I'm lost need multi tool of old tractors.

So as we age we're no longer capable of lifting, moving,or carrying as much as we used to.. I'm at the point in my life where I need a little help. Mostly what I do is Dee stumping, brush clean up, tall grass cutting , moving rocks , moving and stacking firewood. I don't know the new equipment as well as I would like to but I know the older stuff pre 1980s good enough. I'm trying to find a tractor that I'll fit my needs. Something that I can either fit or purchase with a loader and backhoe . Relatively small farmall c or preferably smaller in size. A belly mower would be nice but A 3 point or fast hitch more it would work also. Can anybody give me a decent recommendation? trying to relatively keep the price down as at the moment everybody's pinching pennies.

Though I am an IH guy, none of the early Farmalls or internationals fit the need you describe. My suggestion is a smallest commercial Case
loader back hoe. Have it repaired/remanufactured so it is reliable, and go to work. Massy Ferguson 135 to 185 would also be great. Loaders are
not uncommon, but finding one with a back hoe might be more difficult. Finding a 3pt rear blade is easy. Renting a backhoe when needed might
solve that issue. Jim

Sad to say but renting for a weekend up in my area is extremely expensive anywhere from 400 to a $1000. Also will need to run a flail mower.

This post was edited by C4boom on 06/04/2022 at 02:18 pm.

My Farmall C doesn't have 3 pt or external hydraulics.
On the dairy, we had a Farmall H with a pipe loader. No,NO,No!
No 3 pt.

With all the things you are looking for, look at a Kubota.
Plus you get service. You want a loader, you need power
steering. Most older tractors come with Armstrong steering.

JM is the Kubota man..he knows what's the best..

You will not have a good time taking a backhoe off and on to run a mower. It is way more work than reasonable. Buy a second tractor for the
mower. Jim

I would be looking for a tractor with backhoe that
stays on.
Second tractor with loader and good 3 point and
hydraulics.
As for belly mower Ive never used one so no
experience there.
As a loader tractor I like the little diesel John deer. I
think the last 2 numbers were a 20. Good hydraulic
and 3 point and small enough to do gardening with.
Have easy steering and tight corners.

Sounds like you either need three older tractors each dedicated to a few things or maybe one newer tractor with a lot of easy on/off attachments. Neither option fits within a tight budget.

Are there people in your area with their own equipment that you can hire to do the once a year jobs? Another option is to put off some work for later.

Besides The fire wood I actually do something almost every single weekend. I have a very small chunk of property a little bit over 10 acres. Today I mowed 6 acres by hand cut split and stacked a coard of wood. Tomorrow I'll work on removing the 2 ash stumps. In my area its about 100 bucks a hour to hire equipment.

I agree with those that say you need more than one tractor. JD 1025R should be one of them. I don't know what that means by,,relatively keep the price down. There is one on Mn. Craigslist for 17,000
dollars.

IH 574, Massey 135, Ford 3000 and John Deere 2030. I
will link the information page at tractordata.com for the
IH 574. Usually there is a little diagram at the top that
you can navigate to older newer linage models as well
as bigger or smaller. Also there are multiple tabs that
cover engine, trans and other categories of
specifications. After viewing one machine you click the
bold logo at the top and it will take you to the
manufacturer brand list from there you can go to the
other tractors I listed to see what might fit your needs
best. Do you plan to do a lot of water line repairs that
you have to dig for? Backhoe are handy but are very
clunky and heavy on a machine. If you are just digging
up the occasional stump a heavy duty rear mount
blade along with a loader will get the job done. Just
angle the blade in the horizontal plane and rotate it so
the end of the blade is forward and pointing down. It
will dig down along a stump quite well.
IH 575 info

A Farmall C is pre 1980 by 30 years. There were a lot of good tractors built in the 60s and 70s.

A friend wanted to rent a backhoe. $1000 a week.
He had to have a truck, trailer plus proof of insurance.

My farmall C has a 6 ft woods belly mower.
It's less painful to have a colonoscopy than to remove the mower.

I agree you should have more than one tractor.

I wanted a tiller. I bought this GT275 years ago for $1500.

This does a better job than my neighbor's Massey with a tiller..

I decided I no longer want to remove the belly mower and install

the tiller. So I bought a second JD lawn mower and installed the 48 inch mower on it.

Having more than one tractor is better than removing a backhoe and installing a mower.

Tractor loader backhoe or TLB don't go in the same idea as a separate tractor for other things and leave the TLB as one unit. A good backhoe is a lot of maintenance in hoses and valves along with drive train if you by a used one and Want one in good shape lots of cash will fly out of your pocket or the piggy bank will be empty. Then you will need another tractor for those other jobs. Backhoes small enough to come on and off reasonably easy are not big enough to do much in the way of digging about as much good as a shovel without the effort. As for a mower that is not going to go on a TLB very well either. You need more then one tractor. Might even be getting into 3 tractors. )

Old and inexpensive and meets all those needs in one tractor, just isn't going to happen.

This is why modern compact tractors are so popular. They can do it all, and switch tasks fairly quickly.

I'll second (or third etc) that the backhoe will be a PITA if you think you're going to be taking it on and off. If you get a TLB, then you'll use it. If you have to hug that thing up, you're not going to want to, and figure out a harder way to go.
We generally kept the hoe disconnected from our MF202 because it didn't fit in the barn. So now it's a train wreck, and will likely never get hooked up again, and the tractor loader sucks without any weight on the rear.
I have a little Case 646 TLB with hoe that is a monster for it's size, and now, when I look at a shovel, and a project, I'm just as likely to go get that.

I've seen people throwing out the MF 135 as a good choice. I'd agree with a couple thoughts. The two stage clutch is REALLY stiff. I would expect that might become an issue later in life if knees become a thing. I guess I'll find out, but it is a concern. Also, look for power steering... I'm still working on getting my implements together to use with it, but I've got the remote going, and have been using it with pallet forks quite a bit cleaning things up.

For just mowing, you might consider an 8N. Super plentiful, easy to maintain, lightweight, pretty nimble. No power steering, but not bad when it's in good shape. My only ding on our 8N is it's a little fast in 1st at times trying to get in tight to trees and buildings with the finish mower. Should run a 6' wide finish mower without too much issue as long as you stay on the cutting. It's strangely comfortable considering it's just a steel pan seat on a spring. I wouldn't get an N for anything else except perhaps a plow though... You can do a lot with them, but they're far from ideal for most things.

Our loader tractor is a JD300 industrial. It's basically a little beefier version of the 1020. If I happened across an affordable diesel 1020, I'd get it based on the 300. Or if you find a 300 that is set up the way you want that would be a solid choice too. I frequently wish ours had a 3 point as I believe it would be the ideal machine for some of what I bought the 135 for, but instead, it has a couple thousand pounds of concrete blocks on the back making very sure the back stays down when we're abusing the front end...

The backhoe goes on and off the modern compacts relatively easily.

Heck I've even seen them mowing the lawn with the loader and backhoe still attached!

Not saying you should buy a compact, just stating for comparison purposes.