First I would like to thank those that have been kind enough to offer advice. I was able to use the JD 4500 this week for a couple hours and although it did everything I wanted I believe I am going to pass it over and buy new. It had more hours than originally thought (1000 vs 400) and had a little more damage/wear than expected. Based on my needs I believe that a few more ponies won't hurt either! Since this will most likely be my ONLY tractor purchase (if I choose properly anyway) I kind of have an urge to bring home a shiny new baby/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.
That gets me to by choices (changed a little since first post). I am still looking at the L5030 but have started to seriously consider the JD 4320. Am I comparing apples to apples when comparing these two tractors? JD has 48 hp in turbo charged engine while L5030 has 52 in non-turbo engine, based on the thread "hp vs altitude" it would appear that the JD would actually be slightly better in that cat. for my elevation (between 1500 - 2300)? As far as features/accessories they seem pretty evenly matched (+/- here and there). Any input from the Kubota owners as to how they compare in real world use? Toughness, reliability, resale, attachment quality (853 loader vs 400x etc), eHydro vs HST.
I am going to head up to the JD dealer later this week and start some research there. Based on word of mouth around my area it seems that both the local Kubota and JD dealer are pretty good so except for distance (15 mi difference) the dealers may be a draw.
Wish me luck as I had no idea selecting a tractor would get so complicated until I happened on this forum and all you started giving me ideas. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I will pose the same basic question to the JD users but thought I would follow-up on my original post here.
Thanks again.
That gets me to by choices (changed a little since first post). I am still looking at the L5030 but have started to seriously consider the JD 4320. Am I comparing apples to apples when comparing these two tractors? JD has 48 hp in turbo charged engine while L5030 has 52 in non-turbo engine, based on the thread "hp vs altitude" it would appear that the JD would actually be slightly better in that cat. for my elevation (between 1500 - 2300)? As far as features/accessories they seem pretty evenly matched (+/- here and there). Any input from the Kubota owners as to how they compare in real world use? Toughness, reliability, resale, attachment quality (853 loader vs 400x etc), eHydro vs HST.
I am going to head up to the JD dealer later this week and start some research there. Based on word of mouth around my area it seems that both the local Kubota and JD dealer are pretty good so except for distance (15 mi difference) the dealers may be a draw.
Wish me luck as I had no idea selecting a tractor would get so complicated until I happened on this forum and all you started giving me ideas. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I will pose the same basic question to the JD users but thought I would follow-up on my original post here.
Thanks again.