I guess I'm not a complete newbie to tractors- I worked in the potato industry a couple of decades ago and put several thousand hours on a few tractors in the 90-150hp range back then, but I feel like a complete newbie in the tractor buying world. Comparing various makes of seemingly very similar machines, trying to sort out what will do everything I might need or, alternatively, what tasks I'm prepared to not be able to do. I'm still wrestling with whether to go for a bigger, used, machine and take the risk of buying someone's problems or to go for a smaller, new machine and potentially be frustrated with the limitations of a compact machine. It will probably be about 3 months before I make the purchase so I expect I'll be making many changes of mind in that time.
Are the smaller JD tractors made to a different standard / quality than their large machines?