Buying a new Sub Compact Utility Tractor

[Moss]

My opinion on pallet forks - they are very useful and I wouldn't even consider not having them at this point. I guess if I had never had them I wouldn't feel that way. I have a fair amount of attachments and forks and landscape rake are probably the ones that have surprised me how much work they have saved me.

 

[Michigan Mike]

Thanks LB-1911. You Covered my situation well. Triumph 1200 We are almost nieghbors the hunting property is in Almena and I live just north of M43 in the Mattawan school district. Mr.zippy NUTTSGT and I have conversed I appreciated his offer but I really don't need the backhoe. Want yes but it would complicate even further my situation.

 

[zkdiesel]

Any idea on how the fire started on the tractor?

Nope. I acquired how you saw it

 

[olytdi]

I've got a JD 1025R TLB with forks, and a WoodMaxx chipper. I cannot imagine the tractor being a fraction of it's current usefulness without forks. They are used constantly. Once you get thinking about how to use them, the sky is the limit. Pulling a queen size mattress out of one of the bedrooms for disposal a few weeks ago was a piece of cake.

I just started using my forks as an adjustable dog grooming table...so much easier on the back!

 

[nadogail]

I saw a Dingo last Saturday, in the back of a pickup that was parked downtown .

It was the first Dingo I have seen and I was impressed.

 

[LopezBart]

It was the first Dingo I have seen and I was impressed.

Was it yellow?

"Still ran Dingo--Yellow-Dog Dingo--always hungry, grinning like a rat-trap, never getting nearer, never getting farther,--ran after Kangaroo."

 

[nadogail]

Was it yellow?

"Still ran Dingo--Yellow-Dog Dingo--always hungry, grinning like a rat-trap, never getting nearer, never getting farther,--ran after Kangaroo."

it was Red

 

[consti2tion]

I couldn't imagine having a tractor without pallet forks, even my 1025r is much more useful with them. Also the Grapple is a back saver, I wouldn't be without it now. Would have been fun trying to get that hickory tree off of that Suburban without forks or a grapple.

 

[jeepnatv4life]

Forks and Counterweight are a good investment

 

[consti2tion]

Send me some pix of that shop build I have plenty of steel to do similar here at work

No problem.

 

[Firebrick43]

I saw a Dingo last Saturday, in the back of a pickup that was parked downtown .

It was the first Dingo I have seen and I was impressed.

Did it eat your baby? They blow the budget compared to a SCUT

 

[consti2tion]

Did it eat your baby? They blow the budget compared to a SCUT

This is what I was wondering as well..

 

[Renegade1LI]

I've got a JD 1025R TLB with forks, and a WoodMaxx chipper. I cannot imagine the tractor being a fraction of it's current usefulness without forks. They are used constantly. Once you get thinking about how to use them, the sky is the limit. Pulling a queen size mattress out of one of the bedrooms for disposal a few weeks ago was a piece of cake.

I just started using my forks as an adjustable dog grooming table...so much easier on the back!

Which chipper did you get?Looking at getting one.

 

[Rc_Guy]

I get it, some people need pallet forks, and use pallet forks a lot but not all of us do.

Some of you guys are going to argue this to the death, but I don’t care I’m done with this thread.

 

[Iluvbeer]

Pallet forks is one of the best investments I made for my tractor! I can't imagine owning a tractor and NOT having a use for them

 

[scooby074]

it was Red

Also available in Orange

 

[mike93lx]

Also available in Orange

And white and yellow

 

[olytdi]

Which chipper did you get?Looking at getting one.

MX8600. It's awesome.

 

[TomC750]

Forks are an absolute requirement IMHO. I use mine all the time

I do not have a CUT or SCUT, but an LS 160 NH SS. I use my forks a LOT! I also have a box blade I adapted. It has been used so much the vertical leading edges are worn to a considerable radius.

 

[Adaylate]

Michigan Mike,
Any chance your county would allow a storage container ( non-permanent structure) on your remote property. That way you could have a larger tractor.

 

[Robinson1]

I’ve read the whole thread

I honestly don’t know what advice to give you.

One major point everyone seems to be missing is a modern SCUT and a Ford 1210 are not really comparable. One is a slightly upscale modern day evolution of a garden tractor. The other was a miniature farm tractor.

Operating weight has a lot to do with tractor performance. More so than horsepower in many cases.

I think a SCUT on a 40 acre property is questionable. But the uses you describe make it seem more plausible. But still far from ideal.

And this is totally my opinion from observation. I really dislike the BX loader design only having one cylinder on the bucket. Just seems like a weak point and a cost cutting measure.

At the end of the day any tractor is better than no tractor.

 

[jonesg]

the farmer next door owns 7 tractors, mostly massey ferguson, his requirements are they have to be diesel and no computers.
he said if they ran on gas he couldn't afford to bring in a harvest.

 

[Firebrick43]

the farmer next door owns 7 tractors, mostly massey ferguson, his requirements are they have to be diesel and no computers.
he said if they ran on gas he couldn't afford to bring in a harvest.

So every tractor and his combine are over 20 years old?

 

[PCustoms]

he said if they ran on gas he couldn't afford to bring in a harvest.

Do they even make gas "tractors" anymore?

 

[JeepYJ]

Do they even make gas "tractors" anymore?

No.

 

[JeepYJ]

the farmer next door owns 7 tractors, mostly massey ferguson, his requirements are they have to be diesel and no computers.
he said if they ran on gas he couldn't afford to bring in a harvest.

Gas and diesel cost about the same per kWh of output. Diesel tractor costs more up front. At one time years ago diesel was much less expensive than gasoline.
What kind of farming does this guy do?
I live in the cornbelt where most “real” farmers farm at least 5,000 acres, most considerably more than that. About the only way you can do that is with modern equipment.

 

[HoosierMark]

for those people mentioning a grapple, check out the thumbs that mount on your existing bucket. I bought mine from green_machine cantralia IL. No need to switch between bucket and grapple. Getting ready to buy another one now for less then $700.

 

[Firebrick43]

Do they even make gas "tractors" anymore?

There has been talk about them bringing back gasoline SCUT/CUT/Utility tractors. Modern EFI and lack of emissions plus diesel being more expensive by a $1 to $1.20 more a gallon would make it a smart decision for chore tractors.

It would also reduce cost as they could drop the turbochargers on many of the tractors and have the same power with only minimal if any increase in displacement. Quieter as well.

Kubota makes up to 75 hp gasoline versions of their diesel engines already and have for decades (some models).

The last of the 50hp gasoline tractors in the Nebraska tractor test would use about 1-1.3 gph more fuel during heavy work than their identical but diesel powered model. This was with distributor and updraft carbs and non crossflow heads.

Even without improvements in tech/fuel economy a 50 ish horse tractor has the same fuel operating cost now due to fuel pricing as a comparable diesel

 

[JeepYJ]

Kubota makes up to 75 hp gasoline versions of their diesel engines already and have for decades (some models).

Deere used liquid cooled Yanmar 3 cylinder gasoline engines based on the Diesel engine in a 322 garden tractor in the 1980s. Those were very nice running little tractors and reasonably good on fuel.

 

[nerraw117]

for those people mentioning a grapple, check out the thumbs that mount on your existing bucket. I bought mine from green_machine cantralia IL. No need to switch between bucket and grapple. Getting ready to buy another one now for less then $700.

How do you like that one? I couldn't find a ton of information on that particular one.

 

[ericm]

There has been talk about them bringing back gasoline SCUT/CUT/Utility tractors. Modern EFI and lack of emissions plus diesel being more expensive by a $1 to $1.20 more a gallon would make it a smart decision for chore tractors.

A 3 cylinder slice of a GM 5.3 LS engine would be just under 2 liters and make about 110hp. Of course it would need to be tuned differently for tractor use, to operate at lower rpms so it run like engines people are already used to, and to have torque rise. But you could give away a lot of that 110hp and still do pretty well. (My 2.1 liter Branson makes 37hp, so it's really understressed).

Here's a 3.6 liter four industrial engine making 104hp (probably for the turbo gas version): https://originengines.com/origin-engines-3-6l/

Oh yea: I have a grapple and forks for my tractor. The grapple is the implement on there most of the time. I put the forks on to move firewood totes or pallets, that's about it. For brush and logs the grapple is more useful.

 

[jonesg]

So every tractor and his combine are over 20 years old?

i'd say his tractors are 40 yrs and older .... at least,
he says he can run all day on a can of diesel.
farmers have complained about right to repair for a while now, imagine if you had to take your car to the dealership for every little repair, they'd love that.

 

[jonesg]

Gas and diesel cost about the same per kWh of output. Diesel tractor costs more up front. At one time years ago diesel was much less expensive than gasoline.
What kind of farming does this guy do?
I live in the cornbelt where most “real” farmers farm at least 5,000 acres, most considerably more than that. About the only way you can do that is with modern equipment.

old diesel tractors are cheap here, i might get one myself, they very useful.

 

[jmdirk]

We don’t need anything. I want a tractor, we live on 6-1/2 heavily wooded acres, always picking up brush piles. Spent the last two days using the grapple to move logs from a few trees we cut down that were dead, neighbor and I went in together and rented a lift to cut them down as they were close to our houses.

Most of my tractor hours are grapple and moving snow, I plow with a side by side but move the piles with the tractor.

I’m just saying, not everyone needs pallet forks even though some think everyone should have them.

I certainly didn't need mine either. Spent a good 10 years doing everything with a wheelbarrow and a lawn tractor. The BX cut down my grass cutting time by probably a good 30-40 minutes. Yes, a zero turn would have been faster. But also cut down my snow clearing time by at least 50%, especially if it's a heavy snow or I've been away over the holidays to come home to a hellish frozen lasagna consisting of various layers of snow and ice.

I could have continued to do everything the way I used to. Hell I could have switched a reel mower and a snow shovel.

But I will say I've never regretted buying my tractor.

 

[Renegade1LI]

So the big question, did the op pick a tractor?

 

[Firebrick43]

i'd say his tractors are 40 yrs and older .... at least,
he says he can run all day on a can of diesel.
farmers have complained about right to repair for a while now, imagine if you had to take your car to the dealership for every little repair, they'd love that.

A five gallon can of diesel might let you idle all day, certainly not do any work all day.

As far as right to repair, it’s not every little repair. It was things that required hooking a lap top up to the tractor.

Jd Deere has made available the software now to farmers, it’s just had the part to reprogram the engine taken out so farmers can’t shut off or delete emissions equipment.

 

[JeepYJ]

i'd say his tractors are 40 yrs and older .... at least,
he says he can run all day on a can of diesel.
farmers have complained about right to repair for a while now, imagine if you had to take your car to the dealership for every little repair, they'd love that.

40 years old puts you back to the mid 1980s. A real farm tractor from that era is going to burn through some diesel when doing serious work.
A 25hp CUT will burn about 1 gallon per hour if it’s getting worked really hard.
I guess the size of his diesel can and what he considers “all day” would come into play too.
Right To Repair is an overblown issue. All the manufacturers have similar programming.

 

[Rkcubed]

To me HP isn’t as important as weight. I went from a SC to a Kubota L4330. The weight matters a lot in moving stuff around with the loader. It also helps when using a brushhog, tiller, boom pole, post hole digger, and any other attachment. One advantage of weight is you don’t really work the tractor as hard. You will really like a bigger tractor for what you are trying to accomplish.

 

[ATC]

To me HP isn’t as important as weight. I went from a SC to a Kubota L4330. The weight matters a lot in moving stuff around with the loader. It also helps when using a brushhog, tiller, boom pole, post hole digger, and any other attachment. One advantage of weight is you don’t really work the tractor as hard. You will really like a bigger tractor for what you are trying to accomplish.

Weight also allows for greater lifting capacities as well (if the cylinders/loader will allow of course).

My skid steer weighs just under 8k, and can lift 4500. The same 75hp engine in a 12k machine will do a good bit over 6000#.

 

[jonesg]

40 years old puts you back to the mid 1980s. A real farm tractor from that era is going to burn through some diesel when doing serious work.
A 25hp CUT will burn about 1 gallon per hour if it’s getting worked really hard.
I guess the size of his diesel can and what he considers “all day” would come into play too.
Right To Repair is an overblown issue. All the manufacturers have similar programming.

I can ask him for a copy of the title if you need it.