Help me mull some options...

[TreeGuy]

Well, if your gonna spend 10k, look at some of those rigs on CL. For 13-14-15k you can have a tractor and complete the work. Total project may cost you a couple more bucks for stone and tile but once it's done, your left with a tractor... and a minimal payment. You could prob sell the rig for what you paid...Or spend 25k, plus materials and your left with a hefty payment and a new tractor that will not be close to your payoff within a few years.

[reeltime]

like others have said its all a personal decision.  there are a number of tractor sites/mags that have equipment for sale.

 

generally speaking its tough to get an all around perfect fit tractor,  there are few if any multi use tractors with quick attach backhoe/ loader implements that can even hold a candle to the digging/lifting power of an actual backhoe. Unfortunately backhoes generally do not have rear pto's to run farm implements. 

I have no experience with the construction or reliability/dependability of the mahindra line of tractors.  we have a small diesel kubota 4x4 tractor with a loader, within its capabilities its been a good tractor for the last 10 years with little issue with it. 

We ran the gammot with farm tractors/ loaders for years, never satisfied and always on the lookout for a backhoe.  Finally we found a good used older backhoe CK580 with full enclosed cab. It wont win a beauty contest and needed some work ( replaced the clutch, replaced some of the hydrolic lines to the point of over the last 15 years we have replaced them all  (not cheap)  I think we paid around 8k for the backhoe.

I would agree that 24 hp. would be a min. to even consider and as was said hp at pto is crucial. matching implements to desired job is a must also, what I mean is if your going to be doing heavy brush hogging ( small trees, rough ground, multifloral rose etc. ) buy a good heavy duty brush hog. some of the so called brush hogs are very cheaply made with very cheap and weak gearboxes.  

there are some great buys out there on used equipment, there is also junk out there for sale. We probably looked at 20 backhoes before we pulled the trigger.  We are more inclined to buy used since we are very mechanically inclined and new is just too much money.  We kinda have a tractor fetish since we have 20 or 21 plus the back hoe. :-)   if you are not handy mechanically, likely new would be a better option.

 

 

Just a question on the 0% financing..... is that 0% if paid in full before month 85? Often times those 0% deals have some pretty stiff penalties if not paid off before the 0% deadline. what i mean is you make 0% payments for 84 monthes and still have a balance on the principle but they wack you with the full interest all the way back to the beginning of the loan.

As far as using the equipment for odd jobs,  that is a personal decision, the more you use the equipment the greater your maintenance costs are going to be.  Keep the oil and filter changes on a regular schedule as well as keeping it greased. Preventative maintenance goes a LONG way in a tractors life, as does keeping it out of the weather.  Insurance is a must as it only takes 1 mistake to rack up huge damage amount.  and certainly a digsafe call before ever digging..

If you do rent, generally you pay X amount per day machine cost plus X amount per hour, so don't let the machine set and idle.

 

good luck.

 

 

[Adkhunter1590]

Well, if your gonna spend 10k, look at some of those rigs on CL. For 13-14-15k you can have a tractor and complete the work. Total project may cost you a couple more bucks for stone and tile but once it's done, your left with a tractor... and a minimal payment. You could prob sell the rig for what you paid...Or spend 25k, plus materials and your left with a hefty payment and a new tractor that will not be close to your payoff within a few years.

I agree I'm a perfect candidate for a used machine. And in all honesty, that's exactly what I began looking at. Until I ran into the high interest rates on used equipment. I'm going to call my local bank this coming week and see what they can do for me. If I can get a decent rate, I'll be all over a used one.

The mahindras definitely don't seem to hold their value quite as well as kubota or JD. But it's kinda expected. Just like a Honda cruiser bike doesn't hold its value like a Harley. You pay for that name a lot more often than not. The big draw to the mahindra was that their max series is priced similar/less than the kubota BX series or JD 1 series while being bigger in size and capabilities to either one. Kubota BX is too small in my opinions and so are the JD 1 series. Mahindra max gets you bigger tires and heavier duty frame, axles and all that good stuff. I've seen mahindra described as a value brand, but with a pretty good reliability rating. I can get a Max 24 with loader and BH and 3 implements for the same price as a kubota BX TLB. Add implements to the kubota package and the price starts to skyrocket.

But my search for a nice used kubota or JD with some implements is not over!

[TreeGuy]

What area are you located ?

[Adkhunter1590]

What area are you located ?

Greenville...southwest of Albany about 25-30 miles.

[Bowshotmuzzleloader]

I would rent a piece of equipment , 84 payments and the tractor is going to lose its fun appeal very quick, using a machine and the up keep doing work is going to turn into not fun real quick also no matter the money you think it will yield...  

Not to metion no 4 wheeler and when your wife needs a new vehicle or something else comes up your screwed,, Just my two cents,, if the wife Is giving you resistance now wait 60 months for the told you so ....

Sounds like you looking for an excuse to spend a lot of money for a new toy to solve a problem that renting a piece of equipment will solve and save your family a lot of money and grief  JMO..

Sometimes us cavemen think backwards I know I've been guilty..

Edited February 26, 2017 by Bowshotmuzzleloader

[Core]

If you are 100% sure you'll end up with that 40 acres, it does lend itself to the notion of owning a tractor, though I might want to wait until it's literally in your name and nothing else goes wrong; for all you know somebody could come in and offer that lady a price you can't. I'd want to locked down firm first. 

[Adkhunter1590]

If you are 100% sure you'll end up with that 40 acres, it does lend itself to the notion of owning a tractor, though I might want to wait until it's literally in your name and nothing else goes wrong; for all you know somebody could come in and offer that lady a price you can't. I'd want to locked down firm first. 

Trust me, I'm 110% prepared to put my house up for sale if she sells it before I get to it. My wife was warned of that before we even bought this place. I originally wanted more land but we were in a hurry when buying and I compromised with her on this house. At the point that I'll be ready to buy the old lady's 40, I'll be in just as good of a position to sell and buy a bigger lot elsewhere. I'm chomping at the bit to buy land now, but I told my wife I'd hold off for a couple more years until she was fully in charge at her dads shop.

Good news is that the old lady isn't planning on selling right now. She offered to sell me some of it already when I was having zoning issues with the town over my solar panel array. I told her I'd like to buy the whole thing at once rather than buy 2 acres now, that way a survey gets done once and we only deal with the town once. She agreed that made more sense, this is when she gave me permission to treat the land as my own, she only wants me to keep other locals out that have been a problem in the past.

[cityboy]

I see your situation better now. Just throwing an idea out. What about a French Drain from the NW corner of the coop running to the SW? Could that eliminate half your problem now for much less cost? 

[Adkhunter1590]

I see your situation better now. Just throwing an idea out. What about a French Drain from the NW corner of the coop running to the SW? Could that eliminate half your problem now for much less cost? 

Would like to do that but when I expand the leach field I'm headed that way. French drain would cross the middle of my new field. Plus I couldn't make it all the way to the ditch because I have solar panels on the far west edge of the property with electrical line buried across the yard to the house. I'm gonna have to keep the leach field to the north of these lines too.

[Core]

6 hours ago, Adkhunter1590 said:

 

 

Trust me, I'm 110% prepared to put my house up for sale if she sells it before I get to it. My wife was warned of that before we even bought this place. I originally wanted more land but we were in a hurry when buying and I compromised with her on this house. At the point that I'll be ready to buy the old lady's 40, I'll be in just as good of a position to sell and buy a bigger lot elsewhere. I'm chomping at the bit to buy land now, but I told my wife I'd hold off for a couple more years until she was fully in charge at her dads shop.

Good news is that the old lady isn't planning on selling right now. She offered to sell me some of it already when I was having zoning issues with the town over my solar panel array. I told her I'd like to buy the whole thing at once rather than buy 2 acres now, that way a survey gets done once and we only deal with the town once. She agreed that made more sense, this is when she gave me permission to treat the land as my own, she only wants me to keep other locals out that have been a problem in the past.

 

 

I also want land, but my wife wants closer to the city. We're deciding now if we're going to put in an offer on 6 acres at a price I dare not mention here. Even junk acreage is $6.5k/acre

[TreeGuy]

So, what are we buying ?

[helmut in the bush]

I have a JD 855, I think it has 26hp, If I put a back hoe on it and tried to do any real work with it, it would take forever or probably break something. Don't get me wrong here, it's a great thing to have around the house but, it's not a piece of construction equipment. I would rent a mini and a skid steer with tracks and hire a real operator to run the mini on a weekend. You'll save time and material, that way you can save up for your tractor 

[philoshop]

You might want to look into a used mini excavator to just get your close-in work done like the leach field and drainage around the house. They can often be purchased at very reasonable prices and with generally low hours. Contractors tend to keep them on hand just for tight-space jobs, but they'll do a lot more 'work' than a backhoe accessory on a smallish tractor when it comes to trenching and backfilling and you'll probably get your money back when you sell. Then you can buy a tractor without having to spend for the backhoe accessory which is likely not inexpensive.

As far as the financing concerns go, you may able to do the work that needs to be done with a small dedicated machine and resell it before you even make the second payment. Then you can work on the wish list of tractor & accessories for the other jobs and decide on a size.

I guess my point is: buy the right tool for the job. It's just my two cents on the matter.

PS. You'll probably fall in love with the mini excavator and won't want to sell it anyway. Your neighbor with the bigger equipment might even steer some work your way if you decide to go the business route.

 

[Adkhunter1590]

So, what are we buying ?

Something....soon. Haha. I'm doing my homework for now. I've concluded I need one, and the wife is warming up to idea a bit. So it shouldn't take much longer to get her on board. I'm guessing right about the time it warms up and she gets outside more and really sees all the projects we have ahead of us, she'll see the light. Plus the 2 big pines in the front yard that were cut in half by previous owner she hates and wants gone badly. But those stumps aren't coming out without being dug...by a backhoe on my tractor. Lol.

I'm waiting on a email back from the guy at my bank about rates on a used tractor. If the rates are good I'll put more effort into finding what I want used. I have seen a couple contestants. But I really wanna buy the tractor with all the implements I want as a package deal. All on one loan so I can be done with it. I'm positive I could spend less on finding used implements, but me going around doing that looks like I'm spending more money to the wife. Haha. If I did it all at once she can only yell at me once! Better to ask for forgiveness one time.

I actually talked to a old friend I haven't spoke to since high school who started a side business doing bush hogging and light grading work, making some driveways etc. He said he bought the tractor for some stuff he needed done and then people started asking him to do this and that and he ended up making a LLC and is going for it. Said he did pretty good last summer especially for it being a side thing. The area he's living in is far more economically depressed than mine, so I find that kinda encouraging if I did decide to do something on the side like that.

I'd be pretty inclined to try and advertise for food plot creation. I've got 2 guys at work that want me to make them some if I get a tractor. I'm thinking it could be something worth advertising for. It's food for thought at least.

Wife's lease on her SUV is up next month. I think I'm gonna wait until we turn that in and pick up a new car before I go buy a tractor. Plus I'm still waiting to turn in my VW TDI under the buyback. That's a $300 a month payment that I really don't wanna pay anymore, since I haven't driven the car since last summer!! For fear of it breaking down and not being able to get it bought back I parked it, but still paying on it sucks. This whole VW scandal thing is a bunch of BS and VW has made sure to screw the consumers around in the process.

[Lawdwaz]

Just wondering.........Is it Orange, green, red or blue?

[Buckmaster7600]

Before you get too far into this let me give you a little advice. I couldn't live 1 day without a tractor. I use mine 4 or 5 times a weeks and couldn't imagine not having them. My grandfather had a construction/excavating company and I have been running equipment since I could walk.

A 25hp tractor with a hoe is right on the edge of being useless, and yes I have ran them more than I wanted to. They lack power and weight to do any real digging and are honestly are not much faster than a shovel.

On the side job thing, let's say you want to put a bid in on a Drainage job and someone else places a bid with a mini trac hoe and a skid steer/tractor. His bid will likely be half of yours because he can do the job in half the time or faster.

A tractor of that size with a hoe is just not good enough at much of anything to try to do it as a side job. For a homeowner they are handy because efficiency isn't important just not as a business when time is money.

I know many do it but I couldn't imagine having a payment on any toy, yes a tractor is a toy. My vote rent a mini excavator with a blade and do your job, if you want a tractor for food plots/ trail clearing find an old 8/9n or similar for 2/3k with some implements and have fun with it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Adkhunter1590]

Just wondering.........Is it Orange, green, red or blue?

Haha. It was almost Red....but then the wife came to me with a compromise. She says let's build a new garage this year and work on getting a tractor I want next year. I've been dying for a new garage so I was happy with that. Compiling quotes now for the garage, first one was extremely high so I'm hoping the next few will be more realistic.


I do have a Ford 8n I can use for my food plots and such. It's my neighbors and I used it last year but I hate using other people's stuff which made me want to get my own. Plus my buddy and his dad are buying some hunting land soon so I'll need something to get their place set up. I'm deff looking for more HP when the time comes, will be looking for a used 30-40hp

[Buckmaster7600]

Haha. It was almost Red....but then the wife came to me with a compromise. She says let's build a new garage this year and work on getting a tractor I want next year. I've been dying for a new garage so I was happy with that. Compiling quotes now for the garage, first one was extremely high so I'm hoping the next few will be more realistic.


I do have a Ford 8n I can use for my food plots and such. It's my neighbors and I used it last year but I hate using other people's stuff which made me want to get my own. Plus my buddy and his dad are buying some hunting land soon so I'll need something to get their place set up. I'm deff looking for more HP when the time comes, will be looking for a used 30-40hp

I have 4 different tractors right now, JD4020 90hp, Farmal 560 55hp "toy", JD 70diesel 45hp "toy" and a JD 1070 4wd
35hp.

The 1070 gets 95% of the hours just because it's the handiest. The 4020 does all the plowing/ disking in the spring then has weeds growing around it. The Farmal and the 70 are just toys that I pull at the fair and play around with.

For playing around with food plots cleaning a driveway and other yard work it's hard to beat a 35hp 4wd tractor with a bucket. That being said the newer tractors are on smaller lighter frames. I know when I was thinking about a new tractor I was going to need to be in a 45-50hp tractor to equal what mine is. My cousin lives next door and he has a new 40hp kubota hydro and he and I both a agree that it's not near the tractor mine is but its a lot nicer to run.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[52 farmer]

Don't discount the other orange tractor,Kioti.I had a NH 35 hp,bought new 2003,wanted a new tractor 2014,wanted a 40 ish HP, looked at all of them,Kioti was only one that was same size as old NH,all others shrunk the tractors.Kubota was a really nice tractor but i would of had to go to 47 hp to keep larger frame tractor, which had no rear remotes as standard equip.and was $5500 more than the 41hp kioti,so far its been a great tractor.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I don't know if you have looked into it but check out the stoneless septic systems. They are a snap to install and you could get by getting a mini excavator with a back fill blade and with a friend, have it in in a day if you are any good operating. I know you are trying to justify the purchase but if you are feeling rushed, it isn't the time to make the buy.

https://www.thenaturalhome.com/infiltrator.php

[airedale]

Earning her keep last week cleaning up after the Blizzard.

Edited March 20, 2017 by airedale

[tuckersdaddy]

Dont make your buying decisions o anticapated future jobs... You may not put any money in your pocket so base your purchase on current finaces. Now I say this not meaning you wont get work for it, Im saying this because operational cost will consume what income you get. Take for example your truck and trailer. More then adequate for the occasional use you are giving it now... Now whats will the situation be in 7 years when the tractor is payed off... a worn out truck, trailer, and tractor with maintanace costs exceeding the tractor payment per month, or the need to purchase new again. And on another note LLC are not cheap. starting around $1500 buy in, reaccuring yearly fees, and an afternoon a month of nonproductive paperwork. So my advise? Same as someone already gave.. rent for the current need, really plan out the future need.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[vcollaco]

I was in a similar situation with my 20 acres and a house.  Buy a tractor of your own!  I got the Mahindra 3616 with a loader and backhoe in 2014.  Best investment(purchase) I ever made. After getting estimates on foundation repairs and drainage jobs, it made more sense to buy my own and do everything myself.  If you rent, by the time you get the hang of the controls, you've wasted half a day.  You'll end up spending a few grand, which is already a year's payments.  There will always be jobs that you'll get done to make it worth the investment.  You can always turn around and sell it.  I didn't buy a used one because it is not like buying a car.  There are so many hydraulic and electrical problems that I would have no idea how to fix, and parts are expensive!  You do not know if the guy who owned it before you greased it every 10 hours, changed the oils when needed, etc.  I would not buy anything smaller than a 30 HP tractor though... I initially planned on buying a Kubota BX 25.  It would not have been enough.  It's digging depth/reach was not enough, it would've been underpowered fighting boulders, the bucket would've been too small, etc.  This tractor is my car for the next 2 years, but it is the best car I've ever owned.  Mahindra's warranty covers you too.  You can't get financing and a warranty to match on a used one. My wife at first battled me too, but once she realized that it made sense, she caved.  I would also suggest buying all attachments you might need with it.  Only adds a few dollars each month.  Where is your place?

[52 farmer]

Not sure if this was brought up before, when you start dragging equipment around to do work with that your getting paid for you should have additional insurance that will cover you incase of problems, also you will need DOT numbers for your tow vehicle.Its not as easy as it was years agog lot more hoops to jump thru.