What tractor to get? Advice wanted.

SethVT

New User
Hi,

I am new to this forum, but I've been reading a bunch of different threads on older tractors. I'm looking for a tractor to do four main functions: First, mowing my 1/2 acre lawn with a mower attachment. Second, mow about an acre of field with a sickle bar or bush hog type mower. Third, mow some short, but steep banks with a sickle bar. Fourth, use with a trailer to help me bring cut wood out of the woods. Any recommendations?

I am not mechanical, but I do have two people nearby that work on small tractors.

Seth
 
From what your saying you would most likely need something bigger then the standard lawn tractor.

Something like say an Farmall cub or IH cub lowboy or one of many compact farm tractors.
 
Hi SethVT, welcome to the site, as posted for those tasks you'll want tp look into a cut / compact utility tractor or a Scut sub-compact, have you looked into the cost of sickle mowers they tend to be very spendy, you maybe be better off with a lawn tractor to mow your 1/2 acre lawn with and a compact for the other jobs as the larger tractor maybe a bit clumsy for the lawn.
GB in MN
 
I suggest that you get a LAWN TRACTOR to look after mowing your 1/2 acre of grass. While you need a much larger machine to look after the other chores, I am thinking that you will find a large machine to be unwieldy for
lawn cutting duties on such a small area, especially if you have obstacles such as trees and flower beds to negotiate.

Sickle bar mowers in good repair are not that easy to find. I am not aware of any company making them any longer due to them being very dangerous and difficult to upkeep. Why not hire a local farmer to plough, disc and
harrow your acre of rough ground and then plant it with grass seed? Then you could mow it regularly by purchasing a decent garden tractor instead of a lawn tractor. The short but steep banks could be kept under control
with Round-up or with a HD line trimmer. Working close to steep banks with a tractor-mounted sickle bar mower can be dangerous. One error in judgment and you can find yourself at the bottom of the ditch with the tractor
on top of you.

A decent garden tractor with AG tires on the rear that are loaded with Rim Guard and fitted with proper weights will have no problem pulling a reasonable sized trailer out of the woods. Whether you need one with 4 wheel
drive and diff lock will depend upon the road you are travelling when it comes to grade, rutting, mud and other issues. Without actually seeing all these areas, it is not easy for any of us to recommend a specific machine for
you to buy. In other words...... not enough information.
 
Hi Tom, your maybe thinking of GT sickle mowers and your most likely right no new ones being built but there are a number of mfgs of new larger mowers for Scuts abd CUTs as well as farm tractors there's a EnoRossi that has 4.5 5.5 ft and larger mowers. but like I said not cheap there's a 4.5" on e bay now with a $3165.00 starting bid.
GB in Mn
 
I would consider a Farmall Super A with a Woods belly mower. I replaced an International Cub Cadet back about 1988 with one and used it to mow the lawn, and haul firewood from the woods. Had a PTO shaft on it to run the homemade wood splitter. Took it to WI. in 1991 to mow the lawn and rake hay. The woods mower did just as nice a job, and climbed the hills and turned just as short as the Cub Cadet. It is still possible to find sickle bar mowers for them or mount a Bush Hog type mower on them if you put an after market 3Pt hitch on it. Mowing steep banks who knows? I still have the Woods mower and tractor. This summer it's at a church 10 miles away and my daughter is mowing around the church and at least a 1 acre ball field every week. I had it up for sale in the spring because I only have half an acre here and 3 garden tractors with mowers. Probably won't sell it now. It's only 69 years old and still going strong.
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Theres a loaded question if I ever saw one.LOL

Im guessing this is a new to you property? You would probably do ok for starters with a good condition heavy garden tractor but since you say you are not mechanically inclined that may involve a learning curve keeping one maintained. Most older GTs will allow the deck to be lifted high enough for rough areas and they can go straight up or down steeper slopes rather than going sideways and risking a roll over, but you can lower the deck and do a reasonable job on the lawn. Sickle mowers on GTs are more of novelty than a useful tool IMO, unless you run it upright to trim the hedges. You dont have enough property to warrant starting out with a CUT tractor but you have more than an LT can handle. Theres plenty of mid 70s to mid 80s GTs than can do what you need as a starter machine but in time you will want more than one.... some examples... MF 1200 to 1855, Ford LGT 100-165, MTD 960-990, Allis Chalmers 900s.... etc,etc. Look for something with at least 12" rear rims and that weighs more than 800 lbs, that will will get you by for now.

I have 3 acres and my first GT was an MTD960, that was 6 years ago and I now, six years later, buy/fix/sell lawn and garden equip for a living, Ive sold many but I keep the ones that prove useful, my smallest is a 1957 Bolens 6.6hp, my largest is a IH 154 LoBoy, and I still have that MTD960.
 
I am with the others, forget the sicklebar unless you have experience with them and go with a "brush hog" type mower for the non-lawn areas. Two problems with older tractors (and I love them OK?) A-Maintainance (can you do it yourself?) and B- is the model specific attachments. Now if you can preform all your own repairs and you find a nice package with all equipment you need then have at it and enjoy! If not A 20-30 HP compact tractor with 3 point and rear mounted equipment would be the way to go. You should also heavily investigate diesels. We mow and maintain a little over 3 acres and half the time use our old Ingersols and Cub Cadets and the rest of the time use our diesel Kubota. The fuel savings with the diesel is a lot more than chicken feed. Checkout a 15-20 year old diesel compacts, Deere, Kubota, Yanmar(deere) Cub Cadet made a few decent ones also.
 
Thanks for all the good advice.

I like the looks of the older tractors so much, especially the ones like the Farmall Super A. I like that with the Woods belly mower. To me, that era tractor is just so cool looking. I had a neighbor who used to do a whole bunch of stuff with his red Cub, including loading a wagon full of us younger kids off the car worthy roads down to the river to swim, so I have always had a fondness for Farmall tractors. Plus, my grandfather gave me a ride on one of the narrow units when I was a child (he was a farmer in VT - why did they sell those narrow fronted tractors to people in the hill country of Vermont?)

Good advice about plowing the area under. For some reason, that had not occurred to me. If I do that, since it is all nice and flat, I think I'll just make it into lawn. It is all right along a brook and there is minimal brush in the fields at the moment. Just huge weeds and some unevenness, which, if it was plowed under and graded a bit, would be fine.

Sounds like the sickle bar is out. Thanks for the good advice, about this.

Could I use one of those offset Swisher or DR units to do the bank?

I'll look into the diesel units.

Thanks again for all the advice.
 
The question here is.......... what is the SAFEST way for you to look after those banks? Even a walk-behind rough-cut mower can be dangerous if the bank is too steep or too rough. Do you really want to try muscling such a
machine around on those banks? This is why I suggested spraying those areas with Round Up and then using a line trimmer to knock down the dead stalks. The ideal method is a boom mounted hydraulic hammer knife
mower. GOOGLE "boom mounted hammer mower" to see photos. This device mounts to a large tractor and allows the operator to mow large areas from the tractor seat with the tractor safely on level ground. Of course,
such a set up is not economically practical for you but I wanted you to be aware that mowers like this are in use to solve the problem you are facing.

A sprayer boom could be constructed to work on any garden tractor that would allow you to spray a ten to twelve foot area to one side of the tractor as you drive along. In the long run, spraying is the least costly method of
wee control. If you were to plough, disc, harrow and then put down grass seed in the large field, then all you need is a decent garden tractor such as an Ingersoll 4016, 4018 or 4020 to mow all the grassed areas. A spray
cart with a 25 gallon tank and electric pump can be towed by the garden tractor. A spray boom can be made from rigid plastic pipe and readily available spray nozzles that are sized to the pump output.

Harbour Freight has spraying setups for reasonable prices.
 

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