Buying Advice Kubota B3200HSD

[DiggerDog]

Am looking for some advice on purchasing a tractor. My father has a 200 acre property, which is about half wooded and half old farmland. He is looking for a smaller tractor to do some loader work around the horse barn, driveway maintenance, and to haul a wagon with his yearly firewood. He is on a limited budget and is looking at a B3200. Can anyone tell us if this sounds about right for his needs? He also wants to buy the backhoe with it. Thanks!

 

[jeff9366]

I drive a Kubota B3300SU tractor/loader package. I believe the B3200 is basically the B3300SU with smaller wheels. You can likely get a better price on a B3300SU package, rather than starting with a B3200 and adding everything in the B3300SU package as options, then adding a Backhoe.

B3300SU tractor/loader new $20,000 without a Backhoe.

You probably can add a Ball Hitch to rear of Backhoe to pull a trailer but both tractor and wagon would be roll prone on uneven slopes.

Sounds like this would meet his needs as a SECOND tractor.

B3200/B3300 size Kubota can pull 60" implements.

You need a larger tractor capable of pulling 84" - 96" implements to crop 100 acres.

Sitting on a SMALL tractor trying to complete BIG jobs gets old after three days.

Also, a larger tractor is smoother riding.

Is the Backhoe essential to your father's needs?

In lieu of the Backhoe consider a Utility Vehicle, new about $10,000, for hauling tools and a dumping trailer as the backup for wood hauling and road maintenance.

 

[beckmurph]

DiggerDog
The B3300SU with Front End Loader and Backhoe is about $1500 less than the B3200 set up the same way.
As jeff9366 stated, the 3300 gets larger tires and 2 more horses at the PTO, compared to the 3200.
You don't have a mid Pto on the 3300 and the 3200 comes standard with a mid pto.
The 3200 has cruise control and I think you would have to order it with the 3300.

 

[CanuckPT]

Great advice here. I too have a B3300SU. I have a BH77 backhoe. I love my Kubota!!!

Sent from my iPhone using TractorByNet

 

[jeff9366]

Cruise control comes as a dealer installed kit. When I bought my B3300SU kit was $35 plus installation.

 

[beckmurph]

You also get a fancy step.:cool2:

 

[DiggerDog]

Tank-you all for the advice and input. I spoke to him last night about the tractor. Although he has no immediate plans for a MMM or a front mount snowblower, he is thinking that perhaps he should get the 3200, so his options won't be limited down the road. It will likely be the only tractor he will ever buy. Thoughts?

 

[jeff9366]

When I bought my B3300SU I knew field work would always be secondary to woods work.

I did not want a mid-PTO dragging through brush and collecting dirt, which is hard to remove after dirt plates on the PTO stub.

If mid-PTO collides with a rock it may have a burr raised on the stub, then the burr has to be removed before a PTO shaft will connect.

And the KISS Principle: I did not want a second PTO on the tractor if I could foresee no use for it.

Those are the negatives for a mid-PTO.

No snow in Florida.

I have no turf to mow. I do considerable brush control with a 3-Pt. mounted Rotary Cutter in the woods, along trails.

At age 66, retired, I find tractor work continuing pleasure.

 

[frogfish]

I believe the B3200 and B3300 are on the same frame, with that said the big difference is the mid-PTO. I put a rear snowblower on my B3200 and used it for a year, sold it and I'm now in the process of hooking up a front blower. When I bought my B3200 the 3300 was not out yet, I might have considered it but am glad I did not have to. I'm very excited with the prospect of driving forward when I plow my 1/2 mile drive this winter.

 

[jim_wilson]

I bought a B3200 last year - after comparing it against the B3300SU and one of the lower L series tractors. The main reason I got the B3200 over the B3300 was the mid-PTO. I didn't have a direct use for it at the time - but I didn't want to preclude every having the option of putting something that uses the mid-PTO on the tractor either. Also - I do remember a number of people recommending getting a tractor with mid-PTO in that size range purely for resaleability.

Here's the differences I remember from the B3200 / B3300SU comparison:

B3300SU has like one more engine HP than the B3200 - the engine numbers are actually different - I don't what they did to to get one more HP out of it - because if I could figure it out - I'd probably make the change to my B3200

The B3300SU has slightly more rear PTO HP than the B3200 - I'm not sure why this is - but it's likely a combination of the added engine HP plus less internals to spin to drive the PTO.

The B3300SU is rated for slightly higher 3 point lift. This one also has me a bit baffled because I can't see how 1 more engine HP translates into the claimed increase in lifting capacity at the 3pt.

Of course some of these claimed differences could be "fudged" a little - which is something tractor mfr's are known to do.

Also - the B3300SU has a larger tire combo than the B3200 - if I remember correctly the tire set on the B3330SU is same as you would find on a lower level "L" series Kubota. Because these put the tractor a little bit higher off the ground - the B3300SU also comes with a step to get up to the operator platform.

The larger tire set was actually another thing that pushed me over to the B3200. I got mine with the BH77 backhoe - and I figured increased tractor height = less digging depth on the backhoe.

If he's money restricted at the time - and he wants to get a backhoe - he should be aware that he can always buy the backhoe later and add it to the tractor. The backhoe on the B3200/B3300 tractors is not like say getting a backhoe on BX tractor - where Kubota doesn't supply a separate kit to put a backhoe on the BX - on the B series tractors the backhoe is a kit that gets added to the tractor either at the dealer - or can get added by the owner later if they so choose.

If he decides to go the route of a backhoe later - or even if he doesn't - I would recommend he look into getting the hydraulics that normally get added for the backhoe - added to the tractor at the time he purchases it - that will give him ports at the back of the tractor that can be used for the backhoe later - or used as connections for remotes at the back of the tractor.

Honestly though - if he's got 200 acres - he might want to think about jumping up to an L series. He'd get some increased capacity over the B3200/B3300 - for not a big increase in size. It'll cost him an extra 2 to 3 grand though.