I've had the tractor for two years now and I wanted to do an update on what I think of it. I paid just over $55,000 for it. Zero interest, no down payment, and $620 a month for 84 months. I owe a little over $41,000 on it. It's the only loan that I've never paid extra on.
Overall, I'm still very, very happy with it. The AC is amazing!!! I love that I can get so hot and worn out working on a project that I have to call it a day, but then I can get in the tractor and cool off while keeping busy. By the time I'm done in the tractor, I feel great again. It's refreshing.
One of my complaints is that it's very hard to buy anything for it online. Massey seems to have all their Dealers under some sort of control. Most Dealers do not have a website that sells parts. The few that do, all use the Massey site to list the parts, and it's really bad. For example, to buy a cab filter for my tractor, I go to their website and it's not listed. I can't even enter my tractor on their website to find parts for it because it only has open station 4707 tractors as an option. In my opinion, they really want you to go to the Dealer in person to buy parts.
While operating it, I felt it was tippy. When I had a full load of dirt in the bucket, and I was going down hill, the rear wheels would come off the ground when I stopped. It was terrifying!!! I should of added Rear Wheel Weights to it when I bought it. But since I didn't, I made a rear ballast from concrete that weighs 1,600 pounds that solved all my issues.
The other thing that I added to it was a rear camera. I wanted to see the batwing better while mowing. The camera works OK, but it could have a wider field of view, and now it's getting moisture on the lens in the morning, so it looks foggy for the first couple of hours.
Since I live in Texas, I didn't get any sort of cold weather starting features for it. I don't even know what that would be. I probably just need to add something to the fuel in winter before it gets really cold out. We've been down to -10F here, and it's not uncommon to be around 0F on some days. When its that cold, the Massey will not start.
My only mechanical failure is the O rings for the front loader hoses. There is a block between the loader arms, just before the bucket, that I have 6 hydraulic hoses going into. I believe this is replaced when adding a 3rd function for a grapple. At first, it was just a minor drip that I stopped by tightening up the hose that was dripping. This lasted about a year. Now it's all the O rings, or it seems to be all of them. I've replaced three of them so far, and it looks like I should replace all of them.
The other issue is the Parking Brake. I hate it. It works fine, but you have to position it just right to get the light to turn off. Not just lower the arm all the way down, it has to be exactly in the right spot. It's not hard to do, it's just annoying having to do it.
Lately I've been getting an alarm sound that is the same as the parking break alarm sound. It goes off while doing things. It's happened when I'm moving dirt, and it's happened when I'm mowing. It's just the sound, nothing on the dash to tell me there is an issue. The only way that I've figured out how to make it stop is to turn off the engine. When I start it up, the alarm is gone. I think this has happened four times in two years.
I still have the plastic cover on the seat. I like the air ride seat, and how easy it is to adjust. I think that I want a seat cover, but I haven't looked for one yet. Just something that I think would be nice to have.
Overall, with the 12 foot batwing, it's a beast that mows through everything!!!! I tend to keep it in 2nd or 3rd gear and mow at 1.4 or 2.2 MPH. If I go faster, things are happening to quick for me to react. The ride also gets too rough to be comfortable.
I took this video the morning of the 4th of July. I wanted it done before fireworks started. I should of done it a month ago, but I was moving dirt with the loader so I could start the next section of my fence. It's just so much nicer moving dirt with AC, then using my backhoe, which is open station.
Before buying the Massey, it would take me three days to mow around my pond. I broke it up into thirds, and it was all I had in me to get each section done with a 37HP tractor and 6 foot cutter. With the Massey, I got it all done in about 6 hours!!
Two years later, I'm so glad that I bought it. Looking back, it's amazing how I got by without it. Kind of like buying the Kawasaki Mule. It's something that you don't realize how much you needed it until you have it!!!!