Newbie - Package Pricing or Other Options

[beartoothweb]

I've been looking for a small tractor to take care of my 5 acres. I need a small rough cut mower, and a FEL (for general work, plus I need to dig a bit on a new driveway of about 50')

I was hoping to get into something for $5k or less used, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. Here locally, the pickings are pretty slim, a couple of Ford 8n and 9ns, but that's about it.

I saw these guys Tractor Packages: Farm & Agricultural Equipment Packages From Tractor Co, Your Washington Dealer. and their packages, and it seems to be a pretty decent deal. The home owner package had a box blade, mower, and bucket. The tractor might be a little small though. I'm looking for something that'll do the job, but my wife won't be afraid to use in the garden for moving mulch around, etc.

Looking for newbie advice. I didn't see anything too negative with tractorco, but I'm not sure. I think the really old tractors will just scare the DW, and I can't afford a Kubota. The gray markets look to be a decent deal.

Can you guys give me some thoughts? They also have some used tractors here:

Tractor Co.: Reconditioned & Used Tractors by Yanmar, Mitsubishi, Iseki & Hinomoto For Sale in Washington.

Thanks in advance!

 

[john_bud]

Those are what's called "grey market". Originally sold in a land far far away, then brought here and resold. That isn't bad, except that there is limited service and parts options. The Yanmar line is the best supported. If you go that way, stick to the Yanmar's.

The down is that these tractors are often "rebuilt" or "refurbished", but they are sometimes just rigged up good enough to run .... for a bit. Then you are "bit" as the real repair costs can be high. I would read up in the Yanmar forum and ask around there about what to look for and look out for too!

By the way - welcome to TBN

jb

 

[flusher]

I've been looking for a small tractor to take care of my 5 acres. I need a small rough cut mower, and a FEL (for general work, plus I need to dig a bit on a new driveway of about 50')

I was hoping to get into something for $5k or less used, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. Here locally, the pickings are pretty slim, a couple of Ford 8n and 9ns, but that's about it.

I saw these guys Tractor Packages: Farm & Agricultural Equipment Packages From Tractor Co, Your Washington Dealer. and their packages, and it seems to be a pretty decent deal. The home owner package had a box blade, mower, and bucket. The tractor might be a little small though. I'm looking for something that'll do the job, but my wife won't be afraid to use in the garden for moving mulch around, etc.

Looking for newbie advice. I didn't see anything too negative with tractorco, but I'm not sure. I think the really old tractors will just scare the DW, and I can't afford a Kubota. The gray markets look to be a decent deal.

Can you guys give me some thoughts? They also have some used tractors here:

Tractor Co.: Reconditioned & Used Tractors by Yanmar, Mitsubishi, Iseki & Hinomoto For Sale in Washington.

Thanks in advance!

I'd go with a dealer who handles these grey market tractors. In my neighborhood the Mahindra deal (Dave's Tractor) and the TYM dealer (Lane Tractors) both sell small tractors like you're eyeballing. They go over these tractors pretty thoroughly so you can buy with confidence that you won't be getting junk. Both have websites:

Dave's Tractor, Inc - Home
Lane Tractor Sales - New and Used Tractors & Equipment

I'm sure there must be comparable dealers in your neck of the woods. If not, call Dave or Mike and ask about finding grey market tractors in your area. The size tractor you're looking at is so small that you could transport one of these with loader on a 5x10 ft single axle flatbed trailer so sweat.

 

[beartoothweb]

Thanks. I sent some emails to those guys. It's hard to find dealers out here that deviate from JD or the other big boys.

I was hoping to work with Buck at EFC, but he doesn't feel comfortable with my distance from him (great commitment to service.)

I'll keep looking...

 

[Gittyup]

Also try Craigslist and ebay.

 

[beartoothweb]

Also try Craigslist and ebay.

Yep. If you do a search by zip code, the closest tractor of any kind is like 800 miles from here. Craigslist is the same way, seems in a rural area like this, people really keep their tractors, and/or they are the big farm ones, not a lot of these mid-sized ones to be had.

 

[dodge man]

I would stay away from the grey market tractors and try to find something used. The problem is it sounds like you will have to travel. To be honest, to find something used, you will have to double your budget. You could find a pretty decent used Kubota, like a B series or BX series for around 5k to 7k, but it might not have the implements you want. If you wanted say a blade, brush mower, finish mower and front end loader, just those implements could cost you 5k. In other words, you double your budget, I think you could end up with a nice used major brand name tractor and a mixed bag of used and new implements. And your going to have to do a little driving, but I think you will be happy in the end.

 

[warhammer]

I looked at the grey market Yanmars for a while. The seller here claims they are low hour and refurbished.
The limited parts availability was a big factor. For me though when I realized some of these units were made in the 1980's I lost interest.
A new tractor with good finance and a warranty and full parts availability was not that much more and most any mechanical device is going to have some kind of issues after 20 years whether it is low hour or not.

Warhammer

I've been looking for a small tractor to take care of my 5 acres. I need a small rough cut mower, and a FEL (for general work, plus I need to dig a bit on a new driveway of about 50')

I was hoping to get into something for $5k or less used, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. Here locally, the pickings are pretty slim, a couple of Ford 8n and 9ns, but that's about it.

I saw these guys Tractor Packages: Farm & Agricultural Equipment Packages From Tractor Co, Your Washington Dealer. and their packages, and it seems to be a pretty decent deal. The home owner package had a box blade, mower, and bucket. The tractor might be a little small though. I'm looking for something that'll do the job, but my wife won't be afraid to use in the garden for moving mulch around, etc.

Looking for newbie advice. I didn't see anything too negative with tractorco, but I'm not sure. I think the really old tractors will just scare the DW, and I can't afford a Kubota. The gray markets look to be a decent deal.

Can you guys give me some thoughts? They also have some used tractors here:

Tractor Co.: Reconditioned & Used Tractors by Yanmar, Mitsubishi, Iseki & Hinomoto For Sale in Washington.

Thanks in advance!

 

[beartoothweb]

I can't afford a new tractor. I'm building a shop this year, and hoping to build a kit car, so if I spend $20k on a new tractor, I'll have to paint racing strips on it and drop a 350ci into it. ;->

I actually found a yanmar 1802dt 4wd here locally. The guy is a dealer and actually lives 1/2 a mile from me. He took it in on trade, and it has low hours (supposedly, you know how that goes). The guy that had it before burned the clutch out of it, so they are doing a full work over on it.

He wants $5500, which seems pretty comparable to the others I've seen for that size. It won't be ready for a few weeks, so when I get a chance to look at it, I'll report back.

BTW, I'm still open minded here. If I can find something used that's more mainstream, I'd go that way. I have a farmer buddy looking for me as well.

 

[wcpeabody]

I do not know wear in MT you live but I bought a JD 770 with FEL, mower, back blade and harrow in Plains MT for 7400 about 5 months ago. I found it on Craigslist.

Bill