Buying Advice Kubota or Kioti or Mahindra or LS or McCormick????

[Gittyup]

If the backhoe performance is important, look at weight and hydraulic flow. Backhoes can toss around lighter tractors causing a loss of effectiveness. Avoid 3PH backhoes. Heavier tractors are better diggers. Lighter are better mowers. All are good. HST is great and all, but gear might work for you, depending on your uses and geographics. You can buy back some HP with the gear models.

Dealer is most important. A good dealer preps a tractor properly and stands by you if there are ever problems. But, I'm not in the camp that says a dealer has to be close by. Most tractors see the dealer maybe once in their lifetime. I bought from over 250 miles away. Saved thousands. I had a few issues and the dealer came to me; fixed in the field. My Kioti has never seen the dealership (8 years). My JD has been to the dealer once in 20 years. Again, it's all about the quality of the dealer, not so much where he's located.

 

[3v0]

A tractors FEL's lift capacity is limited by the tractor weight and the footprint. Take a serious look at what you want to lift and use that as one of the parameters in picking the right one.

To a degree you can learn to manage a backhoe with a lighter tractor or even with a towable unit.

 

[IXLR8]

I only had JD, Kubota and Kioti dealers in my area. I had major issues with the JD dealer and they were too proud $$$$ of their green paint. I went next door to the Kubota dealer. Good dealer, capable machines, but they were just not comfortable, the ergonomics just didn't work for me. The Kioti dealer was okay, their tractors had more capability than a similar sized Kubota and several thousand dollars cheaper. I understand the LS tractors are very similar to the Kioti tractors in capability and price. I personally didn't like ergonomics of the one Mahindra I looked at. I have never looked at a McCormick so I have feedback on them. You need to be comfortable with the tractor, as you are going to spend many hours on it. You also need to be comfortable with the dealer. This means covering some miles, trying some tractors and talking with some dealers. Good luck and have some fun in your search. About the BH, can you rent a small excavator a few times rather than spending $8-10K for a BH? I can rent a small excavator for $175/day, $600/week.

 

[Illini22]

Pwm, I'm not going to "out" the Kioti dealer near you, although they 3 locations within 15-25 minutes of you. But, I would run as fast as you can away from them. I don't want to knock Kioti corporation (yet), but definatly shop elsewhere. Pm me if you like. Time will tell if I have a story to tell on this forum. It will be a long one if it gets that far.

 

[art]

There are many things that should be considered before purchasing a tractor. A good list of the chores that you can think of, and don't worry, after you get the tractor and see what it can do you will find more!

With the list of things you need the tractor for put the time or percentage of use for each job next to the task.
Using the percentages you would find that for six acres it wouldn't take to long to run out of excavation work so more then likely you would spend more time mowing then digging. When digging in close quarters agility of the controls as well as the tractor is important! Try them out especially the backhoe. Mowing means that a lighter more nimble tractor might be the best so the BX does sound like a good option for what we've seen for the years they have been out. They have had thousands of hours on them.. For the acreage you have once cleaned and maybe two hours a week I'd just be using the 60" belly mower on the lawn and the pasture area.

 

[TSO]

All good choices. I've owned Kioti and LS. I can say that my LS is more reliable and seems of better overall quality than my Kioti did. I've sat on and/or test drove tractors from many different manufacturers. I think they all have little things that make them stand out from the others. .. But I feel they're all more alike than different.

I don't place the same level of importance on the dealer than some others do. It only matters if you have problems and need to take it in.

You'll just need to sit on and drive all the contenders. It'll come down to personal preference.

Good luck!

 

[murphy1244]

All good choices. I've owned Kioti and LS. I can say that my LS is more reliable and seems of better overall quality than my Kioti did. I've sat on and/or test drove tractors from many different manufacturers. I think they all have little things that make them stand out from the others. .. But I feel they're all more alike than different.

I don't place the same level of importance on the dealer than some others do. It only matters if you have problems and need to take it in.

You'll just need to sit on and drive all the contenders. It'll come down to personal preference.

Good luck!

What was wrong with your Kioti?

 

[TSO]

What was wrong with your Kioti?

This at 17 hrs: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums//showthread.php?t=240914

Also had another hydraulic leak with one of the quick couplers too. Nothing major there, but it wasn't perfect.

 

[GManBart]

Any of the brands mentioned should handle the tasks you've mentioned, and be reliable…all good machines. Since it seems unusual to have major problems with any of the big brands these days (although anything can happen), I don't put the premium on the dealer that some do. Assuming that none of the dealers are complete idiots, or totally painful to deal with, I'd go with the machine that feels right to you, and fits your budget. If you do that, chances are you'll be happy. R,

 

[murphy1244]

This at 17 hrs: Uh Oh, potential problem already on my CK20S at 17.5 hrs

Also had another hydraulic leak with one of the quick couplers too. Nothing major there, but it wasn't perfect.

Few things in life are. And your Dealer took care of it?