Buying Advice Mahindra 1533 HST vs Kubota 3301 HST

[Renben]

Hi, complete newby here...I have been looking and reading for awhile. I need to do animal chores - hauling poo (the guys up here can't bear to get poo on their bobcats.) and unloading/moving 1000 lb round bales to feed short distances. I would also be using tractor to clear land at a leisurely pace and trenching. My soil is mainly clay. My 7+ acres is generally sloped at about 15 degrees with some steeper and flatter areas. Finally, it would be used for snow removal as I am in the far north of MN. The dealers that are within 150 miles of me are Kubota, JD, and Mahindra. I can't find many reviews on either of them.

Are these models appropriate for what I want to do? The lift capacity of the Mahindra is a couple hundred lbs better, their site shows front mounted snow blowers which would be a plus, 5 year warranty and financing has excellent terms. However,the dealership in the area is fairly new to Mahindra. Kubota is long established at Bobcat of Duluth.

Any strong opinion on brand one way or another?

Does anyone have cold weather experience -30 or more with these tractors?

I am heading down to visit the dealers, are their any questions you suggest to make sure to ask?

Thanks!

 

[Sysop]

I think either would do what you ask of it. Can't speak to much else of what you're asking, but my Mahindra starts like a champ at down to -20F with nothing more than a single cycle of the intake heater.

One of my considerations on a similar comparison a couple years back, my brother in law has a Kubotaa he's had many issues with hydraulic lines busting while working. The Kubotas at the time all had no-name/in-house hoses. The Mahindra had all better quality hydraulic hoses, everything on the backhoe was USA made KURT hoses and on the loader it was Semperflex by Semperit (big time multi-national company from Austria/Germany, also makes Continental tires). No clue if this has changed for either brand, but my BIL had 5 lines replaced in the first year of warranty before giving up on their hoses and going to NAPA to buy replacements.

 

[GManBart]

For 1,000lb round bales you need a bigger machine unless you want to be pushing it to the max all the time, and accept less stability (bale weight as a percentage of tractor weight). The Kubota can only lift a bit more than that to full height, but that's at the pins, and the bale will be farther out, which lowers actual lift capacity....I suspect it will struggle with 1k. Either might just get by, but going up a size will give you a machine that can more safely handle those bales, and not need to be worked to the max all the time.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I actually own a L3301, gear drive. It's a great little tractor that may be under powered for what you are looking to do. If you like Kubota, look at a larger L or MX, or even M series. You probably will want a bit more tractor for your chores.

 

[2funkids]

Love my Mahindra 3016 and when I looked at the Orange I just couldn't afford
The performance I wanted.

 

[Renben]

Thank you all for the responses, very useful information. I am looking forward to heading down tomorrow to see both in person. I may have to settle for just skidding the bales with my budget. I only have to haul one out once every 10 days.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Use a 3pt bale spear, should carry that bale without any problem. May want to load up the bucket for more counter weight to make moving along a bit more comfortable.

No reason to be skidding the bale.