Posted on Tool Talk by mistake

Looking for advise on a smaller maybe subcompact tractor with tiller. I have 8Ns and a J/D 5203. 5203 too big for the area and Ns take too much to be reliable. Any suggestions, hard to find anything local.

The advice I give is not tractor specific, but important. Make sure it will go slow. one MPH is about correct at full throttle. (High Idle) the tiller must turn at PTO speed, nd many tractors like the 8N go way too fast in low to be usable with a tiller.
Second- make sure it has a live PTO (or at least a two stage clutch to allow the PTO to continue running when the tractor is stopped.
Gasoline is OK. MFWD is really a necessity because it will be used for things like a loader that in the weight class won't move without it.
Consider a brand name tractor rather than a grey market rebrand of a model no one supports, with an engine that was made for 6 months.
Though Bob Cat is a brand, their new tractors are rebranded, and being pushed hard. Kubota, Mahindra, Shabru, John Deere, are operational. You would be best finding a 25 to 30 (old fashoned) Horse Power. tractor with hydrostatic drive. Jim

I have an old John Deere garden tractor . 30 inch tiller. Only used it once. Too difficult to remove tiller and put on 48 inch mower. I leave mower on it.

Best to see what your local DIY rental has.
My local DIY has Kubota. People that rent love it.

Buy something easy change attachments.
George

25' X 100', a Troybilt horse is overkill IMHO !!!!!

I have a Cub Cadet 7200 sub compact built by Mitsubushi I use in the garden very compact and handy.It has 3pt and Live PTO can handle a 4ft tiller,16 rear tires so its easy to get on and off,smooth running diesel.Have adapted some Cat 0 tillage implements to it and it'll handle small Cat 1 implements.Has differential lock,PS and a set of very low gears in low range that work good in the garden.Also use it as my '4 wheeler' on the farm.

2X what Janicholson said, Except What is "OPERATIONAL"?

Thanks for the advise, gotta start looking around.

As mentioned you need something with a really low forward speed. Most compacts and sub compacts have at least a high and low range , some even have a three range . Many of the hydrostatics have a high and low range. You also want a live pto of some sort although you could get by without it.As to make/models I would stick to whatever you have some dealer support nearby, and stick with the more established brands like JD, Kubota, NH/Ford etc. On tool talk I see you are tilling 25 by 100' that is fenced in. I would suggest if tilling that garden is the main job you may want to consider a troy-bilt or some other rear tine walk behind tiller. Another possibility would be a heavy duty garden tractor like a Case or Ingersoll hydrive, one of the bigger JD models like a 400 or 420 etc. For rototilling the lighter the better as to avoid excessive compaction. I also have a JD 5203, (along with a mfwd 5105) how do you like yours? Mine has been a very good tractor only problem I had was some three point hitch/hydraulic problems which involved cleaning the control valve (twice.) It happened right after warranty was off so I fixed it. I understand this was a common issue. FWIW I till my gardens with a 45 year old troy-bilt and at one time years back did a lot of garden tilling with a JD 950 with a 5' tiller .