JD 4105 vs Kubota L4400 vs Kubota Grand L3940

[e.myers]

Will farm ballpark 5 acres and have 5 Acre MX track. Possibly hay and possibly produce. Will have nursery, small vineyard, small orchard and a couple of greenhouses. Combination clay and sandy land.
MX track requires a lot of front end loader work and would like to have to be able to use a chisel plow on a regular basis and I think this is gonna be the determining factor. Flail Mower and possibly rotary mower (6 foot ideal). Everything else I know any of the tractors can handle (with exception of a round bailer which I don't really anticipate needing).

I can get both the 4wd hydrostat kubotas for the same price equipped equally well (added qa bucket to the 4400).
L4400 is down on weight (could compensate with ballast and get to the weight of the 3940), lift capacity (how do I determine how much I need?), hydraulics (where will this matter to me?), and features (what matters & what doesn't... Personally not much of a GADGET fan).
Grand L 3940 is down on HP, PTO HP.
John Deere is 40 HP and comparable to the Grand L 3940 but down on weight (630lbs less... but it's "shipping weight" on the JD), shorter wheel base by 5" (but larger turn radius), down on lift capacity by 550 lbs.... but the tractor is 2500 cheaper. Looks to be a very bare bones tractor (no telescopic stabilizers, standard hydro... whatever that means, no QA bucket, etc, etc).

Kubotas can be financed for 5yrs 0%. JD 3yrs 0% and up from there.

What do you think? What would you do?

 

[jenkinsph]

Deere 4120 minimum Open Station
ehydro, telescopic links, rear outlet, R4 tires, 6 rear wheel weights, 400CX fel, quicktatch loader bucket, adj forks.

Deere 673 tiller, simple 6 ft boxblade, Frontier LP1196 landplane, 7 to 8 ft landscape rake
MX6 brushhog.

Forget the chisel plow, you will need a tractor twice as big. A good small disk is close to the same price as a tiller but the tiller yields a better job in one pass and is easy on the tractor.


Steve

 

[e.myers]

Thanks Steve.
Sounds like you've been there done that.
2.5 HP and 700 lb difference between the 4105 and 4120.
What is the make it break it point between the two tractors? You sound very convinced that I'd be unhappy with the 4105 for my purposes.
Help me understand where the 4105 is coming up short.
7000.00 difference between the two tractors.

 

[jenkinsph]

Thanks Steve.
Sounds like you've been there done that.
2.5 HP and 700 lb difference between the 4105 and 4120.
What is the make it break it point between the two tractors? You sound very convinced that I'd be unhappy with the 4105 for my purposes.
Help me understand where the 4105 is coming up short.
7000.00 difference between the two tractors.

The 4120 is built better which is why it cost more, larger and stronger.
the 4120 has planetary final drives vs. the 4105 with spur gear final drives
on the 4120 you can get the 400X or 400CX loaders which are larger, the 4105 has the 300X and CX loaders.
The 4105 has a two range hst tranny while the 4120 has the three range ehydro.
Additional hydraulic outlets are available for the 4120 you will find this important with time and use.

I did price out a 4120 with add ons, telescopic links, full rear weights, upgraded cruise and loadmatch, 400CX fel, 360 flail mower, 673 tiller, and
limited other goodies and came up with about $40=45,000 msrp. With the 4120 you should be able to get around 12 to 18% off list. As I understand it the discounts structure for the 4105 is very limited, that puts the numbers closer together. Looking at the tractors there is probably a difference of $3,000 to $4,000. The 4120 is virtually the same as a 4720 with less power.


I did alot of research this year and have a 110tlb which is the same power as the 4105 but a four cylinder engine. After several months of scrutiny I bought the 4520 cab tractor and am well pleased with it. I bought it with a discount of 17.88 %. Hope this helps you decide what to do. Further that landplane would be a real plus for your work.



Steve

 

[e.myers]

Thanks for the clarification.
If it was/is 3000 difference then it's a no brainer for me based on what you're saying. That being said, I can't imagine my dealer coming 4000 more off of his quoted price, but stranger things have happened.

What's the difference between the physical sizes of the 300/400 loaders? does the 400 actually hold more dirt or is it just a lift capacity thing? I'm only picking up clay so lift capacity is not that huge of a deal to me... at least right now.

ehydro vs hst? What's the difference there?

Planetary vs spur gear final drives?

Still looking at my options, but they are getting fewer and further between now.

So you got your tractor at nearly 18% off list? Is list price for the tractors published somewhere?

 

[USMC2531]

Hello,

For what it is worth I just ordered/purchased a John Deere 4120 after much research (thanks TBN ! ) and also considering a 4105.

I was able to get a 4120 ehydro with loaded rears, telescoping draft links, supplement front & rear lighting, delux hoodguard, 400CX loader, 72" Frontier 4/1 bucket, 485 Backhoe, MX6 Bushhog, and a 673 tiller. After a John Deere20% discount.... $42,400(no tax/exempt) out the door.

I went over my budget, but the discount, a GREAT DEALER, and IMO a great tractor/set up was worth being over budget and worth the difference between a 4105 and a 4120. Plus like Steve indicated the 4105 did not support the extra hydraulic hookups which was important to me, but I understand people have different needs.

~S

 

[aczlan]

What's the difference between the physical sizes of the 300/400 loaders? does the 400 actually hold more dirt or is it just a lift capacity thing? I'm only picking up clay so lift capacity is not that huge of a deal to me... at least right now.

400 has larger lift capacity which means you can get a larger bucket, ergo it can pickup more dirt. Also the 400 will have a higher "breakout force" which can be useful in breaking loose packed clay from the ground or a pile (breakout force is how much you can lift with the bucket flat on the ground).

ehydro vs hst? What's the difference there?

ehydro will slow you down so that when bushhogging (for example) if you hit a heavy patch of grass the engine RPMS stay the same

Planetary vs spur gear final drives?

See here: Epicyclic gearing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aaron Z

 

[e.myers]

Man, y'all are making me spend money!

USMC. Where did you find list price so you could determine the Percentage off?

ACZlan-
Understand on the buckets except the breakout force. I know it's more on the 4120 but not clear what it is?

Maybe next year sometime I'll get around to reading about the gears. For now the 4120 gear type is better- I'll take yours and others word on it.

 

[jenkinsph]

Thanks for the clarification.
If it was/is 3000 difference then it's a no brainer for me based on what you're saying. That being said, I can't imagine my dealer coming 4000 more off of his quoted price, but stranger things have happened.

What's the difference between the physical sizes of the 300/400 loaders? does the 400 actually hold more dirt or is it just a lift capacity thing? I'm only picking up clay so lift capacity is not that huge of a deal to me... at least right now.

ehydro vs hst? What's the difference there?

Planetary vs spur gear final drives?

Still looking at my options, but they are getting fewer and further between now.

So you got your tractor at nearly 18% off list? Is list price for the tractors published somewhere?

You received some good answers already but a few points on the planetary drive system this is where you get the gear reduction for the rear axles. I have had several Deere tractors over the last 40 years and have never had any problems with the planetary final drives. If you start looking at the specifications for 2000, 3000 4000, 5000, ,,,,9000 series tractors you will see that the larger tractors all have planetary drives and the early tractors from the 1960's on were the same. The spur gear while it will work okay is simply cheap and not as efficient or as long lasting. Planetary gears start with the 4120 and continue thru the 9000 series. I should note that wet sleeved engines which are more desirable start with the 5000 series, which means the cylinder liners can be changed and the block renewed another plus. Wish the 4x20 series were wet sleeved motors

I have a good heavy duty loader that is fixed on my 110tlb so I purchased the 4520 without a loader but when buying a tractor the 400 series loader is what you want because the bigger the better. Clay is not light and digging in clay with a loader bucket is stressful thats why you want the stronger loader.

If you go to the Deere website you can compare specs look at pics and use the build your own page which shows the costs for the tractors and add ons.

 

[jenkinsph]

Might also add that the 4105 has a 3 cylinder Yanmar engine and the 4120 has a 4 cylinder Deere engine. Since this is the same engine as the 66hp 4720 it should last longer if the output is reduced to 43 hp.

I also posted in error above the 110tlb has the same power as the 4120 not the 4105. My reason for buying the 4520 is that I wanted a dedicatied tractor for the 3 pt work I do and lots of times we use them both at once, just makes the jobs go faster.


Steve