saab9k

Sold ford 1710 2 wheel drive some month ago, for $ 3200. It was a 24 hp, 3 cyl 900 hrs. bought it last December for resale.
November and December is the best time to find used under 30 hp, at a good price.

explodingdeer

Just looked at the picks of your new place and looks nice and peaceful. Just my .02 if you are going to have horse and moving hay around I would suggest a 35-50 horse utility tractor. My experience is 4wd in nice and I have a 4wd kubota but you can do a lot with a 2wd it just might take a little longer. The weights of the smaller tractors seem to make tasks take a really long time. By the way I would stay away from the Northern Tool tractors. My kubota has been used hard and no problems to date.

Joe T

Hmm, I'm glad I read this. I was about to list my little D190 Hinimoto 4x4 (19hp) for 1,500 including the brush hog. It's in "fair" condition.

Delectric

Be careful of the scammers on places like craigslist. I have purchased a few small tractors and run into scams now and then. The Nortrac is Chinese and their quality isn't that good. If you need parts, implements etc. the chinese stuff may be a problem. Most of the smaller, newer tractors are Japenese and very good quality. I believe there are a few Indian made tractors sold here too and as far as quality is probably better than the chinese ones. I have found great deals on Craigslist but just be aware of the scams. I actually got a Mitsubishi/Satoh 4x4, diesel tractor (plus implements) for free on Craigslist. It has a cracked piston but other than that it is in good condition.

Rough-n-Ready

Ask yourself how often you will use the tractor and how heavy of work you will be doing with it.

If you will be using the tractor daily or several times a week, stay away from the Chineese stuff! You can get away with it just fine if you are only using occasionally. They are getting popular enough that you can usually get parts, but don't expect to get them real quick.

Keep in mind that the tractors around the 20 HP range (no matter what manufacturer) are nothing more than a glorified lawn tractor. Don't expect to do very much loader work with them or drag around a very big implement. As mentioned earlier, they are not heavy enough nor do they have the power to pull much even if they are 4WD.

It sounds to me like you would be better off with a tractor in the class of small compact utility around 30-35 HP. This should handle light loader work, some tilling and mowing and scraping/grading.

I have some friends that have the chinese tractors and use them on a limited basis and are very happy with them.

I have a JD 4120 MFWD full hydrostatic (43 HP) and use it on my small hobby-farm and do a small custom tractor service on the side. It gets used almost on a daily basis and I have been happy as a clam with it. (nearly 500 hours) I bought it new a little over a year ago and would not even consider one of the Chineese tractors. The other brands of tractors I would consider in the same class are the Kubota and the Mahindra. I looked closely at both of them and they seemed very comparable. The Mahindra is an India company, but the parts are readily available in my area and the tractor seems very well-built.

Joe T

Umm, naw that is completely incorrect. My 19hp lawn mower has it's place but it certainly can't compete with the speed and mowing capability of my little 19hp hinimoto. I doubt it is even making 19 hp now at 2800+ hours and needing a fuel filter . But it still takes down brush and mows a 4 foot wide path at a quick pace, quick even for my impatient self, through very thick high grass and shrubs.

I've even pulled my other tractor at 7500lbs out of a 3 foot deep mud hole... With the little tractor in the mud (albeit not deep mud)...

You can also put a little loader on them, like an 1/8-1/4 yard to do simple driveway repairs or garden work... Or to lift something under like 600lbs.

Another thing, 4x4 is nice my little 19 horse tractor is 4x4... But you really don't need it if you can't find a good one with 4x4. I have a 2wd larger tractor and we've only got it stuck a few times.... That was being stupid on our part or just looking for trouble that caused it to get stuck.

Joe T

Also, that little hinimoto has a lil' 3-4 foot box blade and little angle grader thing. Both work fine for light work.

It helps keep about 2,000 feet of dirt road maintained. Periodic maintenance on ruts. Pour out dirt/rock with the larger tractor's front end loader, halfway smooth it, then come back through with the little tractor a couple times to finish it. Much better than shovel and garden rake

RAM2940

If you need to get it cut now, pay someone to cut it down, guessing $150 to $200. Then you can cut it with your mower until you find what you need. Like most are saying 30 to 40 horse power would able to handle a brushcutter or loader. A JD 790 or 990 but might be out of your price range.

Joe T

Not trying to argue but my little 19hp tractor was bought specifically for brushhogging. I used it on empty lots we own and out on our 52 acres. We've found that it is also handy for a little road maintenance.

People recommending a 40hp tractor to maintain 6 acres of land I think are being a bit overkill. A 30-40 hp tractor might be good in certain situations if you want to spend the extra cash on it though. One major problem with a 30-40hp tractor is that they are large and hard to fit in a most places and manuver... Forget easily mowing the ditches if they have any angle to them or anyplace with trees even if they seem far apart.
Unless he is wanting a loader to lift heavy over 500-800lbs or a medium/small backhoe I don't see the use of a large tractor... But if he really wants to mow quickly in an open field you can put a bigger brush hog on a larger tractor. At any rate you should probably pay someone to do that twice a year as it would be probably just as cost effective .

On small plots a bigger tractor can be detrimental and make things a PITA.

My lil tractor has a brush hog on it about 4 foot wide and never has a problem, if it does I just shift the PTO into low in something like thick wet grass or brush. I can run it straight through the woods and take out yopon like nothing. If I can run it over it cuts it down.

I've also backed over some easily 12 foot tall pine trees that were bigger round than a beer can. Just angled the hog up and tore them down... But I wouldn't recommend this I think it tore my brushhog up a little ouch . But it did it on more trees than I can count when I was in a hurry and had to get this spot cleared. My bigger tractor was on my land 80 miles away, but even with the bigger hog it probably isn't a good idea to do something like that. Even though I don't have a loader on my little tractor, if I did I probably could have used it for this and tore them out.

Joe T

Also, since I realized I didn't mention it....... When looking if you plan on getting a little loader check the hydrolic capability because I'd imagine some small tractors don't come with much and are intended for other purposes. Also see how universal they are to taking implements, especially for the loader because you might be able to pick one up used for pretty cheap.

You want 3 point in the rear obviously, PTO and you want that PTO to be 2 speed. Also this might be a deal breaker, but you probably will want the PTO to have a clutch integrated into it so it will slip instead of breaking the gear box. I know my Hino doesn't and I have to be careful with it because a broken gear box = a trip to the scrap yard.

And comparing my 19hp lawnmower to my 19hp Hinimoto is like comparing a big rig with a 325hp cummins to my dodge ram!

RAM2940

Joe T

Sounds like that Hini is designed for a lot of crap. The JD 790 series is a small tractor. Larger than a 650 but smaller than the 4000 series. Heres a link to the 790 and 990.

http://www.deere.com/en_US/ProductCa...RHVGzEYEGoj5Gh

Joe T

I don't know if it's designed for it, but I certainly hand it out . It's a "throw away" tractor.

But yeah, that 790 is pretty nice. I can't tell the diminsions on it though. Problem areas I'd run into with a bigger tractor used for mowing would be manuevering it. That 790 might be ok though. 27 hp is nice and should run a little brushhog pretty well.

dieselfuelonly

So, for around 4000 dollars would a 30+ HP tractor even be something I could CONSIDER finding, or am I gonna have to go with something smaller still?

Mopardan

Look around. 3 yrs ago my neighbor bought a older 27 hp Kubota tractor, disk, boom, tiller, finish mower, blade and bush hog for 6k from an older gentleman who was just tired of gardening. If your in no hurry you might just find a deal.

Joe T

Look older, like 1900 ford in 2wd if you want a larger japenese compact tractor. Those seem to be fair in price... I think they had 30-32hp and they were bad about rusting on the fenders and hood which might give some leverage in negotiation.

If you look around you *might be able to find one with under 1000hrs that has a little front loader on it. If they haven't replaced the hydrolic hoses plan on it if its older also changing all the fluid and cleaning the screen. These tractors are at least 25 years old now.

But truth be told that 790JD or something like that would probably do the same or exceed some of the older compact tractors in most areas.. Unless you plan on pulling something heavy with it like discs.