best SMALLEST tractor with smallest but 'real' FEL

[goodhors]

You might want to ask around the locals who own JD equipment, small tractor owners, see how WELL they get attention AFTER the purchase. That is a HUGE complaint in our area. JD may jump for the big Farmers, folks who purchase or maintain a fleet of JD equipment.

Small time folks? Not so much, they “work you in” as they can. Harvest time, planting time, you are WAYYY down the list of “things to do” for them. You only have one or two pieces of equipment, not a big buyer or user of their services.

Next might be asking owners of “both JD and other brand names” what they like or dislike on their machines. We did a lot of that, and ALL the owners EXCEPT the Kubota folks would sell you their machine in a heartbeat! One guy bragged “how easy” it was to tip his small JD back upright if it went over in the ditch!! Other PAST JD owners warned us of the same tipping over thing on certain models, just too narrow of a wheelbase if on any slanting ground. Yet other folks said their tractor makes lost power doing two things at once, like going forward around corners with a load. Had power for corners FORWARD or LIFTING, don’t do both at once very well at all. Brand new machines.

Only the Kubota owners would not be willing to sell their machine unless they wanted a LARGER one!! They liked pretty much everything about them, older and newer models. We lucked into our Kubota, brother of the husband of a client had one to sell, only 300 hours, but about 9yrs old. Seller was moving, didn’t need the machine. She has been well kept, recently serviced, 4WD! Our roll-bar is a bolted on top, not hinged, probably because she is older. I have it on at all times, except when she is in the trailer. Put a canopy on her this summer, was SO NICE when mowing. We have used her a lot since purchase and love her. She quite impressed some BIG EQUIPMENT owners who got to see her in action building Trails for Driving horses. Lifted, pushed and pulled all sizes of trees to make the Trail smooth and clear for the carriages. She sure was a big help last winter!! Diesel started in the deep cold, not plugged in, very reliable anytime we needed to get her out. Of course that wouldn’t be an issue in warmer places!

Our Kubota Dealer is about 30 miles away, have not needed anything except a couple extra keys and a lightbulb from him. I don’t think 30 miles is too far for good service from a Dealer. They will come if needed to work on her or we can take her into him. Forgot we had a flat tire, ran over a nail when we picked her up. We called the Farm Tire guy, who came out to fix the tire, refill with beet pulp juice. You might have such a service in your area, just don’t know about it because you never needed it. They get a good business with our Farmers who need wheels repaired in the field RIGHT NOW to get the crops done.

Anyway, the protectiveness of the Kubota owners if you ask them about selling their tractors, was a 180* turnaround from any other brand tractor owners who would sell their machines NOW if you wanted it.

[mountainhorse]

We have a JD3032E and LOVE it. I have had excellent service from JD, and we keep our tractor UTD on servicing, etc.
If you want a smaller model (and easier to work around, hook up attachments, etc.), take a look at the new subcompact: http://www.deere.com/wps/dcom/en_US/products/equipment/tractors/sub_compact_utility_tractors/1_series/1_series.page

I LOVE it, but we cannot justify downsizing, so oh well.

[Jim_in_PA]

Kubota BX series or the equivalent from Deere, New Holand, etc…whatever is the strongest dealer network in your area. Around here, there are three Kubota dealers. The closest Deere dealer as well as the closest New Holland dealer are about a half-hour away. Kubota gets the majority of business…

I’ve had a BX-22 since the early 2000s at this point. (FEL and BH) plus a number of implements to help maintain my 4 acre property. It’s the little orange power tool that can do a lot of hard work…within it’s limits, of course.

[S1969]

[QUOTE=vineyridge;7741456]
With tractors, there is really no reason to buy new. All tractor dealers have tractors for sale that have come off lease, and the savings are real. In fact, there is no real reason to buy from a dealer at all, since you can get bank financing for used tractors. JDs, new from the dealer, are outrageously priced. But if you get a used JD, you’ll still have access to their service. JD carries parts for ancient tractors.[/QUOTE]

Well, it depends on what you want, and what you can find.

We could not find a “new-ish” used tractor for much less than $2-3K than brand new. And we did not want an old tractor, because we are not mechanically inclined (nor did we have the time to try to learn, because we both worked full time). And, at the time Kubota had 0% financing, so that’s what we did.

I would agree that the closer dealer is probably better, but our dealership is 30+ minutes away and it hasn’t been an issue; they have picked up the tractor for service twice…and I don’t suppose it would have made any difference if they were closer or not. Once for a PTO issue, and another time to replace a rear tire that we punctured.

[Jim_in_PA]

0% financing can definitely influence a decision, especially with brands that hold their value so used prices remain “up there”…

[airhorse]

Wet manure can be pretty flipping heavy, and an FEL full of it could be a big tipping hazard on a small tractor. Be smart and get something big enough to be safe. Heck, I have to be careful with our 4720 and a big bucket of poop. Make sure you get a good weight box, and fill it with the heaviest stuff you can get, ours is full of lead and Portland cement.

Get your doors as tall as you can, you won’t regret it.

[SLW]

We have a JD 2320 with FEL, rake, box blade, drag and post hole digger. It is chic friendly to use and it fits in the nooks and crannies of our little place perfectly! Total work horse!

[ayrabz]

ALL of the responses have been SO HELPFUL. Thanks, everybody!!!
airhorse: its not just the ‘shed’ to hold it that will have limitations to it being small, it is also that my manure bins will not have a huge wide expanse for a big FEL to even ‘get into’. I’d say 4 ft. across is going to be max? So, yes, I need it powerful but need it to ‘fit’ in a tiny farmette with small paddocks (tight turns) and small manure bins, and small shed area. I can indeed raise the shed height…but cannot widen it or widen the manure bin fronts.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=SLW;7741831]
We have a JD 2320 with FEL, rake, box blade, drag and post hole digger. It is chic friendly to use and it fits in the nooks and crannies of our little place perfectly! Total work horse! :)[/QUOTE]

Several small horse operations here have that model and they all love it.
I have not seen one with a backhoe, but they had other attachments.
Here are some used ones for sale, so you can see what they look like, but new ones don’t cost much more, worth it for the warranty some times:

http://www.tractorhouse.com/list/list.aspx?manu=JOHN+DEERE&mdltxt=2320

I still say a pallet forks are indispensable, with a pallet make a great platform for so many uses, from hauling all kinds of bulky stuff to lifting someone high enough to paint or change lightbulbs, or whatever you need to do high up there on a firmer platform than a ladder.
Just don’t get some so heavy it leaves less weight lift power:

http://danuser.com/attachments/pallet-forks?gclid=Cj0KEQjwspCgBRCiwOjBxeCcm-kBEiQAooz6tzRFkypFbfx1Hn4qVgAmkmCW5tQ1QuQSJcIs0y4wMEIaAugl8P8HAQ

You can also get some pallet forks that just attach to the FEL bucket front:

http://www.bucketsolutions.com/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwspCgBRCiwOjBxeCcm-kBEiQAooz6txBgEfB9Y6wCopu3A5z_xbeAll6wYd-XxhVmJNNdgJUaAknc8P8HAQ

Important with any tractor that you get 4x4 and with FEL that it is a quick attach system, so changing the bucket is not a big chore.

[airhorse]

Pretty sure you can put a smaller bucket on the FEL. Another thing to opt for is the Bobcat attachment vs the Deere attachment, the former gives you a much wider variety of implements you can put on the FEL.

Also, for moving poop, the bobcat style buckets are much higher capacity than the standard utility buckets.

[Jim_in_PA]

airhorse, the subcompacts have a low enough weight limit on the FEL that pretty much keeps them to 48". Without looking it up, my BX maxes out at about 425 lbs or so…and I only every move that much with my 700 lb backhoe on the back and with the bucket down pretty low. If you try to put more weight in the bucket…the hydraulic system just can’t lift it. To-date, it’s been unusual for any type of “quick attach” to be available on the FEL of a subcompact, but that’s starting to change. I believe that Kubota is now offering this based on something I saw the other day when I passed by one of the local dealers.

[Calvincrowe]

As Jim said, the lifting power of the sub compact tractors pretty much eliminates the “lift and flip” possibilities. Our wee tractor moves manure, mows, pulls fence posts, drags pastures, and a billion other farm chores on our 5 acres. We got 0% interest 6 years ago and got a mid mount finish mower and a brush hog.

[King_s_Ransom]

Ayrabz, I bought JD also because of the close proximity of a dealer. I have a JD riding mower that is pushing 10 years old, been rode hard and put up wet, and definitely overfaced (cutting fields, not just lawns) and it still runs like a top. I am sort of a JD apostle.

I bought a JD 2305 back in 2008. It’s got 4WD, and I got the FEL and a brush hog attachment. We use the HECK out of the FEL, it’s done everything from haul manure, to pull fence posts, to haul every heavy thing on this farm, to digging out 1/4 mile of drifted-in road. You name it, honestly, this little beast has done it.

I don’t believe John Deere makes it anymore, and I’ve seen a LOT of good deals online for used ones. I know of a guy who has two of them, the second one he bought used. They are just dang good machines.

As you know, I have 17 acres and 4 horses. If I had it to do over, I would get the belly mower, too. In fact, I’m trying to find one now.

For comparison purposes, I paid $15,000 new for the tractor, FEL, brush hog and extended maintenance plan. The maintenance plan was over $1,000 and it was a rip-off, would not do that again!

By the way, my nearby JD dealer closed this summer and opened in a new suburban location almost 30 miles away. So there’s that … :mad:

Edited to add: You could not put enough wet poop in this thing to even give it a hiccup! I would not worry about that at all with the 2300 series JD (mine is similar to SLW’s, but a couple of years older). The size of the bucket and the weight of horse poop just do not add up to a tipping problem. The only time we have EVER been CLOSE to tipping is when we used it to haul limestone screenings. As it turns out, you CAN put enough limestone screenings in the bucket to make the tractor unstable. There is an easy fix for this – do not load the bucket that full with something that dense and heavy! Oh, or you could hire a guy with a bobcat for a couple of hours and let him move the limestone screenings, this is by far the safer and more efficient alternative! :lol:

[airhorse]

What I was saying is putting a smaller bucket on a bigger FEL.

OP, have you considered a small skid steer vs a tractor?"

[ayrabz]

hmm…ok, gotta figure out how the ‘smaller bucket’ would make the difference if the arms/front end of the rig could not reach all the way L to R into the front of the bin…also, keep this in mind as well (everyone mentioning not 'overloading the FEL) I will ONLY have either: a newer spreader, or the smallest one mill creek makes. I can’t see me loading a huge load to ‘drop’ into one of those little ones…the bucket portion will have to be proportionate to the little spreader as well…(this is starting to sound like an Alan Jackson song…)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo2OIUpWznY Its alright to be litty bitty…

and, no… I hadn’t? considered a skid steer? I think I’ll have to research ‘skid steer’ to know if all the uses of a small tractor would be covered by one…

[Jim_in_PA]

OP, you learn to work within the limits of the FEL on a subcompact…I have done some really big jobs with mine. It just takes a little longer than with a bigger machine.

BTW, I originally had the mid-mount mower, but moved to a ZTR for that task after a few years. The MMM was nice, but it’s very heavy and has to be removed to do heavy FEL work and also, in your case, may need to be removed to get into tight spaces. If you have a paved/concrete area to do that, it’s a lot easier. (I did not) Some subcompacts do now support “drive on/drive off” mid-mount mower setups, but that was not a feature of my BX22…

[ayrabz]

I have a nice Husquvarna (sp)…beefier than a typical mower, but no FEL, etc.
I guess? I never even considered a skid steer…I just expected for the bucks to replace the Husky mower with the sub compact JD and then get the attachments. I suppose? I can keep the Husky and a nice poly dump cart, and use it to pull/groom stuff, and a skid steer for lifting? moving? things? I dunno…My fried brain cells aren’t fireing completely on this one. Not sure what to do.

[Bluey]

Skid loaders are excellent for so much, but you have to realize you can’t see good behind them.
They are made so you can turn them around in one spot easily, so don’t have to back up or see behind you.
That restricts so much you can do with a real tractor you need to do on a farm.

Most farms have a tractor with FEL first, then a skid loader if they can use a second machine.

If you can only use one, go tractor, for farm use.

[ayrabz]

Thanks Bluey. I think the direct : no, this not that is BEST for me right now! appreciate it.

[hosspuller]

A couple of thoughts on your shed…

Make sure your doors are 7 feet tall clear. Meaning something 7 feet tall can go through it. or what ever height you desire. The roll up mechanism requires some height above the opening.

Do not plan on folding the ROPS to get into the shed every time. One moment of distraction will mean a destroyed shed… Or no roll over protection because you forgot to put the ROPS up.