Comparison Narrowed down to 3 tractors and need factual opinions

   / Narrowed down to 3 tractors and need factual opinions #1  

Bowfisher09

New member
Joined
Sep 1, 2013
Messages
17
Location
Hardin, Texas
Tractor
Mahindra 485-DI
Alright fellow tractor owners, i went tractor shopping yesterday and have narrowed down to 3-4 tractors so lets start from the beginning. I have 36 acres of old clear cut, mainly under growth and briars etc, nothing a heavy brush hog wont take care of. Here are the tractors "new" i reviewed and looked at a couple days ago. 1: Mahindra 4025 4x4 w/ loader 41hp, 2: New Holland work master 45hp 4x4 w/ loader, 3: Massey Ferguson 2615 49hp 4x4 w/ loader. All close enough in price i guess. Now the new holland is a shuttle, and the mahindra and massey are old school high-low and gear shifted which i like. The massey is most expensive and heavier duty looking but only offers a 2 year warranty as the mahindra and new holland offer a 5 year warranty. And should i be hesitant or scared about a shuttle transmission vs. old school stick transmission. Any light you can spread on this subject would be greatly appreciated, Oh and also looked at LS 5055 4x4 55hp for 23k, cheaper price and more hp but are these tractors tough or worth the time?

Thanks, opinions and facts welcome
 
   / Narrowed down to 3 tractors and need factual opinions #2  
I don't know anything about the specific tractors you're looking at but I can say that LS tractors are tough, well built and certainly worth your time to investigate. There are plenty of happy LS owners on this forum, most of whom believe that you get more tractor for your money with LS than with a lot of other tractors that may have better name recognition.
 
   / Narrowed down to 3 tractors and need factual opinions #3  
I would not worry at all about a shuttle, but can you tell us a little more about your intended use?
 
   / Narrowed down to 3 tractors and need factual opinions
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Well intended use will be brush clearing for the most part in the beginning, pushing fallen logs into piles, and mowing down thick briars and small china berry trees etc. Some might say i need a dozer but in reality its not that bad, and its a tractor not a truck so its for work not show. Some have told me that a shuttle would be better in the use of pushing piles of dirt or brush.
 
   / Narrowed down to 3 tractors and need factual opinions #5  
LS makes all their own tractors in their own new, modern facility in South Korea. All the others that you listed are made by someone else and marketed by the respective distributor with the exception of Mahindra and those depending on the model may also be subs to another manufacturer. LS has been making tractors for several decades but just last 3 years or so have they been developing a USA market for them. They have set their goal to be in the top 3 sellers within 10 years of introduction and they are making large strides. All the New Holland Boomers were made by LS last year and some of the Case models also.
They are fine tractors, heavier than Kubota and John Deere but maybe not as heavy as Mahindra (have to check the weight on those for comparison) and have a 2 year bumper to bumper and 5 year power train warranty which is longer than most other companies. I think Kioti is also offering 5 years on power train.
 
   / Narrowed down to 3 tractors and need factual opinions #6  
Well intended use will be brush clearing for the most part in the beginning, pushing fallen logs into piles, and mowing down thick briars and small china berry trees etc. Some might say i need a dozer but in reality its not that bad, and its a tractor not a truck so its for work not show. Some have told me that a shuttle would be better in the use of pushing piles of dirt or brush.
I have shuttle shift in my 2010 model LS P7010 (that is all they offered at that time but have power shuttle now) and it works OK but is tiring on the clutch leg when you start doing a lot of back and forth work. I have HST in my Kubota and that is my go to tractor for most of my work. I just use the LS now for mowing, disking and dirt work when I need to move a large amount for long distance due to its much bigger FEL bucket.
Most HST transmissions will spin all four tires which is all you need to do to deliver max power to the wheels. You will loose about 5 HP between gear models and HST engine to PTO but with CUT tractors most of them have more power than traction so it isn't a deal breaker. It does take some getting used to when driving HST because if you need more power you have to back off the HST pedal whereas the instinct is to put the pedal to the medal which will only stall the HST tractor.
 
   / Narrowed down to 3 tractors and need factual opinions
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Very interesting, I will have to look more into LS. Is changing oil, filters etc easy access on the LS?
 
   / Narrowed down to 3 tractors and need factual opinions #8  
Have you driven each one? You may find some fit you and some don't. Nothing worse than some little lever, bump, knob, or key that rubs you raw. Or a pedal that you can't reach without bumping the steering wheel with your knee.

Bruce
 
   / Narrowed down to 3 tractors and need factual opinions
  • Thread Starter
#9  
No Bruce i did not get to the other day due to rain, but your right a test drive would do some good on decision making, as we speak im still looking at reviews, pros and cons on all of them and still cant lean one way or the other. . . . its a pain
 
   / Narrowed down to 3 tractors and need factual opinions #10  
No Bruce i did not get to the other day due to rain, but your right a test drive would do some good on decision making, as we speak im still looking at reviews, pros and cons on all of them and still cant lean one way or the other. . . . its a pain

It's harder than buying a car. I just went through it, and it's maddening. The good news is that most of the new tractors out there are good so it's hard to go wrong if you pick one that fits your needs and buy from a good dealer.
 
 
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