Looking at an old B6000

Anonymous Poster · Apr 10, 2001

Howdy!
I'm needing a small tractor mainly for bush-hogging and box-blading my 6.5 acres. Found a mid-70's B6000E for $2000 with a 5-yr. old 38" bushhog. Seems like a good deal. It looks a little rough, with a fair amount of oil leaks, though nothing streaming. It is in decent running condition, though and should clean up OK. I should be able to replace a couple leaky seals. I suspect it's a gray due to what I think are rice tires, but am not sure since this was also a domestic model. I realize this model has the reverse-rotation PTO. Was wondering what the group thought about this buy versus a similar vintage and condition B6100E for $2750 or a little cleaner L175 (with 600 hrs) for $3500. Both sans implements and both non-gray. Mainly I'm wondering which one I'd likely lose the least on at resale (or make the most from?). Which is the better deal?
Thanks,
Dave

WVBill · Apr 11, 2001

Kubodave:

I have a '78 B6100DT. My Father in law gave it to me and he bought it new so I don't know price/value. I can say that I'm very pleased with it. I have a 36" box blade, a rototiller and a 6'landscape rake that I use on my 3.75 acres. It didn't have a mower with it and I've hesitated to get one. I already have a 46" cut garden tractor that I mow with and I don't think that I would gain that much in mowing efficiency by going "up" 2 inches to a 4 foot mower - or even up to a 5 foot mower.

If I were in your situation, I don't think I'd go for the 38" bushhog. I just don't think that's big enough to mow 6.5 acres efficiently. And with the B6000 being non-standard PTO rotation, upgrading the mower to a larger size could be costly.

The B6100E is not 4 wheel drive. I find that I need the 4wd on my B6100 to pull the box blade to depth. So since you plan to do box blading you might want to consider that.

I don't know anything about an L175 but if it has 4wd that may be your best choice.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Anonymous Poster · Apr 11, 2001

I just sold my old B6000 yesterday after owning it for ten years. Other than the fact that mine was about worn out from years of abuse (before I bought it), the biggest motivation for the sale was the growing difficulty of finding parts for it. Kubota just doesn't stock all the spares any more. Fortunately, most major parts can be found used (from Wenger's of Meyerstown primarily), but I had to Southern engineer some of the parts I needed when I replaced the rear axles and hubs last year. I decided to unload mine while it still had some resale value and buy a new B7500. The dealer wouldn't take my old tractor in trade but did agree to sell it for me. It took him less than a week and he got $3,000 for it (included FEL and box blade).

Bird · Apr 11, 2001

<font color=blue>I had to Southern engineer some of the parts I needed</font color=blue>

Sure glad you knew how to do it right, Ron, instead of having to use Yankee engineering./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird