Any perspectives on this machine?
I am looking at something that can pull at Tiller/spader, and do mowing/spraying in a small vineyard with 6’ rows. (width is 32")
Current estate is dead flat, with small turn around clearance at end (was not laid out for tractor) so the 47" turn radius is attractive.
“next vineyard” likely to be hilly/mountain slopes so figure I need low profile as well.
Wow–I just traded my 20A back to John Deere about 1 1/2 hours ago, so I figured I’d comment…
I recently bought a 20A to farm 4.5 ft and 5 ft-wide rows, some of which are rather steep and rocky. I needed something for spraying and weed control, and had high hopes for this tractor. “It certainly looks cool sitting in front of the shop,” I thought to myself. First problem: the rear 3-pt won’t raise up high enough to fit a standard hilling disc on a tool bar. “Hmmm,” I thought to myself, “this minimal ground clearance might be a tricky issue.” My John Deere salesman and I scoured the land for something that could be MacGyver’ed into working as a hilling disc. We were able to steal a piece off an Edwards FD3800 multi-purpose disc, and bolted it in place. I made a couple passes down a relatively easy 5 ft wide row with the Edwards, and soon discovered that an articulating tractor pulling a single-sided disc through hard ground has a tendency to lurch uncontrollably from side to side and devour vines with great ferocity. “Darn it,” I thought to myself, “what a piece of crap tractor this is.” The 20A drives straight and true on flat land, but when one drives over a rock, all bets are off. I would also caution against pulling any ground-engaging equipment in hard or slightly stony soil, because the continual corrective-steering efforts one must make to drive in a straight line only serve to agitate this little devil.
The second problem is the fact that the air intake is in the bottom front of the tractor’s nose, right in the path of any weeds, grasses, or pollinating vegetation that one might run over in the course of driving/mowing/spraying. I foresee this thing plugging up on a regular basis.
The third potential problem is that the lever to engage the front differential lock is very primitive and hokey, and would not easily work for me (but YMMV). I had the feeling that it might be unreliable in steep areas.
I put a total of 2 hrs on my 20A, lost $500 on my trade-in, but am relieved to be rid of this annoying little machine. That being said, it might work well for towing around a small trailer or cruising around the farm, as long as you don’t mind the incessant drone of its air-cooled engine.
By the way, I would never drive this thing on a rocky hillside–if I’m going to die driving an Italian machine, it had better be a Ferrari or Lamborghini (not Goldoni, for Pete’s sake)…
Good luck!
Ryan
Oh yeah, and if one wears boots greater than size 10.5, one runs the risk of squashing one’s little piggies whilst making a sharp turn (due to the articulation of the tractor). 
Thanks for the perspective, its hard to get a sense looking at the web site.
Feet are small enough, but the issues of articulation with an asymmetric load makes sense.
So far that would not be a likely problem, but I can see it gives rise to concerns.
One more comment 
:
The company I was working with to custom-build a sprayer for the 20A STRONGLY advised against using a 50-gal 3-pt sprayer with this particular tractor. Evidently, one of their customers tipped over a 20A while spraying, and they felt that the 32-inch width of the tractor led to issues with side-to-side stability. I ended up ordering a 30-gal sprayer…
with 6 ft rows you can go to a “standard” 48" tractor…Kubota makes one, and do others…we use 44" antonio carraros, and although there are many things I love about them, I can’t recommend them as they are a maintenance nightmare
Appreciate the suggestions, my neighbor has a Kubota, “B” and it has always seemed too long to make the turns at ends of rows before the boundary fence. (6 ft spacing)
My fascination with the Deere 20A was it had “John Deere” behind it, for parts and service,( I have two dealers within 30 miles) as well as the low profile and articulation for tight radius maneuvering. Otherwise I would be driving 3 hrs to north of Sacramento to Ferrari-Tractors, which is a disincentive.
With the special financing and $3000 off, (Deal through Oct) the Deere ends up at $12k and no interest for 4 yrs,
You might want to check out the Kubota B7510DTN Narrow Tractor. Many farmers use it here in Napa. It is very narrow. I know that one very prominent farmer uses it to work his 5 x 3 vineyard with great success. Costs about 10k.
I’ve been using a New Holland TC18 for a few years. Same class as the Kubota B7510DTN. Bought it used. I wish the thing had more power, but no manufacturer can go much above 20 HP due to the low weight. Even with a full complement of front weights, it becomes a bit reluctant to turn when a disc of any substance is in lift position behind it. Also, don’t know if anyone other than Deere offers articulated steering on a small tractor.
BTW, I’m no fan of narrow wheeled tractors on any kind of slope. The regular 50HP tractor I have, with R4 tires, is twice as stable on the slopes around my place than the narrow TC18. Fortunately, the slope work I do in the rows is perfectly straight up and down. If there was any side slope at all to deal with in those narrow rows, I’d would invest in a narrow crawler (e.g., NH TK4030V):
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Also a contender, (my neighbors have Kubotas for yard maintenance and a 10x8 vineyard with quadrilaterals
The updated 7510 model is the 2320DTN, and I am looking at it as well, it gets down to 36" wide, with the ability to spread out the rear a bit, only concern is whether the class 1 @20HP is adequate vs class 2 and 30 hp of the bigger 3030 (54" wide).
I think i’ll want an offset tiller, any recommendations of 30-48" models?
S