SO,,, I spent the day at the Tractor show. Had a great time and got to see loads of great stuff that had nothing to do with my personal tractor oddessy. The timberfox wood processing demo was great.
I stopped in and said Hi to all the dealers, and spent some time on my back checking out these hydraulic cooling fans on the three tractors I am most likely to end up with. First up, the Kubota. B2620 is integrated into the radiator. Very cool.
The GC,,, it has the fan off the transmission, and it is exposed. No two ways around that. More in a sec on this.
The J has a nearly identical fan set up to the GC. The only real difference is that the J is a bit higher off the ground. In either case, if there was even like a 1% chance that a stick, branch, pricker bush or anything could pop up under the tractor, the fan in it's current off the show room floor configuration is in great danger of being smashed to bits. Anyone that might go into the woods, or would be clearing land, or basically be doing anything besides yard work where there were no branches, stick or what have you laying around, would want to seek immediate skid plate modifications to add protection. As the B2620 was finally completely ruled out, finding some kind of a skid plate, aftermarket or fabricated will be the first priority before either tractor that is left goes to work. The good thing about either the GC or the J is that fabricating a skid plate should be relatively easy.
With regards to a thread I was reading concerning bolts loosening up on the J. Bob, from Paige equipment talked to me about this. He has assured me that if the tractor is ordered from the assembly factory set up as you order it, that it is delivered to their shop completely set up. There is a high probability that the assembly plant in NC is torquing all of the bolts. Obviously this does not mean that an occasional bolt may be missed. But interestingly, Bob told me that their shop indeed goes over the tractors a second time to make sure everything is fastened down properly. Again, this is not to say that you will never find a loose bolt. But the point is, these tractors should not be, or are known to have an issue with "Rattling Apart". He went on to say, That when items are added at the dealership, there have been stories where the dealers workmanship has not been up par, and things were not properly torqued down, leading to loose bolts. Bob assures me that their shop is well aware of the need to torque things down and that is one of the things they take responsibility for. MUSIC TO MY EARS.
On to the Backhoe and MMM and how they play together. This is what totally shut down the Bota beyond any doubt. In order to put the MMM on the bota, you have to pull a bracket off. You can't pull the bracket, via the service manager, without pulling the rear tires off. Disqualified.
On the GC, the package is specifically designed to be able to swap out the FEL, BH and MMM with minimal trouble. But then, that is the case with most SCUT's.
The J Bob tells me, has a bracket that also needs to be removed, but there are 4, down from the 8 they first thought, bolts that must be removed to accomplish this. At least you don't need to take the rear tires off. Interestingly, while I was talking to the New Holland Dealer about the same issue, he told me that their set up does not require you to remove a similar bracket. This would be a very nice bonus. I have some feelers out to verify if Bob's take on the bracket is completely accurate. Until I talked to him today and got him to fish around a bit, he didn't think the J's deck was Drive over either. But after talking to the LS rep that was there, they decided that the deck was indeed a drive over. He also told me that you have to remove the three point arms and links in order to mount the backhoe. Not that this is a big deal, they are just pined on. But I have from another source that you don't actually need to take them off. Feelers out there on this also. So I am hopeful that there may be even a small possibility that he might be incorrect on having to take the bracket off as well. That would be just excellent if it turned out to be the case. Still, even if it turns out not to be the case, at least you don't have to take the rear tires off.
The last thing I noticed while laying on my back under the J was the shaft that delivers power to the front wheels. To be honest, this shaft did not appear to be very beefy. I would have liked to see a bit more meat on this shaft and the u joints. How big of a deal is this? No clue. The only thing I can attest to is that the same shaft on other tractors do not appear to be any different. So it's probably not a big deal at all. But it would have made me feel better to see a bit more meat.
Price. Well, The GC1710 TLB with 60" MMM is just over 22k.
The J, same TLB config with same 60" MMM, PLUS, mechanical thumb and tooth bar is looking like its going to be just under 22k, with a 300 dollar discount for having gone to the show.
Dollar for dollar, spec for spec, quality for quality. Unless you needed a GC sized tractor, the LS J appears to be a better deal. The acceptation being rather or not you can find a suitable dealer that is close enough to you. No thanks to the LS website, MAGNUS put me on to Paige Equipment who turned out to be every bit the gentleman and scholar that Magnus reported him to be. I had a good conversation with his Service guy, Bob, who answered all of my questions and set my mind to ease on a great many things. I feel if everything is true that was told to me today, that they will render the service everyone deserves. And to get the size tractor I want, I am willing to do business 1.5 hours away. Further, anyone that is looking for a similar sized tractor, quality wise, the J is a real contender. Some things to think about is the fact that it does have a Rocker Foot pedal, which overall I am not really fond of. Id prefer the side by side pedals. But as it turns out, if you want this size tractor, your options are limited. Not non existent, but limited. The cockpit layout is as comfortable, "To Me" as any tractor that I saw and liked. FEL does have boom float by the way.
Now that I have a reasonable chance to expect proper service, I am running out of reasons why this should not be the tractor for me.
