Kubota,Massey or McCormick

   / Kubota,Massey or McCormick #11  
Another thing you want to look at is the gears. I believe you'll find the McCormick to be shuttle shift and the gears syncronized. Which means you can change shift on the fly. On the Kubota unless you get hydrostatic you'll have to stop in the lower six gears change the gear and then start again. Most older tractors were like this. Once you go to a syn shift, you'll never go back to the old.

Check that out when you go test drive them and see if I'm right. I think you'd be happy with all three. When I was looking It was between Deere, Kubota, and Montana. I did not like the sound of the Deere 3 cylinder diesel at all. At first I thought I wanted a Kubota until I test drove the Montana.
 
   / Kubota,Massey or McCormick
  • Thread Starter
#12  
MikeInEburg said:
Simple. Which dealer do you like the best? It matters more than you may think...
Mike
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Feel pretty comfortable with either dealer. Both have been around for years, one's bigger than the other, but both appear to be stable.
 
   / Kubota,Massey or McCormick
  • Thread Starter
#13  
ScottFarm said:
Another thing you want to look at is the gears. I believe you'll find the McCormick to be shuttle shift and the gears syncronized. Which means you can change shift on the fly. On the Kubota unless you get hydrostatic you'll have to stop in the lower six gears change the gear and then start again. Most older tractors were like this. Once you go to a syn shift, you'll never go back to the old.

Check that out when you go test drive them and see if I'm right. I think you'd be happy with all three. When I was looking It was between Deere, Kubota, and Montana. I did not like the sound of the Deere 3 cylinder diesel at all. At first I thought I wanted a Kubota until I test drove the Montana.
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Did a test drive on the Massey 1533 and the McCormick CT36 yesterday. Was impressed with both machines. The Massey appears to have a little heavier front axle than the McCormick, and a little larger operator platform. The McCormick is more compact than the Massey, but boy does it have the features. Nice clean lines, operator platform and area is nice, well laid out. Comes with not 1 but 2 rear remotes, plus the draft control. I like the way the quick attach loader slides into a heavy pocket as compared to the Massey hookup. I don't like the location of the hydraulic valve under the floorboard on the McCormick. It seems to me that it is in a prime location to catch on just about anything that passes under the tractor. The Massey was in the same location but higher up. It was right at 32 degrees when we cranked both tractors. The McCormick fired up without hesitation very smooth. The Massey sputtered and smoked for a few mins until it smoothed out. The transmission was a little harder to shift on the Massey than on the McCormick. The shuttle shift on both was SOLID AND SMOOTH.
 
   / Kubota,Massey or McCormick #14  
Keep in mind that on the 1533 you can get draft control, 2 rear remotes, skid steer quick attach and a few other options. What is standard on one and not the other does not mean that you can not get those options, just that they are just that, options. If you like these machines, price them out so that they are equipped the same and then see what the $$$$ difference is and go from there.

I have been wanting a tractor of this size myself for awhile now. For me, I really like the feel of the 1540, but can get a Montana R4944 for thousands less. With both priced out with about the same equipment, it will be hard for me to purchase the Massey or Challenger equivalent instead of the Montana. But then again with people needing to sell off stuff, I'm waiting for the right used machine right now, should be able to save even more $$$$ for a tractor that I don't really need, just want.
 
   / Kubota,Massey or McCormick
  • Thread Starter
#15  
Haved bought and used a lot of MF Ag equipment over the years, small, large, good, bad. Unfortunately John Deere and Massey have made the choice to compete with others in the compact market by taking away what made them better in the first place. I've done a lot of research into this size tractor, according to the dealers, John Deere, Massey, Case, and Kubota do not offer draft control (even as an option) until you get up to the 50 hp tractor. McCormick and Montana come as standard nice plus. All of the above except some John Deere models offer rear remotes as an option, or in the case of McCormick they're standard.
 
   / Kubota,Massey or McCormick #16  
If you need draft control that means you will be using the 3ph. Don't get the L3400. I did and now I regret it. Kubota Corp. won't stand behind their product. Good luck and happy shopping.
 
   / Kubota,Massey or McCormick #18  
ALHILLDIRT said:
Haved bought and used a lot of MF Ag equipment over the years, small, large, good, bad. Unfortunately John Deere and Massey have made the choice to compete with others in the compact market by taking away what made them better in the first place. I've done a lot of research into this size tractor, according to the dealers, John Deere, Massey, Case, and Kubota do not offer draft control (even as an option) until you get up to the 50 hp tractor. McCormick and Montana come as standard nice plus. All of the above except some John Deere models offer rear remotes as an option, or in the case of McCormick they're standard.
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Well, I have to disagree with you. when I priced out a 1540 Massey,(40hp) the draft control option was $1400. I am looking at a brochure as I type and looking at the slot next to the position control for the draft control lever. Not sure when the last time it was that you looked, but draft control is available on the 1533 also. Oh, I believe that the more expensive models of JD in this hp range also have draft control available. Just did a search on JD 3000 series, all have draft control, and none are above 50 hp.
 
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   / Kubota,Massey or McCormick
  • Thread Starter
#20  
MtnViewRanch said:
Well, I have to disagree with you. when I priced out a 1540 Massey,(40hp) the draft control option was $1400. I am looking at a brochure as I type and looking at the slot next to the position control for the draft control lever. Not sure when the last time it was that you looked, but draft control is available on the 1533 also. Oh, I believe that the more expensive models of JD in this hp range also have draft control available. Just did a search on JD 3000 series, all have draft control, and none are above 50 hp.
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According to the latest brochure I picked up from the dealer, position control is standard accross the board until you get to the 1560 model. However, buried in the fine print under options - "top link draft sensing". It does not specify if it is available on all models or not. I guess I need to contact the dealer again about this.
I grew up in an age where the break on tractor horsepower between compact and utility was at 50, now it seems that there is a model available by 2 hp bracket, and you are right 40 seems to be a more general break now
 
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