Beginner - Considering buying first tractor

We cut 5-6 acres a week with our Cubs, not in a hurry, and can't replace the cool factor! Everyone that drives by waves, toots the horn , and smiles, you don't get that on a new zero turn.
 
For someone who works full time, a 1/2 acre lawn can be a lot to mow for two hours at a time two or three times a week with a push mower, especially if the grass gets too long between mowings BTDT.

A riding mower, lawn tractor or garden tractor will get the yard mowed two or three times faster than a push mower with less effort and will do a better job of mulching tall grass if desired. A garden tractor can take a mounted snow blower, they can all pull a garden cart when needed, they weigh maybe 500 pounds maximum and are far easier to store, haul and repair than a larger tractor. A larger tractor could weigh 2500 to 4000 pounds, that weight will compact the lawn and eventually leave ruts anytime the yard is mowed when the ground is too wet.

A half acre lawn is light work for a riding mower or zero turn mower, even a used unit will last well over a decade. The cheap riding mowers and tractors may not turn very short, maybe a 5 foot inside turning radius. trimming close to trees and edges can be difficult. The larger tractors with a belly mower will need even more room to turn, maybe a 10 foot turning radius unless you use the turning brakes and tear up the turf.
 
It really doesn't work very good to buy a tractor to do everything. A tractor is a little heavier which tends to make ruts in the ground when it is soft. Then unless your property is completely flat dragging a mower tends to gouge the ground when turning corners. Then if you have a lot of trees or other things to mow around it will take 3 or 4 times the amount of time to mow. I have a tractor with a mower which I mowed my place with and it took two full days to do it. I have since purchased a zero turn and I can mow my place in half a day and do a better job of it.
 
Look at some of the larger lawn tractors. The later Cub Lowboys, larger sizes of Cadets, Wheel Horse, Simplicities. Also consider Economy Power
King. My opinion (we know what those are like) a zero-turn is a lot of money for something that only cuts grass.
 
Have you got a half acre of mowing to do
or your total lot size is half acre with
the house occupying some of that. Here on
the farm my house and front lawn are about
an acre and I can't imagine mowing that
with a tractor. We have about 2 acres of
mowing to do on the whole farm yard and it
is done with a JD 4wheel steer lawn
tractor. If I had anything less then half
acre with trees and house to mow around I
would go get a new self propelled walk
behind from Fleetfarm. Take the rest of
your money and buy an old tractor to play
with.
 
Welcome to YT. it is the correct place. That lowboy will do what you want. Assess the mower bearings and blade sharpness. Also make sure the clutch will stall the tractor in high gear when holding the brakes. if it does not, offer less, or have them replace the clutch. Look at the belts, both engine and mower. See if the engine oil is pretty clean. look for a date sticker, or etch on the battery for being less than 3 years old. Drive it and mow before purchase (important). Jim
 
'While I agree a tractor is kinda overkill on a 1/2 acre lot, I have an 8N ford with a 3 point finish mower. It does an excellent job but, I have 3 acres to mow.'

*DING*

i mow 3 acres with a 2N :)

i'm not here to talk anyone out of getting a tractor tho. that just feels wrong.

ed: orig post belatedly quoted.

This post was edited by HFJ on 10/25/2023 at 03:27 pm.
 
I would take it that your family's income/work is not from farming or agriculture. Most of the people on this site grew up on family farms, or extended family operations. That opportunity to be born into a farming family has rapidly diminished in the last 50 years. Obviously you have an interest in tractors..well how do I put this.....education and/or instruction either comes for free or costs through the nose...i.e. college. At $3000 that cost is a lot lower than other education/instruction you will receive. Go for it. And look for opportunities to use the cub. As long as you can store it, go for it. Also look up Johnny Bucket, I think they can mount on the lo boys. Moving dirt may open other opportunities. People will always tell you that you shouldn't do this or do that it's waste. Life is essentially a long term education session, and if you want tractors to be part of yours-go for it. The nay sayers cannot tell you your interest will not open up further interests and opportunities...I hope you can find a way to invest in your self, and don't look back.
 
DAD bought two Cub LoBoy's to mow his 2+ acre barnyard years ago. First was a red LoBoy with 48 mower, he had
4-5 Cub Cadets but had a rototiller on one, a hilling plow on another, a belly mower on another. the Cub
Cadets ran well, the Low Boy not so much. After a half hour of mowing it would start blowing antifreeze out
the radiator overflow. He bought a newer numbered LowBoy, 185 or something similar, it had enough hours it
spit antifreeze out the overflow too. Plus it had a live pto clutch that started slipping, He removed it, read
his service manual and decided to take it to town for rebuild, week or two later he gets a call, it's done. He
goes to town, parts & labor was just a bit over $400. Now Dad & I have both rebuilt many Cub Cadet pto
Clutches, not sure why he didn't rebuild it himself.
I bought a pretty nicely restored and rebuilt 982 Cub Cadet and 50 mower about the same time Dad bought
the 185, I mow 2.3 acres and there was about 200 trees & bushes before I pulled and cut a bunch of them, I
finally got my mowing time down around 4 hours. 10 years ago I bought a 27 hp Cub Cadet zero turn with 54
deck, first mowing with it was 2-1/2 hours, with some pruning and pulling bushes I've been down around 2 hours
a couple times. Not sure what the 982 would take now, it needs to stop, back-up and counter-turn at each end
of the yard, adds time. The zero turn's two things I don't care for is the two small catering front wheels
beat me up pretty good if I drive too fast, and if it's dry, the front mower deck stirs up a cloud of dust
that stays just ahead of me, helps to wear goggles or wait for a windy day. Depends what your time is worth
and what else you need to do whether a zero turn is worth it for you. When we first moved here I ran my Cub
Cadet 72 with a 38 mower, my 10 yr old SON ran a 129 Cub Cadet with 44 deck and we could mow in 2 hours or
a bit less. A local ag implement dealer got a Land Pride baby Batwing mower on the lot, up to 14 ft, needed
540 pto, single 2-way hyd. MY Farmall Super H would run it but was too tall to get under all my trees, then I
found out the price! Five figures, and it was used by the school system or city maintenance dept. NEW they
were around $25,000.
For a half acre of rather open mowing, no trees or bushes to trim around, buildings are easy to mow along
the sides of, my old 129 Cub Cadet with 44 inch deck was about as fast on that size area as my 982 with 50
inch deck. Smooth yards allow higher speeds, takes less time to mow.
 
Depends on what you mean by other miscellaneous tasks. For mowing only, I guess a Cub would be adequate, as would many other more nimble machines. Pretty gutless for much of anything else. This is a tractor site, and technically a Cub qualifies as a 'tractor' and will make you (and obviously others) feel like you're driving a tractor, if that's what 'floats yer boat'.

Again, I don't know what else you need a tractor for. If only occasional, one-time projects, you might consider owning a mower and renting the right machine for the other stuff as needed, rather than trying to find something economical that kinda sorta does everything, but not very well.
 
I wouldn't do it. The tractors you're talking about don't have live PTO, meaning the mower will stop
when you push the clutch. Bad idea right out of the box.
 
I have a 1/2 acre lot and mow with a green rider and 42" deck. About an hour start to finish. 1/2 acre really isn't that big. You will spend more time with a tractor. Sounds like fun to start but it will get old real fast trying to mow around stuff etc. But if you want a tractor do like I did. Go buy some land, build a cabin, have 6 tractors (need only 2) plus all the other stuff I have there. A friend told me-Mike the cheapest part of this is the land!!!!! How true. But what ever you decide enjoy your choice.
 
The 129 was avaible with 2 different decks, a 42 inch and a 44 inch. I had the 42 on both a 129 and think a 105, cannot remember for sure But both were the same 42 inch deck. The hydrostat was nicer as you could adjust your ground speed where the older was just 3 speeds forward. Also had a John Deere 140. Anything that size is better for your yard than something bigger. And if you work it right you can mow around trees.
 
ooh really!! you get on your cub and i will use my zero turn we will see who gets the job done faster and neater. your not going to go round trees and biuldings with a big tractor like that, with out stopping backing up going around and so on. maybe you should think before u get yourself in gear. this guy did not specify if it was wide open spaces or not. i have a few thousand hrs. of grass cutting with a few mowers. had over a thousand hrs on my first 1988 ride on Bolens. have a couple john deere's and the latest is the ih cub zero turn. probably cutting at least 3 acres of grass around the farm, and no way any cub tractor would be handy.
 
(quoted from post at 17:40:13 10/25/23) People who don't like mowing don't have a big enough mower.

Not such a thing as too big of a mower.
I will agree to that, I use a 6 foot Woods RM306 finish mower behind an Oliver 88 and I enjoy every minute of it. Yeah, it's just a little overkill but it's a free country to mow with whatever you desire!
 
(quoted from post at 04:54:18 10/25/23) Look for a Cub LoBoy 154, 184, or 185. They came with 60
inch decks and were made pretty tough. They can be
bought in nice condition for 1500-2000.

Yup, this. Any of the early Cub Cadet, LoBoy types. They are tough, easy to maintain, cut well and retain value.

It's kind of an either-or. Get a modern ZTR for mowing, and then if you want to invest in a small vintage tractor - do that. Or go with the early Cub series with a 38 or 54 or 60" deck. I have a Cub Original, from 1961 and it has a 38" deck. I can cut plenty with that, but it's not as fast as any ZTR.
 

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