I recently went through the shopping routine in the piedmont of North Carolina. Dearler access is a factor in many locales. We had NH, Deere and Kubota readily available. The Kubota provided more power for the dollar and I have been very happy with mine for about 20 hours of usage now. I settled on the M9000 4WD cab with a LA 1251 loader, and cast iron wheels. The tractor is an intercooled, turbocharged engine that produces 90 gross HP and 80 PTO HP. I found the shifting smoother than the Deere and the NH. The price was comparable to the 62 to 65 PTO HP models from the others- WITHOUT the cab for the Deere, with the cab for the NH. The 5610 Deere looked great on paper but was out of my price range. Ease of access to the filler spouts, dip sticks, air filter, battery seems as good on the Kubota as the NH. Resale in our area, however, remains higher for the Deere. The Deere is the only "wet sleeve" engine which mechanics seem to prefer. The Kubota is "parent bore" requiring a new cylinder to be bored into the engine block if one goes bad, however the old Fords testify to the fact that that doesn't hoppen often. The NH uses "dry sleeve" technology that apparently requires the engine block to be off to fix, but allows replacement with the same size cylinder.
When I see the dust and debris that is on my tractor at the end of the day and not in my lungs, I am glad that I have a cab. Of course I won't get the fresh air in the face later in the fall when it cools down. All systems have worked well so far. The 3pt hitch is easy to use, hydraulics run at about 18 gph, higher than the standard systems for Deere or NH. I have punctured one inner tube with a thorn theoretically thrown from the brush hog but it was patched without trouble.
If you are in this area, I can reccomend Sink Farm Equipment, Lexington, NC. Ask for CJ Sink.
Good luck, happy shopping.
Steve G
