B7500 v. B2410 v. B2710

[DaveM]

Alan- Thanks for the heads-up on the 60" "light material" statement. Have you ever moved snow with it there in TX? Having an FEL that's wider than the tractor would seem to be a good thing in terms of snow removal. Anyone know if the 60" is not well suited to digging into soil? The soil on our property is very rocky, just a little dirt thrown in to keep the rocks in place!

Prices. This is just my second winter/year in NY so I'm no expert on the local economy.

Thanks- Dave

 

[Bird]

I have the same situation, Alan; the 54" bucket and when I placed the order for the tractor, the salesman and I were looking at his book and noticed that it listed an optional 60" light material bucket, but he didn't know what that meant, so I still don't know either.

Bird

 

[DaveM]

Bird & Alan- Just got off the phone with my potential dealer. We were talking price for a 2710 w/ 60" m. m. mower, R4 tires and FEL 54" bucket. Yikes! He quoted $19,355.00 delivered. Still sounds high to me based on other quotes I've seen on TBN. Thoughts anyone? I'm wondering if I have gullible written all over my face or in my choice of words... or is this just the reality around here.

Anyhoo, about the 60" light material bucket. He said he's compared the 54" and 60" side by side and saw no difference in contruction or material thicknesses. He did some digging into manuals and discovered that the 60" bucket, pn. B1617 also serves as the "light material bucket" for a larger loader that also takes two other bucket types that goes with an L series tractor. Sorry I didn't get those model numbers. He suspects the "light" wording for this bucket followed it into the LA402 specs. sheets. Said the price difference is about $100.

Dave

 

[GlueGuy]

Dave,

That does sound a tad high for that equipment list. I paid just over $17K for a B7500 with FEL, box scraper, rear mower, T&T kit, and delivery (includes CA sales tax too). I don't remember the exact final figure (short memory I guess /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif). Certainly not an apples to apples comparison, but good for a reference point.

The GlueGuy

 

[DaveM]

GlueGuy- Thanks for the data point. He MIGHT drop it $555 to match the quote I got this past weekend. My wife and I are both going to look at the 2710 this coming Sat. and see what happens. Hope he will match as I'd rather buy from him. Additionally, his tractor is fresh out of the crate and the other one has been sitting out since last fall.

For the life of me I can't figure out what a T&T kit is. It's been a long day!

Thanks- Dave

 

[GlueGuy]

Dave,

Sorry to use the slang. I just assumed.../w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif. Shouldn't do that, you know what happens /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.

The "T&T kit was short for either "Top & Tilt" or "Tip & Tilt". Otherwise recognized as replacing the manual turnbuckles on the three point hitch (slang=3ph or 3PH) with hydraulic cylinders. If you're planning on using a scraper or darn near anything on the 3PH, the T&T is worth its weight in gold. The T&T kit I got was put together by Gearmore, and the quotes I got ranged from $750(low bid) to $1250(high bid).

One more word of advice: When we went around gathering quotes, we got them all in writing. Provides a line-by-line comparison of where all the money goes, and gives you clues about where the "air" is in the quote. Also verifies that you are getting an apples-to-apples comparison. One dealer might get you el-cheapo attachments, while the dealer that "looks like" the high bidder is giving you all the high-quality implements.

As they say, you sometimes get what you pay for. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

The GlueGuy

 

[Rick Jay]

Hi All,

I can partially address the 54" vs. 60" bucket issue. I have a B2910 and I ordered it with the 54" bucket. By accident, the mechanic installed the 60". (I was concerned about the wider bucket having problems with our rock laden clay soil too!). I didn't notice the extra 6" of bucket right away...not until after I had got some "play time". The larger bucket did not appear to be any problem at all on our soil. When I talked to the dealer about it, he said to keep the 60" bucket for a while, and if I didn't like it, I could swap it for a 54". Well, I'm very pleased with it. Especially after our very heavy snowfalls in W. Mass this year. The wider bucket is definitely an advantage when moving snow. The extra 6" results in approximately 10% more capacity which is helpful when moving large amounts of material.

I guess if your ground is harder/rockier than mine (which is hard to believe, but I guess it's possible) you could have two other options to use with the 60" bucket.

a.) break up the ground first with a 60" box blade (serves as nice ballast too)

b.) put a tooth bar on the bucket for those "hard diggin' days".

I've decided to keep my 60" bucket. Now I need to settle with my dealer about the price difference and have him order a toothbar for the 60" bucket. (He's been holding my 54" toothbar since last June...just in case I changed my mind.)

Good Luck in your decision.

Rick

 

[toddler]

DaveM,
Even accounting for 2 years inflation, that price is a lot more than I paid for my 2710. I got turf tires and a 54" bucket, but even after 6% taxes and delivery, I was a good $800 under that. I hope that price was including taxes. If not, go to CarverEquipment.com and ask them for a quote! I love having a local dealer, but not that much.
Todd

 

[Bird]

DaveM, of course I made my deal for my B2710 w/LA401 loader and 54" bucket, R1 tires, in July '99; delivered early Aug. '99 and it was $12,600 for the tractor and $2,900 for the loader, then I had the dealer add a steel canopy for $295 and I bought a Bush Hog RDTH60, rear discharge finish mower instead of mid-mount, at the same time for $1,695. Did you dealer break that total down into the components for you?

And I've wondered if the "light material" 60" bucket wasn't referring to weight of the material handled rather than the weight and quality of the bucket. I'd probably recommend the 60" bucket for most uses, but it so happened that I had a specific reason for wanting to stay with the 54" one anyway, so I didn't inquire any farther.

Bird

 

[DaveM]

Bird and All- Except for yesterday's phone quote on the 2710 I have gotten all quotes in writing and with separate prices for the implements. Since I was originally considering the 7500 with mower and FEL I made sure to get quotes from all three dealers for that package. That's been my priceing benchmark between all three dealers. The other 2710 quote is also an apple-to-apple comparison except for the 60" bucket which adds $100.

Again, I'd really like to do business with dealer #1. They've been a Kubota dealer since '73. Their other two main lines are Case industrial products and Brush Hog so they don't have any internal tractor competition. I believe their techs really know Kubotas. I don't know if $555 is a deal breaker. I could also ask for some extras like a rear blade, work lights, free maintenance for the first service, ? to compensate for the extra $ difference. Some of this is clearly a psychological hurdle I have to deal with /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.

Thanks Again Everyone- Dave