prices; Kubota, JD, Kioti

[Bob_Skurka]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( </font><font color="blueclass=small">( I don't want to have to buy a bigger truck and a bigger trailer and end up spending money I had not planned on spending just so I could haul a tractor. )</font>

Bob,
How else can I justify to the General (my lovely wife) that I need a new truck? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )</font>


<font color="black">
Gene, the lovely Mrs_Bob is out of town again. I just got a new Touareg delivered to me today and she has no clue I was even looking at them. It has a towing capacity something north of 7000#. But I didn't even bother to buy a trailer hitch for it. Some people have money to burn, some people have budgets to live within. My point was to calculate the total cost of ownership sometimes your dealer can give you a great price up front, but if kills you with charges throughout your ownership lifespan then the deal is not really a deal. Same with towing your tractor back and forth, you have to figure in those costs. Just because you have a tractor does not mean you should have to own a trailer and a truck to tow it. I happen to have both, and my trailer will haul either tractor, but I bought the trailer for business purposes and now have the ability to haul tractors one the weekends. But for years I didn't have a trailer, and the dealerships never gave me a reason to have to cost justify one.

Now for those people, like you, who have to justify purchases to their lovely better halfs, all I have to say is do what I do. Wait till they go visit their mothers and then spend like crazy . . . it is easier to beg for forgiveness than to get them to give you permission /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
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[GeneD14]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Now for those people, like you, who have to justify purchases to their lovely better halfs, all I have to say is do what I do. Wait till they go visit their mothers and then spend like crazy . . . it is easier to beg for forgiveness than to get them to give you permission
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Bob,
Point well taken. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I am actually pretty lucky, my wife goes along with just about any of my big purchases without a single complaint.
Back to your point on total cost of ownership: you are 100% correct. One of the big considerations that I'm mulling over currently are the "other costs" associated with my next potential tractor purchase.

 

[rico304]

albmn10 says...
"Hello Geish, You heard correctly about Kiotis quality. I shopped the same brands as you and found Kioti to be around 3 -4 thousand less for similar tasked machines here in Upstate NY."
albmn10...
No arguement on quality. I was just wondering what tractors you compared from Kubota to what Kioti, and what kind of prices were you given to save up to $4,000? That is big money for equal machines. I have had the opposite happen to me and have heard several people say they save that big money. Just wondering quotes & tractors. Thanks! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[albmn10]

Hello Rico, id be happy to share my price quotes with you. The brands here i looked at was Kubotas B3030, with 403 loader,priced at 17200, which was a bit too small for my needs, a Kubota B3130 with 513 loader,priced at 19000, New Holland tc29 da with the 14la loader priced at 18700, and tc33 da with 14la loader priced at 19000. The Jd 3130 priced at 20500 with the 300cx loader. The Kioti ck30 with the k130 loader priced at 15900. I ended up with the ck30 with the woods 1012 loader with brush guard and block heater for 16200. Those were some of my brands among several others.. I really liked the New holland and Deere and Kubota, just couldnt way the huge difference in price. I work with many different excavating companies here in Ny and found nice things about each brand talking with others in my field. These were the best prices for me from 5 kubota, 5 kioti,3 New holland, 3 John Deere Dealerships. I encountered lousy dealers in all brands. These are the prices in Ny, ive seen prices for all priced lower in different parts of the countries, so pricing is regeional. The most important thing is a good dealership , which i did manage to find..

 

[RedRocker]

albmn10, those prices are pretty close to what I found in N. Texas. That's about what I gave for my CK with rear remotes.

 

[rico304]

Thanks Albmn10. I was curious about these prices people get. My experience (with different models) was completely differtent. Definately regional! Thanks!

 

[Glenipp]

Yea those prices are what I've seen also in New Jersey and PA. I really didn't price shop . The CK30 was a much better fit for me.

 

[OrangeAlex]

Hello folks,

This is my first post on TBN, but I have been lurking for a few weeks, trying to decide which tractor to buy. I found that the prices listed above for the Kioti, Kubota, and JD are about the same as what I was quoted here in Portland, Oregon area.

Which one did a buy? Here is my story. Warning its a long one but might be useful for people is a similar situation as mine.


Not knowing too much about tractors, I asked a friend of mine who has owned a few tractor for his recommendation as to what size tractor I should look at. He said based on my wooded acreage (20 acres) and what I wanted to do with it (brush clearing mostly) look for around a 30HP unit and FEL because I needed that much HP to pull a 5' brush cutter.

So, I started searching TBN and Tractorpoint and based on some early results, I decided to take a look at a Kubota L3400. When I showed up to my local Kubota dealer the sales person tried to lean me towards a L3130 instead. When I asked him about the price difference, I was a bit put off. Why the heck would I pay for $2500-$3000 more for a tractor with less HP then the L3400? The Kubota's I thought were already a lot of money, and I couldn't understand why anyone would pay that much more for tractor with less power. I walked away confused that day.

While I did some more research, I decided to pay the neighbor to do my tractor work for me for a while with his JD 4300. I was not sure yet if it was good idea to buy a tractor vs just pay him to do the work for me at $30/hr. (relatively cheap rate from what I gather). As you know, tractors are a lot of money. I wasn't yet sure who much tractor work I had on a yearly basis, and it seemed at the time that it might be better to pay someone to do the work instead of investing a lot of money into a tractor and doing it myself. However, after a few weeks, I came to the conclusion that most people in my situation use there tractor about 50-100 hrs per year. at $30/hr, doing the math it was starting to appear to me that my own tractor would pay for itself after about 7 years of regular use. Tractors seems to last decades and the fact that CUT hold their resale value quite well was a bonus. I determine that I would be throwing my money away not investing into my own tractor.

A few weeks later, I ran across Chinese made tractors (Jinma) I went round and round on these. They are so darn cheap (50% less) that it was hard to dismiss. I searched John's tractor web site and noticed the amount of hrs people have recorded on these tractors was very low but yet they had consistent problems (leaks, broken gauges, etc). Minor stuff but things that would make owning a tractor a pain in the tail for people like me who don't like to fix tractors each time they use it. I then looked at KAMA and DF tractors, also Chinese. They seemed a little better but not all that much better. I came to the conclusion that these tractors are like older British cars. Each time you want to use it expect to fix something. Which is fine if you like that sort of thing. Not for me however.

So, accepting the fact that you get what you pay for, I started looking more up market again. So I looked into Kioti. I was really excited when I found the CK30. It seems about $4200 less then the Kubota L3130. It has the about the same weight, HP and also offered HST transmissions. The quality from what I have read seems great too. I thought I found my tractor.

After a few more weeks of lurking, I was trying to determine the best way to get rid of brush on my 20 acre wooded property. I considered a wood chipper. In Oregon, we get a 35% tax credit for buying a chipper.
At first is sounded like a good idea. After reading discussions and reviewing peoples experiences, I determined that a brush grapple would be more efficiently then a chipper. Sure a chipper has its benefits, free wood chips and the tax credit but its is just more work then a grapple. With a grapple you don't have to pick up the brush and feed it into the chipper. Which is relatively time consuming on 20 acres, compared to knocking down and picking up brush with a grapple and throwing it into a burn pile. Less maintenance too as things seem to break on chippers. Well the one problem is that grapples are heavy. Around 600#. It is important to make sure my tractor had enough loader capacity. I didn't feel the CK30 had enough. I also started to think about lifting pallets with a forks. At around 1300 lift capacity, the CK30 loader strength started to be a concern (grapple 600#). In addition, I started realize that it was important for me to also consider the maximum track width of the tractor to help with stability on slopes and a skid steer quick attach type FEL attachment system.


Well, this story is already getting too long. I will cut to the chase. Ironically, I have decided to get that "overpriced" Kubota L3130. It has taken me the whole summer to understand why the salesperson was pointing me at L3130 and why it is priced the way it is. Considering all that it offers, much larger loader capability (1800# vs 1300#), very wide stance (59" vs 51"), quick attach capable loader (CK130 does not offer it), HST, reliability (vs Chinese), high resale (Chinese an a little better then Kioti), large dealer service network, very low financing over 84 months (4.9%). The choise was clear to me.

I am not saying this is true for everyone. This was just the right tractor for someone in my situation and what I want to do with it. If I didn't need the grapple and was not worried about the tractor width for stability then I might have gone for the CK30. I should note that thehe next closest Kioti model which matched the loader capability and track width of the L3130 was the DK40. Which did not offer HST and was only $900 less then the Kubota. When comparing the resale and financing rate it was not worth it. Plus I don't really think I need to extra HP for what I am doing. (famous last words ) HP is not the only factor.. if it was everyone would be going out and buying the JD 28HP riding lawn mower at Home Depot for $1800. Interesting that the next class up of JD riding lawnmowers sold at Dealers are 2 times the price and start at 18HP. Something to think about.



/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Hope my long boring story helps someone in a similar situation when comparing tractors.

-Alex

 

[RedRocker]

I agree, most grapples are way too heavy for use on a CUT. The way to beat the grapple weight is to add a grapple to your bucket. I'm wanting to do like Jinman and do a rock bucket/grapple setup, found a rock bucket that weighs under 300 pounds, just need a wad of cash to get started. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Highbeam]

So what did you give for a HST 3130 with QA on the 723 loader? That's a decent tractor but with the HST do you have much PTO HP for brush hogging? I am currently looking at the DK40 and don't really mind the gears.