Tractor Sizing I am short...

[Dr_Zinj]

I have about a mile's worth of stone wall on my property in NH that I'm slowly restoring. 99% of the rocks are movable with the FEL on my Bobcat CT230. There are about 3 boulders that I'll be experimenting on either with using the rear plow blade reversed on to see if I can budge them into the new positions, or seeing if the FEL will flip them (without bending the bucket of course!) All of those boulders had been moved about a decade ago with a JD120 which can put 6 tons of force to move stuff, not exactly in a 30 hp tractor's range.

 

[goosegbf]

Hey Folks,

Drove an L3200 and a GL3540 this weekend. I fit both - or both fit me - wahoo. The L3200 was less than ideal because of the hump in the middle of the platform and the position of the reverse pedal. Would making backing up for long periods of time snow blowing a real PITA. The GL3550 was very nice. No issues backing that one up. So... attached is my comparison (couldn't figure out how to embed it as a picture in the text body).

I will see if I can fit the DK40 next week, but right now the CK35 is ahead of the L3200 and the GL3540 is ahead of the DK40. Note the price for size is ~equivalent, but that GL3540 quote I have will go away when he sells his 2011 (and yes - I realize that the DK40 really deserves to be compared to the 3940). Then Kioti wins by a huge margin again on their DK prices. Hopefully I can sort out this DK seat nonsense this coming weekend.

For those of you comparing Kioti and Kubota pricing I did a quick survey of recent posted prices on TBN and added the quotes that I've gotten over the last three weeks. Kind of an interesting comparison.

 

[Martian]

Hey Folks,

Drove an L3200 and a GL3540 this weekend. I fit both - or both fit me - wahoo. The L3200 was less than ideal because of the hump in the middle of the platform and the position of the reverse pedal. Would making backing up for long periods of time snow blowing a real PITA. The GL3550 was very nice. No issues backing that one up. So... attached is my comparison (couldn't figure out how to embed it as a picture in the text body).

I will see if I can fit the DK40 next week, but right now the CK35 is ahead of the L3200 and the GL3540 is ahead of the DK40. Note the price for size is ~equivalent, but that GL3540 quote I have will go away when he sells his 2011 (and yes - I realize that the DK40 really deserves to be compared to the 3940). Then Kioti wins by a huge margin again on their DK prices. Hopefully I can sort out this DK seat nonsense this coming weekend.

For those of you comparing Kioti and Kubota pricing I did a quick survey of recent posted prices on TBN and added the quotes that I've gotten over the last three weeks. Kind of an interesting comparison.

That's a nice little comparison tool you got there!

The pedals are really a personal preference thing. Me, I like the Kioti and Deere pedals, sure I could get used to the Kubota, but the treadle just doesn't work for me.

Have you been back to H&M? Wondering if you checked out the 110, just wondering how it looked.

The Kioti will tend to be cheaper, but resale is hurt equally. If you think you may sell and trade in a couple years, the Kioti will be hurt a lot more in resale than the 'Bota.

I would be really surprised if the Kioti wouldn't seat you adequately. It would seem it would be a major flaw.

Just a thought, but the money you could save by getting a Kioti could be invested into a nice cab to keep you out of the cold and hot. Kioti does have a very nice cab. Just food for thought.

 

[IndyIan]

Interesting chart. Maybe you should include the DK35 as well, if you are OK with its loader capacity, 1400lbs. Its kind of an odd tractor as its only a couple hundred pounds lighter than the DK40-50 so it would pull nearly as much and its only down 3 hp from the DK40. I don't know how much cheaper the DK35 is though, it may not be worth the loader capacity loss.

 

[goosegbf]

Hey Martian - H&M is this weekend's stop, just couldn't find time last weekend.

As for the DK35 it is being discontinued and they are getting harder to come by. H&M does have one with a cab, but I am not crazy about the cab and the amount of time I'll be spending in the woods. I can pretty much guarantee that I will pick something off of it. That said, it sure does sound nice right about the 1400' mark of snow throwing.

 

[murphy1244]

Goose, My DK40SE HST With loader was 21600.00

 

[IndyIan]

Hey Martian - H&M is this weekend's stop, just couldn't find time last weekend.

As for the DK35 it is being discontinued and they are getting harder to come by. H&M does have one with a cab, but I am not crazy about the cab and the amount of time I'll be spending in the woods. I can pretty much guarantee that I will pick something off of it. That said, it sure does sound nice right about the 1400' mark of snow throwing.

When I was a young guy(15 to 18) I use to drive a neighbors 70hp cabbed JD in the woods helping him with firewood on Saturday mornings in the winter. Never broke anything on the cab but I was also mighty careful! It also had a logging winch so the tractor always stayed on the trails which helps for sure. Anyways that was probably 80 hrs in the woods over a few years with no damage and a rookie driver.
Also I was thinking that the DK's use a simple magnet to hold the forward HST pedal for the cruise, so it may be very easy to rig another one up to work on the reverse pedal? Maybe all the brands do this too, I don't know.

 

[Missouri Pioneer]

If there is an LS dealer around, be sure and check them out before you decide. I'm quite happy with mine.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

On Rock Wall Building...

The shape of your wall depends a lot on the rocks you have available. New Hampshire granite doesn't fracture into rectangular/flat shapes very well, being more roundish. Which means that sturdy walls that don't fall down in a frost usually are more squarish in cross section. I've built several walls totaling a couple hundred feet in length that were 3'x3' in cross section and they're standing true with almost no maintenance after 10 years.

New York State has a lot of shales, slates, sandstones, and limestones which are much more regular in shape with lots of flats that you can build higher and narrower.

 

[goosegbf]

Hey Folks,

Crummy weather and the flu made two weekends disappear in a hurry.

So I went back to drive the DK40 again. The seat is a MONUMENTAL design flaw in my opinion. I talked with the owner of H&M and he adjusted it as far as it could go and my feet still could not rest on the deck. In addition, to be comfortable driving, the seat had to be moved so far forward that turning around to back up was completely uncomfortable. It is clear how poor the seat design is because there are no problems with the CK35 or the Kubota L3540. So - DK40 crossed off the list which is a shame because there is a great deal on a used one at H&M. (JD110 is gone)

I have a quote for $31k for CK35, FEL, Woods BH + thumb, and snowblower. I'm not sure I'm thrilled with this quote because I think it means that the tractor + FEL is coming out to $19.5 with an additional remote. I should be able to do better than this with the free FEL program right now. I am getting a second quote from another place. I have the quote for the 3540 as well. I am guessing that will come out to $35k once I add a BH to it.

Not sure what I'm going to do.

Rich