Your Recommendations, Please - Novice Tractor Buyer

[AxleHub]

check what local farmers have. the best tractor deal comes from the best dealer. not brand or price but how well the dealer will support you.

greg

While a good dealer is important, today's issues are much larger than the dealer imo. I've highlighted 4 scenarios below:

1. In our area numerous good dealers were bought out individually by a dealership franchise. 15 dealers became 15 locations for a centralized operation. Pricing and servicing were "standardized".

2. In Minnesota a few years ago a number of small but very capable dealerships (about 10) were forced (by the manufacturer) to close so a franchicing chain could gain more territory than they already had. No buyouts, just forced out . . and those "good dealers" were history for their customers.

3. Recently health issues (death on one and health on the other) caused a couple good dealers to sell. The new owners were not the same quality and customers were left disappointed (a gentle description).

4. In the last 12 months a really great dealer with decades of history with a manufacturer was forced to choose a different brand because they did not want to change to yet a still higher inventory and quota requirements. The dealer is still great but they no longer have access to parts or service training for that brand.

Over and over I see posts that hinge on a certain dealer as the issue. But the "quality" of the manufacturer in product and administration/management imo can alter a customer's situation rapidly.

I claim you find a good manufacturer and then find their best dealer in your area (not judged by distance alone).

 

[Gale Hawkins]

AxleHub I do not like the sound of your take on dealership relationship value but do agree with you. We are living in changing times. Since I can do my own work or can find an independent shop these changes do not really impact me. I buy based to price and find most of my parts faster and at a better price by going online.

Now buying new one will be 'more' married to a dealership.

 

[flusher]

Thanks Richard and bdog - front end loader necessary to periodically move dirt from levees that surround our property - rain causes dirt to wash from the levees down to the property. The reason for the HP range is primarily tied to that. Also, the cab is for my wife - who loves to operate a tractor and yes, I do want to pamper her from the elements.

We have terrible (high alkali and high clay) soil, so we want to plant trees, but must dig out a big hole to put in better soil or the trees do not survive.

I will take the paint color advice to heart!

So you want to plant an orchard?
Clay soil usually means hardpan--like we have here in the Central Valley of CA
Many orchards here (almond, walnut, pistachio, olive, plum (prunes), mandarin orange).
Orchard growers don't dig holes to plant the trees.
The first step is to rip the soil with a D8 Cat that has two or three shank rippers (aka subsoilers) that work down to 3-4 feet deep to break up the hardpan.
If you skip this initial step you probably are wasting time and money trying to establish an orchard in your soil.
Here are a couple of photos of my neighbor Juan ripping his 8-acre hayfield to prepare for a walnut orchard a few years ago.



Good luck

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Wow that is a heavy machine. The ripper attachment must weigh over a ton and the blade is so massive.

 

[jeff9366]

For vineyard preparation in the Central Valley a single shank ripper pulled by a Cat D9 is used to rip to a depth of nine feet.

 

[Andrewsalas]

AxleHub and Gale,

I understand both the benefits and pitfalls of basing a buying decision solely on local dealer reputation or availability. It seems to me that the novice buyer is well served by buying a tractor with proven reliability and parts availability - and some local area expertise to some degree or another. My originall post on another thread involved a question on Chinese tractors (they seem less expensive to buy with comparable popular makes like Deere and Kubota, etc), but what happens when something goes wrong (beyond the obvious) was the countervailing argument.

 

[Andrewsalas]

Thanks for your input Flusher, and pretty impressive ripper. I need a backhoe to replace the high-alkaline soil - otherwise nothing would grow - salt content is that toxic. Some fruit trees would go in along with shade and windbreak. For the purpose of planting the rest of the property in permanent pasture or forage grass we are bringing in gypsum, and lots of it, to amend the soil.

 

[flusher]

For vineyard preparation in the Central Valley a single shank ripper is used to rip to a depth of nine feet.

You're right down between Fresno and Bakersfield. Up here in the North Sacramento Valley, the clay hardpan is closer to the surface.

 

[flusher]

Wow that is a heavy machine. The ripper attachment must weigh over a ton and the blade is so massive.

Yep. It's a beast.
Historically, the Catepiller Corp traces it's origin to two CA companies (Holt and Best) that developed the prototype Catepiller track layer design in the early 1920s specifically to rip the hardpan in the Central Valley between Bakersfield and Fresno. Catepiller relocated to Peoria IL in the late 1920s to tap the huge heavy farm and industrial equipment markets in the Midwest.

 

[jeff9366]

The epicenter of 18-60 horsepower tractor production/importation today is Georgia.

The epicenter for implement manufacture for 18-60 horsepower tractors is Alabama.