Need buying advice - Kubota/JD/NH

[Kao]

Hi - first time poster and first time tractor buyer.

I have read many of the posts on this site and really like the amount of experience the members have.

After reading several posts, I have come down to a final few tractors that I need help in deciding on because my uses are slightly different from some of the other posters I read.

I'll lay it out as plain as I can.
Geography - I have 80 acres in northern wisconsin, gets very cold in the winter and the soil on my property is clay. The ground I work on is not hilly...pretty much all flat. About 50 acres are wooded and 25 acres are field/pasture and 5 acres are finished lawn.

My intended use:
Repairing and maintaining a gravel driveway - about 300ft long plus parking areas. All the gravel has been scraped off from plowing and now is just a rutted clay mess.
I plan on doing quite a bit of loader work (hauling and dumping dirt/gravel) in the first year...but after the first year it will be only occasional loader work.

Occaisional brush mowing in the field and edges. Most of the field gets hayed and some of it I may open up to horses as I have kicked the idea around of pasture boarding some horses.

I would like to blaze a few trails through the wooded area. The perimeter of my land has been gone through with a tractor in the past (over 10 years ago) and by 4-wheel atvs on a few occasions...so i know it is passable. My hope is to make walking trails for bird hunting or shooting lanes for deer hunting. There are no trees over 6-8" in diameter so any 30hp tractor shouldnt have any problem dragging a few out of the way once they are cut down.

We put a new house up 2 years ago. On a slab in the middle of a hay field. My neighbor did my front yard for me by removing the topsoil, hauling in black dirt and sloped it away from the house using his bobcat. Very nice job, but needs some low spots filled with more black dirt.
The back yard is still field...I would like to use my new tractor to either disc it or remove some topsoil and bring in black dirt - much like the front yard. So I need *some* digging capabilities with the bucked...but not much.

Snow removal - we can get some nasty winters up here. My old full size jeep is on its last legs for plowing and my 10hp Husqy snowblower takes quite a while to do the driveway and parking areas. My neighbors bobcat makes short work of it, but I cant keep relying on him to do my dirty work

Other than that the tractor will be used for light duty stuff...maintenance mostly.

I have narrowed my choices down to:
Kubota L3400 - Manual - 34.7/29hp motor/pto - $16,350
Kubota L3400 - Hydro - 34.7/27.5hp motor/pto - $17,250
New Holland TC30 - Hydro - 30/25.5hp motor/pto - $17,150

Depending on financing, I may be able to afford:
Kubota L4400 - Manual - 45.3/37.5hp motor/pto - $23,000
John Deere 990 - Manual - 40.4/35hp motor/pto - Havent got a price yet.

Dealers:
Here is the real problem in deciding.
I have one JD dealer and one Kubota dealer (bobcat dealer) within 30 miles.
The NH dealer (who also does kubota) is about 85 miles from me.
Thats it. So if the NH needs dealer work - its 85 miles one way.

The JD dealer is a bunch of jerks. They mostly sell motorcycle sand ATVs JD tractors up to about the 4000 series. Their service dept is so-so and basically the whole staff seems pretty arrogant.

The Bobcat/Kubota dealer works mostly with heavy equipment. I have faith in them being able to handle any service work with skill and professionalism. That being said..I have yet to visit them to get pricing.

The pricing I did get is from the far away dealer. My uncle has bought his farm equip from them and he speaks highly of them. They always have had the best pricing and have given him straight advice on purchases.

From a dealer standpoint I am leaning toward buying a Kubota from the farther dealer and getting any service from the closer one...but I will give the closer one a chance to give me good initial pricing as well.

Im open to suggestions, questions and any other comments.

Thanks in advance!

 

[IslandTractor]

Given your well described situation, I would personally take either the gear or HST Kubota L3400 and not look back. You'll probably never need the dealer for service given how reliable those machines are and if you do the local Kubota dealer sounds quite likely to be up to par. I'd get a price from them and see if they'll match the far away Kubota dealer as it would be of some advantage to buy from the servicing dealer but don't pay too much extra for the priviledge.

The only other consideration I would raise is that of a cab. The L3400 would be better at some of the land clearing/trail making projects you have in mind but a slightly more expensive B3030 cab sure would be nice for all the routine lawn mowing and snow removal tasks. I might choose to spend a bit more and do the land clearing tasks a bit more slowly as a trade off to have 10-20 years of a cab once the initial work was done.

 

[crbr]

Hi - first time poster and first time tractor buyer.....I have read many of the posts .....
After reading several posts, I have come down to a final few tractors ........We put a new house up 2 years ago. On a slab in the middle of a hay field. ...... we can get some nasty winters up here. ......
I have narrowed my choices down to:
Kubota L3400 - Manual - 34.7/29hp motor/pto - $16,350
Kubota L3400 - Hydro - 34.7/27.5hp motor/pto - $17,250
New Holland TC30 - Hydro - 30/25.5hp motor/pto - $17,150

...........From a dealer standpoint I am leaning toward buying a Kubota
Im open to suggestions, questions and any other comments.

Thanks in advance!

Opinion only ==> Kubota L3400 - Hydro - 34.7/27.5hp motor/pto - $17,250. I think you should be able to get the tractor alone (as described here) at a bit less price, but it's close to reasonable. The HP boost between the B7800 @ 30HP and the L3400 is likely the factor.

I'll tell you what I got into a B7800, 60" mid-mower, L402 FEL... shook out at $18,000, out the door (farm tax exempt). Turf tires after a trial and error fiasco with the R-4s.

 

[swampvol]

I assume the prices you posted are including the loader. I paid $17.2k for my l3400hst with la463 loader...right where you're at.

I chose it over the tc-30 I tested.

Get the l3400, have them fill the tires and enjoy.

 

[Z-Michigan]

Kao, welcome to TBN. Also, great description of your intended uses. This is an outstanding example of when the appropriate tractor size doesn't correlate with acreage. I think you are looking at the right size, and I would second the suggestion to consider a B3030 cab - slightly small, but the cab would be soooooooo nice to have that you probably wouldn't mind a couple extra hours in the seat. I think a B3030 would be perfectly adequate if you're willing to use a 4' wide brush mower. If you want 5' or 6', it will be too small.

I would strongly, strongly recommend HST for your planned uses. FEL work is much easier and somewhat faster with HST, and mowing can be too if you have obstacles to mow around.

Too bad that the JD dealer isn't good, because they make really nice tractors. Fortunately Kubota and NH do also. I think dealer quality is roughly equal in importance to quality of the tractor itself. In your situation, I would likely choose Kubota. Only caveat is that I wouldn't expect the local dealer to give you much service if you buy from far away to save a few bucks. However, the farther dealer may be willing to give you free transport for service, which would cancel that out. I would discuss service as well as price with both dealers. I disagree with IslandTractor on your likelihood of needing Kubota service, based on my own shopping and reading the Kubota forums here. It's not a knock on them, just a statement that all brands can have issues and I wouldn't buy something planning to have no issues.

 

[Kao]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I forgot to mention that I wont be doing any finish mowing with this tractor. I have a garden tractor that does a nice job.

I will look into the cab idea on the 3030. Are there any aftermarket hard or soft cabs for the 3400?

Z-Mich: I read the post you started that went on for 12 pages It sounded like we were on the same track, but I think your rock moving and possible future in hay baling moved you into a larger tractor than I need. Some really good points in the post tho...lots of opinions.

Swamp - yes, all the prices I listed are with loader. I may buy a brush mower later or borrow my neighbors.
How important is it to get the tires filled when doing snow/gravel and digging with the loader? What are some good choices for fill?

 

[IslandTractor]

How important is it to get the tires filled when doing snow/gravel and digging with the loader? What are some good choices for fill?

For both snow plowing and digging weight is good. The L3400 is pretty heavy but could still benefit from loading the tires. A B3030 would definitely benefit from loaded tires especially if it is not your primary finish mower (by the way, I would guess that you'd end up using the cab tractor over your lawn mower tractor once you had a hot muggy summer day or a buggy evening in which to do your mowing ). Sell the little one and get a finish mower...one less engine to maintain. The B3030 will run a 72" finish mower or pull a 60" bush hog with no trouble.

Regarding fluids to weight the tires with: the best is "beet juice" or RimGuard. It is non toxic, non corrosive and heavier than just water with antifreeze. CaCl is an older option that is cheaper but will ultimately rot your wheels and cause a big mess if it leaks. RimGuard is the way to go. Couple hundred bucks.

 

[Z-Michigan]

Filled tires would be helpful for your uses, and I agree 110% with Island on getting Rimguard as your top and perhaps only choice. That's what I have in my tires. Around here it costs about the same as CaCl, though that's probably because we grow sugar beets in Michigan.

I would also agree that if you get a B3030 cab it may become your primary lawnmower. The L3400 with filled tires would be a tad big on lawn, though certainly not out of the question.

Hope you enjoyed my long thread! I like my 5105, but it is a bit bigger than needed for many tasks. On the flip side it makes most tasks go very fast. However, I don't think you need anything nearly that big.

Lastly, I don't know your neighbor, but I personally wouldn't lend a brush mower. They get beat up from regular use, and much worse if you don't know what's in the field. You may also not want to borrow, since you will likely add some dents to it and that may be bad for neighborly relations. Plan to buy your own. If you don't plan to use it much, buy a cheap and/or used model.

 

[AKfish]

I've had a chance to look over the new Kubota "Grand 40" series cab tractors and the JD 3000 and 4000 series 20 cab models. The Kubota is every bit as nice!! Quiet... solid closing doors and fantastic visibility. And it doesn't seem nearly as top-heavy as the JD cab models.

I'm a long term JD guy but if/when I go to a new cab tractor -- the Kubota will be at the top of my list.

Akfish

 

[N80]

The L4400 price that you have seems high. I paid about $18,600 with 4wd and loader. But that's been nearly two years ago. Have prices gone up that much? Or maybe its a regional thing?

Do remember that there is no cab option for the L4400.