Buying Advice New or used??? Same price!! Brands???

[DK35vince]

Maybe you should ask Farmtrac owners if they'd buy their Farmtrac again?

My neighbor has a FarmTrac 360DTC. I think he gets his parts with no problem through the local McCormic dealer.(They have the same model, differant sticker and color.)

 

[wampum]

I am retired now and basically on fixed income. Except for the extra I get from the farm and custom work.( I have a small sawmill,do odd jobs and so on). So my budget tells me what I can spend not the color of a tractor. I do more now with the tractors I have then I had time to do before. I am looking for a larger tractor,around 50 HP for haying,logging and plowing. I really care about quality,and believe that some of the other so called off brands have more to offer then the name brands. Draft control and remotes,along with telescopic links come to mind. They come with the tractor on some off brands,no extra charge. I will not buy Chinese,but understand that some green ones are made over there. Orange,equipped the way I want is way over $30,000. So I am leaning towards Korean or Indian,that I can get for under $20,000. Resale is not my concern,that will be my heirs problem. Local dealer support is also important,mainly for parts. Once the warranty is gone it will never see a dealer again anyhow except for parts. Unless I can get the parts online cheaper,or used,then the dealer will not even come to mind. I get a kick out of all these loyal green,blue,and orange followers. Outside of resale they really are not any better,in most cases they are cheaper. Brand name 40 to 50 years ago meant something,those where heavy well built tractors. Every year all the local farmers went to the local pull and had at it. No pumped up monster,just straight from the field to the pull,for the county bragging rights. You do not see to many of these new fangled alien tractors at many of the pulls.

 

[littlejohn2009]

First I am NOT familiar with the term LS (and I can't figure what brand it is???LOL)

I have a 4700 kabota, and its a good tractor. It has a tranny and a shuttle.

The shuttle is a must for loader work. BUT one thing to consider if you are using the loader a LOT and it sounds like you are, and since your place is small...I look strongly at hydrostatic drive.

Loader work is hard on clutches. The other thing I'd look at is how slow can it go at 540 rpm. Some tractors have creep speed (mine doesn't and I wish it did)..snow blows rotary tillers, mowers etc...sometime you need to go slower then low gear will allow, unless you have a good low bear.

Warranty is a good thing, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker for me. With the used ones, have them checked out, and see if you can use it for a day. Try and get another person (farmer) to look over the used ones....they will have a critical eye for you.

 

[bp fick]

LS tractors is the Korean OEM for many, many re-badged tractors here. The list is too long. Recently, they have decided to market direct, under their own name - LS.

 

[DmansPadge]

This is an easy one. Get the L3130. Also I believe that model was only available in a shuttle shift, glide shift, or HST... so at worst it has a shuttle shift transmission.

 

[TripleR]

I am retired now and basically on fixed income. Except for the extra I get from the farm and custom work.( I have a small sawmill,do odd jobs and so on). So my budget tells me what I can spend not the color of a tractor. I do more now with the tractors I have then I had time to do before. I am looking for a larger tractor,around 50 HP for haying,logging and plowing. I really care about quality,and believe that some of the other so called off brands have more to offer then the name brands. Draft control and remotes,along with telescopic links come to mind. They come with the tractor on some off brands,no extra charge. I will not buy Chinese,but understand that some green ones are made over there. Orange,equipped the way I want is way over $30,000. So I am leaning towards Korean or Indian,that I can get for under $20,000. Resale is not my concern,that will be my heirs problem. Local dealer support is also important,mainly for parts. Once the warranty is gone it will never see a dealer again anyhow except for parts. Unless I can get the parts online cheaper,or used,then the dealer will not even come to mind. I get a kick out of all these loyal green,blue,and orange followers. Outside of resale they really are not any better,in most cases they are cheaper. Brand name 40 to 50 years ago meant something,those where heavy well built tractors. Every year all the local farmers went to the local pull and had at it. No pumped up monster,just straight from the field to the pull,for the county bragging rights. You do not see to many of these new fangled alien tractors at many of the pulls.

Some very good points and while I don't know anything about the LS, there are good reasons to avoid some non "name brands", Belarus comes to mind in my area as well as two or three the names I can't remember. No more dealers, support or parts.

 

[daveinnh]

I would aggre with tsteahr.

Try the tractor & especially the loader.

Check your area for dealer support.

dave

 

[Looney Bin Manager]

OK guys I did it! Thanks to all your input I bought the Kubota 3130!!!! It's great, even though I haven't but just now unloaded it from the trailer. With the consensus here being to go with the 3130 and a friend of mine here saying the same thing, I knew it was the right choice. Thank you very much for all your thoughts on this, it was a great help. Here is a photo of it from a few minutes ago. Time I got home, it was just getting dark. Can't wait to go play tomorrow. Parked it under the carport in my wife's car spot.....do you think she will notice???? Hey, I know I get to drive it once more tonight.

[/IMG]

 

[bp fick]

Yeah Baby!!! Very nice.

Do you have or were able to determine the service history? It's nice to go through a "new to you" machine and do the greasing, filters/fluids. Helps with familiarity and you get to start right out with everything as it should be.

I assume that previous owner, who "kept that tractor in his living room" gave you all the original paperwork, manuals, etc?

Congrats.

 

[teg]

Great choice... :thumbsup: (glad you didn't do the L2800)