Did you try out your CUT at home before purchasing

[shvl73]

I shopped 6 dealers before i decided on my tractor & only one dealer offered to bring a unit out to for me to test at home, however I did not ask any of them for this service.
It's hard to say how many would have agreed to do so.
I don't think I would have purchased a unit as new that had 10-20 hours on the meter without a discount, my unit had less than 2 hours on it & I only tried it out briefly at the dealership but had compared the ergonomics & specs of all the units & am very satisfied with my choice.
I only have 20+ hours on it now, but I still have a big grin when I'm on it, even in the blowing snow!

 

[JerryG]

Farmers are not as small hour worried as most of the people here. I guess that is like the differece between putting 20-100 hours a year on a tractor and putting 2000-3000 an year on one. 10-20 isn't much when you are putting on 2-3 thousand a year.

 

[rdam]

And I'm sure the farmers that get the equiment to test have enough experience to use the equipment properly without abusing it.

 

[spencer200]

Yeah but after a while the dealers catch on to those who do that trick!

 

[pajoube]

I went to the factory (PowerTrac in VA) and they had a test area that I could play to my hearts content. Was very useful to test different types of attachments that helped make up my purchase.
I think most dealers will have an outside play area that you could spend as much time as you wanted testing tractors and equipment.
PJ

 

[SacandagaBrad]

Re: Did you try out your CUT at home before purcha

I tried them all at the dealers, and one at a potential private sale. I considered renting one for the day once I had decided on the make and model, primarily to see how it would perform mowing and traversing my extremely soft and wet lawn. But I was mainly buying it for road maintenance, snow clearing, and lifting docks, etc. I realized that since I also still have a good garden tractor mowing machine that does well on the lawn, it wouldn't have mattered if the CUT sunk out of sight, I still would buy it for the other uses. I also used to operate heavy equipment in the construction business, so I was not worried about being confortable operating the machine. So I bought it and never looked back! Still don't know how it's going to perform for mowing, took delivery in October which is past mowing season around here. But it has been extremely wet and I drive over the soft stuff all the time.

So I would say if you have circumstances that will determine whether or not you are going to buy, then borrow, demo, rent, whatever before you buy.

Brad

 

[RichNJKubota]

Re: Did you try out your CUT at home before purcha

My local Kubota dealer did let me try the machine out first. He delivered it (L4310) and a brush cutter and let me keep it for the weekend. No strings. By the end of the weekend I knew it was the correct size machine for my needs.

Rich

 

[MDNick]

Theowegian,
I rented my Kubota from my dealer prior to final purchase. I was pretty much set that I was going to buy that machine. However, I wante some play time, so the dealer and I worked out a rental for a few months. I was paying a standard rental fee/month (wasn't cheap), but the agreement was that it WAS a rental. The rental price came off the purchase price of that machine or any other from him. Now he may have been swayed by the fact that I was pretty well set on that machine, I dunno. But after trying it out, it worked for me.

Nick

 

[TresCrows]

My dealer happened to have a slightly used 7500. I had it for a weekend and decided I wanted the BX instead. Then latter I bought a matching 2410--go figure. If I were a dealer I would be hesitant to loan out new equipment because then it is USED equipment /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif.
I notice you are looking at the Kubota B7800/2910 and the JD JD4310. The correct Kubota competitor to the JD4310 would be the Grande L 3410 etc. The B series Kubotas are fairly unique, good power in a lighter weight frame. They have smaller displacement engines and are intended for lighter work and Kubota tends to put more horsepower in lighter tractors than the other companies. The comparable JD tractors would be the 4010, 4110 and 4115. The JD 4310 I think is a much heavier duty unit than the little Kubota B2910/7800. Don't go by horsepower alone, look at the weight and cubic inch displacment--then horsepower. My neighbor has an L, not a Grande L. It is 24 horses. It is much heavier built than my little B2410 and has about 20 cubic inches more displacement (just off the top of my head). Not being bossy, just make sure you compare apples to apples. Good luck. J

 

[BIGBLUETOY]

My dealer let me use a TC33D with a 5 ' Landpride finish mower all weekend. He offered this up when I started asking him about tractors. I decided to go with a TC40D. he had to order it and when it came in he left it at my house and left me a message to stop down and settle up when I got a chance. When I was interested in a box scraper he left one at my house to try out, which I ended up buying. This last summer I was looking for something to mow my lawn faster and he offered to drop off a zero turn radius mower for me to try out, I have not taken him up on that offer yet, I seem to not be able to part with my JD 316.
I told the John Deere dealer that the NH dealer let me try out his tractor at my house and could he do the same and he said no but I could drive it around his lot, which was smaller then my lawn. That and the prices on the Deeres made me (go) blue.