Buying Advice First tractor purchase. (Massey Ferguson vs RK)

[wvdskin]

Hello All,

I have been reading this forum for a while now and I am getting close to making my first tractor purchase. I am located in rural Roane County West Virginia. My farm house is located on 101 acres most of which is wooded. I have about 4 acres around the house that I mow and three separate small pastures that were previously being hayed and several roads to maintain. My goal is to clear some of the wooded area to increase pasture land and ATV trails. I am of the opinion to go with as big a tractor as I can afford. With that being said I have been looking at the Massey Ferguson 1740M & 1755M as well as the Rural King RK55. I really like the size of the 1740M but I am wanting a grapple to move brush and logs with, so I am worried about not having enough lift capacity on the FEL. Both dealers are about 1.25 hours from my house. The Massey Ferguson dealer has a repair facility on site whereas the Rural King has to be sent back to OH for any major repairs (the Rural King has a small work bench with very few tools and no lift). I also like the fact that the Massey R4 tires/rims can be widened for stability on uneven ground where the RK R4's are on fixed rims. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Bigpuddie]

Look at a Massey Ferguson 1759. Nice machine!

 

[Jchonline]

Just confirming MF and RK are the only 2 dealers close. There are JD, TYM, LS, Kioti, Kubota that also come to mind in this larger CUT class of tractor.

I am guessing you aren't going to be haying....if you are then that is a different class of machine. How much do you actually have to mow? I could not tell from your original post. Is it just 4 acres, or is it much more? Mowing another task that takes reasonable HP...and you dont want to get a 5 ft rotary cutter for 40 acres! If no haying and not a bunch of mowing to me you are still in the larger CUT arena.

Personally I would skip the RK based on the service facility. If you had a full service center close they seem to be a good tractor in shuttle shift. I am not sure about their HST..others would need to comment. If you want a few videos, look up Outdoors with the Morgans on youtube. Mike and Melissa have a great channel and 3 RK tractors that are used all the time.

I demoed the MF1758 and MF1759. The 58 is a hydrostatic, the 59 is a 12/12 shuttle. They are premium cab models, not sure if you need that. Massey was probably #4 on my list, but I have every dealer close enough. Get out and demo them both. I didn't see loader capacities on the M models, only the premiums and the SCUTs. The premium (1758, etc) is around 2300 lbs. Minus the bucket you are at about a ton. That is quite a bit.

1755M no DPF..that should be a plus, but it is also brand new so hopefully no growing pains. I know on the bobcat skid steers they accomplished the non DPF engines by adding a super fine fuel filter which has to be changed more often and costs quite a bit to replace. It sounds better on the surface, but after digging in I really didn't see it saving me time or money. That said maybe MF has something different. Just dig into it a bit.

 

[wvdskin]

Just confirming MF and RK are the only 2 dealers close. There are JD, TYM, LS, Kioti, kubota that also come to mind in this larger CUT class of tractor.

There is an LS dealer about 20 minutes away, a Kubota Dealer about 45 minutes away, and a Mahindra dealer about an hour away. I am just not a fan of the LS or Mahindra, I like Kubota but they want to much for them.

 

[jeff9366]

I am located in rural Roane County West Virginia. My farm house is located on 101 acres most of which is wooded. I have about 4 acres around the house that I mow and three separate small pastures that were previously being hayed and several roads to maintain.

Little of WV is level. Is your 101 acres hilly?

What is the combined length of the roads you have to maintain? Dirt? Gravel? Crowned? Ditches to maintain?

What is the combined area of your three pastures and what are your plans for the pastures?

What equipment do you use to mow four acres around your home?

 

[Diggin It]

I am just not a fan of the LS or Mahindra,

Are you aware LS makes (or has made) machines for other brands like New Holland?

 

[plowhog]

I have a Massey 1758 with a front grapple plus other things. It is an HLA grapple-- which seems very heavy duty (and very heavy.)

So far it's picked up everything I tried to pick up, from trees to pretty large logs to boulders. Very pleased with Massey tractors.

 

[Jchonline]

LS is worth a look, as well is Massey. Both good machines. I am pretty certain the LS will be considerably cheaper, but you can price them out. When I looked the Massey 1758 wasnt much difference with the Kubota L6060 in my area. You can also always make the dealers compete (or try to). Probably the best advice is to get out and drive ALL of the brands that are relatively close to you...maybe even the Mahindra at an hour and everything inside the radius. See what you like.

On the LS, they should fit most of the haying equipment as well, as mentioned they make NH tractors I believe under about 50 HP (Boomer 20-60 or so HP and maybe Workmaster). That might be a bit small for you. It looks like the Workmasters get into the Utility class, wonder if LS makes any of them?

Here is a link showing some of the other branded tractors LS manufactures.
List of tractors built by LS for other companies | Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia


UPDATE: Corrected post per Bigpuddie.

 

[Bigpuddie]

LS does not make NH tractors under 100hp. The Powerstar and T4 tractors are made by TURK tractor in Turkey.

 

[MESSMAKER]

LS does not make NH tractors under 100hp. The Powerstar and T4 tractors are made by TURK tractor in Turkey.

What about the Workmaster?