Buying Advice Kubota L3901 vs John Deere 5103

[DirtNap]

I am a homeowner/hobby farmer looking for a tractor. I live on 12 acres and have a farm i hunt 30 miles from my home. I am looking for a tractor to put in food plots, clear trails, grade and push snow from my gravel driveway and brush hog about three acres.

Ive been about ready to pull the trigger on a brand new Kubota L3901 hydrostat with tiller and box blade for $23k. As im a craigslist junky ive been watching the ads for the last several months and found something that caught my attention today. It is a 2008 John Deere 5103 with 512 loader (2wd). It has tire weights. It has 434 hours of use by an 85 year old man fiddling around his 40 acres of grassland. He is asking $15,900.

I am trying to decide which way to go. Any advice or anyone know these two tractors? I feel like one is heavy and good power (jd) and one is light but more maneuverable. Any thoughts?

 

[mddorange]

:welcome:
To TBN DirtNap. Well that Indian made JD is definitely bigger than the L3901 and 434 hours is just about broke-in. 2WD is the only negative if you plan on doing a lot of loader work.

 

[DirtNap]

True. I just am having a tough time. The Kubota seems like such a nice little rig......but 50 hp would be nice.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

There's no substitute for horsepower and weight, and the JD has that going for it.

But another nice thing about the Kubota is the SSQA attachment on the FEL means that it's easier to find grapples, pallet forks and other goodies for the FEL for the Kubota (or any other brand that uses a standard SSQA setup on the FEL).

 

[DirtNap]

Brand new 0% with warranty is tempting....but $8k difference is a oiy.

 

[mddorange]

If your land is fairly flat and you won't be needing the 4WD and the HST, then go for it. I do know that I love the SSQA and use it a lot. You could always go for a L4600 and get both.

 

[MORRISONSTEEL]

There really is no shortage on JD 500 carrier options in the aftermarket world for attachments you do not have to buy them from a Deere dealer. They could also be easily converted to the ss carrier and I think also to the very popular global carrier. The 500 series hooks are also readily available in the aftermarket world making it very easy to build your own attachments. Good luck