 5 acres might not offer a lot of need for a larger tractor. Even then, if money is no object why not buy big? Unless big has disadvantages not apparent at first on a small piece of property.
Consider the options carefully. Not always easy to do, without a lot of tractor experience.
I think it mainly comes down to what you expect to do, besides mow grass. A loader is essential imo, how much lift capacity do you need? Are you planning on using ground engaging equipment? How big of towed/pto powered equipment do you expect to use? It all plays a factor. There were several times me and my dad wished his l245dt had more power and oe a higher lift capacity, but it always did what we needed it to even if it took a tad longer. Same way with my B series at my place. I wish it was a bit bigger at times but it fits for what I need 90% of the time. It does help I have access to larger equipment if I do run into that 10% circumstance.
Henro, I certainly get what you’re saying. My only preparation to tractor ownership is this forum, YouTube, and a couple friends with tractors. The common theme is to consider buying bigger than you think. Buy once/cry once and all of that. That’s the main reason I’m questioning above a B/LX. Also exasperated by the previous owners using an MX5100 for all of it.
Dieseldonato - mowing would be a secondary task , that part I will know more after I move in and try the ZTM on some of those sections. Other uses - 450’ driveway maintenance/stoning, plowing the same driveway (all incline), some grading work for larger shop/garage, and new driveway construction to support the shop. I’m hoping to have a 40x60 or so shop next to the house (one of the reasons this place was chosen).
Dieseldonato - mowing would be a secondary task , that part I will know more after I move in and try the ZTM on some of those sections. Other uses - 450’ driveway maintenance/stoning, plowing the same driveway (all incline), some grading work for larger shop/garage, and new driveway construction to support the shop. I’m hoping to have a 40x60 or so shop next to the house (one of the reasons this place was chosen).
Good day. It’s sort of hard for me to imagine / suggest not having seen your new place or the likely uses you might have into the future…so it’s hard for me to suggest much…(any plans for livestock or gardening, hauling/cutting wood or more property in a few years or something tied to a hobby?
I think when it comes to front loader think about how much weight you might want to be able to lift someday and then also how high…actual safe lift capacity drops significantly when the ground is not flat and the higher you are lifting…so if you ever plan to want to save you back and put stuff on a pallet to shuttle around or maybe receive feed for animals, move totes of water, or maybe pick up pallets of brick or quick Crete or pavers whatever, think about how much that might weigh and how much lift capability you might like to have. That’s one thought. Another thought is how high do you want to lift stuff? I understood you have a forecast on a outbuilding…so you have plans for any type of industrial shelving that would hold a pallet? How high do you want to lift the stuff you might store?
From a PTO / usual power standpoint implements are normally sized to the tractor…so unless you have a need for something on the PTO, maybe not so much an issue.
In general I think maybe coming to terms with the stance and weight of the machine (stability and traction) and consider that with front loader use, that may help determine size. If money is the cap, personally I’d try to find same size or bigger machine than I need that is used vs buying smaller and new. if you need the size and weight for what you want to do safely then that is very very different from wanting a new tractor. IMO. Do you plan to cut wood? How large of trees and logs you might deal with? I’d rather have used and larger for heavy lifting than new and small
If you plan to used the machine in a confined space, that might nudge you one way or another as well. Confined space is better to suggest a smaller size than acreage…there are so many uses for a tractor that are not acreage dependant to only use that for sizing…if you have five acres and some hobby livestock and receive pallets of feed, a BX or B might be perfect for mowing the five acres but it might not hand the materials ver well (I did not understand you were worried about a MMM so why I would think be cautious to consider small tractor to 5 acres…I think there is much more work that could be done depending on your intentions…be cautious to undersize yourself, that’s all (I had a BX, before my current B, and my current MX
)
Finally I think spend some time thinking about future uses, it’s honestly hard to imagine but I suspect most on here have found creative ways to do things to save their backs…there was a thread not long ago about ‘how many implements’ or something to that effect…maybe take a look and see what all the different implements are and maybe that will also suggest how you may realize you could use the machine after you have it.
I am not sure this helps or not.
I think when it comes to front loader think about how much weight you might want to be able to lift someday and then also how high…actual safe lift capacity drops significantly when the ground is not flat and the higher you are lifting…so if you ever plan to want to save you back and put stuff on a pallet to shuttle around or maybe receive feed for animals, move totes of water, or maybe pick up pallets of brick or quick Crete or pavers whatever, think about how much that might weigh and how much lift capability you might like to have. That’s one thought. Another thought is how high do you want to lift stuff? I understood you have a forecast on a outbuilding…so you have plans for any type of industrial shelving that would hold a pallet? How high do you want to lift the stuff you might store?
From a PTO / usual power standpoint implements are normally sized to the tractor…so unless you have a need for something on the PTO, maybe not so much an issue.
In general I think maybe coming to terms with the stance and weight of the machine (stability and traction) and consider that with front loader use, that may help determine size. If money is the cap, personally I’d try to find same size or bigger machine than I need that is used vs buying smaller and new. if you need the size and weight for what you want to do safely then that is very very different from wanting a new tractor. IMO. Do you plan to cut wood? How large of trees and logs you might deal with? I’d rather have used and larger for heavy lifting than new and small
If you plan to used the machine in a confined space, that might nudge you one way or another as well. Confined space is better to suggest a smaller size than acreage…there are so many uses for a tractor that are not acreage dependant to only use that for sizing…if you have five acres and some hobby livestock and receive pallets of feed, a BX or B might be perfect for mowing the five acres but it might not hand the materials ver well (I did not understand you were worried about a MMM so why I would think be cautious to consider small tractor to 5 acres…I think there is much more work that could be done depending on your intentions…be cautious to undersize yourself, that’s all (I had a BX, before my current B, and my current MX
)Finally I think spend some time thinking about future uses, it’s honestly hard to imagine but I suspect most on here have found creative ways to do things to save their backs…there was a thread not long ago about ‘how many implements’ or something to that effect…maybe take a look and see what all the different implements are and maybe that will also suggest how you may realize you could use the machine after you have it.
I am not sure this helps or not.
ajschnitzelbank
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
L4701, BH92, Frost Bite grapple, Logosol M8 mill, Stihl MS661
This forum (like every other I frequent) is full of enablers pushing bigger better more expensive toys. Hah.
I’ll share my experience. I have 25 mostly wooded acres in NY. We got a B2301 and were pretty happy with it, but recently upgraded to an L4701.
Downsides of the B: it sucked in snow with R4s, felt tippy on hills, and couldn’t lift big logs.
That said, chains made in great in the snow (I loved the snow pusher), I’m really skiddish and it probably wasn’t ever close to tipping, and if I didn’t get a sawmill I wouldn’t need to lift big logs (I could cut firewood logs short enough to lift).
The L4701 is a beast and I love it so far. But it cost a lot of money. And has downsides besides the cost, like tearing up the lawn and being less maneuverable.
I don’t regret getting the B. We got a lot of use out of it, and a good amount of money back when we traded it in. If I didn’t have these specific uses I wanted a bigger machine for, I could have kept the B2301 and been happy.
TL;DR
An MX is a lot of machine. I bet it’s likely you’ll be happy with and LX or L, especially if there aren’t really specific needs to more heft/power. And these Kubotas seem to hold their value pretty well, so trading it doesn’t hurt too bad.
I’ll share my experience. I have 25 mostly wooded acres in NY. We got a B2301 and were pretty happy with it, but recently upgraded to an L4701.
Downsides of the B: it sucked in snow with R4s, felt tippy on hills, and couldn’t lift big logs.
That said, chains made in great in the snow (I loved the snow pusher), I’m really skiddish and it probably wasn’t ever close to tipping, and if I didn’t get a sawmill I wouldn’t need to lift big logs (I could cut firewood logs short enough to lift).
The L4701 is a beast and I love it so far. But it cost a lot of money. And has downsides besides the cost, like tearing up the lawn and being less maneuverable.
I don’t regret getting the B. We got a lot of use out of it, and a good amount of money back when we traded it in. If I didn’t have these specific uses I wanted a bigger machine for, I could have kept the B2301 and been happy.
TL;DR
An MX is a lot of machine. I bet it’s likely you’ll be happy with and LX or L, especially if there aren’t really specific needs to more heft/power. And these Kubotas seem to hold their value pretty well, so trading it doesn’t hurt too bad.
My 10 acre property has a 90' drop in elevation from front to back. It start with a steep hill that drops 40' levels off and then drops another 40'. Mowing downhill on my zero turn was doable unless the grass was wet from dew. I had a few white knuckle rides. Two years ago I installed Carlisle Versa Turfs on my zero turn (Similar to R-14). The added traction really improved the downhill stability as well as side hill stability. If you purchase the zero turn first as recommended see if you can get the Versa Turf type tire instead of the turf tires. Several lawn care guys in my area are using the Versa Turf tires.
Attachments
Thanks for the info. My concern is that there is a ditch at the bottom of the slope, which means a “down the hill and back up it”, versus some kind of circle or turning around.
I’ll find out in about 1.5 weeks - I close on the 18th and the mower should be delivered that week.
Dave Ogren
Active member
Equipment
BX23S w/FEL &BH &60" Mowing Deck, 48" Dirty Dog Box Blade, 48" Tar River Tiller,
My BX23S has a 60" mid mount mower and does a great job.We also have a Kubota ZD1211. Have not compared the mowing time, but the only thing that the ZD1211 can do is mow. I have read that the fuel consumption for a BX is a lot lower. Bear in mind the ZD1211 is almost $15,000.
I bought my place with 5.5 acres 32 years ago and a couple of years after I bought it I ordered a Deere 955 (33 horse 4WD compact utility) with a 72" midmount, 5' rear rough cut deck, loader, blade, and tiller and I have used it for everything including mowing since then. A few years after I bought it, I also bought a third party PTO mount snow blower. It takes about 2.5 hours for mowing plus trimming, a bit under 2 hours for the mowing part without pushing the speed.
I have turf tires on the Deere and with 4WD it has worked fine for pushing snow. The only time I came close to getting stuck in snow was when I incorrectly estimated where the ditch was on the far side of the road when pushing it with the rear blade and got the back wheels into the ditch. The loader easily pulled me out by catching solid ground with the edge of the bucket and rolling the bucket to pull myself forward. I bought the snow blower one winter when a pair of heavy storms resulted in drifts five feet tall and I got tired of digging out a total of 600 feet between two driveways using the loader because pretty quickly you are driving a fair distance each time to dump a loader full of snow. For 6 inches of snow, using the blade is fast and it has been probably 10 years since I used the PTO mount blower.
But a couple of weeks ago I went to a Kubota dealer and made a deal for a new F2690 front mount mower with a 72" deck; when the deck comes in next month it will all be delivered. Since I use the 955 for so many tasks, it makes sense to not put so many mowing hours on it and the front mount deck will work better when I have to mow when the grass is damp since it won't have the heavy tractor front wheels ahead of the deck. The tilt up deck on the F series also makes maintenance and cleanup much easier, putting the tractor on ramps to go under it isn't the most fun in the world.
I started out looking at the Z series diesel ZTR mowers but I have several fairly steep sloped areas where I would still need to use the Deere instead of the ZTR while the 4WD F series will easily handle those. I don't have that many obstacles to mow around and the F 2690 with rear discharge deck (so I can mow to the edge on either side) will cut some mowing time. It will also be nice to have the mower out front for going under low hanging fruit tree branches.
I have turf tires on the Deere and with 4WD it has worked fine for pushing snow. The only time I came close to getting stuck in snow was when I incorrectly estimated where the ditch was on the far side of the road when pushing it with the rear blade and got the back wheels into the ditch. The loader easily pulled me out by catching solid ground with the edge of the bucket and rolling the bucket to pull myself forward. I bought the snow blower one winter when a pair of heavy storms resulted in drifts five feet tall and I got tired of digging out a total of 600 feet between two driveways using the loader because pretty quickly you are driving a fair distance each time to dump a loader full of snow. For 6 inches of snow, using the blade is fast and it has been probably 10 years since I used the PTO mount blower.
But a couple of weeks ago I went to a Kubota dealer and made a deal for a new F2690 front mount mower with a 72" deck; when the deck comes in next month it will all be delivered. Since I use the 955 for so many tasks, it makes sense to not put so many mowing hours on it and the front mount deck will work better when I have to mow when the grass is damp since it won't have the heavy tractor front wheels ahead of the deck. The tilt up deck on the F series also makes maintenance and cleanup much easier, putting the tractor on ramps to go under it isn't the most fun in the world.
I started out looking at the Z series diesel ZTR mowers but I have several fairly steep sloped areas where I would still need to use the Deere instead of the ZTR while the 4WD F series will easily handle those. I don't have that many obstacles to mow around and the F 2690 with rear discharge deck (so I can mow to the edge on either side) will cut some mowing time. It will also be nice to have the mower out front for going under low hanging fruit tree branches.
For me a U turn on a slope with my B2910 is a fearful experience and I don't do it. Tipped the B2910 on it side once ten years ago or so. Put the fear of cross slopes in me big time with that tractor. Up and down, in 4x4 with loader on, different story.
Now with my BX2200 with four foam filled tires, the MMM hanging low, and 1.5 inch inch wheel spacers, again a different story. The BX is unbelievably stable on cross slopes. No worry there, but sometime a bit of pucker appears I suppose.
airbiscuit
Active member
Equipment
New Holland T2310, New Holland TC21D, Kubota l3010 GST, Farmall H
A LX2610/3310 with R14 tires and wheel spacers sounds pretty good to me. You will appreciate its capabilities over time versus a sub-compact tractor.
I understand. My comment was based on O.P. buying a zero turn first and seeing what it is capable of and then purchasing a tractor for other property work.