Lack of reviews

   / Lack of reviews #1  

Boondox

Elite Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2000
Messages
3,873
Location
Craftsbury Common, Vermont
Tractor
Deere 4044R cab, Kubota KX-121-3S
I've been on this forum since '99, and in all that time nobody has reviewed their Deere. It was one of the reasons I never considered buying a Deere till the 4300 took the TBN Best in class award. I mean, if there wasn't a single green owner who felt good enough about his tractor to submit a review, there must not be much behind the loader, right?

So are you guys gonna submit your reviews, or do I have to buy that 4300 I've been salivating so I can be the first?

Pete
 
   / Lack of reviews #2  
Pete, this subject came up the other day and I did put in a review of my 790. It hasn't shown up yet and the submit screen suggested a couple of weeks to post. Must be a low priority task for our ever-faithful webmeister. Just go buy the thing and let us all know how you like it! Are you planning on trading your current machine? Getting a FEL? Which one? Seems the 430 has higher capacity and greater bucket range of motion for not too many $$$ more than the 420. There is one on my dealers lot with a 48 hoe on it as well. Need.... more.... money....

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   / Lack of reviews
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Still have to go over Steve Carver's info, but the Deere dealer is willing to give me what I paid for my B1750 and ALSO what I paid for a two-wheeled BCS tractor I bought from him three years ago! The rig I'm looking at is the 4300 Hydro with the 430 FEL, the 60" rear-discharge finish mower, and a 72" rear blade with a 17" moldboard that angles and tilts.
 
   / Lack of reviews #4  
Boondox, I have had a 4300 w/430 FEL, hydro, 4wd, hydraulic toplink, R4 tires, since last March. I have a little over 100 hours on it with no problems to date. I use it to rototill, mow my pasture, do dirt work, pull up stumps, and, this year, remove ice and snow. It has performed flawlessly (wish I could say the same about the operator)/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. I get about 5/8 gallon/hour on my fuel consumption. I was able to level a pond dam 8' by 150' in about 13 hours. I don't use it to mow my lawn due to its weight and the fact that I water my lawn every other day during the summer keeping the ground fairly wet. I have driven on my lawn and did some leveling with no scruffing or other negative impact. You do need your tires filled and ballast to use the FEL. It will lift the back of the tractor off the ground without it. I do wish it had extendable lower links on occasion when I am trying to hook up to an implement. Lest I sound like a JD groupie, I just bought a Grasshopper 721D ZTR w/a Kubota diesel engine and think it is a good machine as well.
 
   / Lack of reviews #5  
Pete
I have had my 4300 not quite 3 weeks yet, so I can't give it a honest review yet. We have had 2 days of snow so I have put 20HRS on the tach just for snow removal. I think it's a great tractor, it sure moves alot more wet snow than the 855 did, I suposse another 1000LBS in tractor weight does the trick plus the front blade is 1' wider. I was more impressed the low noise at full throtle comepared to a 855. The only complant I have is my new yellow seat is turnning black in color, I guess that mean's it's time to wash my coveralls!
 
   / Lack of reviews
  • Thread Starter
#6  
The low noise level really is impressive! My little B1750 Kubota screams! The 4300 (as well as the larger Kubotas I tested) has this lovely throaty grumble. I'm a sucker for exhaust notes.

Pete
 
   / Lack of reviews
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Hydraulic toplink? I missed that when checking out the tractor. How's it work?

I'm really looking forward to getting a new tractor, regardless of what brand it turns out to be.

You raised an interesting point about the need for ballast in loader work. The 4300 with the 430 has very impressive lift stats that seem like they'd match a much larger tractor. What do you use for ballast besides filled rubber? I was hoping a beefy rear blade (about 500#) would be enough...

Pete
 
   / Lack of reviews #8  
Pete,
I've 600 pounds of wheel weights and a woods 6 foot box blade that I use. I can lift 1600 lb. round bales without a problem with this setup. I'm really impressed with the work you can do with these little tractors and they drive and start like a car! I went and bought mine because I was so dang tired of trying to start my skidsteer and massey in the winter. I spent more time getting them running than I did working. That little deere pays for itself everytime I go out there and crank it up and it is ready to go. It's saved me so much grief, stress, and time this winter that I'd get rid of all the other machines I have before I'd get rid of the deere. This is a compact tractor that performs like a fullsize tractor, but without the headaches of operation. BTW mine is a 4600.

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   / Lack of reviews #9  
A hydraulic toplink is a hydraulic cylinder that replaces the toplink in the 3PH. The cylinder is controled through a lever. This setup allows the operator to adjust the angle of an implement on the fly. I use mine on my boxblade. The top link allows me to adjust the boxblade so that just the teeth are in the grround, the whole box is on the ground, the back of the box is touching the ground or some other combination. You can do all of this by just moving a lever. Without the hydraulic toplink, you would have to get off the tractor to make all these changes which would be very time consuming.

Hope this helps...
Dan McCarty
 
   / Lack of reviews #10  
Dan,
Did you get your hydraulic link from deere? What was the cost of it?



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