Test drive report... T554 hydro cab, XR4140 cab shuttle, & a XR3135 hydro open station
Everything was turbocharged 3 cylinders. The TYM wasn't as smooth of an engine & really loud, although it was packing 10 more HP. The 35hp LS was suprisingly quiet compared to the rest, especially as an open station. I'd say the LS engines were about as smooth as Kubota or JD. Noise was comparable to equivalent JD or Kubota HP engines. The turbo on the 4140 was amusingly small, but I guess it gets the job done.
The TYM has a 3 position switch for HST sensitivity & roll-out. It would go a long ways in the smooth setting after you lifted of the go pedal. LS has no adjustable sensitivity & is pretty similar to my Kubota
L3200. So I'm assuming it's a direct mechanical control of the HST, like my
L3200. That negates the possibility some of the bells & whistles like auto throttle & stuff JD & Kubota have on the premium machines, like auto throttle (HST pedal works like a car's gas pedal, push harder, more engine go ,as well as more HST go). JD has a nice 5 or 7 position knob to control sensitivity. Kubota has 1 stupid button you use to control a dozen functions, among them a dozen or so different levels of sensitivity. Why Kubota cheeped out on $5-15 worth of switches I have no idea, but even TYM did a better job there.
The shuttle was interesting, but not anything to make me think about anything but a HST. You have to clutch before any operation forward, reverse or shifting. No powershifting at all on anything like a JD powershift, power quad, or Kubota GlideShift.
Both TYM & LS fit & finish was less than JD or Kubota. TYM you had to loosen up the brush guard on either side, then pop the hood on the left, then pull off the side panels. Then the dipstick for engine oil is hidden on the right. Sales guy had to lift the loader up so we could do some of that. Horible hood & engine cover design, pretty labor intensive to just get under there. LS you just have to pop the hood on the right, but the dipsitck is buried really well on the left. I can see the engine oil filter, but have no clue how you'd actually remove it without removing the loader & I don't think it the loader is terribly quick to remove. Kubota is easy to get to & everything you need for service is on the left side, although you do have to pull 1 pin on the left side to lay the brush guard forward. JD's hood is like TYMs with only the top opening, but you have to remove a bolt to pull the side panels. It's serviceable without pulling the side panels.
Buried oil filter, below cute tiny turbo:
Both LS & TYM have the steering gear in-front of the axle. My
L3200 is setup kind of similar where it's a bit more exposed & not protected by the axle itself. I've had to replace a snapped off grease zerk on my
L3200 already (side note, Kubota tie rod ends & zerks are freaking tough, took me forever to drill out & re-tab those to put in a new zerk) think a behind the axle setup would be more durable. The Grand Kubota is a similar in-front setup, but shielded a bit better. JD has steering gear behind the axle. I'd be worried about catching a branch in there & doing some damage on the LS & TYM a little, at least the grease zerks being vulnerable to being sheered off again.
The deluxe seat in the LS was pretty nice, good suspension, good travel. I didn't mess with the adjustment at all, mostly because it seemed like it was already pretty much set right for my 210lbs. TYM didn't have a suspension seat. AC in both worked. I think it was the TYM though, the "vents" in the rear had louvers to direct the air where you wanted, but were actually air returns that didn't blow at all. I think the sales guy was trying to say closing them made it pull in air from the outside, which is an odd way to design things. TYM has a sun roof hatch, kind of cool, but I don't know how useful.
Neither TYM or LS lets you lift & curl at the same time, they are single function only, unlike Kubota or JD. Even on my economy
L3200 I can curl & lift at the same time, quite handy. TYM has the joystick going down to the floor. Throw is pretty long & not premium feeling. Joystick has a button on it, I believe for a diverter. LS has a joystick mounted to the fender console thing, pretty much like JD & Kubota. Lift time for both LS & TYM seemed kind of anemic. LS comes standard with 2 rear remotes, TYM came with 1 or 2 standard. Neither JD or Kubota come standard with any (adds well over $1k to the price to get em). Both TYM & LS came standard with draft control. Primarily only useful if you are pulling a plow, but I hear it's also nice for doing some box blade work. Not sure if I'd pay for that option on a Kubota & the JD sales guy wasn't even sure if it was an option on the 3000 series I was looking at.
Parking brake on the cabbed LS is hidden below the seat on the right & I left it on for a while. Given it's hiding spot, I can imagine that happening a fair bit, although I think it started beeping at me to let me know I was being stupid. I do like the car like hand brake, as opposed to the tiny latch to hold the brake pedals in on my
L3200. I leave my brakes unpinned, so my usual notification on my
L3200 is excessive HST whining, or the fact I'm driving in circles. Everybody I'm looking at seems to have that handbrake though. TYM has a stupid backup alarm, although that would get disconnected within hours if not minutes if it ever followed me home.
The guys at Legacy Tractor were nice. It's a mom & pop shop in an old gas station. Kind of small scale & a little ways up there for me. They had a couple older tractors there under the cover where the gas pumps use to be. They were split & being worked on (I assume, nobody was actually working on them when I was there today on a Saturday). Doesn't seem to be the same amount of stock as the other dealers with other brands. TYM & Kioti stock was noticeably small. Does make me wonder about turnaround on repairs or warranty work a bit. Not to concerned about parts, especially with LS, as New Holland is just some re-badged LSes, but probably not quite the same level of service as the other big boys.
My seat of the pants test, which is really all I was there to do preferred LS. I can't quite put my finger on why, but it seemed like a bit better machine to me. Little more quality build & better laid out, especially under the hood. Lack of HST sensitivity control wasn't great, but not a killer (I suspect once you set it, you won't mess with it often, unless possibly you are in a JD or TYM with the easy to use buttons or knobs).
They gave me a quote of $29.5k for a XR4140HC & loader (no other options or accessories). I've seem some better quotes for the 45hp version noted on here in the past year or so. Even with my quote, that's about $10k cheaper than Kubota, actually a hair more when you consider the extra cost of the hydraulics standard on the LS. In my mind, the Kubota & JD are definitely better tractors, but it's a matter of how much better. 10%? 20%? Is a 20% better tractor worth an extra $10k?
