Compact Tractors: What to Consider When Buying

By Oscar H. Will Iii
Published on April 6, 2010
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Come time for summer mowing, you'll be glad your compact tractor and its attachments are parked in your machine shed.
Come time for summer mowing, you'll be glad your compact tractor and its attachments are parked in your machine shed.
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Turning your tractor into a road maintainer or landscape leveler is as easy as mounting a box blade on the three-point hitch.
Turning your tractor into a road maintainer or landscape leveler is as easy as mounting a box blade on the three-point hitch.
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Equipping your tractor with a backhoe opens up a world of excavation-enhanced opportunity.
Equipping your tractor with a backhoe opens up a world of excavation-enhanced opportunity.
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With a Bobcat and attached snow thrower, winter snow removal becomes easy work.
With a Bobcat and attached snow thrower, winter snow removal becomes easy work.
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Hauling wood is only one of myriad tasks you can accomplish with a loader-equipped tractor.
Hauling wood is only one of myriad tasks you can accomplish with a loader-equipped tractor.
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Make short the work of lawn care with a belly-mount finish mower under your tractor.
Make short the work of lawn care with a belly-mount finish mower under your tractor.

You’ve decided to take the financial plunge because your back just won’t take all the lifting. You’ve put off those earth-moving projects long enough, but you need a machine that can do much more than dig. In two years, you want to make a little hay, but the driveway needs grading, too. You’ve decided that a compact tractor will fit the bill, but there are so many choices. And what does shuttle-shift transmission really mean?

When it comes to choosing a first tractor, the process can be daunting, but armed with a little implement understanding and machinery know-how, you can learn to speak the dealer’s language and get what you need.

Compact tractor models have proliferated in North America ever since Kubota defined the market back in the 1960s. Today, the compact tractor arena is crowded with models that run the gamut – economy, entry level to fully tricked out. Add variations in chassis size and weight with widely ranging engine power to transmission choices that are almost continuously variable, and you have a decision-maker’s mess on your mind. Figuring out what you need is a little more difficult than figuring out what you want, but the process need not be as daunting as it initially appears. 

Begin with the basics

Every tractor worth considering will have a clean, fuel-efficient diesel engine, transmission(s), rear 3-point hitch, rear drawbar, one or two power take-off (PTO) points and a hydraulic system. Most of the tractors also will be equipped with four-wheel drive (if it’s optional, I would nearly always recommend investing in the option), a loader (invariably worth the money) and occasionally a backhoe or other mounted rear attachment. You should think of the tractor as a pulling/pushing machine as well as a platform for attaching and powering implements and other tools as diverse as emergency home generators, snow plows and belly-mounted finish mowers. Basic tractors without any attachments will cost anywhere from about $10,000 to well over $30,000 depending on their power rating, size and the level to which they are appointed with high-end engines, transmissions and hydraulic systems. 

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