Things are drying up nicely, with no rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so I'll put it to the test. I have quite a few trees to go around, and the front of my yard has a hill, so I should be able to give you a pretty good all round review on how it performs. The front tires turn very sharp, I think it's 70 degrees, and with the glide steer it should be very agile. I'm also curious to see how it backs up on a hill as I have heard some comments about it being not so good, but I think most were able to rectify by adjusting the pedal stop settings. I guess it also depends on how steep the hill is (some say hill, I say mountain judging by some of the pictures I have seen on other sites). I personally don't foresee this as a problem on my hill. I checked mine upon delivery to see if they were tight, and mine were, but it looks like you have a little bit to play with if you need more throw. I have the spacer kit on my rear tires which gives you a slightly wider stance, and also enough clearance for the winter chains to clear the frame when I put the snowblower on. This tractor, for me, had exactly the features I wanted, and that's why I bought it. My John Deere would sometimes push straight through a turn on my hill as it did not have AWD, so if this tractor works as it should, this shouldn't happen and the tractor should be a lot safer to operate in both summer and winter. If you're considering the GR2100, I have heard nothing but good things about the Kubota small diesel engines. The air cooled Kohler is sufficient for what I'm doing. I found it was an adjustment for me to go from the two pedal John Deere to the single pedal Kubota. The tractor was very comfortable when I test drove it, and I found for me, resting my foot alongside the pedal control rather then planted right on top of it was more secure. I also noticed that this tractor, as was my John Deere, stops solid upon release of the pedals. Very important for safety, especially on a hill. I like the PTO system on the Kubota better than the electric one on my other, and the shaft driven implements ensure no slippage. HTH. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
I'll see if I can get that rain your way also. Cheers! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif