What tractor to buy Kioti or Kabota

[bkeddie]

Good Morning All:

I have a hilly, 15 acre property on two parcels. One 4 acre where my house and garage sit, which is mostly cleared but beginning to grow over in sections and an 11 acre bush portion which was clear cut 6 years ago. There is also a sandy beach at the far end which the bush is threatening to retake control.
I want to clear brush, pull stumps, level areas where possible to create pasture areas.
I am not sure which size tractor to go with. I know I will need 4X4, front end loader, back hoe with thumb, box scraper and either a brush cutter or possibly a flail mower. I want enough power to meet the challenge. Any thoughts? I live in an area where my nearest tractor dealer is a Kabota 20 km away. A Kioti Dealer is 182 km away. I am not very mechanical (but willing to learn), so my thought was to go with a local product that could be serviced quickly as opposed to a 2 hour road trip.
Thoughts as to the size and product choices would be appreciated.
Thanks, Brian

 

[Muhammad]

Welcome to TBN.

 

[creekbend]

Here is a website where you can gather specs and info thus helping you compare various makes and models TractorData.com - information on all makes and models of tractors If it were me, I would choose the closer dealer, but the final decision will be yours. Good luck. BTW--:welcome:

 

[bp fick]

Brian, Eventually, it will come down to how deep your pockets are as to how big you'll be able to go with tractor/loader/backhoe. TLBs are not cheap.

I'd certainly look at the Kubota L series. Your work will demand some grunt.

I also like to deal with local guy, but don't give away all your leverage when bargaining. You will need a price from Messicks or Barlows to know if your local guy is even in the ballpark. Be educated. Both of those dealers have reputations and are huge, thriving concerns. Barlows will deliver just about anywhere in the eastern 2/3 of the nation.

My suggestion is to go on down to that local Kubota dealer and sit on a few. Refuse to be rushed into buying anything. Do your "quoting" a few days later over the phone or by email. Less pressure that way.

You need to sit on a Kubota L or Grand L to see if you are comfortable with a tractor of that size. Maybe fire it up and tool around the lot a bit.

 

[bkeddie]

I thank you for your thoughts Mr. bp fick.
I shall follow your advice.
Brian

 

[Briana03]

WELCOME to TBN

I moved your thread to the Buying/Pricing/Comparisons Forum.

 

[Gittyup]

Brand is a personal preference, and dealer quality plays a big part. But, that doesn't mean you should discount the farther away dealer. I bought my tractor from a dealer over 250 miles away. The two issues I've had, the dealer came to me and fixed them at my place.

Anyway, you will not likely need your to have your tractor at the dealer more than 2 or 3 times in a 20-30 year period. My JD is 18 years old. Been to the dealer exactly once over this timespace. It did finally need a major repair this year that I did myself.

As far as size, I would want something with at least 2000 lbs of loader lift, as as long a backhoe as I could afford with the appropriately sized tractor. Reach is what I find important on backhoes as much as anything. That extra 6" can save you a lot of moving around sometimes. That said, I think this puts you in the 40-50 HP range. In terms of value the DK40 or the DS4110 are very good. I'm sure there are several Kubota models (and several other makers) equally as good too.

 

[TripleR]

I can't beat the advice given by bp fick. Both Kubota and Kioti make really good equipment.

That sounds like a significant undertaking and pretty time consuming.

We have found it cheaper to rent an excavator and/or dozer for the heavy stuff and go with a tractor for the rest.

If I was determined to do it myself, I would want an M59, but $$$$$$$$.

We have 70 and 85 HP tractors and even they can struggle in some heavy stuff not to mention wear and tear.

I am sure others will disagree and have better advice; I have just seen what that can do to a piece of machinery.

Years ago, we bought a used Case commercial backhoe and used it for a few years, but my brother had to do a lot of work on it. We had other tractors for tractor stuff though.

One last thing, you might want to rent a TLB for a weekend just to get a point of reference if you are new to tractors.

Good luck.

 

[KYDan]

If you go with Kubota most likely to effectively do what you want to do you probably should consider the 3 or 4 series tractors. The L4400 is a nice tractor for the money. Since you have hills and want something that will grunt 4WD is a must, for loader work HST is really the only way to go, however, you can make do with geared transmission if you can't make it fit your budget. Since you are working on hillsides you want the tractor as wide as possible. Do you want a cab for winter use? If so you should stick with the L series. If you can live without one you might even consider moving up to the MX4700. It gives you more width and horsepower than the L4400. I cannot comment on Kioti other than my friends that had them were not too happy with them, but that has been over a decade ago and they have improved a lot over time from what I am reading on the list. I am on my second Kubota and the first one was 14 years old when I sold it to buy this one. It never gave me the first problem. The only reason I bought a new tractor was I wanted a larger one. Good luck.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Both mfg's make great tractors.

For me, similar to you, I needed the biggest tractor I could afford. All the dealers were closer to me, but I got my 50hp Kioti for almost 20% lower cost than a similar Kubota and I could not have taken delivery until Halloween if I went Kubota.

For me, Kioti simply gave me better bang for the buck. But I also discovered a great dealer in the process.

I am VERY happy.

David