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Buying a Tractor
If you’ve never owned a tractor before then you shouldn’t purchase a brand new one until you know what you want. Used tractors from the 1970’s are a perfect starter tractor and will run you somewhere in the neighborhood of $6000.00. Of course you can get smaller or larger tractors for more or less money.
I own a 1970ish Ford 3000 tractor. This tractor can do anything that I ask of it. It can plow land, chop down rose bushes, dig holes, and move rock. It’s rated at 40 horsepower and is gas. Some might say to get diesel but I didn’t want to mess with trying to get it started in the cold. Plus I know how to work on gas engines so I can work on it. It’s important to note that old tractors are just like cars. So if you can work on a car you can work on a tractor.
Some important things you should look for in a tractor:
Four Wheel drive – My tractor is only two wheel drive. It’d be nice to have 4WD so if you can find one get it. The first few years I got stuck a bunch of times in the spring when it was muddy. Now I’ve learned not to go head first into mud though so I don’t get stuck anymore. Brand new tires also help a lot.
A working PTO – A PTO allows you to plug in attachments to your tractor that need power, for example a mower or auger. Without a working PTO you’ll be severely limited in the types of attachments you can buy. When looking at used tractors make sure that the PTO engages AND disengages. If it doesn’t you’re looking at a lot of money to repair it. City folk buy tractors with broken PTO’s all the time.
3 Point Hitch – A 3 Point Hitch allows you to hook up attachments to your tractor. It’s a hitch that connects at 3 points to the attachment and then has hydraulics to raise and lower the hitch. It’s important that the hitch works. If it doesn’t you won’t be able to raise or lower things like rear blades or mowers.
Front End Loader – This is the bucket you see on the front of tractors. It allows you to scoop stuff up and move it around. For rural use a tractor needs to have a front end loader. Make sure that none of the cylinders are leaking.
Good Tires – Make sure that the tries have a lot of tread. There are two types of tires, AG and turf. Turf tires look like big car tires and they don’t rip up lawn. AG tires have the big V tread. Turf tires are good for use on lawns but then get NO traction. AG tires are bad on lawns because they rip it up but they get AWESOME traction. Make sure the tires have tread. I put on two new rear tires and it cost me $750.00.
Size – A big tractor can do HARD work but sucks when you need to get into tight areas. A small tractor gets into the tight areas but can’t do hard work. A 40 horsepower tractor is on the large size of the spectrum. Having a 20 horsepower and a 40 horsepower tractor would be ideal.
Be sure to visit the
Tractor section.
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