Eric Salop
Elite Member
After a good few months of head scratching I finally made a decision and placed my order.
Like many of you said, it came down as much to dealer attitude as it did to the capabilities of the equipment.
I was looking for :
This was my experience with the main contenders.
John Deere 4000R Series
On paper these have very good specs -
I like how the machine can be edged forward & reverse from outside by switches on the rear fender. This forward/reverse crawl is at just 1/2 inch per second, which should make hooking up to something heavy real easy. Could be useful in other situations too.
Stability looks good, with nice wide stance for front wheels and wide spacing option on rear wheels with JD's own spacers.
Also promises to have a very quiet cab (79 db).
One great thing about JD is that you can read the full operator's manual online.
It gives all the specs, not just what's in the sales brouchure, so if you want to now about the machine in detail, it's all in there.
In practice, the dealer was the worst of the bunch. Friendly folk in reception, but sales guy just couldn't be bothered to get back to me, even though he had my phone number, email and postal address. Perhaps I'm just not worthy enough to be a John Deere owner.
Kubota Grand L range
First dealer I went to gave me a quick look round what they had in stock but didn't seem to know that much about tractors and never got back with prices or demonstration machine.
I have heard lots of great things from the Kubota owners on TBN, so didn't give up and found another dealer.
This second dealer (Oakley's Groundcare) was everything you want a dealer to be. Friendly staff who know their product inside out, very helpful demo, with offer of extended demonstration if required and quoted sensible prices from the outset.
Found it easy to use, great features and would be ideal for use on flat ground.
Unfortunately the UK models have relative narrow spacing for front and rear wheels (wheels and rims from many makers seem to be different in Europe to what they are in the USA), so not quite as stable as some others.
There is just one other minor point about Kubota, why do they clutter the floor with a clutch pedal when other makes don't seem to need it ?
Massey
If you asked me 2 years ago what my choice would be, it would without doubt have been a 1500 series Massey.
Everything spec wise on paper was good and like other Japanese designed machines, they looked pretty tough and very capable of being used in wet conditions.
Think I am also a sucker for tractors with glossy red paintwork !
So I went to try one, only for the dealer to say when I arrived that sorry, they have just stopped making them and only the gear models are left.
They are to be replaced by a new range of 1700 HST models which look good in the press releases (higher flow rate implement pump, hi/low selection within each of the 3 speed ranges - like Kubota - nifty
forward/reverse selection from the dash as on their bigger tractors and so on). Not available here until later in 2015.
Daedong (Sold around here as Kioti & McCormick)
These certainly look the part, as though they have been built for agricultural use, not just trimming grass on a golf course.
I couldn't get answers to some basic questions though, such as how wide can the rear wheels be set on an NX5510 ? It's not in the very sparse (UK) brouchure and the dealer didn't know because he had other Daedong machines in but not that one and the UK importer couldn't (or wouldn't) tell me.
I even offered to buy the user manual, but over a week went by and no one would say how much it would cost.
Made me think, if it's so hard to get a dimension, could I be struggling when I need a spare part in the future ?
New Holland
I had a quick look at a boomer at a county fair and I just didn't take to it, so didn't follow this one up.
Iseki TG5475
This is the one I have ordered, with an MX C30 loader.
Iseki build for Massey and this model is somewhere between the Massey 1500 and the new Massey 1700 (in Iseki blue instead of Massey red).
This model will soon be replaced too, but I'll settle for this as being plenty good enough for me and if I get this now it will come without all the EGR and diesel particulate filters that will no doubt go onto the updated models.
The dealer (RVW Pugh) has been excellent and treated me from the outset as a potential long term customer.
Prices were reasonable and even though when arranging a demo, things twice didn't quite go to plan, they kept me informed all the time until the demonstration model arrived.
Another point appreciated is that the Iseki importers (Ransome Jacobsen) put full user manuals for their products online and even make the workshop manual available as a pdf free of charge.
It's so nice to see all this before you part with your cash.
Many thanks for all your words of wisdom and encouragement in the search and here's wishing you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Eric
Like many of you said, it came down as much to dealer attitude as it did to the capabilities of the equipment.
I was looking for :
- Around 50 hp on ag (R1) tyres, together with front end loader for a bale spike & bucket.
- HST - for an easy life and take a bit a strain off my joints as I get older
- I have sloping fields, so stability was always going to be essential.
- A full Cab - If I did ever roll it and not wearing a belt, better chance of survival than with a ROP (That's just my excuse - really I want a cab to keep me nice and cosy warm in winter, but saying it's safer makes it's easier to justify the extra expense
)
This was my experience with the main contenders.
John Deere 4000R Series
On paper these have very good specs -
I like how the machine can be edged forward & reverse from outside by switches on the rear fender. This forward/reverse crawl is at just 1/2 inch per second, which should make hooking up to something heavy real easy. Could be useful in other situations too.
Stability looks good, with nice wide stance for front wheels and wide spacing option on rear wheels with JD's own spacers.
Also promises to have a very quiet cab (79 db).
One great thing about JD is that you can read the full operator's manual online.
It gives all the specs, not just what's in the sales brouchure, so if you want to now about the machine in detail, it's all in there.
In practice, the dealer was the worst of the bunch. Friendly folk in reception, but sales guy just couldn't be bothered to get back to me, even though he had my phone number, email and postal address. Perhaps I'm just not worthy enough to be a John Deere owner.
Kubota Grand L range
First dealer I went to gave me a quick look round what they had in stock but didn't seem to know that much about tractors and never got back with prices or demonstration machine.
I have heard lots of great things from the Kubota owners on TBN, so didn't give up and found another dealer.
This second dealer (Oakley's Groundcare) was everything you want a dealer to be. Friendly staff who know their product inside out, very helpful demo, with offer of extended demonstration if required and quoted sensible prices from the outset.
Found it easy to use, great features and would be ideal for use on flat ground.
Unfortunately the UK models have relative narrow spacing for front and rear wheels (wheels and rims from many makers seem to be different in Europe to what they are in the USA), so not quite as stable as some others.
There is just one other minor point about Kubota, why do they clutter the floor with a clutch pedal when other makes don't seem to need it ?
Massey
If you asked me 2 years ago what my choice would be, it would without doubt have been a 1500 series Massey.
Everything spec wise on paper was good and like other Japanese designed machines, they looked pretty tough and very capable of being used in wet conditions.
Think I am also a sucker for tractors with glossy red paintwork !
So I went to try one, only for the dealer to say when I arrived that sorry, they have just stopped making them and only the gear models are left.
They are to be replaced by a new range of 1700 HST models which look good in the press releases (higher flow rate implement pump, hi/low selection within each of the 3 speed ranges - like Kubota - nifty
forward/reverse selection from the dash as on their bigger tractors and so on). Not available here until later in 2015.
Daedong (Sold around here as Kioti & McCormick)
These certainly look the part, as though they have been built for agricultural use, not just trimming grass on a golf course.
I couldn't get answers to some basic questions though, such as how wide can the rear wheels be set on an NX5510 ? It's not in the very sparse (UK) brouchure and the dealer didn't know because he had other Daedong machines in but not that one and the UK importer couldn't (or wouldn't) tell me.
I even offered to buy the user manual, but over a week went by and no one would say how much it would cost.
Made me think, if it's so hard to get a dimension, could I be struggling when I need a spare part in the future ?
New Holland
I had a quick look at a boomer at a county fair and I just didn't take to it, so didn't follow this one up.
Iseki TG5475
This is the one I have ordered, with an MX C30 loader.
Iseki build for Massey and this model is somewhere between the Massey 1500 and the new Massey 1700 (in Iseki blue instead of Massey red).
This model will soon be replaced too, but I'll settle for this as being plenty good enough for me and if I get this now it will come without all the EGR and diesel particulate filters that will no doubt go onto the updated models.
The dealer (RVW Pugh) has been excellent and treated me from the outset as a potential long term customer.
Prices were reasonable and even though when arranging a demo, things twice didn't quite go to plan, they kept me informed all the time until the demonstration model arrived.
Another point appreciated is that the Iseki importers (Ransome Jacobsen) put full user manuals for their products online and even make the workshop manual available as a pdf free of charge.
It's so nice to see all this before you part with your cash.
Many thanks for all your words of wisdom and encouragement in the search and here's wishing you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Eric
