Help! Which one should I get?

lil_country · Apr 29, 2001

I want to buy a Kubota with front end loader. I have 5 acres and will be using the tractor primarily for mowing, landscaping, and maintaining a long gravel drive. Due to the slope of the property I have a lot of work to do after leveling a pad for my house. I plan to use a lot of large rocks for terracing (therefore the FEL). What tractor do I need? (I would rather have a little extra power, than come up short.)

And, what do all those model numbers mean? Do the numbers designate horsepower? What do the letters mean? What is BX, L, etc? Where do I start to figure out what is right for me? Kubota seems to have alot of models. How do I know what the difference is?

Also, does anyone have any advice on dealers in my area - Oklahoma? Obviously I'm not ready to go to a dealer yet, but I need to know where to start.

TresCrows · Apr 29, 2001

Gosh, do some looking at the recent threads, this is a hot button topic and lot's of info available. My opinion, the BX will do what you want--it can certainly lift 400 lbs rocks but since I have no idea how big your rocks are it is possible you need something bigger but then after the rocks are moved could you keep the larger tractor busy and justified. You DO need to go to the Kubota dealer, pick up some brochures and study them, best bets are the BX1800 (18 horse), BX2200 (22 horse) subcompacts and the excellent B7500 21 horse compact and the cream de la creame , the B2410 , 24 horse deluxe compact tractor. Rent something to move the really big rocks and get the BX, put the difference into the bank or spend on extra implements. The BX is well suited to 5 acre minifarms, homesteads etc--more than one way to skin a cat. J

Bird · Apr 29, 2001

lil_country, have you looked at http://www.kubota.com for some of the statistics. As a general guide, the BX series is considered a sub-compact, B series compact, L series utility, and M series agriculture. Sounds like you want to consider the BX and B series tractors. And I think TresCrows has already given you the right suggestion.

Bird

Anonymous Poster · Apr 29, 2001

Lil Country,

[[[Obviously I'm not ready to go to a dealer yet,]]]

I agree with TresCrows, ...you definitely ARE ready to go to (several) dealers! Pick-up brochures. Study them. Ask questions. look at/sit on various models. Learn the various size"ball-parks".

This will be fun and will take time. For what it's worth, I spent a year and a half studying this list hard, and using any informative-looking link on the web, PLUS a LOT of time at dealers. This took me from a complete "know-nothing" (about tractors /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif ), to a state where I could make this not-inexpensive decision with a fair degree of confidence in what (and WHY) I had chosen.

When you've educated yourself a bit, you will find yourself with more-specific questions, ...and there isn't a better place to ask them than TBN /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif !!

Good luck (THAT's already started, ...when you found THIS place!)

/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Larry

Von · Apr 29, 2001

Lil,
I think that what you want to do, you will need something a little bigger than a bx. Sure you may be able to do it with a bx, by why struggle. The bx is a fine tractor, but it is a little too small and under powered for what you want to do. Now there are people who will say that a small tractor will do what a bigger one will, it just takes longer. Well a small tractor will not move the big rocks very easy, besides who whats to do something in days, when with a little bigger tractor it could be done in hours. I would think that a B2710-2910 size would be just about right. It would handle the heavy work that you will have in the beginning and do all the other chores when your house is done. When I built my house I got an old Oliver 550 with FEL. It handled all the bull work while building and putting in the 5 acs. of yard. I replaced it with a B8200HST and it was perfect for doing all the landscaping and large rock moving. I just up graded to a B2710 and can't see owning anything smaller than that for my needs. One of the best things that you can do right now is order Muhammad's book. I think you will find an ad for it here on TBN somewhere! Good luck with your search.

Von

john_bud · Apr 29, 2001

Hello Lil,

The other answers you have so far are all excellent. It's OK to go to the dealer and ask questions and get a free ride on the equipment. It's better than the county fair, and cheaper too!

Your other question on what do the numbers mean. Well, typically the first 2 numbers are the engine horsepower. A B2410 is a 24 horse tractor. (PTO power is less) The first letter or two are the series of the tractor. The "BX" is the smallest tractor and used often for mowing and light work on smaller plots, the "B" series is considered a compact tractor and is larger, heavier and also more powerful. The "L" series is again a step up in size, weight and power. The "M" series is even larger still. Typically an "M" buyer is doing field work like plowing, discing or bailing hay on a pretty large scale.

There is also a numbers only series in there somewhere around the BX and B series. As you may have guessed, there is a LOT of overlap between the diferent series. Even the smallest tractors are capable of some impressive work. It all depends on the exact specifics of your job requirements and to a large degree, your capabilities.

On the moving of rocks with the FEL. Kubota rates the lift capacity of the FEL (in Kg) as the model number. Bring your calculator and multiply by 2.2 to get the lift in pounds. You will have to determine the weight of the rocks to determine the FEL needed to lift them. As greater FEL lift requires a larger tractor, you could size your requirements that way. My L3410 HST has an LA481 loader on it. That's a hair over 1050 pounds lift capacity. The next larger tractor in the "L" series has about 1500 pounds of lift capacity. The "B" series is lower in FEL capacity and the "M" series is higher.

There are also some letters following the tractor. "D" is usually a manually shifted gear transmission. GST is Glide shift and that is a hydraulically shifted gear transmission. HST (like mine) is Hydrostatic inifinetly variable speed transmission. The farther down to press, the faster you go. For a "weekend warrior" like me, it's the ONLY way to go. It also will get the best resale value (and highest initial cost).

All of the above is listed in great detail in the paperwork you can get from your local dealer. (and it will be more accurate too, as this is all from memory. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif)

I hope you have some fun checking out all the orange Iron!

John Bud

frank_f15 · Apr 29, 2001

you really need to got to a dealer, just to look and see what the difference is in machines. from what u tell us i would expect the bx200 would do u fine(don't know that much about it) but it seems to me that u would be better served mabey going to the b7500. remember that as u u go up in model(and price) u get different features, comes down to what is important to u. take your time, and keep asking questions, these people are really helpful. also check some older threads, get lots of info from them. FRANK

lil_country · Apr 30, 2001

Thanks for all the replies. It gives me a lot to think about. To clarify - I don't plan on moving really large rocks, just a lot of 20 to 30 pound rocks(hundreds). I would like to have a tractor that will use implements I currently own and use with my 9N (box blade, angle blade, 5' brush hog, etc.).

I will look at the sites suggested and continue checking on this forum. This is my first time to use a site like this - it looks great. In fact the amount of information is almost overwhelming. Thanks again.

Von · Apr 30, 2001

Lil,
When you said rocks I thought you ment big rocks. Here is a photo of some I moved with my tractor. I don't think a bx would be able to handle some of the bigger ones in the photo. As for using the stuff that you are using now you might have to get something alittle bigger. Like the B2710.