What's the best subcompacts in aus?

[tractor-mower project 1]

So, after multiple deals have fallen through (thankyou dodgy Facebook sellers) I've decided to go and buy dealer new, so in your opinion what's the best subcompacts ? I'm trying to get a TLB setup but I'm more than happy to just stick with a loader and belly mower.

Sofar I'm considering kioti, as they're the cheapest in aus, and seem to be very nice overall. But I'm also tempted to go for the gc1725 as it's a very nice machine (plus we owned the older gc2400) but I'd be open to hear what people have and their experiences with the machines. My primary uses would be mowing, but I do need the loader for upcoming renovations as I need to unload pallets off of our truck aswell as just odd jobs that would need a loader

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

So, after multiple deals have fallen through (thankyou dodgy Facebook sellers) I've decided to go and buy dealer new, so in your opinion what's the best subcompacts ? I'm trying to get a TLB setup but I'm more than happy to just stick with a loader and belly mower.

Sofar I'm considering kioti, as they're the cheapest in aus, and seem to be very nice overall. But I'm also tempted to go for the gc1725 as it's a very nice machine (plus we owned the older gc2400) but I'd be open to hear what people have and their experiences with the machines. My primary uses would be mowing, but I do need the loader for upcoming renovations as I need to unload pallets off of our truck aswell as just odd jobs that would need a loader

Poster, I'm not trying to be rude but the very fact that you have posted this thread proves what I said in your other thread, you aren't doing any research. Stop asking for our opinions and do some research. Nobody here who has any credibility is going to give you a direct answer to that question. You're looking for a shortcut to purchasing a tractor and there is none.

Here is a thread I posted back in march of this year. It would do you well to read it. Please Read If You Are A Newbie Tractor Buyer

 

[K5lwq]

My suggestion is spend some time on each brand you have available in your area. Most tractors are not that far apart in reliability. However each will have a different feel to them. Most issues with a tractor is from operators pushing them beyond what they were designed to do.

Consider all the task you need to perform and make sure what you purchase is capable to do those task. If you need to lift pallets then what do they weigh? Then get a tractor that can easily lift that much. For example if they weigh 500lbs then don‘t get a tractor that can just lift 500lbs, get one that can do that easily without struggling.

Once you are confident you know what size tractor need then go see which one fits you the best. Good luck.

 

[tractor-mower project 1]

Listen man, the reason I'm asking is because there is literally no information for Australia. We have multiple different models than the American market/our prices are often different. Hey I'd love to do more research if I could, but beyond asking I have no option. Plus that's not even factoring in the difference in parts/manufacturer availability here.

And I'm moreso asking for people's experience, now kindly get off your high horse, this is a public forum in which im allowed to post whatever is within the rules. The above posts being exactly that, and people like yourself often drive others away from forums exactly for this reason.

As for a shortcut, I'd say the exact opposite, I could go out and buy a Kubota tomorrow. Yet I'd rather collect people's opinions to avoid making a regretful purchase. Now I'm not trying to be rude, but I know all the basic and even more detailed specifications of the tractors that I'm considering. However, due to small subcompacts not being popular, it's far harder to go and ask for a opinion from a friend here. Hence why asking on this forum

Poster, I'm not trying to be rude but the very fact that you have posted this thread proves what I said in your other thread, you aren't doing any research. Stop asking for our opinions and do some research. Nobody here who has any credibility is going to give you a direct answer to that question. You're looking for a shortcut to purchasing a tractor and there is none.

Here is a thread I posted back in march of this year. It would do you well to read it. Please Read If You Are A Newbie Tractor Buyer

My suggestion is spend some time on each brand you have available in your area. Most tractors are not that far apart in reliability. However each will have a different feel to them. Most issues with a tractor is from operators pushing them beyond what they were designed to do.

Consider all the task you need to perform and make sure what you purchase is capable to do those task. If you need to lift pallets then what do they weigh? Then get a tractor that can easily lift that much. For example if they weigh 500lbs then don‘t get a tractor that can just lift 500lbs, get one that can do that easily without struggling.

Once you are confident you know what size tractor need then go see which one fits you the best. Good luck.

Ah thankyou, I'm thinking of going to our nearest kioti dealer tomorrow and seeing how the machines are there, and then the Kubota dealer further away as they have a multitude of brands, thanks again

 

[tractor-mower project 1]

Listen man, the reason I'm asking is because there is literally no information for Australia. We have multiple different models than the American market/our prices are often different. Hey I'd love to do more research if I could, but beyond asking I have no option. Plus that's not even factoring in the difference in parts/manufacturer availability here.

And I'm moreso asking for people's experience, now kindly get off your high horse, this is a public forum in which im allowed to post whatever is within the rules. The above posts being exactly that, and people like yourself often drive others away from forums exactly for this reason.

As for a shortcut, I'd say the exact opposite, I could go out and buy a Kubota tomorrow. Yet I'd rather collect people's opinions to avoid making a regretful purchase. Now I'm not trying to be rude, but I know all the basic and even more detailed specifications of the tractors that I'm considering. However, due to small subcompacts not being popular, it's far harder to go and ask for a opinion from a friend here. Hence why asking on this forum

Poster, I'm not trying to be rude but the very fact that you have posted this thread proves what I said in your other thread, you aren't doing any research. Stop asking for our opinions and do some research. Nobody here who has any credibility is going to give you a direct answer to that question. You're looking for a shortcut to purchasing a tractor and there is none.

Here is a thread I posted back in march of this year. It would do you well to read it. Please Read If You Are A Newbie Tractor Buyer

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

Listen man, the reason I'm asking is because there is literally no information for Australia. We have multiple different models than the American market/our prices are often different. Hey I'd love to do more research if I could, but beyond asking I have no option. Plus that's not even factoring in the difference in parts/manufacturer availability here.

And I'm moreso asking for people's experience, now kindly get off your high horse, this is a public forum in which im allowed to post whatever is within the rules. The above posts being exactly that, and people like yourself often drive others away from forums exactly for this reason.

Ok poster, I understand and can get on board with that but as you stated above, the models are different and the market is different and most people on this forum are not from down under so I'm not understanding why you're asking us. But what I can do is recommend you talk to Wagtail. He is from down under and can probably point you in the right direction. I hope this helps and you find what you're looking for.

 

[Wagtail]

G'day Mate. As you can see from my profile I'm from Tassie and it looks like you're looking for a 22hp tractor. You've said you're familiar with that hp and reckon that it will do the job that you anticipate your needs will be.

Research-wise, TractorData.com - information on all makes and models of tractors will be a great site to use to compare what's available from the various manufacturers that are in your area.

I can't speak to Kioti or MF, but I've heard nothing negative about the product.

That can't usually be said about the Dealership that you'll be dealing with, both the sales side and the reputation of their Parts/Service Department. If you can, talk to your neighbours (over the fence or at the Pub) as to who has the best reputation.

If you can, wait until there's a 'local' Ag-Show to see what all the regional Dealerships have on offer.

Also (and not knowing the land you're going to be using it on), a belly mower set-up has its limitations as to 'access' to corners, around trees, alongside your house/buildings, etc... You'll probably need a Lawn tractor or Zero-Turn mower down the track. Perhaps you could make a "package deal" with whichever Dealership you decide to go with.

 

[Anakist]

How big are your pallets? The Kioti KL2610 loader will lift 568kg at the bucket pin apparently. https://www.kioti.com/products/attachments/front-end-loaders/kl2610/

That's not a 568kg pallet. That's 568kg directly under the back of the quick attach plate. At 700mm from the pivot point (100mm of backplate plus half a 1200mm pallet) you will get much less than that. I have no idea what the rating is because I can't find a capacity chart. I would be surprised if you could lift 250kg on a pallet.

Having said that, Kioti USA says that's "class leading" load capacity, but all the subcompacts will be about the same. If you want decent lifting capacity you have to go with reasonable size and weight on the tractor and accept that that's not what they're for.

I worked at a PFG dealer for a while, and did a fair bit of work with Kioti and Deutz. I was really impressed with the build quality of the Kioti units. For the same size tractor, the Kioti was much nicer than the Deutz for significantly cheaper. PFG also provided quite good customer support.

I now work in fleet maintenance and have Kubota and Deere tractors that come past occasionally. I am not that impressed with them compared to the Kioti. I am a tall lad and their cabs seem much more cramped. I haven't played with seating positions or control points though. And they aren't direct comparisons, These are ~5 year old <100hp tractors now and I didn't do many of them at the old job.

These days they are basically all the same from a user perspective. Same as all cars are basically the same now. Occasionally someone drops the ball and makes a lemon, but it's the exception. Get in and sit in as many as you can and buy the most comfortable one from the sales people who treat you the best. A couple of thousand dollars either way makes no difference if the dealer is a muppet and won't honour warranty or has to order parts from the moon whenever you want something done.


James

 

[Randy52]

I like TYM for price and durabilty . Just got a new 494 yesterday traded a 394 on it.

 

[check]

Everybody will tell you to get just what they got. So here goes. I got the Kubota BX25 in 2008, and it's just been great. (It has now morphed into the BX23S, with a lot of cool new features.). But DON'T get the Kubota Quick Attach for the front - it is way too heavy. Get the one from Jery Dunn - it is much lighter and will have a smaller effect on your FEL capacity. (The product is called Tach-N-Go, and he gets good reviews. The website is mytractortools.com)

Good luck with your search!

 

[rScotty]

Let me give you a hand with those specs. We can do this in a form that applies to most of the small tractors you are looking at.

I see that you are wanting to lift pallets of a certain size and weight.
For that, the spec for lift at the pins doesn't help much. Manufacturers like to use that spec at the pins because it is the highest number - but nobody actually lifts anything at the pins. The weight is always farther forward.

So you need to find the spec for lift at some distance forward of the pins and include the weight of the mounting system plus bucket and forks, With those numbers, you can then deduct for the weight of the mounting system and bucket or forks and then figure out what you can actually lift.

Unfortunately, for homeowner machines those real loader specs are often hidden or fudged. But we can estimate and come darn close.

For example, even if specs are given forward of the pins, they are usually given at 50 cm forward of the pins.. even though a pallet is designed to be loaded with the center of gravity at 60 cm. That's about a 15 to 20% fudge right there.
But we don't care. We simply include it in our estimate.

Here Goes: Hold onto your calculator....

First of all we weigh the bucket, forks and mounting parts, Typically those parts forward of the pins on a subcompact or compact FEL SSQA with bucket and forks are going to weigh in the 150 lb to 200 lb (70 to 90 kg) range.

The other thing we know is that on average, most loaders that give the lifting spec at the pins, will lift about 2/3 that amouht at 50 cm forward of the pins.

So 2/3 of a 568 kg lift is 375 kilos. Now knock off another 15% of that out a bit farther to the typical center of gravity of the pallet and we have 325 kilos lift available out at the middle of the pallet.

This is where we add the weight of the SSQA and bucket or forks - and we pretend that weight is also at the center of gravity under the middle of the pallet, We already estimated their weight above, so we move that weight out to be at the center of gravity (CG) as well and knock off another 80 kilos. Now we are at 250 kilos max.

Remember, this is all just an estimate - but probably not that far off for a subcompact to maybe 25hp smallish compact tractor. You don't want to be lifting at max and trying to drive around safely at the same time... but a machine with some counterbalance weights ought to be able to handle 75 or 80% of the max lift safely enough for loading and unloading.

That puts us at 80% of 250 equals an honest 200 kilos (450 lbs) of materials on a pallet that the subcompact you mentioned ought to be able to handle safely. And it will probably handle another 20% with some risk.

Hope this helps,
rScotty