Which to buy? Used NH/JD/Kubota vs. New Chinese?

[Cacinok]

we tripled our acreage and i guess my old long was not to excited to maintain it and he gave up the ghost literally 10 seconds after i unloaded it from the trailer. so now i'm in the market for a newer tractor. i've been looking for quite a while and am now ready, almost, to pull the trigger.

here's where i come to you, the brain trust, for insights and opinions. i am looking in the 30-35 hp range, 4wd, w/ FEL, R4s and $11k-$13k price range. from my research, this leaves me w/ the following options. either buy a used, 400-600 hour, NH/Ford, JD or Kubota (although the Kubotas in this price range usually have closer to 1000 hours), or buy a brand new chinese tractor, Jinma, Foton, or Kama.

our property is an overgrown/undeveloped mix of some hills, some flat, some overgrown pasture, about 3 acres of grass around the house, half wooded, and about 700' of driveway to maintain. oh and a not quite half full 3/4 acre pond that's not sure whether to hold water or not.

what i'm looking for are the pro's and con's of going used big three vs new chinese, or vice versa. i am fairly mechanical, but just went into business for myself and don't have the time to futz (sp?) around w/ a broken down tractor, especially since my honey-do list is growing exponentially since we don't have a functioning tractor now.

i realize that some of the chinese tractors don't have the fit and finish as the big three, nor do they have the amenities. i also realize that the key to buying chinese is finding a dealer that does good prep of the tractor.

oh, i should add that i'm open to other brands as well, as long as they fit the aforementioned criteria.

a local dealer has a mahindra 2415 w/ FEL and, iirc, about 115 hours for $11k, and it still has about a year of warranty. he said it would pull a 6' box blade, but i'm not so sure.

last question, would a tractor of the size i'm looking for be to heavy, even w/ r4s, to do finish mowing?

 

[Bob_Skurka]

we tripled our acreage . . .

our property is an overgrown/undeveloped mix of some hills, some flat, some overgrown pasture, about 3 acres of grass around the house, half wooded, and about 700' of driveway to maintain. oh and a not quite half full 3/4 acre pond that's not sure whether to hold water or not.

How much land do you have total?

What are the ongoing tasks you have do use the tractor for? Do you have snow to plow off the driveway, if so how deep? Do you just need to blade the driveway to maintain it? Seems to me for a 3 acre lawn you can get by with a smaller tractor than 35hp, but maintaining a 700' driveway may keep you up in the 27 to 30hp range if there is a lot of annual work on the driveway.

 

[Jimbrown]

I personally would buy a used top three over any new chinese

 

[Cacinok]

bob, we have 15 acres. the driveway will likely need to be addressed a couple of times a year as it, unfortunately, has become the drainage path for about 10 acres - i'll try to fix the problem, eventually, with a drainage ditch or something to that effect, but that's a different thread altogether. it will be a long term project b/c of the lay of the land and the fact the driveway snakes across my property to the road.

as far as ongoing tasks: a whole lot of brushhogging, finish mowing, thinning the woods some and dragging the downed trees, maintenance of the levy for the pond - back side is fairly steep, and eventually moving hay/feed around and mucking stalls.

I personally would buy a used top three over any new chinese

any particular reason?

 

[MLinOleMiss]

It may pull the blade, but it's not going to do any work with it, I would stick with the big three, my mahindra is giving me fits right now.

 

[CDsdad]

I'd go with the big 3 plus others. Look at Massey Ferguson, too, if you have any local dealers. There is also Montana, Kioti, Mahindra and others that are sometimes substantially lower priced than the big 3, but aren't chinese. I wouldn't buy chinese, but I would keep my options open.

MLinOleMiss, what's wrong with your Mahindra? I looked hard at them before I got the MF.

 

[MLinOleMiss]

Constant problems with the operating temps, have to clean the radiator with a pressure asher or air compressor way too often, have spoken with several 4110 owners and this is a recurring theme, also had an electrical problem shortly after purchase, three trips back to the dealer to get it corrected and the latest problem is a hydraulic fluid leak. And I only have 300 hours on it.

 

[Cacinok]

thanks for the info so far, keep it coming.

bob, forgot, probably won't be plowing much snow, we get snow, just rarely more than 6" at a time and it rarely sticks around.

for those suggesting to move away from chinese, any particular reason?

as far as dealerships in the area, i can pretty much choose.

 

[bjr]

I bought a crate (I had to put it together) JM354 Jinma, no FEL. I'm a mechanic. I did all the required cleaning and oil changing along with a couple common sense modifications I did on my own. I realalized with that machine, When I bought it I own it. Meaning I didn't have warranty worth worrying about. I would do all my own repairs. I've got 500 hrs. on it and I've no complaints. I do not like FEL's on compact tractors as most people, myself included, abuse things for the sake of speed and pretty soon front gears or spindle go away on the front axle.

From your description of your conserns, I would probably go with big name brand. Just be careful when pushing with the bucket down with the FEL. bjr

 

[SOS]

I owned a Chinese tractor for about 3 years and had a lot of problems in getting parts -- even oil filters. I still have it but use my new NH now - Service, Parts, longevity of buisness are a few of the reasons I went with one of the top 3. The Chinese tractor was good and powerful (38 HP) but I did not have the time to keep searching for parts... etc -- I did find a good supplier in canada but again, it was not as convienent as going to a dealer in town.

Note that it was a hard sell to my wife to replace it after 3 years and so I made her part of the decision process this time.

I'll give you my 2002 Chinese tractor for $3-K if you want to experiment.