Buying advice for small land-owner in New Hampshire

[BigNuge]

Already called. Ted is who I think I talked to. Quite helpful. We talked about the Max 26. Kubota is about $800 cheaper (B2301). Mahindra is right about the same as the B2601. But there isn't anything like a $5k delta here.
He didn't itemize backhoe out from the base tractor. Maybe that hoe is just obscenely expensive.

May go kick some tires at lunch if I can sneak out.

Cool. Yeah, I’m up a series with the 1626 HST, and my Kubota comparison was with a L2501 HST. Given what I learned with my research, weight is my friend. I also didn’t want to regret the tractor size/weight once I dropped $20k+ on this thing!

Looking forward to following your purchase experience!

 

[nhbubba]

If weight is king then the Kioti CX wins.
The Mahindra is very attractive on loader capacity and PTO output. Wish the value proposition were better. Still waiting for the actual quote but I believe Kioti crushes all here. They are offering a $2400 rebate for cash buyers on the package I'm after! Makes the CX cheaper than most of the stuff I'm seeing on the 2nd hand market.


Kioti is the real deal, right?!

I am no stranger to a wrench and intend to do all my own service. Not sure how much I worry about dealer rep. As long as parts are available. (They seem readily available.)

 

[BigNuge]

If weight is king then the Kioti CX wins.
The Mahindra is very attractive on loader capacity and PTO output. Wish the value proposition were better. Still waiting for the actual quote but I believe Kioti crushes all here. They are offering a $2400 rebate for cash buyers on the package I'm after! Makes the CX cheaper than most of the stuff I'm seeing on the 2nd hand market.


Kioti is the real deal, right?!

I am no stranger to a wrench and intend to do all my own service. Not sure how much I worry about dealer rep. As long as parts are available. (They seem readily available.)

Honestly, I liked the Kioti as far as the machine. The dealer was terrible, and I could see one till August (so he said). The dealer weighed heavily on my decision. Best warranty, and fantastic dealer, those were major factors for me. I too and a wrench, and do all my own service repairs on my equipment. But you just can’t beat a solid dealer when dropping this kind of cake. Not to mention, this is my first diesel, so I’m on a learning curve there....

 

[Carl_NH]

If weight is king then the Kioti CX wins.
The Mahindra is very attractive on loader capacity and PTO output. Wish the value proposition were better. Still waiting for the actual quote but I believe Kioti crushes all here. They are offering a $2400 rebate for cash buyers on the package I'm after! Makes the CX cheaper than most of the stuff I'm seeing on the 2nd hand market.


Kioti is the real deal, right?!

I am no stranger to a wrench and intend to do all my own service. Not sure how much I worry about dealer rep. As long as parts are available. (They seem readily available.)

NHBubba - take a long look at the BH and subframe Kioti vs Kubota frame integrated 4 Point for install and removal, and the further the BH is from the tractor the more stress is put in the frame.

The Mahindra has a similar 4 Point Frame integrated BH setup I believe as Kubota B series - at least on the Max 28 series, not sure on the 1600 Series.

 

[nhbubba]

 

[rademamj1]

I have seen damaged subframes for backhoes before. Most commonly, they were related to heavy use and in some cases were bordering on equipment abuse. I was in upstate New York last summer, and my brothers neighbor broke his subframe while trying to dig a trench, and hit a granite boulder as big as a car.

We watched him banging on that boulder with his backhoe bucket, and he was determined to either move it or break it into smaller pieces. I eventually got a shovel and with 20 minutes digging, we found the limits of the boulder reached about 12 feet wide at depth of 2 feet. Just too much for the backhoe which indeed cracked its subframe. Later I heard he had it welded and fully repaired and claimed it was a design flaw.

I also have seen rental equipment, both construction and agricultural, recieve some heavy abuse, and then sold at auctions with cracked loaders, broken engine mounts, and all sort of issues related to abuse or poor maintenance.

Don't let that video control your decision to purchase backhoe attachments in general, or a specific manufacturer.

 

[rScotty]

Although we have larger tractors and backhoes now, that is because we just did years of work doing major flood repair and reshaping our land.

For what the OP is interested in, I am thinking back to the decades befrore the flood that we spent with a small 3pt Yanmar backhoe and a 30 hp tractor. That turned out to be plenty of HP. The key to making that tractor work was having wide tires set way out, chains for the winter, a low center of gravity, and some extra weights front and rear added to the tractor. I still think that 25 to 30 hp is ample for anything when coupled with good low 4wd tractor gearing.

Then there was our little 3pt backhoe. Though small, it was sufficient for the digging we did - which was & is mostly landscaping. Planting trees, moving bushes, building a rock wall, putting in drainage, sprinklers, and a waterline to the garden, puttering with the edge of the creek ....all basic homeowner stuff where having a backhoe always available is more important than the cost. I see above that someone broke their tractor with the backhoe. Well, you can break anything if you abuse it enough. But if you use it normally, I think you will find that most tractors & implements are made to last a lifetime and still retain much of their original value.

In addition, we found that having the backhoe and thumb right here for use right now is a great backsaver. Backsaving turns out to be more important than we originally thought. Today the major flood work is done, but we still use the hoe more often for lifting and placing things than we ever did for digging. The thumb makes a backhoe much more useful; it makes a backhoe into a much more versatile tool.

Oh, and a last word. Try not to get too hung up on specsmanship. Most tractors that are about the same size work about the same. What you should be concerned about is how it feels to you. I strongly recommend that you do whatever it takes to bring/rent/borrow/demo a tractor of about the size you are interested in out to your property for a week and just drive it around in the evenings. Do a few simple chores with it. Nothing major. Just mostly drive it on your own soil and your own land & see how it feels. I guarantee if you do that you will answer questions that you don't even know you have.
rScotty

 

[BigNuge]

Not saying that video represents all 3pt BH setups, but it does support the statement of the machine not really being built for that purpose. I’m not an expert, but have operated mini excavators numerous times. If you look at even the smallest mini, then compare the hardware at the hoe attachment point you’ll see that it is incredibly beefy and strong, as it has to be. Any of the removable BH’s just can be that beefy, thing has to be removed/removable!

In the end, I agree having something to dig at your disposal all the time of great, I had a mini for a year or so on my property. I just couldn’t justify the cost, with the limited use and my own internal conflict about the durability.

Can’t wait to see what you go with though! I started a thread in the Mahindra section to chronicle my ownership experience, good/bad/indifferent...

 

[rademamj1]

Though I only use my backhoe 4 to 5 times a year, when needed the backhoe can be extremely useful. My cisterns/tanks finally arrived this morning, and so this coming weekend, I will be installing a rain water collection system using my Kioti backhoe. 0ne (1) 900 gal tank and two (2) 2500 gal tanks. The backhoe will excavate the tanks, level with gravel and slowly lower the tanks into the ground, and then backfill. Only the access risers and a 4" PCV will be observed above ground. Every 5" rainfall, will provide approximately 6000 gals water.

 

[nhbubba]

Made a decision to go for the Kioti.. just in time to find out that everyone in the country had the same idea and now cannot locate a unit to buy!

Good time to be in the tractor sales business I guess! Local dealer is basically entirely sold out of open station tractors.