Minimum HP for Tractor

I guess the reason for my "bigger is better" thinking is my lifetime of running heavy equipment. Nothing makes for a long day like having a D4 where you should have a D6. Carrying a wheelbarrow full of dirt is, .....well, for a wheelbarrow ! And spinning your wheels pulling a 6' disc is burning up fuel and time that I could better spend in another endeavor. My 57 hp Kubota served me well, but I intend to get an 8' mower and possibly a tiller, so I moved up one size. I bought it after plotting and mowing season so there won't be any proof until I've used it doing what I've done with the other one.
 
Already have got some good advice. I agree, buy the biggest you can afford that fits the land you are working. A 30-40hp is sufficient but personally Id go upper 40s. May not realize it but a 5 series JD is as cheap or cheaper than a 4 series simply because of the group being sold to.
As for brand, I won't argue as to their are lots of great tractors out there. But my 150000mile jeep pulls more trade in than any other vehicle, my HD trades better than any other brand. They may not be better but the perception and the number of people in the market for the brand is greater. My 4yo JD traded for my new JD with full price of what I paid for the older. And when getting quotes, throw the orange against the green, they hate each other and will beat the price or throw in extra just not to lose out to the competitor.
Few suggestions....My JD is a 46 series. It handles 6 ft bushhog and a 74 in rototiller with no problem on my hard soils and hillsides. 4wd is a must if for no other reason when you are hauling a log up the mountain side, or digger a trench with the bucket. And as mentioned, PTO hp is prob more important than the engine hp, but they all fudge those figures anyway.
And sit the back tires out, and have them filled with fluid. Ag tires only unless you are mowing your yard. Makes huge diff on handling.
Finally if you can, get a cab. I fought it for years, but once having one, its the bomb. No worries of bees, pollen, dust, cold, heat. I can bushhog for hours, jamming to the radio, get out of cab and meet family for dinner with no cleanup. Open cab you are covered by pollen and dust and dirt. Good luck.
 
Excellent advice Dogghr. My next tractor will have a cab and it will double as a driveway snowblower. Here in late August/early September the yellow jackets are ferocious and enough of them are even life threatening; that alone is enough reason for a cab not even including blowing snow in near zero temps. You know how to live in luxuries that are important Dogghr!
 
Let me second the cabbed tractor ! Before I got my M5700, I had a commercial Case-IH 380B with a ROPS. Whatever I stirred up bush hogging I ate, breathed, or wore. Ten minutes in the wrong wind and it looked like I rolled in it, but the sneezing and snotting was the worst part.

A word about dealer support, and this ain't gonna work for everyone. My local dealer sucks ! Incompetent, expensive, and s l o w. I rely on an independent mechanic to work on my backhoe, my farm tractor, and my dozer before I sold it. He's not dirt cheap, but he's honest, reasonable, fast, and most importantly, he's good at what he does. If I need a/c work, I use a guy that only does a/c work on equipment. Same thing, honest, reasonable, fast, and knowledgeable. I learned as a contractor that dealerships are usually the worst places to get anything repaired unless it's under warranty. YMMV
 
250 hp FWA minimum....... lol at least for me, but your needs may be different than mine.

Not sure on the smaller tractors, but on the bigger farm tractors, the manufacturers cannot fudge anything, because to be sold in Nebraska every model has to undergo a Nebraska Tractor Test, which every aspect of the tractors performance is recorded on cement track so every tractor has a fair comparison against each other.

http://tractordata.com/ is a good way to find specs on different machines, I know they have Kubota and probably others
 
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If budget is in the consideration, I would rather have an older slightly bigger tractor than a brand new smaller one. I would definitely make sure it had four-wheel-drive and a loader. The older tractors in my mind were better designed and are definitely easier to work on. It is hard to beat a 5300 or 5310 or something in those series John Deere tractors For food plot and maintenance work. Like blue truck, I’m also coming at this from a farming background so to me bigger is always better LOL.
 
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I unloaded my P.O.S. Farmtrac last year (did I mention it was a POS?) and got a new Kubota MX5200. Although it has 10 more HP than the Farmtrac, it's almost 1,000 lbs lighter. I do notice the difference in weight. Heavy is good.
The Kubota does have a gen 4 motor which I'm not crazy about, but so far, it hasn't been an issue. Those new engines need to be ran hard to minimize re-generating.

The Farmtrac had a crazy lift capacity for the FEL...3,500 lbs! But the lift cylinders were bigger than the pump to run them. Man, they could lift but they were soooo slow.

My Kubota has hydro transmission and I love it for my purposes. I like hydro better for brush hog work because if I want to keep the RPM up in order to run the PTO at 540, I never need to change gears on steep hills. I've really reduced tilling in the last few years and doing more Throw and mow, so the hydro is doing everything I need it to.

After owning the Farmtrac, I realized I would never buy another "off brand" tractor. 1 month after I bought it, Farmtrac went bankrupt and at the same time, my tractor started having serious mechanical issues. No warrantee at that point (on a tractor with only 50 hours on it!!), so I had to pay for all repairs that would have been covered if Farmtrac was still in business. So, buy a brand of tractor made by a company that has a long history and isn't expected to go belly up any time soon. And the distance to the dealer from your place is important. The nearest Farmtrac dealer (that would touch my tractor) was 80 miles away. Hauling the thing to get fixed got expensive.
 
I’d go at least 40-50hp if you ever want to pull a no till drill. Most of the 10’ drills I’ve looked into or rented require 50hp I think. My 60hp has all it can handle when I pull a 10’ drill. You can obviously buy smaller drills but around me the smallest you can rent is 10’.


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Well, found a 350 hour, gently used Kubota L3200 for $13.5K, taxes included. Gear shift, but that is all I've ever driven so I don't know what I'm missing. Big enough to do everything I need. Thanks for the suggestions, I definitely stepped up a few HP based on the input.
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TheOldOak said:
Well, found a 350 hour, gently used Kubota L3200 for $13.5K, taxes included. Gear shift, but that is all I've ever driven so I don't know what I'm missing. Big enough to do everything I need. Thanks for the suggestions, I definitely stepped up a few HP based on the input.
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You won’t be disappointed with the orange!
 
The tires sure do vouch for the low hours on the meter. It looks beautiful, my tires looked like that at one time but they are really showing their age now. Good luck with your new tractor. As my tractor repair guy told me way back when, "Congratulations on adding the new member to the family".
 
TreeDaddy said:
is that a 6040?^^^^^^

i have had mine for 9 years and love it

bill
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Yes it is. I use the forks more than the bucket ! Gathering up and hauling blowdowns and trimmed limbs to my burn pile, moved my hog trap, etc. I even drove some T posts in beside my hog trap a couple days ago to anchor it. It makes that an easy one man job instead of a grunt-and-strain job. ;)

It has a few hours on it, but from what I could tell, they were easy hours. The lift arms and bucket on the FEL have zero slack in them and the original paint is on the bucket. Looks as though maybe mowing or cutting hay was it's primary use. At any rate, no gouges, bent metal, all the lights and mirrors intact. Unlike the M5700 I had. Since this is the last tractor I'll ever own, I'm gonna take a little better care of the cosmetics on it. :)
 
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L2800 is a good option judging by your description, it is not so powerful, I think that it even has less than 28 HP . In addition, it can be configured for a lower power output.
For example, my last tractor also had about 28 hp, but it had more power output since I did a little work on the engine. However, then I sold it and bought a new good tractor from the zetor tractors range and I did not need to change anything in it, as it suited me absolutely completely.
By the way, my friend has an MX5200, which is quite good for its price. However, he started having some problems with the transmission and he doesn't know what to do!
 
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