Re: What kind of tractor do I need?

Posted by Bill in Ontario on November 19, 2001 at 12:19:40 from (206.172.238.85):

In Reply to: What kind of tractor do I need? posted by Jim on November 18, 2001 at 13:12:38:

Hi Jim; lots of good ideas in these posts for sure. I agree with a lot of the suggestions.

A dealer close by for my make has been super valuable for me. I have an older machine (MF 135, 3 cyl. gas, power steering, and the front wheel spread on the 135 is adjustable) and I've had to do some work on the tractor, so dealer access is important.

I guess what you buy depends partly on your budget. I (my wife) didn't want to finance a new machine (25 to $40,000 Can) so we paid $7900. cash for my '69 135. I've put about 500 into it (mostly cosmetics).

We have 10 acres; an acre of bush-hoggable stuff, 4 acres of plowable growing land, a couple of 15,000 square foot gardens, 2 to 3 acres of finishing mower type work, a 250 foot, smallgravel type driveway (just grading for now, but probably snow-blowing next winter), and numerous landscaping projects going at any given time. (My 135 has a MF 232 front loader too.) I have real farmer neighbors, and they kindly lend me implements, so that's a real plus. Some of their implements are to big for my 135, but so far I've successfully (and easily) used a five foot bush hog, a nine foot cultivator, and a 6 foot back blade. The loader is a remarkably useful tool; I always seem to be using it for something: manure, soil, rocks, gravel etc. I'm still deciding how to approach tillage. At first I thought a rototiller was the way to go, but from talking to more experienced men I'm leaning towards the more classic plow/disc/cultivate method. Despite the claims of some, my intuition leads me to think rototillers (especially any over about 50" wide) can be really hard on the transmissions of these older machines. If I had a 30 to 40 HP, modern, 4 wheel drive machine (like I would have if I financed), I'd likely rototill, but my '69 was really designed to plow, after all. I guess part of what I'm trying to say is that I really wanted to buy just enough machine for my needs. I saw lots of newer, bigger, less expensive tractors (less demand by boomers moving to the country for those machines; thus the lower prices I figure), but really felt (and still do feel) that a Massey 35/ MF 135 size tractor was right for us.

Sorry for the long post; I guess the biggest I'd go in your shoes would be in the Ford 4000 range, and I don't think I would go any smaller than a Massey 35 type machine. If I had the dough, I'd get a newer, 4 wheel drive machine in the 25 to 40 hp range. I'm not familiar with Farmalls, but I see a lot of them still working well and hard. For sure the older machines need more attention than the newer maodels, but I simply invested in the manuals, and then keep following the schedules laid out in them. I actually enjoy maintaining my tractor, and the old guy really thrives with a bit of attention like that.

Good Luck!! (And let us know what you decide, if you have the time.)

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