Korean tractors

[Whiskey]

ok tractor folk
I need a little help here, it's time to up grade the old YM187 to something bigger and I've done some shopping but I'm not finnished looking yet.

I'm sticking to the 30 hp range with loader and 4wd this should last the rest of my life being I'm not not going to buy anymore property than I own or am taking care of now (own 3 acres and mow 5 all together)

Tractors job will require mowing 5 acres about every two weeks loader work on and around the horse farm (shavings, manure, fencing, hay moving bla, bla, bla) what I call light work for a tractor. I'm more than handy with a wrench in my hand and have plenty of good old country boys around that will help in fixing or advising on tractors repair.

Looked at J.D. about puked on his shoes when I got a quote, needless to say I can't afford them, Botta I liked and there still in the running, N.H. I havn't been to yet but will before I lay my money out on the table.

Guess what I'm getting at is I am thinking hard about Korean tractors I only have two dealers in my area Longtrac and Mahindra, two dealers for Longtrac and one for Mahindra. Resale vaule means nada to me I'm not buying it to sell down the road but what I am affraid of is having a tractor 5-10 years from now that I can't find basic parts for. From what I've read and inturpeted is that in about 5 years Korean tractors are going to be giving the U.S.A. market a good run for there money.

If you have any insite you want to share, good, bad or ugly I'll be glade to read it.

the two are longtrac 300 and the mahindra 2810 or 3510


Thanks
Whiskey

 

[EdKing]

Hey Whiskey,
I have a Landtrac 360, and I am very pleased with it. I have had no major problems with it. I had 2 minor problems, one was a broken return spring on the clutch pedal, which the dealer promptly replaced, and a spot weld on the platform broke, which I repaired myself. I have a loader and a backhoe for it, both work very well. I use a 5ft brushhog with it and it handles it well, even in the thick stuff. I use it to maintain my 93 acre farm. I priced JD's and found I could get a much smaller tractor with smaller backhoe and loader for around $4000 more. What a bargain.

Let me know if you have any specific questions and I will try to answer them for you.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

You sound like me about keeping it forever. I would not recomend a hydro. It will go out eventually. I know I can't fix one and the parts are higher. I would recomend a synchro-shuttle shift. Very handy and nice. I can't really comment on either brand you mentioned, I have heard mostly good about both of them. A dealer that stocks parts and you like to deal with could be a deciding factor for you.

Good luck and enjoy.

 

[DavesTractor]

Take a look at the Branson 2810 and 3510 while your shopping. There should be some dealers in your area.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Whiskey (or, will Scotch do?): Since you've been running a Yanmar, you might want to consider a JD 990 made by Yanmar. It is very solid and ALL metal, even the gas tank. I got a price around here (St Louis region) of $25,025 including BH & FEL. It doesn't have shuttle shift, but 1st & rev are straight back and forth in the pattern. You will certainly be able to get parts for years. Another, long term option with almost certain parts availability, is the NH (although the TC35/40/45 are a bit bigger than you said you wanted). The TC40 uses the same Shibaura engine that was in the 1920, the 12x12 shuttle trans is straight out of the 2120 series. These have been around for years and years. Also, the TCs are very easy to access for repair/service. I bought a TC40 as replacement for my old Farmall. For me, it was the closest thing to a "basic", "easy to repair" tractor available today yet would handle BH & FEL (which the farmall would not). You should be able to pick up a TC40 w-LA16 loader (if that would not be too big for you) for around $19k. If you are concerned about "lifetime" use your choices are much more limited since parts availability, ease of service, etc come into play. See you use AutoCad-I've been using that since the 1980s. Very good program, my problem is I don't use it that much, and everytime they bring out an upgrade I've got another learning curve to climb. Take care, good luck. John

 

[Whiskey]

Thanks guy's for the response, hydro is nothing I want to deal with so everthing I have looked at is synchro-shuttle.

Dave I would love to look at Branson tractors but the only dealer I can find is over 100 miles away and I can't see myself loading up the beast every time I have a warranty issue and having to blow most of my weekend driving my tractor back to the dealer, then back again to pick it up but I have herd nothing but good things about Branson.

EdKing, I will be shipping you off an E-mail in the future when I get closer to laying my cash out on the table and asking you some questions. (the wifey really likes the purple tractor) I do have one question for you now, one deater told me that going from forward to reverse you don't need the clutch and one told me you do????

Mahindra would get a closer look if the dealer would have one of the models on the lot that I was interseted in. He seems to think that testing one of the bigger units is the same as testing the one's I'm looking at, and I don't see it that way. I can understand that putting one on the lot just to see if I will buy is probley not cost efective but that is how it goes in the tractor biz.

Whiskey

 

[Whiskey]

Grimreaper:

Thanks for the insite on the J.D. 990, I don't recall what model the dealer showed me but I do know it wasn't that tractor and the all metal is a big perk I don't care for plastic tractors. N.H. will get a closer look but I havn't been to a dealer yet but I will be sure to stop by and talk and kick some tires before I do.

Whiskey

 

[JohnMiller3]

Hi Whiskey/Dave...

What kinda dollars are you setting aside for your new tractor? (help narrow down the field somewhat)

Hi Grimreaper,

I think that JD 990 is a solid unit... but without shuttle shift in that price range shouldn't be considered, especially with all the competition available now that has bells and whistles galore and many $$$ cheaper ends up making it a no-brainer... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Whiskey]

John:

I would like to pull this off with only $14-16 grand and the closer to $14 I keep it the more the little wifey will smile on the deal and god knows she is capable of pulling out the "power card" on me and crushing the deal (weird how women can do that huh???)

Whiskey

 

[RanchMan]

Whiskey -

<font color=blue>He seems to think that testing one of the bigger units is the same as testing the one's I'm looking at...</font color=blue>

What model Mahindra were you considering and what models did the dealer have on his lot?