Kubota L34 Buying Advice

[grodrianst]

Good morning all,

Wife and I recently bought 20 acres of mostly trees in Michigan to retire on. I grew up in a construction family with farming roots so been around tractors and machinery my whole life but I somehow ended up as a nurse in the military so I've never had to buy a tractor for myself until now. I've been stalking these forums for a while and looking at used tractors for 6 months at least. I'm not partial to any brand, but want something heavy around the 30hp point with FEL. I would like a mid pto for front snowblower in the future. Tractor will be used primarily for moving logs (lots of down trees on the land), mowing of the open areas, and moving snow, possibly some trenching in the future.

This morning I found a 2006 Kubota L3430HST at a dealer about 3 hours away. Pros it has mid-mount mower and FEL attached and is at the price point that my wife likes! Cons - it has 3975 hours and turf tires. Dealer has it listed as in "fair" condition and has only posted two pics but from what I can see it doesn't look terribly beat up. I'll try and attach the pics below. Would like your advice on the number of hours and what specifically I should look for when I talk to the dealer, I plan on calling them before I go look at it, what I should look at when I go see it, and finally is the price decent?

Thanks in advance for the help!!

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Ok, I'll play, what is their asking price?

 

[gimmodog]

In Michigan moving snow I'd would want a cab then in the summer mowing you would be happy you have a cab. Will not give my concerns about having many hrs on it. It does look like it has been taken care of and Kubota does make a good machine. My '07 Deere has 750 hrs and missing more paint than that one.

 

[RickB]

Ok, I'll play, what is their asking price?

Exactly.

 

[fruitcakesa]

Your needs are similar to mine and I knew I needed a cab for Vermont winters.
I found a 2004 L4630GSTC with 2400+ hrs on it.
I ran that for 4 years and put 800+ hours on it with minimal repair and I worked it hard.
You really need to see it up close to know what condition it's in.

 

[prof fate]

Cab and woods DO NOT mix. Heck, even a tall ROPS will bring down limbs left and right.

In Michigan moving snow I'd would want a cab then in the summer mowing you would be happy you have a cab. Will not give my concerns about having many hrs on it. It does look like it has been taken care of and Kubota does make a good machine. My '07 Deere has 750 hrs and missing more paint than that one.

 

[prof fate]

Turf is good for snow and mowing, sucks in the mud and won't be great in the woods (loose dirt, leaves, mud).
Moving to R4 tires will not be cheap. Get quotes, and you'll want the rear's loaded.

4k hours is above average...was this a commercially used machine? Point being 30 people that don't own it used it - and nobody treats the work equipment liek their own. If it's a one owner farm tractor that would be better.

They'll run 10k hours..but you REALLY want to check it out well - and I do not trust dealers on used equipment based on buying some and finding issues EVERY time. Buying off individuals I've not had issues.

I'm talking like a brush hog, used, with an empty gear case. No leaks..so why was it empty? A zero turn missing a fuel pump...first time I mowed I found issues, how did they miss it? Never drove it...never looked at it apparently. I hope all dealers are not this way!

Good morning all,

Wife and I recently bought 20 acres of mostly trees in Michigan to retire on. I grew up in a construction family with farming roots so been around tractors and machinery my whole life but I somehow ended up as a nurse in the military so I've never had to buy a tractor for myself until now. I've been stalking these forums for a while and looking at used tractors for 6 months at least. I'm not partial to any brand, but want something heavy around the 30hp point with FEL. I would like a mid pto for front snowblower in the future. Tractor will be used primarily for moving logs (lots of down trees on the land), mowing of the open areas, and moving snow, possibly some trenching in the future.

This morning I found a 2006 Kubota L3430HST at a dealer about 3 hours away. Pros it has mid-mount mower and FEL attached and is at the price point that my wife likes! Cons - it has 3975 hours and turf tires. Dealer has it listed as in "fair" condition and has only posted two pics but from what I can see it doesn't look terribly beat up. I'll try and attach the pics below. Would like your advice on the number of hours and what specifically I should look for when I talk to the dealer, I plan on calling them before I go look at it, what I should look at when I go see it, and finally is the price decent?

Thanks in advance for the help!!

View attachment 579288 View attachment 579287

 

[grodrianst]

Dang, sorry forgot to include the price. Asking price was $9,950.00. I sincerely appreciate all of the advice from this thread and others. I crawled over it, under it through it, drove it around a bit through all ranges, operated all attachments and 3pt. Then asked a lot of questions. The dealership sold the tractor new to one of the local schools who "used it primarily for mowing and moved a little stone occasionally." It was always stored inside a garage. The dealership did all service on it while the school owned it, school traded it in last month on a bigger machine. Dealership put a little over $1K into it after trade in to change all fluids/filters, replace a front wheel bearing, and it looked like changed a lot, if not all, of the hydraulic hose connections. All the belts and hoses looked good with no notable cracks, no drips or spots under it were noted, and rear tires are fluid filled. While it does have quite a few hours it appears to have been well taken care of so I pulled the trigger. Bought it for $9500.00, paperwork will go through on Monday and I'll pick it up next Friday. Thank you all again for your suggestions and advice. Any thoughts are always appreciated.

Stan

 

[Jstpssng]

Prices differ by region, but here that would be a fair price. It does have a lot of hours on it, but sounds like it was well maintained. Some people swear by their turf tires. What would concern me more is the hours, but it appears that the machine was well maintained.

 

[prof fate]

hours matter some, condition more perhaps.

And how you'll use it - if you put 100 hours on it a year it will be 10 years before you hit 5k hours, 20 more before 7k...and most folks don't put that many on in a year.

the L175 I bought was from the early 70s - until 2003 they used it to mow grass and put 1300 hours on it. Then it sat..dealer did a rad repair in 2003 and I got it in 2017 with only 38 more hours on it over 14 years!

Kioti is claiming their new DPF system and engine design lets tractors run cleaner - so clean that their engines are lasting 20,000 hours in testing (vs the MTBF goal of 8,000).