Buy the right compact tractor — and pay thousands less for it

The Rebadge Map

Who actually builds every badge sold in America: the one Korean manufacturer behind five American stickers, the Japanese giant inside Massey, what Deere's compacts really are now, Mahindra's three factories — plus the engine map, the 60-second plate check that settles any argument on a lot, and the badge-premium tables in dollars.

The New Tractor Buyer's System

Honest acreage-to-frame sizing, why every modern compact is "suddenly 24.7 hp" (and when that's exactly what you want), the four spec-sheet numbers that decide everything, the options worth real money vs. dealer padding, and the class shortlists.

The Used Tractor Inspection System

The carry-to-the-lot checklist in inspection order — cold-start rules, the five $8,000 failures and their two-minute field catches, hour-meter lie detection, gray-market spotting, and the script that turns every defect you find into dollars off.

The Dealer Negotiation Playbook

How dealers actually make money (five pockets — one of them, floor-plan aging, is your biggest lever), the quote-both-ways financing math with the break-even table, nine "dealer says / you say" answers, trade-in sequencing, and the walk-away that closes deals a week later.

The Implement Buying Guide

The first-four buy order (and the implement everyone buys first that should come last), the Titan-vs-Titan name trap, who really builds the store brands, what quality measurably is — and the price guide that turns "package deal" back into arithmetic.

The 10-Year Ownership Book

The decade priced honestly: why premium and value brands cost nearly the same over ten years (and what you're really choosing), the 50-hour service without the dealer markup, the warranty myth retired, parts-availability tiers, DPF ownership done right, and the resale windows that pay you.

The Spec Sheets & Shortlists

Every shortlisted machine's numbers side by side, the loader-lift referee (three brands publish three different coordinates — here's how to compare them for real), transaction-price bands, and the fill-in worksheets that end the search with a totaled decision instead of a feeling.

Wade Sutton · Iron & Acreage

Wade started Iron & Acreage for one reason: the compact tractor market runs on information the buyer doesn't have. Which badges come off the same line. What the loader actually lifts. What the quote looks like without the financing baked in. The channel digs that information out of serial plates, parts diagrams, spec sheets, and dealer paperwork — and hundreds of thousands of rural property owners have watched it happen, video by video.

The Vault is that research organized into a system you can carry to a lot. No brand paid to be in it. No brand can pay to be out of it.