Tractor Sizing FEL purchasing dilema

[LabLuvR]

I have a 2002 Kubota L3710 4x4 with about 1200 hours on it. The tractor is in good shape but I need a front end loader.

My guess is the value of my tractor value is around $7,000 and a FEL would run about $5,000 installed. I would have to add another few grand to that if I want a four in one bucket.

Does it make sense to put that kind of money into this tractor or should I look for something else used with a loader already attached? Thanks!

 

[RoyJackson]

I expect your tractor is worth more then $7K if it's in decent shape. Of course, a dealer would probably try to lowball you on a trade value.
Reckon it really depends on how much debt you want to accrue.

 

[devildog1]

You have a decent size Kubota Tractor and hours are low, adding a loader would work out fine. But as Roy said if you want shinny new with all the bells & wishes how much do you spend and are you ok with that?
DevilDog

 

[Grandad4]

Not an easy call. First, let's figure you have implements sized for the 3710, so you either get a comparable size tractor or replace the implements at the same time. Assuming you want to keep the implements, can you find at least as good a tractor as your 3710, only with a loader, for less than, say, $12,000, in your locale? You'll have to look specifically in your neighborhood to figure that one out, but I'd suspect it's not a sure thing by any means. So, you may have reason to look closer at adding the FEL.

If you don't mind the idea of paying more for a newer model... maybe even payments on a brand new one... you can always shop for a newer one. The financing of new models is pretty great these days, but that's a decision you must make. You'd probably get more selling the 3710 outright than what a dealer would give you in trade.

Speaking of selling, I do think your $7,000 figure seems quite low. For example, at the moment, I am looking at an on-line listing for a non-FEL equipped 3710 with 5,000 hours with an $8,995 asking price. Yours would have to be in really rough shape if it's only worth $7,000 by comparison.

 

[Diamondpilot]

If you like your current tractor get a FEL. If not get a new one you do like with a FEL. Either way you will wonder how you lived without it. I have 2 tractors, one 45HP no loader, the other 28HP with a loader. The loader tractor gets used 150 hours per year, the other maybe 2 hours per year.

Chris

 

[LabLuvR]

The $7,000 I mentioned is the price a dealer threw out when he came by my house to value the unit. The Kubota is in pretty good shape, a little faded paint, but overall in very sound mechanical condition. So maybe he was lowballing me and I never put forth the time to get another opinion.

I like my 3710, it fits well for what I do. And my attachments are in great shape so I would like to keep my same basic set up. How much a similar used unit would sell for here I don't know but intend to find out. What is the chance of finding a decent used loader and frame set up?

I'd love to go with a whole new tractor set up, but just don't see the need right now. Plus I want a new car too.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Finding a used loader is like finding a good woman, tough. They get abused. We had to replace a few hose and all 4 cylinders on one and it was $1000 for just that. If you really want a loader just shop around and get a new one. Many good companies make them like Bush Hog, Koyker, Great Bend, Spirt, the OEM's, ect.

Chris

 

[zman007007]

The $7,000 I mentioned is the price a dealer threw out when he came by my house to value the unit. The Kubota is in pretty good shape, a little faded paint, but overall in very sound mechanical condition. So maybe he was lowballing me and I never put forth the time to get another opinion.

I like my 3710, it fits well for what I do. And my attachments are in great shape so I would like to keep my same basic set up. How much a similar used unit would sell for here I don't know but intend to find out. What is the chance of finding a decent used loader and frame set up?

I'd love to go with a whole new tractor set up, but just don't see the need right now. Plus I want a new car too.

what part of S.C. YOU from? I am from Hickory Tavern S.C. close to Greenville. anywhere near me? zman

 

[Grandad4]

The $7,000 I mentioned is the price a dealer threw out when he came by my house to value the unit. The Kubota is in pretty good shape, a little faded paint, but overall in very sound mechanical condition. So maybe he was lowballing me and I never put forth the time to get another opinion.

I like my 3710, it fits well for what I do. And my attachments are in great shape so I would like to keep my same basic set up. How much a similar used unit would sell for here I don't know but intend to find out. What is the chance of finding a decent used loader and frame set up?

I'd love to go with a whole new tractor set up, but just don't see the need right now. Plus I want a new car too.

Tractor dealers will do trade-in's the same basic way car dealers will: they give you a wholesale trade-in price so they can freshen the unit up a bit and sell it for some profit. Nothing wrong with that, but you can do a private sale yourself at a better price, if you are willing to take the time.

But since your 3710 is otherwise doing OK for you, adding a loader still gets my vote. If the $5,000 price for a loader came from the same dealer, you might do better by shopping around; I don't have any idea what a separately purchased new FEL goes for now. As Diamondpilot says, there are a number of good brands.

 

[whistlepig]

Trying to find a good used tractor is someplace I don't ever want to go again. If you are happy with your tractor the majority of your battle is won. The loaders are priceless once you start using them. You will not regret a single penny spent on the loader. And it will greatly add to the value of your tractor.

 

[Jerry/MT]

I have a 2002 Kubota L3710 4x4 with about 1200 hours on it. The tractor is in good shape but I need a front end loader.

My guess is the value of my tractor value is around $7,000 and a FEL would run about $5,000 installed. I would have to add another few grand to that if I want a four in one bucket.

Does it make sense to put that kind of money into this tractor or should I look for something else used with a loader already attached? Thanks!

It depends on how flush with money you are. Do you really need a new tractor because you need more power to do the tasks that you need to do? If you've outgrown your machine, that's a different story. I'm assuming your tractor does what you need it todo and you now need a FEL.

You have a tractor with 1200 hrs on it and I doubt it's only worth $7K. Where did you get that number? I think your tractor is worth closer to $10-14K, but that's a guess on my part. Look it up in the latest tractor blue book. It's not like a car that depreciates year by year. the tractors value isis mostly tied to the condition and that's usually driven by the number of operating hours. At 1200 hrs, yours is just getting broken in unless you'veput some really heavy duty work on it and its pretty thrashed.
I'll assume that your machine is more of an estate tractor then a farm or ranch machine, that its in pretty good shape and that it's paid off. It's more valuable that $7K. Putting a $5K loader on it wil provide you with a machine with more capability for an additional $5k. A newer machine witha FEL in that same HP class will probably cost you around $20K. Lets say you sell your old machine for $12K, your net cost is now $8K versus $5k it would cost you to improve your old machine.( If your machine is reallty worth $7K, the net cost is now $13K).
Now what about buying the loader and installing it yourself. If you are the least bit mechanically inclined you can do that and save the expense of the installation or you can by an upgraded loader and 4 way bucket with the savings. It's easy to do. These tractrs aren't the F-22!

Don't take these numbers as gospel. Do the foot work and find out what your tractor is worth and what a newer model with similar power costs with an FEL.
I think you'll find adding an FEL to what you have is the least cost way to go.

However, your $'s, your choice!

 

[LabLuvR]

The machine is used on my small farm for mainly for light bushhogging of pastures and planting some small food plots. It is by no means trashed, but could use a little cosmetic work. Otherwise it is in very good condition and fits my needs just fine. I really don't want or need a new one.

How hard is it to install a front end loader? I'm not too mechanically inclined but could probably find a helper. Thanks for all the great responses. I'll probably just buy a new loader. But first I want to find out the true value of my tractor.

 

[rtimgray]

Is the $5,000 for a loader a quote from you dealer? I don't know what loaders cost now, but when I bought one for my DK45, it was $3,000 (This was also about 8 years ago). I had bought the tractor without the loader and used it for a couple of years (I had an old JD backhoe/loader, so I thought I didn't need a loader on the new tractor - wrong!).

If $5,000 is the installed price, you might want to check what a different loader (an aftermarket one) would cost if you install yourself. As near as I can tell, most loaders, especially for compact tractors, and just bolt on assemblies to the tractor (there may be some heavy lifting involved) and a little bit of hydraulic plumbing. It might end up saving you several hundred dollars.

Anyway, if you are happy with your tractor, I say add the loader. If you have a hankering for a newer model, now would be a good time to trade in and trade up. Life's to short to have a tractor you're not happy with.

Good luck and take care.

 

[bigbull338]

loaders are $5000,but i dont think thats installed but it maybe.yours is a hard call to make.but if you want to keep your tractor id put a new loader on it.an let the dealer install it.theres alot to putting a loader on a tractor.

 

[RobertN]

That price is not unreasonable. I got my TC40D with 450 hours. It has the factory loader and 6' Rotary mower. It was $13.5k, in sweet condition. I can see where the tractor with the number of hours and cosmetic shape would be the price the OP was quoted. As someone else pointed out though, the price given might be "wholesale bluebook".

I got the loader on my old Kubota for $3100 installed. But that was 11 years ago, and it was on a smaller "B" series.

You can probably find a better deal than $5000 for the loader, but since it is a larger one, I would not expect it to be significantly less.

FWIW, adding the loader made my Kubota, a "tractor". I bought my first tractor(Kubota B8200) for cash. Did not want to finance anything. Then saved up for a loader. Was it ever worth it! I almost wish I would have financed some, and got the loader when I got the tractor.

 

[Jerry/MT]

The machine is used on my small farm for mainly for light bushhogging of pastures and planting some small food plots. It is by no means trashed, but could use a little cosmetic work. Otherwise it is in very good condition and fits my needs just fine. I really don't want or need a new one.

How hard is it to install a front end loader? I'm not too mechanically inclined but could probably find a helper. Thanks for all the great responses. I'll probably just buy a new loader. But first I want to find out the true value of my tractor.

Back in '99, I bought and Ezee-On loader for my Ford 4610 and installed it myself. (I had just "retired" and had the time to do it.)The manuafcturer's instruction were great and it probably took me a total of 20 hrs max to install it by myself. I put myself through college in the "olden days" (early '60's) working inthe steel mills in NW Indiana as a mechanic so I wasn't afraid to do it. As I said, it wasn't difficult, just followed the instructions.I ineeded no special tools and it was basically bolt the main frame to the tractor, put the pins in and grease zerks and grease, hook up the hoses and put the hose tips in to match the couplers on the tractor. I have since gone to a quick attach mount for my bucket and added a bale spear so I modified the bucket to match the quick attach mount. Make sure that you get a quick attach mount in case you want to add other implements to the loader and make sure the bucket is at least as wide as the edges of the front wheels.
As some of the other's said shop around and see what a new loader costs for your tractor from some of the good aftermarket loader outfits (Westendorf, Quicke, Brush Hog, Ezee-On, etc ) and get a bid from Kubota also. Most of the manuafacturers have a website where you can get specs. Most manuafacturers will only sell through dealers so there's some mark up. And find out what installation costs are to see what you can save.

 

[RobertN]

Interestingly, when I had the loader put on my B8200, Kubota was about $200 more than the Bushhog loader I ended up getting. Turned out, that my B8200 was just old enough, Kubota no longer carried a mounting kit for the newer loaders to fit that tractor. Dealer said they would have to drill and weld on the mounting kit to fit my tractor. This was 11 years ago, and the tractor was an '85. So it was 15 year old tractor.

It was a much shorter distance to the local independant that installed my loader. And, the Bushhog mount kit was a bolt on.

As some of the other's said shop around and see what a new loader costs for your tractor from some of the good aftermarket loader outfits (Westendorf, Quicke, Brush Hog, Ezee-On, etc ) and get a bid from Kubota also. Most of the manuafacturers have a website where you can get specs. Most manuafacturers will only sell through dealers so there's some mark up. And find out what installation costs are to see what you can save.

 

[Just Bill]

Hello
I think you get a discount from Woods by being a member here.
I have a Woods on my L3400 and have completely removed it and reinstalled it by my self.
It would be a very easy job for 2 people. I'm sure they are all about the same way for installing. Read the instructions and lay everything out.

 

[andrec999]

Hi,

Just check on TractorHouse.com , the cheapest L3710 is 9600.$ and there is one for sale in SC with a front loader at 12500.$ , maybe you could trade yours in with a couple of thousands to booth. Or buy the one with the loader for 11000.$ and pull out the loader and install it on yours and resale the tractor .

I purchase a used loader for my John Deere for 1800. and I installed myself .
it cost about 100. for fittings and bolts and a couple of scratched knucles, but in is in perfect shape and has a joystick , it runs perfect.

Just an idea.