Buying Advice looking at Kubota project 6950 for $9900? Or should I go new(er) ...

[big bubba]

the open station vs cab is yet another subject on the forum. just brought it up to think about where to direct your hard eared money. certainly, you are far more justified in going cab than myself given our differences in longitude. but in my location, i love open station!!! ...... already you are looking at something involving $37K vs the 10K you mentioned @ the outset. Just look all the options going through your head now in advance of spring, & play it out before you commit yourself to machine & long term payments. sleep on it. contemplate. run it by the forum.....then again... hold off for now but don't give up w/o a fight! unch:

 

[grm61]

Thanks big bubba. I've never actually driven a cab tractor and had always assumed I'd get an open station ... until this past winter. We've had snow on the ground since November 5 (still two feet of the white stuff) and it's been -15 C or colder more days than not. It's the winter that God forgot about us ... maybe I'm just getting weak in my old age. But I'm looking at cabs now, more than open stations,

I think if your going to buy a tractor you should get a Cab, especially in your climate.
Being dry and warm is a wonderful thing:thumbsup:
Something will turn up.

I'd definitely pass on the 12k hour machine.

Good Luck

 

[big bubba]

agree w/above poster

 

[Tx Jim]

Thanks big bubba. I've never actually driven a cab tractor and had always assumed I'd get an open station ... until this past winter. We've had snow on the ground since November 5 (still two feet of the white stuff) and it's been -15 C or colder more days than not. It's the winter that God forgot about us ... maybe I'm just getting weak in my old age. But I'm looking at cabs now, more than open stations, although there's still an m7040 open station sitting at a dealer near here for $37 k. I sure like the fact that it doesn't have the Tier 4 emissions stuff. It's a nice tractor, even has a block heater. But I'd need another block heater in my overalls ...

I think if I were you I'd try importing a cab tractor such as this one for $33K plus frieght that BTW I have no ties to.
2012 KUBOTA M7040 CAB TRACTOR W/LOADER 4X4 SHUTTLE 1000hrs WARRANTY!

 

[777777]

Is always a little more challenging to find used in Canada....... but Ottawa area seems to have a few.....

Depending on how far you want to go.... there are some on Kijiji such as this " 584 International tractor with loader & snowblower - Renfrew County Area Farming Equipment For Sale - Kijiji Renfrew County Area Canada. "

And Kijiji also shows a number of used\new that are more expensive in both new and used.

Buying in the U.S. is sometimes an option but the $ is a bit of a killer right now.

Good luck on your search.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

africa932003:

In our area there are all kinds of farmers retiring and offering perfectly serviceable tractors for sale at low prices. I'd think a target price for a first tractor could be a lot lower than $12K, and one with many fewer hours than 12,000. A neighbour bought a large Chinese tractor brand new for less than that to run her round baler. She likes it fine.

A few years ago I bought a 2wd 35 hp TAFE 351DI with cab and an excellent loader for $8900 + tax (recoverable). It had 340 hours on it.

 

[africa932003]

All good points. I'm all over the map in terms of what I'm open to considering. The lower the better, the more comfortable the better, the less maintenance the better ... these are all competing demands. One thing I'm pretty firm on is that I don't want to be paying hundreds of $ just to truck my tractor to a mechanic with access to parts. Especially if it is an older tractor that will need said parts more often.
So this has put Kubota and Case IH at the front of the line for me ... at least until I can be convinced otherwise.
Thanks to '77777' and 'Texas Jim' for the tips. I'll check on them this evening.

 

[grm61]

A neighbour bought a large Chinese tractor brand new for less than that to run her round baler. She likes it fine.

The Chinese tractors do not have a good reputation, I would steer clear of them.

You said that you are not super mechanically inclined.

Get yourself something new, or newer.

Save yourself some headaches:thumbsup:

 

[joeu235]

Dealer is almost as important as brand when picking out a tractor. There are three dealers near my land and only the John Deere is interested in the rancher business. The other two only care about farmers. I have no experience with the Kubota dealer.

Also, 12k hours in 25 years is a hard life for a 65 hp tractor.

 

[africa932003]

Dealer is almost as important as brand when picking out a tractor. There are three dealers near my land and only the John Deere is interested in the rancher business. The other two only care about farmers. I have no experience with the Kubota dealer.

Also, 12k hours in 25 years is a hard life for a 65 hp tractor.

Yes, I'm learning. I've looked at a couple other Kubotas in the past few days. One is the new 2012 open station M7040 that I referred to earlier ... the dealer apparently hasn't been able to sell it yet b/c it lacks the cab. Only 0.3 hours on the odometer, asking 36k Canadian with 4wd, LA1153 loader, 82" bucket, rear wheels filled, shuttle shift 8 speed, one set of remotes (I like being able to bypass the emissions stuff with an older model new tractor with a full warranty, but I'm not 100 percent sure about the open station part, given the winter we just had ... my wife says she'd buy me a top-end snowmobile suit, which I'd definitely need). The other is a 2009 M7040 with 400 hours. It has two sets of remotes, an Alo loader with self-leveling and soft ride, bucket, and the rear tires are filled with calcium (a bit of rust around the valve stem). The dealer wants 45k Canadian for it, will give me a 50 hour warrantee that he'd honour with a dealer close by (b/c he is 350 miles away from me). I haven't seen the service records yet, though I've asked him several times ... other than that, the pickings are slim.
There's an M8540 in southern Ontario (five hours + from me) with 800 hours on it, dealer says condition is good apart from a bit of rust on the bottom. He wants 43k.
Here's a question: will an M7040 adequately pull a standard hard core baler? I've heard different views on this ... some say yes, some say no -- I should go with an M8540 minimum.