Close to pulling the trigger.

   / Close to pulling the trigger. #1  

MiserableOldFart

Platinum Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2006
Messages
542
Location
Delaware County Catskills NY
Tractor
NH Workmaster 40, Kubota GR2120
After much self debate, soul searching and number crunching, I'm close to trading in the esteemed 15 year old TC26DA on a new Workmaster 40. It came down to the Workmaster 40 and the Kubota L3901, and the deciding factor was the stronger loader. Two questions left: which dealer, and getting a hard number on the Boomer 40 to be sure I don't want to spend the extra bucks for it. The primary advantages that I see in the Boomer are a stronger loader still, ease of fueling on my 70 year old body, more comfortable seat, and the telescoping links. I doubt I can be convinced that they warrant the additional cost, but I want to see the numbers. I would consider an LS machine, but I don't want to deal with dealers as far away as they are here in NY state. As it is, I'm looking at 25-50 miles distance to dealers, and that in a town that used to have a local John Deere Dealer, and a local dealer that sold, would you believe, New Holland, Kubota, White, WheelHorse and a few others..

If anyone out there has had major problems with the 40 hp NHs, I would love to hear the gripes now, rather than after purchase, lol.
 
   / Close to pulling the trigger. #2  
Well, it is your choice, and the price difference might not be much where you are, but LS is substantially less in cost than NH in our area....

I went to our "local" NH dealer to look at the Workmaster 25 TLB. They wanted $28,900 for it.

I ended up getting the LS XG3025 TLB (same identical tractor) for $21,300!
The LS dealer is 500 miles away.... I haven't had to take the tractor for any warranty work....

To me, saving $7600, made it a no brainer! Like I said, the pricing can vary immensely area to area.... I would at least find out what that difference is....
 
   / Close to pulling the trigger. #3  
My advice is to not chase loader specs. You have to be very careful about the comparisons (max height 50mm from pins vs at pins, etc) to be sure you are comparing the same. Even then most of it is ballast and tractor weight. It isnt safe to carry around something that makes the machine unsteady because it is so heavy. You arent going to carry around a 3000lb log on a 3000lb tractor very easily, so be upfront with yourself about how much it really matters. Only you can decide. I would stick with LS, Deere, Kubota, Kioti, TYM,etc...the actual manufacturers of the machines. I realize they might not all be made in the US, but they are fully committed to the machines. Just my thoughts.

Good luck with your search!
 
   / Close to pulling the trigger.
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Well, it is your choice, and the price difference might not be much where you are, but LS is substantially less in cost than NH in our area....

I went to our "local" NH dealer to look at the Workmaster 25 TLB. They wanted $28,900 for it.

I ended up getting the LS XG3025 TLB (same identical tractor) for $21,300!
The LS dealer is 500 miles away.... I haven't had to take the tractor for any warranty work....

To me, saving $7600, made it a no brainer! Like I said, the pricing can vary immensely area to area.... I would at least find out what that difference is....
Yep, that's a serious price differential there. And a nice machine. Thanks for the info. Are you a skilled mechanic? That makes a big difference. I am not. I can do routine maintenance, small repairs, but know better than trying to split a tractor or such..
I am virtually surrounded by LS dealers, lol, but the closest is 80 miles. I'm hoping to not need the dealer, of course, but should I, 80 miles is too far for me.
 

Attachments

  • surround.JPG
    surround.JPG
    99.1 KB · Views: 97
Last edited:
   / Close to pulling the trigger.
  • Thread Starter
#5  
My advice is to not chase loader specs. You have to be very careful about the comparisons (max height 50mm from pins vs at pins, etc) to be sure you are comparing the same. Even then most of it is ballast and tractor weight. It isnt safe to carry around something that makes the machine unsteady because it is so heavy. You arent going to carry around a 3000lb log on a 3000lb tractor very easily, so be upfront with yourself about how much it really matters. Only you can decide. I would stick with LS, Deere, Kubota, Kioti, TYM,etc...the actual manufacturers of the machines. I realize they might not all be made in the US, but they are fully committed to the machines. Just my thoughts.

Good luck with your search!
Thanks for the heads up. The loader specs are apples to apples. Example: Kubota L3901 full height 500mm 855, I think, vs. New Holland 1100. I won't be lifting much of anything to full height, but when it comes to popping rocks out of the ground or putting on an oversized light material bucket for snow removal, the extra oomph is important, as will the one or two PTO hp differential with my chipper. The NH loader is also a few inches larger than the Kubota, a tiny amount, but sometimes that little bit matters. One other small factor that matters to me, believe it or not, is that the NH loader sits out farther from the tractor. This makes the loader specs even more different, but in my case, In winter I do a lot of dumping snow off a bank to get rid of it, and an extra few inches out front is a little margin of safety for that duty..
Does Deere actually make their tractors? I didn't think they did on the compacts.. LS, Kioti, too far away, Kioti dealer about 80 miles and quoted me a price that was higher than what I would pay for the Kubota, which made no sense to me.
Being able to get parts quickly from Messicks also led me to K vs. NH, though the Deere 2038r is one beautifully built machine. I was less impressed with the 3E series. It seems Deere and Kubota, in their economy series, have huge differences in utility, not just bells and whistles, while the NH differences between the Workmaster and Boomer are mostly comfort and such.
 
   / Close to pulling the trigger. #6  
Yep, that's a serious price differential there. And a nice machine. Thanks for the info. Are you a skilled mechanic? That makes a big difference. I am not. I can do routine maintenance, small repairs, but know better than trying to split a tractor or such..
I am virtually surrounded by LS dealers, lol, but the closest is 80 miles. I'm hoping to not need the dealer, of course, but should I, 80 miles is too far for me.
Most dealerships around here offer road service and/or p/u and delivery. A tractor that size would be easy to get the local rollback service to move also. 7 or 8k could pay for a couple of trips.
 
   / Close to pulling the trigger. #7  
Yep, that's a serious price differential there. And a nice machine. Thanks for the info. Are you a skilled mechanic? That makes a big difference. I am not. I can do routine maintenance, small repairs, but know better than trying to split a tractor or such..
I am virtually surrounded by LS dealers, lol, but the closest is 80 miles. I'm hoping to not need the dealer, of course, but should I, 80 miles is too far for me.
Your specs are wrong.
According to what can be found on the internet the Kubota loader can lift 3 inches higher and has basically the same breakout force, not only that bot Lift to 1.5 meters of the ground at 500mm forward of the pivot pin the kubota has an 80lb advantage, which is not a lot but combined with the rest of the specs is the better loader.
That being said, if you determined that the NW or the LS are better for you then fine, we understand paper specs aren't the only factor when choosing a tractor.
Wish you the best.
 
   / Close to pulling the trigger. #8  
Have you seen this:



Yanmar made tractors for John Deere for over 20 years now they
sell under their own name

willy
 
   / Close to pulling the trigger.
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Thanks for all the info posted here. I went with the Workmaster 40. It's going to take some getting used to. Not as refined as the older Boomer 26, but clearly more stable and powerful. I think it will work out well.
I do want to correct something I have mentioned: The 140 TL loader is very much equivalent, strength wise to the one on the Kubota L3901. The Tractordata numbers that I had showing it to have significantly larger capacities do not match those in the manual, so on that score there isn't much difference.
I'm already much used to the 3 hydro ranges. Much preferable to the two on the older tractor.
The new tractor engine is quite a bit louder, and the hydro whine is much more pronounced. One thing that is a bit of a downside to the pin-adjustable lower 3pt arms as opposed to the turnbuckles on the smaller tractor is that they rattle quite a bit. I'm thinking that I'll be using hearing protectors a lot more with the new tractor.
My Pat's hooks don't fit on the new machine - I need the thinner shims and I don't know where I put them years ago when installed on the 26, so I contacted them about replacement shims. In the meantime I hooked up my carry box to the 3 point, and relived the nightmare of 3 point hookup without Pat's hooks.. I had almost forgotten, yikes!
 

Attachments

  • new old.jpg
    new old.jpg
    737.5 KB · Views: 97
   / Close to pulling the trigger. #10  
Thanks for the heads up. The loader specs are apples to apples. Example: Kubota L3901 full height 500mm 855, I think, vs. New Holland 1100. I won't be lifting much of anything to full height, but when it comes to popping rocks out of the ground or putting on an oversized light material bucket for snow removal, the extra oomph is important, as will the one or two PTO hp differential with my chipper. The NH loader is also a few inches larger than the Kubota, a tiny amount, but sometimes that little bit matters. One other small factor that matters to me, believe it or not, is that the NH loader sits out farther from the tractor. This makes the loader specs even more different, but in my case, In winter I do a lot of dumping snow off a bank to get rid of it, and an extra few inches out front is a little margin of safety for that duty..
Does Deere actually make their tractors? I didn't think they did on the compacts.. LS, Kioti, too far away, Kioti dealer about 80 miles and quoted me a price that was higher than what I would pay for the Kubota, which made no sense to me.
Being able to get parts quickly from Messicks also led me to K vs. NH, though the Deere 2038r is one beautifully built machine. I was less impressed with the 3E series. It seems Deere and Kubota, in their economy series, have huge differences in utility, not just bells and whistles, while the NH differences between the Workmaster and Boomer are mostly comfort and such.
I saw a youtube JD factory tour. It appeared yes engines (at least the 1 series or those using the Yanmar engine are made in Japan. This has been a long time relationship coordinated with JD engineers. The drive train is made at a JD plant in Wisconsin and I believe axels are made at a JD plant in Mexico. I could have that backwards axels in WI and drive trains in Mexico. The tractors are assembled at the JD plant in GA. So pretty much JD/US built and assembled. JMO
 
 
Top