7040 Questions

[ColoradoDan]

I started another thread a few days ago asking for recommendations for a new tractor. Well, I went to my local Kubota/New Holland dealer today to look at some of their inventory. I liked the cab and the controls of the Kubota better than the comprable New Holland. The Kubota M7040 just seemed really comfortable and user friendly to me. I was impressed. I still want to check out the Massey's and JD's but, for now, the Kubota is near the top of the list.

I have a few questions regarding the M7040. My property is 33 acres with a hay pasture, pond, and hilly terrain. I have a long driveway which will need to be plowed when the snow flies in the winter (I live in CO).

I only have 18 acres of hay that I will put up myself. I would like to be able to handle round bales. Can the 7040 handle the bailing and moving of the round bales with ease? The 8F/8R should be more than enough for my needs, correct?

I was quoted $47,150 for the M7040 with a loader, cab, 4WD, and cast rear wheels. Any thoughts?

 

[gwdixon]

Lots of folks on here have the M7040 as well as the M8540 and a even a few M9540s.

Do a search using "M7040" and maybe refine it with "hay" or "bales" and find some users.

I don't do haying but the M7040 has plenty of guts for ground engaging work.

 

[TripleR]

Yes, the M7040 will work well for your needs, my preference would be for 12F/12R, but a 8F/8R should cover your needs. I wish I could have gotten the cast wheels, but couldn't wait 4-6 weeks for delivery as my Case went toes up. The price seems high as I paid less than that for my M8540 with cab, loader, two rear remotes, biggest Ag tires they offer (non radial), grill guard and 12F/12R.

Does the tractor have synchro or hydraulic shuttle shift?

I agree they are very comfortable as I just finished five days in mine.

 

[ColoradoDan]

Actually, I thought the price was very high. I haven't negotiated at all on the price but it was much higher than expected. I was very impressed with the tractor though.

The tractor that he priced was the only 7040 on the lot. It has the hydraulic shuttle. I thought that feature was really nice, especially considering some of my loader work that I will have after the purchase.

I want to check out the Masseys to get a feel for them. I don't know if I will even look at any JD's because of what's going on in my area. I'm not really comfortable with what I've been told.

 

[TripleR]

Yeah, I would certainly look at the Massey Ferguson too. I didn't consider one as I won't deal with our MF again after the unresolved problems and poor service from when my father in law bought one many years ago. They only have six new tractors at any time on their lot too. John Deere makes really good tractors, but again I don't care for the local dealerships.

Good luck shopping and I am sure once you get serious, the price will get more realistic. I would check with Barlow's for a quote as they deliver all over.

 

[piller]

I've got an M8540HD with 8F/8R and I like it a lot. As you can tell the Kubota M series machines are popular here and have a good reputation.

Weight: don't be concerned, you will be fine on weight. M7040HDC base weight is about 5500lbs. Cast iron rear wheels add at least 500 lbs. If you fill the rears you could add 1000 lbs, maybe more. If you add the FEL and a bucket you will add close to 2000 lbs. Do all that and you are up to 9000 lbs, how much weight do you want/need?

Price: seems high to me. I would recommend you contact Brady Barlow, Barlow Equipment in KY, for a quote. I've got the self leveling loader which is a nice option, you might also consider radial tires. I would also go with rimguard filled rears. Get the hydraulic shuttle.

Round Bales: A 70HP tractor or above is usually recommended for round hay bales. It depends on if you are making/handling small 4x4 or large 5x6 round bales. Others have mentioned this, you might want to reconsider making your own hay. Part of the reason I got the 8540 was that I also wanted to make sure that I would have enough tractor to make/handle large rounds. When we bought our farm our neighbor baled hay on our place the first two years, similar to your situation. Now I have more experience, I have looked at hay budgets prepared by several universities, and I have decided that I will not produce any hay on my land. It is less expensive to buy hay than it is to make hay for a small operation. If you purchase hay you are also buying minerals and nutrients that your animals will then spread on your farm, instead of those minerals/nutrients leaving your farm/hayfield. If you are moving large rounds with the FEL you will want a rear attachment/counterweight.

Good luck!

 

[TripleR]

You might want to contact ITHINKICAN regarding price as he took delivery on a new M7040 not long ago.

 

[leonz]

I started another thread a few days ago asking for recommendations for a new tractor. Well, I went to my local Kubota/New Holland dealer today to look at some of their inventory. I liked the cab and the controls of the Kubota better than the comparable New Holland. The Kubota M7040 just seemed really comfortable and user friendly to me. I was impressed. I still want to check out the Massey's and JD's but, for now, the Kubota is near the top of the list.

I have a few questions regarding the M7040. My property is 33 acres with a hay pasture, pond, and hilly terrain. I have a long driveway which will need to be plowed when the snow flies in the winter (I live in CO).

I only have 18 acres of hay that I will put up myself. I would like to be able to handle round bales. Can the 7040 handle the bailing and moving of the round bales with ease? The 8F/8R should be more than enough for my needs, correct?



I was quoted $47,150 for the M7040 with a loader, cab, 4WD, and cast rear wheels. Any thoughts?

About your hay;


Have you looked at the Wolagri Mini balers? You would not require a high horsepower tractor to bale, transport, and move them to feed bunks.

They offer an integral baler and bale wrapper hay baler as well as a bale only baler and a separate bale wrapper.

I spent a lot of time chatting with the east coast Wolagri distributor
about the use of mini balers at the farm days a few years ago and he uses a baler wrapper on his farm and he loves his mini baler for his farm, he uses a very small four wheel drive tractor to hay with and he no longer has to chainsaw his hay bales open to feed his animals and he has no frozen bales period, and he is able to get on wet land that has down hay on it when it has rained and can bale it quickly with no worries about mud, moldly or wet hay that has to stay windrowed longer or flipped and tedded.

And you can cut and windrow hay and bale it when the ground is wet as the tractor and baler will not sink in the mud because they are not that heavy to have to worry about it.

Any his biggest compliment about them is you can use a very very small tractor to bale hay with, I think he said is was 25 HP IH cub cadet and he uses the smaller hay equipment which is readily available too.


Having your hay custom baled is the other option of course, but handling is the major issue where the mini marsh mallows can weigh 50 pounds or less; I will admit I am lazy hay handler and when I bought Hay I always asked for light bales as it saved on the back for sure; yes it requires a bit more handling but the mini marshmallows will not go bad in the field as they are wrapped and well sealed in high quality white HDPE and now it is becoming a lot easier to recycle the HDPS baler plastic as well.

You could leave several cuttings of hay on the end of the field(s) where you could simply piuch them up and use them as you need them or simply have a round up of the marshmallows when the cutting is done as you could simply roll them in the bale wagon, stack them upright and stack them and then move them and store them vertically until they are needed for feed.

You would also have less wasted hay which is an issue with big bales too.

A kubota 2660 or B3030 would have plenty of power for a mini baler and smaller hay implements like the ones sold by Ferrari USA in California or www.earthtools.com

This would allow you to buy an upgraded cab from Laurin cabs and get air conditioning too.

You would be able to buy a rear mounted Pronovost snow blower "group 2" for the tractor as well to use with the front loader, you would be able to build mesh box sides for the loader bucket and a rear box to move the mini bales readily too.

Just a thought anyway

 

[NICOT]

You're right, seems a bit high in price for the M7040. I'd Negotiate a bit. Good Luck; Nicot , upstate PA. Edit: saw PIC and it does have a heavier duty loader/self leveler? cab, etc. Might be a good price. Nice tractor.
2008 M7040, 4w/d,deisel, loader, 160 hrs.
Bushhog back blade
Stone rake
Bushhog Squealer rotary mower
Speeco Hyd. 22 ton Log splitter
1967 Veitnam War Era Surplus Army duece and 1/2 ammo trailer
Pintal hook and all! Can't be overloaded!!!!!

 

[RFB]

I started another thread a few days ago asking for recommendations for a new tractor. Well, I went to my local Kubota/New Holland dealer today to look at some of their inventory. I liked the cab and the controls of the Kubota better than the comprable New Holland. The Kubota M7040 just seemed really comfortable and user friendly to me. I was impressed. I still want to check out the Massey's and JD's but, for now, the Kubota is near the top of the list.

I have a few questions regarding the M7040. My property is 33 acres with a hay pasture, pond, and hilly terrain. I have a long driveway which will need to be plowed when the snow flies in the winter (I live in CO).

I only have 18 acres of hay that I will put up myself. I would like to be able to handle round bales. Can the 7040 handle the bailing and moving of the round bales with ease? The 8F/8R should be more than enough for my needs, correct?

I was quoted $47,150 for the M7040 with a loader, cab, 4WD, and cast rear wheels. Any thoughts?

Dan,

The one duty you mentioned is something that you might consider regarding your gear selection: snow. The major drawback to limited gearing is if you ever decide to operate a pto snowblower. The folks in my neck of the woods seem to regularly have issues if they do not have a low enough gearing to match the throwing capacity and snowload. The 12/12 would give you greater flexibility in that regard.

My tractor (5030) is smaller than what you are examining but it because it is HST it is "infinitely" variable in that duty there is always a sweet spot.

Since an HST is not available in your size range (Kubota), the more latitude you build in with more gear selections the greater flexibility you will have.