Looking for first tractor. Overwhelmed and a little lost

[batwing]

I have over 150 hours on my TYM and feel it is one of the best investments I have made.
Ron

 

[newbury]

I have heard about the need to be able to work on the Chinese tractors but Im a mechanic by trade so that doesn't bother me much. Parts sourcing does though. A lot of the horror stories I have seen online are a few years old and I had hoped things had gotten better.

If your a mechanic you might want to look at used in auction sites. You have to be able to figure out if the tractor was well maintained and if something is going to go wrong what it will cost YOU to fix it.
For example:
Kubota M4700, 1995, LA1001 FEL, 1400hrs $11.5K


Looked to need a few hoses, front tires, had good maintenance records, ran fine, came with complete set of manuals (worth about $150), dual rear remotes.

In 2 years and maybe 100 hours of use I've replaced about 4 hoses and the front tires, cost about $700. Plus bought A LOT of attachments with the money I saved. And it's a Kubota with excellent parts support.

 

[gmman355]

That is a smoking deal. I have been looking through tractor house but not sure where else to look. Been running the auto and rv mags every week and missed a few. Hopefully I'll latch on to one soon

 

[GManBart]

Most dealers don't seem to keep a large parts inventory any more, they get them shipped in when needed and you pay for the shipping. Rather than drive 80 miles round trip to the closest dealer I just have them drop shipped straight to me.

That pretty much contradicts the idea that the dealer should be a significant part of the decision process. At that point, the brand strength becomes more important to long-term availability of parts.

 

[edgarrian]

Ive been looking as well. LS seems to have nice tractors. ALthough I havent had a chance to test drive. There is a dealer near kokomo IN that Ill look into when we sell our house. I have seen some good deals on two kubota in the auto trader but they went pretty quick. Plus I wasnt ready to buy so oh well. Let us know what you settle on

 

[WM75Guy]

That pretty much contradicts the idea that the dealer should be a significant part of the decision process. At that point, the brand strength becomes more important to long-term availability of parts.

After the warranty period and if you can do the work yourself I would agree with you. What the dealers around me seem to keep in stock are more maintenance than repair parts. But that is not unique to tractors anymore. Even the local GMC dealer has to order most parts except maintenance items and those that are common among several models. They seem to be able to get most by the next day from the regional warehouse.

 

[gmman355]

I made it by a local dealer today to check a few out and get some pricing. After sorting through some options and what I want to do with the tractor we had it narrowed down to looking at a new l3301dt and a used mx5100. after getting to play with each a bit Im really falling in love with the heavier mx style chassis. He did say he could have the l3301 delivered to my house to try for a few days to see if it would do the work I needed it to do. I really think I want to stay with the bigger series though. The price tag however stung a little. trying to compare to other brands the ls 4046 comes close in power and weight but the implement pump shows to be an 8.2 gpm and a separate power steering pump. the Kubota just shows a 10.6 gpm pump. Would performance be similar from the xr 4046. Any other suggestions on brands and series that would match the mx5100

 

[gmman355]

I was able to nail down the fact that Im looking for 4wd, gear drive trans no hydro, and something hopefully in excess of 4000 lbs.

 

[fish938]

Where in southern Indiana are you and how far are you willing to travel to a dealer? I may be able to help with suggestions.

 

[gmman355]

Im about 45 min south of you. Just north of Jasper. If I could keep it under a 3 hr drive that would be great but for the right deal anything is possible