Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Tractor for maintaining small places

Really enjoyed reviewing this thread, lots of good info despite the squabbling over the nanny err safety features on the newer tractors. Reminds me a bit of how aviation has changed over the years....making it the safest form of transportation per mile there is.

I thought I would be buying a small tractor this year and am fortunate enough to have three of the most popular dealers nearby. Red, orange and green. I drove all three in the sub compact and compact sizes. They were all 25 HP though I rented a 38 HP Mahindra for a day.

The bigger Mahindra was more tractor than I needed for pond and yard work. It had only a FEL and a box blade. I leveled banks and spread some gravel for creek crossings and really appreciated the power. It was geared as I thought that was what I wanted. It was a little awkward between bank and fence but did well. The 25 HP version with backhoe was a bit cheaper than Kubota or Deere but a little rougher and louder and had a worse reputation for maintenance, deserved or not, than the other two.

I didn't get to work the Kubota but really liked it driving around the lot. The sub compact was quiet and quite capable feeling with a FEL and backhoe. The next size up a good friend bought this year and he seems quite pleased with it with FEL and BH. The local dealer doesn't have the best reputation, again, deserved or not. Both sub and compact were priced right between red and green, Mahindra and Deere.

The Deere dealer has a great reputation and they just gave me a sub compact to work for the day and work it I did. I borrowed a friend's car hauler (4 wheel) trailer and picked it up with my 4x4 3.0 L Ford Ranger. It pulled it with ease; a real advantage. I dug 2 boat launch ramps, hauled rock to reinforce culverts and creek crossings, cleared brush and took it some places I likely shouldn't have. Handy, capable little tractor; I liked it a lot.... but. It did develop a power steering leak that cut my day a couple hrs short and I don't like the fact that the FEL doesn't have the standard skid steer release; it's proprietary. It is also a bit more expensive than the rest. Green is the color of money.

In the end I decided to wait until next year both because I'm cheap and I still can't get my wife to move permanently to the pond err farm.

My experience with tractors started with a Super H Farmall at about age 6 before I could reach the pedals and proceeded through newer and newer tractors from Deere, Oliver, Ford and several more IH's. I took a long break continuing to operate heavy equipment from a 25,000 lb F-106 to a 300,000 lb or so 767...... a lot has changed, most for the better.

I will not be without 4 wheel drive and am warming up to hydrostatic drive. Operate in 2 wheel, get stuck, back out in 4 wheel. Loader work with the hydrostatic is superb though I still don't mind the clutch. The BH on the sub is very handy and balances out the FEL very well if both are attached but I really didn't like the single seat. The hoe on the sub is so small that the tractor needs to be moved often and getting off to change the seat position every time is a pain for someone that has been around the sun as many times as I have. I understand the new Deere sub has 2 seats with the back hoe, a real plus.

The new safety stuff didn't bother me at all. I remember going hell bent for leather on a Utility 350 at about age 15 down a dirt road and bouncing out of the seat. Flopping around off the side hanging on to the wheel was not good. Though I managed to climb back on at speed with nothing damaged but my ego, it could easily have been the end; I could have used the nanny to shut the engine down. A lot of my land is steep so the rollover protection and seat belt are certainly welcome as well.

I'm leaning toward Green but being so cheap I squeak when I walk, Orange and Red are not out of the question. I'm currently beating on a Sears 18 HP mower that gets a lot done but won't last using it the way I do. The subs are handy around the house and pond but I have a fairly large area of pasture I lease that I might like to work on such that the larger tractors are still a possibility.

These things are so expensive that renting is certainly tempting.