Local guy here, I can share a bit. I’m near Prescott Valley and I spend a lot of time in the Camp Verde/Cottonwood area. I’m guessing you are up near Chino Valley. I bought my Kubota
L2501 about 5 years ago. I started with a John Deere in mind (growing up in Ohio, that’s the go to name that everybody loves), but as others have shared shop the dealership and consider what you are getting for the price. I ended up steering towards the Kubota’s. (With the market like it is now, you will have challenges finding any used deals on lightly used tractors, most want new prices right now. Local dealerships won’t have stock. Bingham sees 3 to 9 month lead times from Kubota.)
I’ve heard some good and some bad about the local JD dealership in Prescott Valley. (I really like the JD guys at the big place down near chandler. I bought some used excavator buckets off them and they are very friendly.) The guys at Bingham are good guys. Prices are sometimes a little steep, but the buying experience is good and they stand behind their reputation. I like working with Jessie over there. In AZ Bingham dominates the entire Kubota market. Wickham tractors out of the Colorado area seems to have some of the best prices in our area, but that‘s about a 10 hour drive. Southwest AG is up that way too (SWAG).
You can buy out of Phoenix or Wickenburg if you‘d like to. If you have a trailer to get down there for service it won’t be too bad assuming you are buying a reputable brand. Like others have said, there may be a thing or two right off that will need corrected. That would be a frustrating experience for me to load up and go down to get it worked out, but if I were retired I might view that trip differently. If you are buying a good brand, you will likely get a few things worked out right off the bat, then you will have some periodic services, but won’t likely need any repairs for a very long time. You can buy implements from anywhere and it makes a lot of sense to buy these used if at all possible.
They have Kioti dealers in northern phoenix and I think there is one in Wickenburg. If you want an older tracter for a few thousand bucks you’ll like have some friving ahead of you given our limited agriculture as compared to many of the states back east. Imperial valley area in CA and up in CO are your best bets. I think MF and Branson has a presence down in the Tuscon area, but that’s really getting out there. And like others have mentioned in our area, these dealerships seem to come and go. (Likely a result of our reduced agricultural needs and the strong presence of Kubota and JD.)
Oh and one other thing… there are times of the year where the
L2501 struggles with the hard clay, expecially on a packed down road. But wait for a rain or a freeze / thaw cycle and you can do alot. Most of the year it does well. I just bought a rotary cutter and have not used it yet, but the dealer tells me that in our area it will run a 60” just fine.
My only short coming with the
L2501 is that the loader only lift about 1000 lbs, which isn’t quite what I would like it to be but will likely meet your needs just fine. Its a great tractor all around. I think paid between $23k and $25k but a good chunk of that went into the grapple.
Good luck, and have fun!
