Looking Help - Sub Compact field narrowed to 4

briwalkr01 · Mar 6, 2006

Hello all - I am looking for some help. I have been reading all of the postings attempting to learn from everyone's experiences, they have helped thus far. I have narrowed my final decision to the final three (mainly based on dealer availability and comparing the specs) -

John Deere 2305
Kubota BX2350
New Holland TZ26DA

or I am open to any suggestions that you may think is worthy hunting down a dealer. I seem to have plenty to choose from in my area (central Va).

I am going to talk to the third NH dealer this weekend (closer than the frist two), and just down the street from the Kubota dealer that services all of my Husqvarna equipment.

I am happy with the Kubota dealer based on their quailty of service and quantity of parts "on hand" etc. Helpful for those of us who like to fix it ourselves when we can.

Any comments would be helpful. I am pretty deadlocked between these three and am looking something to help on bubble to the top of the pile.

Thanks,

Brian

SnoFalls · Mar 7, 2006

It would be helpful for you to describe _your_ use of the tractor ...

All those are nice tractors, but some subtle differences may make one shine for _your_ primary uses ...

thcri · Mar 7, 2006

Your not describing what you will be using the tractor for but it does look like your comparisons are apples to apples. So with that any of the 3 will be good. I think the New Holland may have a tad bit more HP which really doesn't mean much, but you may need it also.

Providing pricing is fairly close I would go with the dealer that you think is going to give you the best service after the sale and which one fits your butt the best. Just about what it narrows down to.

murph

chemistski · Mar 7, 2006

Those tractors were on my final list as well when I bought mine a few weeks ago. As previously mentioned, Go to the dealers and at least sit on all of them, Drive them around or see if they will drop one off for a tour around your property. after driving all three, I was then down to two. Both dealers were great, Prices were fairly close for all 3 tractors (especially over the hopefully long lifetime of the tractor). I am no expert, but if you post more details about intended use (how many acres you will mow, FEL needed or not? doing any landscaping?, etc) I am sure you will get some good feedback. All three seemed to be great tractors and I am sure you will be happy with any of the, but drive them first and see which one fits you better ( I liked the joystick on the JD near your hip more than by the steering wheel on the Kubota, personal preference but neither is right or wrong). Enjoy the process /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

briwalkr01 · Mar 7, 2006

Oops - sorry about that - just my newbieness showing.

I have 6 acres on which I just finished building a house.

There are aprox 2 acres that I will finish mow, lanscape, and continue to expand the small vegatable garden started during construction.

The next 2 acres are wooded and were not well maintained. They need thinning - a lot of 15' - 20' tree too close together.

The final 2 acres are river front, wooded, and heavily overgrown with vines, briar patches, poison ivy, etc.

I have been working the area around the house with an ATV with an attached a Swisher dump bucket. It has worked pretty well for spreading the mulch & some top soil, but I have had to return the winch that drives the system twice in the first 9 months with electrical & gear issues. I will keep it around for the light jobs, but I am getting into the heavy landscaping, top soil over the drain field, leveling the old field (first 2 acres), building plant beds, building a fence around the first 2 acres, planting some trees and bushes, etc.

I am going this weekend to test drive and talk to the dealers. The pricing on these tractors in my area are less than $1,000 difference and not enough to sway my decision away from the right unit.

I am looking for one of the tractors above, and the following attachments

60" Belly Mower,
Front End Loader,
Arger (for fence posts and digging holes for trees, etc),
and possibly a grader box

Thanks for the help.

Brian

daTeacha · Mar 7, 2006

When you look them over, also look them under. I live in the woods and that's where my tractor does a good part of it's work. The smaller Deere's that I've looked at all seem to have a lot of stuff hanging down below that could get snagged on a rock, branch, log, etc. The Kubota you mentioned is pretty low to the ground, too. I'm looking in about the same size/price range in my shopping, but taller. The three you listed fall into the subcompact class by most standards.

You might want to look at the small compacts instead of a large sub. You'll get a little more ground clearance. I guess the best way to describe the difference is that a small compact looks like a farm tractor that has been shrunk while a subcompact looks more like a lawn machine on steroids. It sounds to me like the area down by the river will always be pretty rough terrain, possibly subject to periodic flooding and such. I think the ground clearance offered by a slightly bigger tractor will come in handy.

For Deere, check out the 2520 (?), the Kubota B7610, and the NH TC26. Have fun!

IslandTractor · Mar 8, 2006

Brian,

All the tractors you are looking at are quality units but the amount of work you are proposing, especially considering the two acres of poorly maintained wooded area, is at about the limit of what you can expect a SubCUT to do in reasonable time. DaTeacha also points out the issue of ground clearance which would be important again for the wooded area work. Unless you are happy to make slow progress, you might want to move up a step to a CUT size. You don't need more horsepower than you are currently looking at so something like a Kubota B7510 and it's competitors would be the sort of size I am talking about. The same engine size CUTs are only a little more money than what you are looking at.

1948berg · Mar 8, 2006

Find a well reputated brand you like, more important, find a dealer close to you, that makes you feel comfortable. Ask other costumers of their experienses with that dealer. Ask your wife if the color of the tractor is OK. Buy a model a little bigger than you thought of first. Read TBN and look for owners that bought too big tractors! A few dollars more on size and quality now, divided over the years you will own it, is well spent. And finally, NEVER buy anything smaller than your neighbor!!!!

RalphVa · Mar 8, 2006

Check them out on uneven terrain, if you have any of it where you live. If you have uneven terrain, the front wheels will need some flex, and you'll need a locking differential in addition to 4wd. Make sure you get them in 4wd when testing them out, too. Sometimes, you have to wiggle the forward/reverse pedals to get the lever in and out. When I tested out a BX about a year and a half ago, it didn't have much flexibility and could easily get high center or a wheel in the air, driving air. The newer BX could be better.

I went through this choice and ended up with a 4010 after testing the BX, B Kubota and 2210/401 JDs and looking NH. The 4010 isn't made any more but was the only one with a bit more ground clearance (that I need for uneven terrain and straddling my raised garden rows), yet was still short enough to fit underneath my garage doors without having to raise/lower the ROPS. (This might be another consid, if you haven't thought of it; my BIL recently bought a new truck that he discovered wouldn't fit in his garage.)

If you have any heavy lifting chores requiring fairly heavy 3 ph equipment, consider getting a tractor with a full Cat 1 3 ph. At the time that I bought, I think the 4010 was the smallest that met this requirment. The BXs at the time (could be different now) only had Cat 0 lift arms. You can buy bushings to allow use of the Cat 1 stuff, but the spread width could limit you on some equipment. Think the JD 2305 may be the only one with Cat 1 capability among the 3 you've mentioned. Next step up now in JD is the 2520.

Ralph

Renob · Mar 8, 2006

All Kubota BX tractors are full cat 1 and will fit any cat 1 implement. The problems arise due to the short stature of the tractor that limits lift height.

The 2006 BX's are better, but the use of Sub-Cut implements by manufactures such as the Woods Estate series and King Kutter BX series is a good idea.

aesanders · Mar 8, 2006

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( All Kubota BX tractors are full cat 1 and will fit any cat 1 implement. The problems arise due to the short stature of the tractor that limits lift height.

The 2006 BX's are better, but the use of Sub-Cut implements by manufactures such as the Woods Estate series and King Kutter BX series is a good idea. )</font>

The ground clearance issue of the bx is why they are referred as "limited category 1". This is the same with the other subcuts with small tires.

thatguy · Mar 8, 2006

By central VA, what are you refering to.... Some consider that to be the Richmond area, while the Lynchburg/Roanoke area is also described that way..

if you are in the Lynchburg/Roanoke vicinity - My father has purchased a JD 790 and a JD lawn mower from the JD dealer in Buchanan, VA (Blue Ridge something or another, they are between roanoke and lexington, right off I-81) and got great pricing both times.. There are several dealers in in roanoke/salem and two dealers in the Lynchburg vicinity - but none could beat the price the buchanan dealer gave dad.

If you are talking more toward Richmond, James River equipment is a HUGE JD dealer all the way between Roanoke and Richmond.. Not sure how competitive they are since they pretty much have a lock on a large area..

good luck

brian (in lynchburg - soon moving to bedford)

briwalkr01 · Mar 8, 2006

Thanks for all of the different perspectives. This exactly what I was looking for from the group.

I am in Louisa County about half way between Richmond and Charlottesville. This affords me a lot of dealer choices (at least 4 from each manufacturer).

This information is going to be helpfull this weekend. I am picking a direction and hitting the three dealer in that area. I will take some test drives, look at the ground clearance on my ATV and use that as a benchmark (I do hit some stumps and roots with the universal bracket for the dump bucket), I will check the position of the FEL controls in relation to a long day of work. I will also look a their parts inventory, and service departments.

I have included the next size up in the tractors in my search. JD 2520, NH TC line, and Kubota B line. I will revisit them and price differences. Thanks again for the insights.

I don't think I can afford a tractor larger than my neighbor. He is on 35 acres and tends to over kill everything. You know the type that buys a pallet jack to do what regular hand truck would handle without a problem.

The wife says she doesn't care about the color. She just doesn't want to continue having to pull that rope to dump the bucket on the ATV. (That's what got her support on this whole purchase)

Thanks again for all the input. I check back in with results of the weekend.

frank_f15 · Mar 8, 2006

WELCOME TO THE FORUM! SORRY i am a bit late to this thread but i was gone on vac. From what you meed to d and as another poster mentioned i think you might be very well advised to look into the CUT size tractors, mostly for the ground clearence.

73jeep · Mar 8, 2006

Consider the Massey Ferguson 1523. I am the brand new owner of one. It is a "CUT"; but its overall lenght is 102", which is the same lenght as the "subCUT" JD 2305. It is very close to that "subCUT" size, but has the extra ground clearance. You can see my pictures now in the photo galleries. And if you're interested in JD, their coming out with the 2320 in May-ish of this year. I drove myself crazy this past year trying to make a tractor decision...So good luck!

briwalkr01 · Mar 20, 2006

Thanks all for your helpful input. I picked up the NH TZ25DA and it was delivered this weekend. It is great! I got to drive it for about 2.5 minutes before my wife hopped on and started clearing debris the rest of the day. That job has never been so easy. It is like I didn't do a thing.

I picked the TZ over the TC due to budget constraints. I measured my existing ground clearance and the TZ had more than the ATV with the Swisher Universal Mount that I had been using. I had pretty much leveled the paths etc so the ATV would clear, so the tractor should be fine.

The FEL works great. The wife created a pretty big pile of downed branches, poison ivy and other vines in no time. Now I have to figure out what I am going to do with the pile - too dry these days to burn. The wife may have to load it into the dump trailer for a trip to the dump.

I have a Woods box/blade and auger coming for this weekend. I wonder if I will get to use them /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif ???????

daTeacha · Mar 20, 2006

Congratulations on the decision. Your work for the tractor will multiply beyond your imagination. You'll find all kinds of things to use it for.

A word of caution -- DON'T burn poison ivy vines. The burning does not destroy the uroshoil that is the cause of the problems. You can get poison ivy all over your body walking through the smoke, plus in your breathing passages, mouth, eyes, and lungs. Just let it dry out and rot away.

Enjoy your tractor, and don't spend too much on attachments for a couple of months at least. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif