3550 quality

4tillingdirt · May 20, 2017

I know everyone has their favorites, but I have been researching tractors in the 40ish HP range and I cannot make up my mind. I was wondering how many people on this forum have had issues with more recent 3550s?

Thanks

tbzep · May 20, 2017

Had my 3550 for nearly two years. So far my only issues are a burned out tail light and one of the rubber brake pads won't stay on the pedal. I did my own break in maintenance and getting the hydraulic screen out was a bit of a pain. Everything else has been good so far.

4tillingdirt · May 20, 2017

So what made you go with Mahindra? I priced a 3550 and they are several thousand less than a New Holland.

JerryK · May 21, 2017

Depends on what NH your are comparing it to. The 3550 is a big heavy beast with large tires. I have a 2011 5035 [ thumb picture at left ] pre Tier IV final that is a fine tractor. The tractor is well laid out with a large open operator area. If I would knock anything on it, was that it could use more HP due to having to push around it's 8500 pounds, but it does OK. More HP, and it would stress the hydrostatic trans. The cabs on the 3550 are pretty nice compared to the 2555's, but both are just fine.

Sittingbull2 · May 21, 2017

I just recently Bought 3540 PST. 1 month ago. Only thing battery was apparently no good after 1 week of use. Called them and they brought a new battery out to my house and replaced it. I have cleared land and moved approximately 100 yrd. of red clay and top soil. Pushed up big huge pile of trees that I ripped out. It's a work horse of a Tractor. Mind you it's only a 40 hp. open cab. Have a 6' box blade and 6' dual wheel medium duty 90 hp. gear box w/ slip clutch rotary cutter.

4tillingdirt · May 21, 2017

Has anybody noticed that parts, fit and finish are not as good as NH, JD, etc and are there areas on the tractor rusting faster than you would have thought? I also read this on another post - to reset the service hour count you have to use a spare fuse to short circuit the reset slot per the manual. Has anyone seen this in their manual?

bhstovall · May 23, 2017

I agree with the whole fit & finish statement. I had the headliner out of my 2565 last weekend while I was installing a camera system & noticed a couple of wires that go to the front work lights was simply run through a rough drilled hole that had not even been deburred & there was no extra protection on the wires. Granted there should not be much if any movement on the wires in that location, but why would you take the chance on having to troubleshoot the problem, then remove 30-40 plastic expansion anchors, then drop the headliner just to fix a short that could have been prevented?

mike69440 · May 23, 2017

Mahindra needs some top management who wear Doc Martins to kick a lot of the existing top managers in the butt or out. Just the Mahindra web site says it all.

4tillingdirt · May 23, 2017

From my research a Mahindra 3550 is about 5 - 6K less than a NH Boomer, etc. I guess with all of the issues I have read about apparently they need to spend some more of that money they are saving people. I am leaning more towards a New Holland Boomer or a Massey 1700 series. One thing I like about the boomer is that it has larger front tires/wheels than the Massey. The one positive about Mahindra besides the price is that it doesn't have to go through a regen from a dealer told me, but I just wonder what other contraption they have come up with to pass emissions.