I have a small acreage 13 to be exact and am looking at something I can keep the weeds down with and move some dirt. This whole process is driving me nuts! Between being too small and too big for my needs and probably wanting more tractor than my need it's about enough to make a guy pull out his hair.
I think something in the 30-50 horse power range will fit my needs the best. However finding something in my price range in that size of tractor is difficult. However, finding something in the 90+ hp range in my budget is far easier. Then there is the fact that with a larger hp tractor I kind of need larger equipment to get out past the wheels to mow, scrape dirt, and while not necessary I like a front bucket at least as wide as my rear wheels puts me over budget again.
WTF is a guy to do! I'm looking about an $8-9K cash budget or $20K total with financing. I was going to buy a tractor last year but shattering my leg and being out of work for a full year between paychecks kind of made me lower my expectations of what I wanted. Last year I was ready to spend $40K but with the way "[bleep] happens" I'm lowering the expectations a lot.
I drove nearly 400 miles total yesterday to look at used and one new tractors ranging from $4-18K. The tractor I liked the best was a used 1999 Kubota L3010 HST with loader for $13K, but the 2017 Kioti CK3510 shuttle transmission was only $18K with loader. However I don't know if a 18 year old Kubota with 1000 hours is worth the money when I can get a new tractor with 6 year power train warranty for $5000 more?
Everything else I looked at was either rode hard or came in at the top of my cash budget without a loader. Or they were too small for my needs or way to large, 22 hp being the smallers and 110 hp being the largest. I'll get one too large before I settle for a small tractor.My main uses will be mowing, cleaning pens, landscaping, post hole drilling and moving an occasional round bale by 3 point.
