Comparison Kubota L3301 vs Mahindra 1533/2538

[dickfoster]

Yet another yuppie who lives in the woods looking to buy his first tractor. My apologies if this sounds like a broken record around here. BTW, I did spend plenty of time with the Search function already. Background: 16 acre lot = 0.5 ac. lawn and house + 15.5 ac. of mature woods, on a gentle slope, stoney/bouldery soil, 1/4 mile of stone lane that gets pretty abused by snow plowing and runoff. Want tractor for general landscaping (moving boulders and soil/gravel), fire wood and timber harvest (I have harvested oaks up to 30" dbh x 10' logs) and lane maintenance. I'm looking at ~30-35 h.p., FEL and box blade for now and adding a skidding winch later. I DO NOT need a mower (own an X304 w/ 42" and push mower), snow blower (own an 8 hp, 24" Ariens beast), any pasture attachments (ain't got no pasture, just a small veg. garden and an old reliable TroyBilt rear tine tiller), hay bailing/transporting (no livestock bigger than chickens).

So, I have visited the local JD dealer, good people I've worked with for 7 years since I moved out of town, but I'm just not impressed with the 3032E/3038E, hate the DPF system, way too fussy, and the R's are way out of my price range. Local Kubota dealer seams reasonable. Really like the L 2501/3301/3901 HST's except for the brake over the fwd rocker. I've had some near misses running Kubota's before, where my heal hit the FWD rocker when I was hitting the brake and the tractor jumped forward. Next stop is Mahindra to look at the 1533/2538. I really like the idea of the no DPF, but, I'm more than a little skeptical. I bought my wife a 2013 VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI. Love the car, but a year after we bought it we found out that VW totally scammed us! Still love the car, but the resale value is now non-existent and the "fix" will no doubt detune the "peppiness" that was one of the main reasons we bought it originally. Sorry for the rant...

So back to the original question, any advice L3301 vs. Mahindra 1533/2538 would be greatly appreciate and taken with a grain of salt, all at the same time.:thumbsup:

Well for Mahindra the diff between the 1500 HST Kubota like with the rocker pedal and the 2500 HST is a two pedal HST so isn't like the Kubota in that respect. I have a 1538 shuttle because I didn't like the rocker pedal at all and don't do much fore and aft loader type work plus I have a lot of sloping terrain. The 1500 series are Mitsubishi built and are supposed to be a little nicer while the 2500s are TYM Korean built machines. I like the Mahindra no DPF tier 4 approach too but I think the dealer is a larger part of the equation.
For what you're doing you might want to think about the 38's for the larger tires and small capacity increase. Maybe even a bit larger. For all that lane and snow you might want to think about a snowblower in your future so for a front mount blower look at adding the middle PTO now and for a blower I'd get a cab too but that would be a pain in the woods so maybe a removable soft cab. For moving rocks around you'd want the backhoe.

 

[Blackgreyhounds]

you've got a killer local Kubota dealer. One of the best if I do say so myself.

I've been there many times for many reasons in the last 15 yrs, including 1+ hrs yesterday.:thumbsup:

 

[Blackgreyhounds]

Well for Mahindra the diff between the 1500 HST Kubota like with the rocker pedal and the 2500 HST is a two pedal HST so isn't like the Kubota in that respect. I have a 1538 shuttle because I didn't like the rocker pedal at all and don't do much fore and aft loader type work plus I have a lot of sloping terrain. The 1500 series are Mitsubishi built and are supposed to be a little nicer while the 2500s are TYM Korean built machines. I like the Mahindra no DPF tier 4 approach too but I think the dealer is a larger part of the equation.
For what you're doing you might want to think about the 38's for the larger tires and small capacity increase. Maybe even a bit larger. For all that lane and snow you might want to think about a snowblower in your future so for a front mount blower look at adding the middle PTO now and for a blower I'd get a cab too but that would be a pain in the woods so maybe a removable soft cab. For moving rocks around you'd want the backhoe.

Thanks for the input. We have 3+ people on my lane (shared right of way) who currently plow. It turns out that the guy at the very far end of the lane owns the local donut/breakfast restaurant, so he's always got the lane plowed before we wake up, even this year with the 30" snow storm. This leaves only a relativele small paved parking area that is easily handled with the walk behind blower and shovels. I'd probably put a plow on my pickup before the tractor (?). More important to me is routine maintenance of the lane in the Spring/Summer/Fall, patching, filling, moving stone, grading, etc.

 

[varmint]

I was going to mention checking out Messick's, but I see he beat me to it. Kubota offers a good balance of machinery design, quality build, and variety of tractors, which hold their value. A good place to start for your first tractor. The rocker pedal is easy to get used to. HST is also easy to get used to... but get something with 3 ranges, and auto throttle, if possible. SSQA and loaded rears, also all good.

 

[jgiannini]

Mahindra 2538 vs John Deere 3038E - YouTube

 

[GrumpyJoe]

I got my Mahindra 1533 HST last summer and have about 70 hours on it. Love it, love it, love it. Was like you about the 3901 or 1533. I choose the 1533 because of the overall weight and lift capacity. Which is much higher than the 3901. Use mine for lifting logs, dirt work, mowing, and numerous other jobs around my 22 acres. Even though a Kubota dealer is closer I'm ok driving the extra time. And I have only had to go back one time. That was for that 50 hour oil change which I did myself. But like everyone is saying. Go to the dealer and drive them. Then go back and drive them again. They are both great tractors. Sometimes it just comes down to what you look the best on. I think I look pretty **** good on that Mahindra.

 

[arrow]

I have the Mahindra but through default. Yes, I thought there are better built machines but none of these suited me. 1. Kubota has their fel control in the way for a both side exit/entry tractor. This was important to me as I need egress from all sides as I log mostly with the tractor. My woods are tight so I need to be able to get on and off from left or right. Also, I did not like the way Kubota L3 series exposes their tie rods in front of the axle. With all the stick ups and ground obstructions in these woods, I would have made a shamble of these in short order if I did not construct some type of guard. 2. I traded in an old JD 750. The John Deere dealership was showing me $1800 because the thing was in showroom shape even after 28years. The Mahindra dealer was giving me $7000K.

Will the Mahindra 3016 hold up? Who knows but it has done everything I've asked and more. I think the gear selector is kind of clunky and I have seen thicker metal on other machines but this shuttle is easy to operate and provides great traction and strength for what it is so I'm tickled about that. The last thing is that the Mahindra can lift a lot for its size which comes in handy for how I use a tractor.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I have the L 3301 with shuttle shift / gear drive. I love this tractor. Great little / mid size tractor with plenty of spunk. Very quick response on the fel, and lots of power. I'm on 90 acres, therefore the MX 5100, also. But, I really think the 3301 would handle all my needs if I chose to. Definitely do load the tires, and add wheel weights if need be. I don't know anything about Mahindra, BUT I do know enough about Kubota to know I will never buy another brand of tractor.

 

[Blackgreyhounds]

I gave the Mahindras some good test drives today. 1533HST is a really nice tractor but too expensive for a value brand (pretty similar in price, fit and finish to the Kubota but more comparable to the B series). The 2538 HST is a whole 'nuther beast, more robust and a better comparo to the L's. I can see that the 2538 is designed for high performance and value per$ a the expense of fit and finish. That thing is heavy as heck without ballast. The dealer let me use the FEL on some mixed soil/mulch, and it picked it up like the bucket was empty and the frame never budged. However, the fit and finish were not ideal and the controls were pretty rough to handle. One thing I need help with... How do I compare FEL capacities between the Mahindra 2538 and the LA525 on the L series? I can't seem to find apples-to-apples numbers to compare.

 

[Blackgreyhounds]

Mahindra 2538 vs John Deere 3038E - YouTube

Yeah, I saw that. However, the JD is really not a consideration.