Buying The Right Tractor

Your tractor is the most rugged and reliable machine on your farm. These heavy-duty machines were built to tackle your toughest work quickly and efficiently. Quality tractors are designed to last for years on end, while delivering high performance. For most buyers, it’s not the lack of options but the sheer amount of them that makes the process of buying a long and confusing one. 

At Tatum Motor Company, we understand that you want to get the most dependable and sturdy machines for your agricultural enterprise. 

To help you make that choice, we’ve compiled this guide to buying a tractor. When you’re ready to look at some of the best tractors for sale, visit our dealerships in Anderson, Montana, and Tontitown, Arkansas. We’re proud to serve all our friends from Joplin, MO and Fayetteville, AR. 

Will You Want Implements?

Sure tractors are purpose-built, but they don’t sit around looking pretty once that work is done. These machines are incredibly versatile with the right attachments and implements. If you need to keep a huge field mowed, you can hook a pull-behind mower to your tractor and tear through that brush. If you’re growing crops, use your tractor to pull across heavy attachments like spreaders and rotary tillers. All you have to do is ensure that the implement is compatible with your tractor and your tractor will do the rest!

To check whether a given implement will be compatible with your tractor, you have to look at the components. The PTO (power take-off) is a drive shaft that powers up other equipment. Another way to do this is via a series of hydraulic pumps, which transfer energy to the attached implement. If your tractor has neither of these, it should have a drawbar that allows you to tow the implement. If none of these are present, you won’t be able to get more than the basic work done with your tractor. 

How Big is Your Property?

A very important consideration to make when selecting a tractor is to check whether it’s the right one for your land. Different types of terrain need to be tackled by different types of tractors. For example, if there are a lot of trees around, larger tractors will have a much harder time moving around them. A fast tractor will make short work of wide and open fields. If you’re not sure about which tractor will be right for your land, talk to our expert staff at Tatum Motor Company and they’ll gladly help you out. 

Important Specifications

When you’re shopping for a tractor, it can be tempting to just throw up your hands and select one based on a metric like horsepower. That isn’t the way to reach the right model. You should pay attention to models that can apply power to the parts of the job that are most beneficial to you. So looking at PTO may be more useful for you than a big engine alone. The same goes for hydraulic systems and drawbar ratings. Considering strength vs. utility is important for finding the right tractor for you.

Trustworthy Manufacturer

Not every brand is going to be right for you and you may already have a favorite manufacturer. When you’re buying a tractor, however, try to look for more than the brand name; look for things like durability, performance and cost of maintenance. Of course, a reliable brand will give you better models, which will need less maintenance and save you more money in the long run, even if the sticker price is higher than competitors’ models. Similarly, it’s worth it to spend a little more initially, because the payoff can more than make up for the investment.

We hope this guide helps you select the right tractor! If you have any questions or concerns, get in touch with our expert staff at Tatum Motor Company at our locations in Anderson, MO, and Tontitown, AR. They’ll happily answer all your questions and give you a tour of the best tractor models for you. We’re here for all the farm equipment needs of our friends from Joplin, MO, and Fayetteville, AR.