Kubota L3010 vs. JD 4300 vs. NH TC33D

[Anonymous Poster]

Schooner and Bud,

It's hard to say if the tractor that I tried was bad, or if there is an inherrant design problem that Kubota knows about and won't admit. My problem with Kubota is that they refused to authorize the dealer to fix the tractor (assuming that it was broken). This action by the manufacturer sealed my decision to buy another brand.

If you look at the L3010 forum on the "Compact Tractor Board" site, you will find a thread (http://jplan.com/cgi-bin/tractor/fullThread.pl?parentnum=1117) that suggests some L3010s work fine and some don't. These posts date back to 1999. My personal data is based on a sample of one, but seems consistant with other peoples findings.

One other point to consider...I purchased my original tractor as a late model used from my local Kubota dealer. This dealer has sent loaner tractors to my place free of charge when Kubota back-ordered parts that delayed the repair of my machine. Prices of the various new machines, less trade, were all about the same. Why change from a known dealer and product line to an unknown dealer unless the product did not meet expectations?

MarkK

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I demoed the Great Bend 240 loader at my place today on a used TC33. The loader performed well (about the same as the JD 420 loader on a JD 4300) and I will be purchasing a new TC33D on Monday. The dealer is waiting on a heavy-duty bucket to come in so I am with out the loader for a couple of weeks on my new machine. As a side note I cannot imagine running a loader on the standard trany TC33 (Gear shift and clutch with no synch reverse). It was painstakingly slow and complex to operate compared to the easy in and out operation of the HST.
In the end I chose the TC33D over the Kubota because the NH packed more punch into a 5' wide machine. I have some tight areas the slightly smaller machine with 5' wide implements will fit much easier. The Kubota is a much bigger machine with a R4 rear tire contact width of 67". This meant I had to jump to 6' implements (tiller and grademaster road grader) to avoid leaving rear tire marks. The TC33D has plenty of power so now if I want to run a 5' or 6' mower, box scraper, disk, etc. I have a choice.
Thanks all for your comments.