Buying Advice Cab or no cab?

[Rich_Z]

Yes, we have bird feeders and fruit trees. The bird feeders should be pretty much rodent resistant, but as for the fruit trees, well, not much I can do about that. I could set out a game camera and monitor them to make sure. And/or put a small live trap at the base of the feeders.

A friend of mine has a trailer that he uses with his older Kioti tractor. He says I can use it any time I need to. He is retired too, so I suspect he would suggest using his truck and going with me anyway. He has been doing the tractor shopping with me, since I am leaning on his experience with his own tractor to point about things I might not think about myself.

Honestly, I have looked at the Mahindra line, but just don't get a warm fuzzy feeling about them. The Kioti dealer in Marianna, FL also sells that line. Red Dirt Outdoor Equipment is their business name. I looked at a few Mahindras while I was there and just was not impressed compared with the Kiotis.

 

[2manyrocks]

If there's a food source, there will be rodents.

I own a Kubota, a Yanmar and a Mahindra, but I would never buy another Mahindra after my experience trying to get service for it.

 

[arrow]

Yes, we have bird feeders and fruit trees. The bird feeders should be pretty much rodent resistant, but as for the fruit trees, well, not much I can do about that. I could set out a game camera and monitor them to make sure. And/or put a small live trap at the base of the feeders.

A friend of mine has a trailer that he uses with his older Kioti tractor. He says I can use it any time I need to. He is retired too, so I suspect he would suggest using his truck and going with me anyway. He has been doing the tractor shopping with me, since I am leaning on his experience with his own tractor to point about things I might not think about myself.

Honestly, I have looked at the Mahindra line, but just don't get a warm fuzzy feeling about them. The Kioti dealer in Marianna, FL also sells that line. Red Dirt Outdoor Equipment is their business name. I looked at a few Mahindras while I was there and just was not impressed compared with the Kiotis.

I don’t get warm and fuzzy about equipment.
l buy what l need and the closest shop wins.
I’ve seen everything break.
I’ve had this Mahindra for 10 years and it does logging mostly which is tough on tractors but it does this kind of stuff every season.
When l went to the dealer 15 minutes away, l had never even heard of the brand.
The tractor l ended up with did not impress me either but as l said, closest wins. lt just keeps chugging year after year and has done everything l’ve asked so l can forgive its simplicity.

 

[arrow]

If there's a food source, there will be rodents.

I own a Kubota, a Yanmar and a Mahindra, but I would never buy another Mahindra after my experience trying to get service for it.

That’s unfortunate rocks.
lf there’s anything l can help with, let me know.

 

[2manyrocks]

Thank you. One option for me is to buy the parts and replace the bull pinion axle seals myself this winter, but I'd rather not be the one to have to disassemble the 3525 down to the transmission case because of the weight of the components that have to be removed.

Before this situation, I didn't think so much about the importance of having a supporting dealer close by. Now it's a different story.

 

[LouNY]

Long term, it is better to have a tractor protected from the elements.

Unless you have a trailer and truck capable of hauling the size tractor you are buying, that means paying the dealer to haul it both ways if you require dealer service.

It is important to consider whether the dealer will be there to service the tractor or if they are just there to sell new machines, do the warranty work on them as required, and then not be there for support after the warranty is up.

Growing up on a farm, my Father never had a trailer that could haul the tractors, when he retired my brothers bought him out and keep on farming, still no trailers that could haul the tractors, now my Nephew is buying the farm. Guess what still no trailer that could haul most of the tractors. He does have a trailer rated for 14,000 pounds so it could handle the smaller ones. But not the half dozen or so larger ones.
I've had my own tractors on my home properties for 50+ years very seldom had a trailer that could handle them. And still don't.

 

[2manyrocks]

Was your Father one of the guys who'd fix things himself before hauling anything back to a dealer?

 

[Rich_Z]

I don’t get warm and fuzzy about equipment.
l buy what l need and the closest shop wins.
I’ve seen everything break.
I’ve had this Mahindra for 10 years and it does logging mostly which is tough on tractors but it does this kind of stuff every season.
When l went to the dealer 15 minutes away, l had never even heard of the brand.
The tractor l ended up with did not impress me either but as l said, closest wins. lt just keeps chugging year after year and has done everything l’ve asked so l can forgive its simplicity.

Sorry, seems kind of limiting to me to limit your choices of equipment based solely on the distance of the nearest dealer, regardless of brand. I do not share that philosophy. I want the best bang for my buck, with that "warm and fuzzy feeling" leading me to believe which one(s) will be most robust and reliable. If there were a study on which brands and models have proved to be most reliable and less likely to require warranty service, I would give such a study a LOT of weight in making a purchasing decision.

Which, in my opinion, forum based websites such as this are helpful in providing (hopefully) unbiased feedback and opinions. Will there be individual shining stars and bitter lemons in all brands? Probably. Does bad news travel faster and further than good news. Certainly. My friend tells me that he spoke to a tech at a tractor dealership dealing in several brand tractors. This tech told him that, by far, the most commonly seen tractors in that shop for repairs were Mahindras. The dealership we drove to the other day sells Kioti and Mahindra. ALL of the shop bays were filled with Mahindra tractors. No Kiotis in there at all. Circumstantial evidence? Certainly. They appeared to have more Mahindras for sale than Kiotis, so that could explain the ratio somewhat. But not totally, I would think.

But as I said, while I was there I did look at the Mahindras. And to me, and in my person opinion, they just looked cheesy and flimsy. Maybe it was just the particular models I was looking at. But an opinion is made up of individual data points rolled together to create an image. One thing I have learned for certain over the years is to not ignore my own "spider sense" opinions about such things.

Not to belittle anyone or any brand, but right here and right now, IMHO if it came to a choice of MY buying a Mahindra or MY buying nothing, I would choose nothing.

Am I opinionated? Certainly! And proud of it. No one with a real working brain can, nor should, be without them. I work hard at forming my opinions. But that being said, they are not hard set in concrete. There is always room for persuasive contrary facts and opinions that could change my opinion about anything.

And to bring this back on topic, from the data points accumulated from this thread, my OPINION is that I really SHOULD get a cabbed tractor. So everything else concerning a tractor I would consider buying has to be centered around that detail. Which, of course, may mean some compromises will be in order. But story of my life..............

 

[2manyrocks]

One of the problems for tractor buyers is there is no 5 star rating system for them that I know of to inform a potential buyer about issues with a particular tractor.

There was a thread here about 6 months ago where one particular model was being talked up, and then a guy who had one for a year posted what his experience and opinion was after a year that threw cold water on the talk.

Another issue to me after talking to dealers in my area about service and about sales is it seems like the majority maybe don't really care whether they sell a tractor or not. Whatever you do, I suggest you go look at what the dealer's business and service department looks like. One dealer I visited had a lot that looked like a mix of junkyard and new tractors, with emphasis on the junkyard part. So I didn't feel too comfortable about what kind of service I could expect after the sale.

 

[LouNY]

Was your Father one of the guys who'd fix things himself before hauling anything back to a dealer?

Certainly, as are all of us. Also our dealers make farm calls for minor work we don't want to do. Even my Branson dealer had a man bring a power steering hose up to replace a leaking one under warranty on site.
Why take a tractor back to a dealer if it's not necessary.