Price Check Thinking of BX24 - help with pricing, attachments

   / Thinking of BX24 - help with pricing, attachments #1  

JWK1

Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2008
Messages
29
Location
central Maine
Tractor
unknown
Hey all,

I've just spent the last three hours pouring over 20+ pages of this section of the forum going back to winter of '07. I've got 5 acres. About two are lawn. I've got a stand of pines that need work, I've got really rough ground that needs to be leveled. Some of that is from the old dirt bike trails they made, some from an old plowed section with the furrows still there. There are jumps that were built for the bikes that have to come down. The open pits from where they got the earth to build the ramps have to be filled back in. There are lots of areas that need topsoil in different amounts. There are a lot of trees to pull and stump. These are not huge, maybe 20 - 25 year old pine and ash for the most part. There's a couple of acres with thick scrub that needs to be cleared to different degrees.

OK, that's what I need the tractor for. Maybe you have a better choice of model, maybe not. All opinions welcomed.

I've got three Kubota dealers within 50 miles of me. I just went to the closest one today that I talked to last spring and he started out with talking full retail price. I was a little stunned. The middle of January, last year's model that's been sitting on the lot since at least last Fall and he's trying to talk full retail. Anyway, we didn't talk serious price. I was just surprised. They will try anything sometimes, huh?

How can I know if the BX24 they have on the lot has all the upgrades/fixes I have read about?

How do I know what a decent price is? I'm really confused on this.

Attachments:

I guess I'll get the standard 60" mower deck. Seems to be the logical choice for my sized lawn and all the trees.

I need a box scraper for my 125 yard gravel driveway that gets potholes. The salesperson suggested I get the box scraper with forks/teeth so that I can also use this on the high areas that need to be scraped down to fill in corresponding depressions. I don't really need a tiller since I do all intensive bed gardening, so I thought if this would work to dig up the wheel ruts, furrows and high spots it sounded like a great idea. What do ya'll think of this?

I can't afford the front end snowblower. There's many times when the pile of snow that falls off the metal pole barn roof needs the FEL anyway. It's just too dense and heavy for any snowblower. Any suggestions for a rear mounted? I live in central New York. We get snow.

How would you go about putting this all together? Would you buy the BX24 first and then shop for attachments, or would you try to get it all as a package? How do you price things like this? Wouldn't you think the time of year would be a slight advantage for me, especially if they're selling last year's model? I'm ripping my hair out over this. I'm not trying to squeeze the last dime out of anyone, I just want a good price.

Any suggestions? Thanks for any help.
 
   / Thinking of BX24 - help with pricing, attachments #2  
JWK1 said:
How can I know if the BX24 they have on the lot has all the upgrades/fixes I have read about?
That is a very good question, and you won't be the last person to ask it.

There was a thread on TBN where people had pulled together the list of major BX fixes and kit numbers (useful for existing owners). More helpful for prospective owners prowling a dealer's lot, is the first serial number where the fault was fixed in the factory. For the new seat we have those serials. They are posted on BXtractors.info.It would be great if someone who has access to the Kubota information could help to fill out that list with any missing serial numbers - for example for the cluster moisture problem, or battery cover problem.
 
   / Thinking of BX24 - help with pricing, attachments #3  
My first trip to the dealer resulted in being quoted the "sucker's price". I returned about a week later and asked for a different salesman, boy did the price drop fast! Maybe I am just not a very nice guy..... :rolleyes:
 
   / Thinking of BX24 - help with pricing, attachments #4  
Part of your question was to buy everything now or later. I got my BX 24 with the MMM, loader, back hoe, and just picked up a used tiller for $550 going to cost me another $~150, for a new PTO shaft and a little labor. I have found from many of the great folks on this site that one does not need to buy pure orange to get good working stuff. This tiller is in great shape, the guy was moving up so he needed larger stuff. Looking on craigs list and being looking at Tractor supply etc, I can beat all the Kubota prices with after market tools. My bet is you can find the box blade etc.. cheaper than the deal the Kubota dealer will cut you.
 
   / Thinking of BX24 - help with pricing, attachments #5  
JWK1 said:
Hey all,

I've just spent the last three hours pouring over 20+ pages of this section of the forum going back to winter of '07. I've got 5 acres. About two are lawn. I've got a stand of pines that need work, I've got really rough ground that needs to be leveled. Some of that is from the old dirt bike trails they made, some from an old plowed section with the furrows still there. There are jumps that were built for the bikes that have to come down. The open pits from where they got the earth to build the ramps have to be filled back in. There are lots of areas that need topsoil in different amounts. There are a lot of trees to pull and stump. These are not huge, maybe 20 - 25 year old pine and ash for the most part. There's a couple of acres with thick scrub that needs to be cleared to different degrees.


Any suggestions? Thanks for any help.

Sounds like you need a box blade to level the rough ground, a FEL to fill in holes and generally carry stuff around in, something to mow the grass and a grapple to get rid of the scrub. I'm leaving the stump pulling alone. Everything from chains to dynamite seem to be used for that little job.

Decide what you want to do first. It doesn't sound like the scrub's in the way of the trail leveling project so that could be put off until later. You'll need the FEL and the box blade. You don't have to buy them from the dealer. Sometimes attachments can be financed with the low interest deal like the tractor. If so, might be worth it. Of course, getting the FEL from the dealer means it comes installed which would be a really big deal for me. I don't have the time or mechanical talent to attach heavy pieces of metal together. Everyone's different.

I'd expect to pay 10-15% off list price. That seems to be the going rate on the board here and a goal to shoot for. Then, if they really want your business they throw in things for free. Filled tires, 50 hour service, set of filters, transportation for service-that kind of stuff.

You should check out other brands too. You may have your heart set on a BX24 right now, but that limits you in your shopping and negotiating position. I doubt any salesman is going to start whimpering if you mention another brand, in fact, you'll probably hear some really horrible things about it :) - but if you check back in a couple of days, that price might just come down. Whatever you hear from a salesman, come back and ask here. The people on this board will generally give you lots of things to think about and their opinion of the salesman.
 
   / Thinking of BX24 - help with pricing, attachments
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Is a box blade the same as a box scraper?
 
   / Thinking of BX24 - help with pricing, attachments #8  
JWK1

Don't forget the tooth bar!

It will be invaluable, it makes the loader dig 150% better.

tom
 
   / Thinking of BX24 - help with pricing, attachments #9  
Surprised nobody has pointed Mr. JWK1 in the direction of a B series tractor. I'm on 2 acres and my BX is PERFECT, but judging by the type of work you plan on doing, the few thousand more to jump to the next size tractor would be WELL justified.

I had my BX in North Carolina clearing my folk's property of 1" to 2" scrub pines and I felt like I was working at the absolute limits of the machine. It has plenty of power, but I didn't have any skidplates (a simple fix from BroTek) and was dragging the belly an awful lot...I'm very surprised I didn't mess something up.

Not to say the BX is a trailer queen...it did, and continues to do, an amazing amout of work and take all manner of abuse without a scratch to show for it, but when you talk about stumping and grading raw land and mowing 2 acres, I think you'd appreciate the additional tractor, even if you went with the B2630. If I had a little more land, this is probably the perfect tractor for me.

Regading grading your driveway with a BoxBlade: I was never any good at it. I own a BoxBlade and while I think it is a required purchase for any tractor owner, I ended up backdragging my driveway with my FEL. If you have a solid 6" or 8" of stone base on your driveway, perhaps you'd have more luck than I...at the time I had a crusher run base and a 1" top of "purple stone", so I didn't want to cut too deep and make the driveway look ugly. I always thought that having a chain drag with a little extra weight would be the best solution for general maintenance. Use the BoxBlade for the big ruts.

My dealer didn't give any discounts for buying a bunch of stuff at once...he just has good prices posted on all his equipment and you pick a'la carte. I don't know exactly, but I was a solid 10% under list.

It sounds like you're already heading this direction but just to make sure you don't do otherwise: FEL is a required purchase and a backhoe is a very close second. If you plan on doing any stumping, foundation digging, or drain trenching, a backhoe is then a required purchase. I waited a year to get mine and that was just a year that half my projects didn't get done. VERY nice to have on hand and VERY easy to remove when you want to mow.
 
   / Thinking of BX24 - help with pricing, attachments #10  
Keithinspace has some good points there. Though there are certainly exceptions to every rule, and the BX series is great at doing light landscaping on reasonably smooth ground, I would venture to say that a BX is great for maintaining your ground, to tame your ground you should look at something larger, if not more powerful. You can use a BX for those chores too if you are prepared to take the time to smooth things a little as you go. I found myself adding gravel around protruding rocks that I could have easily driven over with a small B size tractor for example.
 
 
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