Kioti is a very high quality tractor, I think you'll find it to be held in high regard. It's going to be a stronger/heavier tractor than any comparable John Deere/Kubota compact and it will do it with a lower price.
Thanks, for your input. 1.5 Hours for dealers is pretty much standard, but this Is also true for Costco and other bigger store. So this is not really a issue for us. Granted 1.5 hours in the wrong direction might be.
My residential uses are not mission-critical. There is no crop to lose if the tractor takes a dump on me. So, my shopping led me to choose what I believe was the best machine that fits my needs. I bypassed local JD and Kubota dealers for what I felt were justifiable reasons. And although I don't have a local Massey dealer, there is reasonable availability of parts and service if needed. You can get many parts delivered overnight if you really, really need to. And in my area there are lots of people who work on tractors-- outside of dealer support. It's a subjective choice about how much weight to assign to having a local dealer.
I do hear you on this. We are also only a Private Household and its not the end of the world if we would have to wait a day longer for a part. Buy having the dealer there for support or on you side dealing with the manufacture can sometimes be a Lifesaver as well. So no we don't need need it right away, but when someone is shaking those clouds and we got 20" of fresh powder I want, want it right away.
Minor point to some and major point to others, but I'm tall and when I read a reference like this, it sounds like you may be attempting to straddle the entire pedal on top with your heel and toe and use a rocking motion at ankle joint for operation. If so, try the pedal using it's offset so only heel or toe is on pedal at any one time. Then it becomes pretty effortless.
I tried to use only my Toes or heel, but with it being right under the seat, its just a weird angle. Sure You could increase the Seat Height, maybe set it more back, but since we are looking new I think we do have options out there that just fit.
An excellent topic to discus. The old saying there's no replacement for displacement really comes into it's own in your example here.
The reason I bring this up is when I was tractor shopping I talked to a guy that ran a small business fixing and building driveways and private roads that were often gravel and usually long (several hundred yard hilly driveways and mile long private roads are common here), he had a 3560 when he started and it didn't take him long to start running out of grunt. He promptly stepped up to the 4060 and was good to go from there on out. His advice to me was this, if you are pulling, pushing, moving heavy things up hills, slopes, or long grades you'll need lots of torque. And the extra cylinder will allow you to do the same job with less rpms, less fuel, and in less time. I headed his advise and haven't regretted it. Nalle may have no need for that much power or torque, just thought it was worth mentioning.
I agree with you 100%. The Germans Have a saying: "Hubraum ist durch nichts zu ersetzten." translated to Cubic Inches can't be replaced with anything.
At some point the wallet has to disagree a bit and also our Land, since to big will be a problem.
Have you gone to Tractorhouse.com and done a search on tractors in your area. I think that for your needs don't go below 2500 - 3000lb or less than 25hp - 35hp. For your lane being that long you will want enough weight to put at least a six foot blade on.
Many good tractors out there. Lots of MF fans on here and I am one of them. Also like Kubota and several others. Being a big guy I hear ya.. not everyone understands when you go to shop for something the first thing I do is climb on it/in it. I have basically told saleman not to bother talking about it until I climb on it/in it to see if I fit. If you are not at least 6'4" you may not understand. They don't build things to fit usins.. They have little Japanese engineers climbing in and saying feels great to me. I fit in European cars because those engineers are big : )
Thanks, yes been on Tractorhouse.com. Great for references, but not much on there in the NW. For Size the "larger" Sub-Compacts would work, but very tight. The Compact Size works in most cases and then those in-between is try it on and out. Like you said let the Salesman while I check if it will work for me.
Most things are build for "normal" height people, and the short and tall have to make it work. Positive top shelf seldom a problem, negative hitting the head on .............
All I can say is I liked my little 1710. But now, with the bigger tractor, it's amazing how much more can be done with less wear and tear on the machine and me. I'm happy I stepped up to the T454. It's like night and day and I've only had it 36 hours. Pallet forks arrive tomorrow and I can't wait to see what happens when I put a little weight on the front...more than the little tractor could begin to handle. If you have the weight and power you don't have to use it. If you don't have the weight and power you can't use it.
I need to get some tires filled...
Limiting Factor is the wallet and also Tractor size on the property. So we have to find the Happy middle.
Thanks for everyones input, thoughts and ideas. We have learned a lot and are weighing the options, hopefully soon we will have a ......... Tractor.
