[ggsteve]

Ok, out of Red's must read thread on deceptive marketing and lawn tractor quality I got an idea for another thread. What is the biggest case of tractor overkill you've ever seen? In Red's thread he mentions a guy mowing a 1/2 acre with a JD X700 series, and another poster mentions a similar circumstance.

I was driving along this winter after one of our frequent snowstorms and everyone was out with their blowers clearing their drives. I pass this little house on a tiny lot and there in the driveway is a guy with his Kubota garden tractor with a 48" (or more) shaft drive snowblower attachment on the front. I swear this is true, the driveway is no more than 20' by 30'. Two cars long and two cars wide. The tractor practically filled the driveway just sitting there.

Personally, I suppose it's overkill that I bought an old JD 316 to tow my plug aerator, and I bought an integral hitch even though I don't have any attachments for it, but someday I plan to do more with it.

 

[Larwyn]

I suppose the biggest I know of was when my Dad sold the farm and ended up with 5 acres and kept the John Deere 1010. He later bought land around him and ended up with about 40 acres but still traded down for a Kubota diesel.

My personal biggest overkill is my X300 on a half acre. Probably not really overkill all things considered.:greendr:

 

[oldtimer]

I had a neighbor with less than a half acre of yard whose wife received a sizable ineritance. Bought himself a Kubota that was definitely NOT a lawn tractor, with a FEL. NEVER saw him use the FEL except to clear his drive, which was maybe 20' X 50". in the Fall of 2006 when I was looking for my lawn tractor with snowblower the first dealer I went to was / is a huge one about 11 miles away. Sells commercial as well as home owners equipment..... salesman came over to me after I stood looking around the showroom for about 10 minutes and after I told him I was interested in a Husvarna and told him the size of my yard ( a little less than an acre ) and that I wanted to get a snow blower attachment with it to clear my 21' X 180' diveway, he tried selling me a Kubota like my neighbor had. I guess that he was the guy who sold my neighbor his. I don't know how long my Husqvarna will last, but I'm sure I can buy at least three more for what HE was trying to sell me.;

 

[Ingersoll444]

IMHO its only overkill when you cant turn the tractor on your land. Any more then that, the bigger the better.

 

[KHodges]

My uncle (rather eccentric and very well off) several years ago had a place on about 3/4 acre. The front yard was only about 75 x 75 feet, and the back yard was roughly the same. He mowed it with a Kubota 2620 with a 60" MMM. It took all of 15-20 minutes to mow the yard, part of which was driving around the garage to get from front yard to back yard. He also had another 4WD Kubota of around 35 hp with a FEL and back hoe. He bought the whole deal just so he could set drainage tile (18" concrete) along the road edge and under his driveway, about 75 feet.

He lost both of them, plus a Chevy pickup, a Caddy Eldorado and about $25K worth of machine and woodworking tools, when his garage caught fire. Even more unfortunately, the burning garage was attached to the house, which also burned to the ground. His dog had knocked over a heater in the garage, they figure.

 

[oldtimer]

My uncle (rather eccentric and very well off) several years ago had a place on about 3/4 acre. The front yard was only about 75 x 75 feet, and the back yard was roughly the same. He mowed it with a Kubota 2620 with a 60" MMM. It took all of 15-20 minutes to mow the yard, part of which was driving around the garage to get from front yard to back yard. He also had another 4WD Kubota of around 35 hp with a FEL and back hoe. He bought the whole deal just so he could set drainage tile (18" concrete) along the road edge and under his driveway, about 75 feet.

He lost both of them, plus a Chevy pickup, a Caddy Eldorado and about $25K worth of machine and woodworking tools, when his garage caught fire. Even more unfortunately, the burning garage was attached to the house, which also burned to the ground. His dog had knocked over a heater in the garage, they figure.

OUCH !!!

 

[RED-85-Z51]

The guy mowing about a half acre with an X700 is about the worst Ive seen...

There was a customer I had a while back, she bought Troy Bilt Horse Tiller, 8hp Kohler, electric Start, etc...to till her 20'X10' garden once a year...

 

[Grateful11]

Strange one minute people are not buying quality but flash now when someone
buys quality, which according to some has to come in at over what $4-5K,
then all of sudden it's overkill. Maybe these people just want the feel of
quality or actual quality and can afford it.

 

[MikeB]

Overkill? I occasionally mow my front yard (about 1 acre) with the MF 135 and a 6' bush hog. Mows really fast, but trimming around the wife's green things slows me down a little ..

 

[davidg]

my personal biggest overkill was using my L130 to cut the yard at the house we used to rent. the lot was only 50x75 or so, with a 1400 sq ft house and a driveway. it took me longer to manuver around than to actually cut. but i bought the machine to cut our 1 acres we had recently purchased and just figured i no longer needed a lawn service to cut the postage stamp lot.

 

[DJ in WV]

Your "postage stamp lot" sounds like my in-law's lot. The only difference is that my FIL did buy the 12 or 14 hp Murray with the 38" deck for their lot. It takes me 20 minutes to cut it with a push mower with trimming! They then asked my to assemble one of those Sears tin can buildings to hold the lawn mower. After all of the frustration in that assembly, the grass area was reduced even further.

It definitely takes him longer to turn around than it does to mow. I don't say anything, I just wonder what the train of thought might be.

 

[Ken in NJ]

Ummmm... I think my dozen or so Bolens Large frame tractors and an attachment on everyone is a "BIT" overkill for my 3/4 acre. Along with a Bobcat B-100 backhoe/loader.. with pallet forks. I guess the combine I was looking at last week .. would be extreme overkill !!! :ROF

 

[D-Dogg]

When I rented the NH TC33D with 72" bush hog to mow the HOA 7 acres, I just had to drive it around my yard a bit to get the neighbors' talking.

 

[Sergeant]

There was a article a few years back of a Guy Buying a X585 or X575 with a 62inch deck when the first came into production for his 1/4acre lot or it may have even been smaller He would mow the front in two Passes and he could not Fit it into the back yard to Mow it. for which he used a LT155 for that. He also had a John Deere Model A or B in his garage. I think a year or so ago He sold the X585 or 575 on Ebay.:thThumbsU

 

[vermi]

Up at my truck garage, I have about 1/2 acre of lawn. One of the last tractors I restored was a Oliver 60..with it I had a John Deere #5 mowing machine. When the lawn needed mowing, I could basically drive down and back with the mower laid on the ground and I was done...lol. Believe it or not it really actually did a pretty goodjob!...Knives were all sharp...got some funny looks from people driving by though...


Steve in Pa

 

[Milwaukee]

overkill is have ford 601 full size tractor on our 1/2 acre yard to lift stuff that too heavy for me.


All neighbor stare me when I use tractor lift engine or stuff from truck on street.

 

[apmonte]

You guys are making feel guilty about thinking about a 2305 for my < 1/2 acre lot.. Guess I'll stick to my 445 for a while..

 

[Kbeitz]

I had to buy this to plant my two tomato plants...

 

[HydroHarold]

The guy mowing about a half acre with an X700 is about the worst Ive seen...

Thanks Red, I really feel better now!:sidelaugh

I've got a masssive estate that measures 175 X 175 (feet) that is taken up by a 1300sq.ft. ranch house, 800sq.ft. garage shop with a 10'X18' covered paved carport, half the front yard is a cliff covered by juniper bushes and half the back won't grow grass under the maple trees, I have my "utility/compost processing area" and the "renewable resource home heating fuel processing section"... all taking up precious mowable lawn space.

So to maintain my massive land holdings I bought a JD GX335 w/snowthrower, front dethatcher, 48" front blade and a 10cr.ft. cart... To keep things at a sane level I only got the 48" mower deck which adds at least 4-5 minutes to my quality mowing time.

When the dealer delivered it personally he came up the driveway in the truck, hung out the window scanned the back yard and said to me, "You bought THAT tractor for THIS?" (He instinctively knew at that point he had "one on the hook"!) Soon word got out and several folks lined up to beg me for mowing and snow removal... I refuse no one!

Now there's a guy on the back street with a place the same size as mine who mows with a Ford "N" something and also "maintains" his massive dirt driveway with it. Suddenly last night he was running some kind of large utility JD up there doing something...

Remember Boys and Girls...... Size IS EVERYTHING! Go big and you won't be sorry 'cause it's YOURS and you can do anything you want to while you're enjoying yourself! If I can find one in decent shape I'd love to have a Kohring 1066 to do my flowerbeds.

 

[Jimmyjo]

Years ago when I got the place I live at I was walking out in the back of the property when I see an old bottle laying on ground. Picked it up and rubbed on the label to see what was once inside it. All of a sudden a genie popped out. boy it really scared the **** out of me. He thanked me for getting out of that bottle. Said to me you get one wish from me. You can have ten wives or ten tractors, what will it be? Well I looked at him and said what the **** would I do with ten wives? I love my tractors. Have one for every half acre.