First post...ordered new CT235

Rudevette · Jan 22, 2009

Hello all.

I am new here as of today. I have been reading posts on this forum for awhile and really like it here. I live in the NE corner of South Dakota and live on a farm right next to where I grew up. I am into the continuous improvements of the farmsite along with home remodeling, home brewing of misc. beers, outdoor cooking (bbq, smoking, dutch ovens), and first and foremost Corvettes.

Anyway, we'll call this my official introduction. I ordered a Bobcat CT235 last Saturday. It will be the end of the first week in Feb. before it is here. I ordered it with the loader, all options on the tractor, and a Bobcat snowblower. A midmount mower and tiller are to come in the spring. I will post some pics of my big day when I pic it up when that comes. There are a number of reasons I picked the Bobcat and I'm sure they all will come out in time, but number one is I couldn't find too many compact tractor dealers near me who wanted to sell anything. Anyway, I have always had experience with big mfwd loader tractors on the farm, this is my first CUT. I bought it mostly because it costs a lot of money to run a brand new 125 HP John Deere, and so that my wife and son can use it around the yard and with the "non-income producing" livestock.

I'm sure I will use it a lot more than the big farm tractors for general around the yard utility work too.

Anyway, hello to all. I will also be watching the Kioti forums, and the Toolcat forums. (I am a maintenance supervisor at the local cheese factory and we have a Toolcat for general property maintenance that I bought)

-Justin

DK35vince · Jan 22, 2009

Congratulations on the new machine.
Don't forget those photos when it comes in.

wallace · Jan 22, 2009

Welcome aboard.
Did you get a front mount or rear snowblower?

stevestud99 · Jan 23, 2009

congratulations on your purchase i also have to post some photos of my new bobcat . welcome to forums.

Dmace · Jan 23, 2009

Congrats and Welcome to the Pack!

I am also curious if the snowblower is front or rear mounted as it should fit the Kioti too.

Rudevette · Jan 23, 2009

I got a bobcat rear mount snowblower. I did that because traditionally I am used to moving snow with the big tractors with rear snowblowers and I like to have the loader available for scooping at the same time the snowblower is available to blow. I feel it's a little bit more versatile that way.

We don't have a Kioti dealer near me, but have quite a few Bobcat dealers so I should be able to get any parts easily enough. I also have a lot of history with bobcat as a company. I spent a LOT of time at the skidloader factory in Gwinner, ND doing engineering work on the hydraulic tubelines that go on the machines in the early 90's. I know it's a different company that makes the tractors and Bobcat is owned by a different company now but I still like to see bobcat equipment around.

You guys might find it curious that out of 9 compact tractor dealers only 2 would give me a firm price, one was John Deere and they were too high plus there were 2 things I didn't like about the tractor, the other one was a local bobcat dealer. 5 dealers that I talked to never called me back at all. 2 dealers kept telling me to come back when I was serious even though I told them that I have a check in my pocket and am ready to buy right now.

If it were me, in an economy like this, I would put my best price together whether I thought somebody would buy or not.

-Justin

teg · Jan 23, 2009

Yea, I hope dealers would read what you said - and think!! I heard some dealers are not open on the wk/ed?!?!

cowdoc · Jan 24, 2009

I too had a wad of money in my pocket and ready to buy. Called Bobcat dealer three times left messages with salesmen and office manager and did not get a call back. By the way our local Bobcat dealer is sold out of new Bobcats skid steers and cannot get any more even though they are manufactured in the town where I live!!! They sold 50+ machines in the last month. Good luck with your new bob.

Rudevette · Jan 24, 2009

I really don't understand how it should take 3 weeks to get a tractor in an economy with 7% unemployment. If nobody is buying anything doesn't that mean that the people who do buy should not have trouble getting a machine? Bobcat in Gwinner has been on layoff but every dealer I talked to has machines on backorder?????? I'm a little bit confused by all of this.

-Justin

jgl1962 · Jan 25, 2009

Justin,

Did you inquire about transferring a tractor in from another dealer? Should be one equipped as you like someplace already put together. Otherwise 3 weeks (it's along time when you're waiting for a new toy,I know) is pretty good.

Jim

Rudevette · Jan 25, 2009

We did check into getting one from a different dealer. It turns out that from the factory they do not equip them with the bobcat quick tach loader buckets unless you order them. They normally just put a pin on bucket on them. I ordered the quick-tach. I also ordered the mid-pto which is apparantly not a highly sought after option because there are none around with that. I wanted the ability to change between buckets easily and wanted the mid-pto so that I can get a belly mower eventually. Besides, when I ordered everything as the deluxe package along with the quick-tach bucket it only increased the price of the tractor a few hundred bucks. 5 or 6 hundred I think it was.

I just have the kid at christmas time thing going on waiting for the call from the dealer saying my tractor is ready.

-Justin

Rudevette · Feb 8, 2009

I picked the tractor up on Saturday. This weekend I had to blow through a solid 4-5 feet of snow to get access to the shed that the tractor will live in. Here are a few pics. So far I really like the tractor.

-Justin

rimshot · Feb 9, 2009

Rudevette said:
I picked the tractor up on Saturday. This weekend I had to blow through a solid 4-5 feet of snow to get access to the shed that the tractor will live in. Here are a few pics. So far I really like the tractor.
-Justin

============

Wow! What a nice tractor. Now, let's get it dirty so it does not match the snow! That is if there is any snow left when that rig gets done.

great tractor.

rim

Rudevette · Feb 9, 2009

It is amazing how much snow this little tractor will move. The blower is less than half the size of our big blower on the farm tractors but it does more work for it's size IMO. I haven't done a firm study yet but I think that this tractor would move more snow for a gallon of fuel than the big 150 HP JD front wheel assist. I will have to do that study someday.

-Justin

Dmace · Feb 9, 2009

Nice Pics! These tractors sure do look good in white.

Is that a hydraulic chute rotator...? Where's the jealous icon?

Gittyup · Feb 9, 2009

Nice tractor. It's white with blaze orange. So you can find it in the snow. I especially like the matching shovel. Did the dealer throw that in? Looks like a really good blower on it too. Congrats.

Rudevette · Feb 9, 2009

Yep, hydraulic chute rotator. I figured if I'm spending the money on a new tractor and a new blower I might as well get what I want.

That shovel is all poly. It's actually for shoveling off my deck so that I don't gouge up the wood.

-Justin

Kioti4me · Feb 27, 2009

Rudevette said:
I picked the tractor up on Saturday. This weekend I had to blow through a solid 4-5 feet of snow to get access to the shed that the tractor will live in. Here are a few pics. So far I really like the tractor.

-Justin

Justin,

Very nice tractor Welcome to the pack! I got to play with my Kioti CK35HST last night. We got about 6" in all. The FEL worked great. I still need more practice. I don't have the foot controls and the FEL control work in harmony yet. Something is wrong with what痴 between the seat the control

I don't have the 3-point blower yet. It's on the list for next winter. My wife highly suggested that I wait. (I got the message!).

FFI I was born in SD (Clear Lake) and milked 150 cows until my Dad decide to quit framing. I too have run the big stuff.

Rudevette · Feb 28, 2009

We got 13" of snow last weekend. My yard is on the south side of the road with a north facing driveway. I had a solid 24" with drifts to 5' in my yard. I spent 6 hours with the new tractor cleaning the yard on Sat.

I didn't get it all done and finally broke down and got the big John Deere out for the really big drifts. My little bobcat did just what I wanted though, it started at 5AM and I quickly moved enough snow to get my wife to work. (she's an RN at the hospital so she needs to be there)

I live right across the road from where I grew up. It is on a farm 5 miles from South Shore. Funny what a small world it is huh? My Bobcat tractor saw your home town before it saw mine on the way home from Minneota.

-Justin

Plotman · Apr 19, 2009

Hey Rudevette, hows the new tractor. I'm looking at buying the same ct235 for allaround use. What research did u do before and are you happy with it so far? How about the reliability of Kioti? I'm new at this but havent heard of them. Can pick it up with a loader and 5 ft brush cutter for 13600. Blows away the prices of Deere, MF, Kubota cub cadet etc. Ive been lookin for about a month+ and am seriously thinking of moving on the 235. Would love any insight. Thanks

Rudevette said:
Hello all. I am new here as of today. I have been reading posts on this forum for awhile and really like it here. I live in the NE corner of South Dakota and live on a farm right next to where I grew up. I am into the continuous improvements of the farmsite along with home remodeling, home brewing of misc. beers, outdoor cooking (bbq, smoking, dutch ovens), and first and foremost Corvettes.

Anyway, we'll call this my official introduction. I ordered a Bobcat CT235 last Saturday. It will be the end of the first week in Feb. before it is here. I ordered it with the loader, all options on the tractor, and a Bobcat snowblower. A midmount mower and tiller are to come in the spring. I will post some pics of my big day when I pic it up when that comes. There are a number of reasons I picked the Bobcat and I'm sure they all will come out in time, but number one is I couldn't find too many compact tractor dealers near me who wanted to sell anything. Anyway, I have always had experience with big mfwd loader tractors on the farm, this is my first CUT. I bought it mostly because it costs a lot of money to run a brand new 125 HP John Deere, and so that my wife and son can use it around the yard and with the "non-income producing" livestock. I'm sure I will use it a lot more than the big farm tractors for general around the yard utility work too.

Anyway, hello to all. I will also be watching the Kioti forums, and the Toolcat forums. (I am a maintenance supervisor at the local cheese factory and we have a Toolcat for general property maintenance that I bought)

-Justin