Compact tractoring on the cheap!?

Soundguy · Jul 10, 2003

You and Egon are right.. it isn't a dollar for dollar comparison specifically.. It isn't taking into account inflation. The real point to look at is the tractor is 50+ years old, and can be sold for a reasonable portion of it's adjusted purchase price.. hard to do that with non-collectible hardware that gets worked every day out in the dirt, then left out in the rain.. etc.

In reality, all the 'improvements' we have come up with for tractors in the last 50 years also makes them more fragile.

My 8n has a master wiring harness I can roll up and put in my pocket... basically just a starter line, ignition line, and chargeing line.... My 1920 probably has a mile of wire on it.. and I'd wager that most of them have to be hooked up for that thing too run.... Lets see it run after sitting out in a field for 50 years.... I would imagine all the electronic gizmos' etc.. would/will be toast..... but this is drifting way OT..

Soundguy

slowrev · Jul 10, 2003

Soundguy,
Can't disagree with you at all. In my opinion the simpler the better. The more complicated the mechanism is the more often it will fail. And the more it will cost to maintain. This is simple statistical reliability stuff. I like a tractor That I can fix in the field if I need to, not one that will have to be hooked up to a dealers diagnostic computer to troubleshoot it.

Keep it simple

Slamfire · Jul 11, 2003

A tractor built in 1976 hardly qualifies a current, although I do admit it has a 30 year start on the Ford. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

rdam · Jul 11, 2003

Cowboydoc,

You write, "Just for example you can buy that 5103 with 44 hp, 11.4/gallon/minute SEPARATE hydraulics, with a hitch lift capacity of over 3k, and a loader lift capacity of over 2k, power hydro steering, convertible 2 to 1 links, telesc. links, etc. for around $13k with a loader".

Point me to the dealer cause I'm buying one!!!

Midlawns quotes $12,999 without loader.

$13,000 with a loader?????

cowboydoc · Jul 11, 2003

For the base unit without any extras and the base loader my price was $13,372.25. For the same in the 5303 my price was $16,400. At $12,999 they aren't even giving you 10% off of list. I usually get around 20-25% off of list. Some things higher just depends.

shady1701 · Jul 11, 2003

All my money's on grey or should i say massey,agco,jd,new holland and kubota from afar? all the smaller less than 30hp come from over seas there's no one out there that can say a jd a massey what ever in these small tractors are better than the grey markets there not there just not as politicaly correct as the american counterparts.

From my reading of the post of the "big" name one's i see why everyone's so proud and defensive of there tractor they have to refinance there farm just to afford the repair bill..

fivestring · Jul 11, 2003

What kind do you have, shady?

slowrev · Jul 11, 2003

Yes I agree, the Grey's are ok, unless they are the Refurbished (worn out) ones with a new coat of paint. JD and the others do not want them selling in the US in competition with their more expensive ones /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif The only problem I have with the grey ones is the parts availability and manual availability.

Ben

rtimgray · Jul 11, 2003

I agree: just from what I have read on this board and others (no personal experience), the "refurbished" tractors are the ones to steer clear of...although a while back on the Yanmar portion of this board a question was thrown out to owners of the "refurbished" tractors, and I don't think it got too many unfavorable responses.

As far as manuals go, I've never had any problem finding parts manuals (in Japanese, of course) for the Yanmars that I've had, or a Shibaura that I looked at. For the YM series Yanmars, there is and I & T (InterTec?) manual that covers the non-grey Yanmars that is pretty good and makes sense of most of the mechanical issues. I don't know about the other brands, but I imagine parts manuals can be had.

Operators manuals are definately nice, but very few of the tractors or equipment that my family has owned came with manuals (bought used). That doesn't mean they wouldn't have been nice for operation/maintenance purposes, but it's not a prerequisite for me to have a manual with the equipment.

I haven't needed parts for my Yanmar aside from maintenance items (filters), so I don't know about the parts issue. Finding parts for the YM series is not too tough due to number of grey YMs being imported. I doubt I'll have too much trouble locating any parts for my F16D when the time comes, but they'll probably cost some bucks...but then again, don't all tractor parts.

Take it Easy

Tim Gray

fivestring · Jul 11, 2003

Same here, rtimgray. I've not had a problem with manuals, parts or service for my Iseki TU1700f.
The original post was for a tractor and a couple of implements for under $5000. The first few responses were all JD, IH, etc., none of which with 2 implements could have been had for that price. I think the main reason the big 3 don't like the greys is because of price. They loose business mainly on price, so to counter that, they slam greys. I spent 4 months researching tractors and for the $$$, it's hard to beat the greys. One of the best articles I saw was on the main uses of the Jap tractors. TILL RICE PADDIES. No rocks, no stumps in those paddies... hasn't been in centuries!. Other than water, the tractors are hardly worked by the Japs! Over here, the first thing we do is put an FEL on and go dig stumps and rocks!!!
This has been an excellent thread with a lot of tractor info. It's good to be a member of TBN and share info and learn info from others.