Best Tractor ?..this should open a can of worms

[texasjohn]

This question really sorts down into two categories.

Small/medium tractors.... this means under 60hp, IMHO, which is where the vast number of TBN folks are...and used on acreages less than around 250 at most. This is the size tractor almost everybody on TBN has the most experience with. These tractors are more multi-use vehicles which spend little time of their total life with crop/field equipment attached.

big tractors..above 60hp... and up...where the review/tests in the UK focused in the link below...Kubota was not even in that review. These tractors have computers, display screens, operating systems, lots of electronics and are intended to be used in the field, all day, every day, in order to recover the investment.

Completely different uses, completely different vehicles, completely different owners.....no wonder there are completely different answers to the "best tractor" question.

 

[Soundguy]

st too many models. For those concerned about this, your best bet might be to find the one model of whatever make is selling the most, and hope for the best.

.

yep.. it's all about numbers.

ford had nearly a million N series from 39-52 that equates to better parts support.

contrast that with other machines that had much much smaller runs.. and you see dismal parts support.

soundguy

 

[beenthere]

Ok, who makes the "Best" new production tractor.
.......

I have the best. Wouldn't want it any other way, and are happy.

 

[houstonscott]

I don't own a tractor now. I am about to be out on 60 acres of pasture land and will need one soon. I am a car guy and gear head and set out over the last six months to find out what makes a good tractor and which ones are the best. It has fun exploring this question because I want to own the best. I took my car knowledge and started the search. I was looking for the best designs, the best engine, the best materials, the best assembly and reliability. It seemed to me that everyone thought what they owned was the best, and everyone defends their colors to the grave. Many will say the dealer relationship is tops and trumps brands. My brother-in-law thinks his Kubota is best and another friend thinks JD is tops. I will say that which brands are best depends on the size of tractor your considering, for this I concentrated on compact tractors between 25-60hp. Clearly price was not a major factor, I was looking for quality but all the brands are competitive in pricing. The engines lead me to think Japanese small diesels are clearly the best. Their country has a history of small properties and family agriculture and that has driven small tractor design and manufacture there and created the best small diesel engines to power them. When you put German direct injection, high-pressure diesel designs on them you have a fantastic small diesel engine. I found that two manufactures stood out Yanmar and Izeki as the best, with Izeki on top. Their engines and small tractors are just the best, in the grey market 30-year-old Izeki and Yanmars pass as new after rebuild and paint, unbelievable. Many top brands have had Yanmar and Izeki parts and engines in them for years. Fit finish design and a new modern factory have lead me to the MF 1600 tractors as the clearly the best compact tractor. Five years of research and design and a clean piece of paper and you get the 1600's. Add to that a new modern factory to manufacture them by Izeki in Japan and MF 1600's clearly bubble to the top. I have no dog in the fight so don't get mad at me I was looking from the outside in for the best. Here is how I came down on brands in order of quality. After reading the forum I find that MF is the only brand mentioned by other brand owners as a step up. I rate NH second for their engines. I think LS may be under rated and may be a very good tractor, not enough out in the field to prove me to move it higher.

MF
NH
Kubota DJ
Kioti LS
Mahindra

Hard to place

Bobcat
Cub Yanmar

HS

 

[wolc123]

In my opinion, Ford made the best tractors from 1939 to 1952. From 1952 to 1962, IH made them best. From 1962 to current day, John Deere has been tops. JD also seems to be positioned pretty good to dominate well into the forseeable future. I never had and doubt that I ever will have any use for foriegn machines. I was very thankfull, when I bought my last new tractor 5 years ago, that JD was better spec'd and just as cheap as the (2) most popular foriegn brands.

 

[Gio]

wolc123 not to open another can of worms but...JD may as well be a "foreign" brand considering the amount of imported parts (yanmar motors, etc) are used. Sadly "Made in the USA" doesn't mean much these days.

 

[milkman]

Might have to agree on that, the JD H I just sold was 66yrs old and purred like a kitten. Most powerful 12hp tractor I have ever seen.:thumbsup:

Yea, but the belt pulley turned backward. Sharp little tractor. My dream tractor would be a big green Fendt.

 

[houstonscott]

I think when you get to 4L machines and up JD may be the best tractor. I think the 5105ML is a fantastic machine. The orchard tractors from Italy are some outstanding machines too but don't support FEL. Small tractors and your talking Yanmar, Izeki.

HS

 

[wolc123]

Certainly JD uses many of the best foreign components in their machines, but unlike ALL the rest, the company itself has been American owned and controlled continuously from its beginning. In today's relative absence of domestic competition, the foreign makes do provide one very necessary ingredient to the production of a quality product - competition. As long as JD keeps a step or two ahead of the rest, for about the same money, as they have since the 1960's, I see no reason to depart from green. Of course one never knows what the future may hold but we have not yet reached a point where America has lost the top spot in tractors that I would purchase.

 

[bigbull338]

saddly JD tractors have been made overseas for 30yrs or more.i know this because a friend of mine was going to buy a JD tractor cutter baler an rake.he went in to sign the papers,but before he did he seem on the engine block made in so an so.we he got made walked out.an bought all ford equipment.