Buying Advice Narrowed it down to 2 tractors: Help me decide

[hammick]

I have 40 acres at 5,100 feet in Montana. Sage brush and lots of big rocks in the ground. No trees. About 1.5 acres have been cleared of sage brush for my building and I have put some gravel down but have a lot more to do.

I'm looking at a 2002 Branson 4020 with 650 hours. The seller is a dealer and says it's in good shape except for being sun faded and having a couple tears in the seat. I think I can get it for 10k or 10.5k with the loader, box blade, scraper blade and clamp on forks. The backhoe would be an additional 3k.

Also looking at a Yanmar 3110D with a Kokyer 140 loader. It appears to be in good shape and shows 1,925 hour on the meter. I can buy it for 6k with no implements other than the loader.

I really don't wan't to spend 10k but will do it if it's a much better deal.

The Branson is 40hp and weights close to 1,000lbs more than the Yanmar. The Yanmar is 30.6hp. Branson has shuttle tranny and Yanmar is power shift.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Snowback]

40 acres is quite a bit... I think I would like having the bigger tractor sooner than later in my humble opinion. That would push me to consider the Branson more heavily and rationalize cost with about a grand worth of implements, (assuming they are in good shape), and then the remaining $3,500 differential as buying you more HP, more weight, and almost 1,300 less hours. (+/- $2.69/hr)

With all the big rocks, you should confirm loader capacities as well in case you ever want to move stones around. I think Branson's loaders are stout, but the Yanmar may be as well...

Not sure if that helps, but it is where my head goes initially. The pictures do seem to indicate that the Yanmar has been well kept. Do you know what kind of work each had been doing in its prior life? Maybe one was used to pull a parade trailer or hay trailer around smooth yard, and the other worked in a rough rock quarry. Might change the hour weighting a bit in my mind...

Good luck!

 

[jeff9366]

You need tractor weight to deal with big rocks.

You will be down a bit with horsepower with both tractors due to your 5,100 feet altitude.

SNOWBACK: Good analysis.

See if you can negotiate a 50-engine-hour duration guarantee with the Branson dealer. That will remove a lot of uncertainty.

 

[varmint]

From the little I know, seems like the weight and extra power, not to mention the lower hours and implements, make the Branson the better guess. Koyker makes pretty good loaders, I believe. Consider that you will be spending a fair amount of time using this tractor (at least, I would presume so...) and that little bit of extra cost going in might well be money spent that you will come to appreciate again and again. Folks that know more about Branson will hopefully opine.

 

[hammick]

Thanks for the info guys. Keep it coming.

The majority of my property will always be in it's natural state. Currently I access my property using 1/4 mile of road shared by the adjoining landowner and then 2/3 mile BLM road. Both roads are rough and need rocks removed. I haven't decided yet if I will ask the BLM if I can improve their road or install my own 2/3 mile road.

If I was convinced the Branson could remove big rocks with it's loader much better than the Yanmar the decision would be easy. The Branson dealer has it priced at $10,500 and said he would sell me the implements (which are new) at his cost. $350 for a 5' box blade; $365 for a 5' rock grate; and $100 for clamp on 4' forks. He said we could "arm wrestle" on the price after I come down and see the tractor.

The Yanmar is a private owner sale and his bottom dollar is 6k.

So after subtracting the cost of the implements and using a 10k purchase price the price of the Branson with the loader is $9,185. That's 53% more than the Yanmar. But if I buy the Yanmar I won't get new implements for a used price.

The Branson has 31% more hp than the Yanmar and weighs 25% more according to Tractordata.

The Yanmar does not have ROPS or a seatbelt.

Parts for the Yanmar are online only. Branson parts won't be super easy to get either.

No way to know if the Yanmar hours are accurate. More likely the Branson hours are accurate. The Branson dealer seems like a straight shooter. The Yanmar seem like an upfront guy.

I'm going to go look at them both hopefully tomorrow.

I would love to find a manual for the Branson. Closest I can find is for the 2016 4020r model. It weighs 440 lbs more than the 4020 so not sure if everything is apples to apples. Tractordata says the 2016 model has a 1.7l engine and the 2002 model has a 1.8l engine. Both turbocharged.

 

[varmint]

Someone noted you are at 5100 ft., so a turbo is good. And, perhaps someone here at TbN can help with a manual. Based on sketchy info, the Branson sounds like a better choice, for several reasons.

 

[jeff9366]

Tractors are inherently unstable. I would not operate a tractor without a ROPS. I have never rolled a tractor but I have been close numerous times. Just when you least expect it, a wheels falls into a hole.......

 

[kenmac]

you can figure another 800-1000 $ for a ROPS on the Yanmar. The Yanmar should be about 37 engine HP. supposedly, these old grey yanmars were rated HP at the PTO. meaning the 3110 is 31 HP @ the PTO and 37 engine HP.

if you need traction, you aren't going to get very good traction from those industrial tires on the branson

You can down load a manual for specs on the koyker 140 loader from their site

 

[hammick]

Kenmack thanks for the HP info on the Yanmar. I thought I had seen a higher figure. Any idea if the Yanmar weight spec of 2,733 lbs from tractordata is accurate?

My climate is very dry. It could rain all night and the ground would still be hard pack. Very little snow. If we do get snow, drifting is the issue. I guess chains would work for that.

How do the rice tires on the Yanmar rate? Closer to AG tires?

Hoye tractor sells a ROPS kit but says it can be a ***** to install.

My property is very remote and if I was stuck under my tractor nobody would hear me. Not a good way to go.

 

[Omega Woods]

I would choose the Branson all day and twice on Sunday. Heavier, ROPS, Seatbelt, lots fewer hours, did I mention heavier?

I looked at seven different brands of tractor and selected Branson. Yanmar wasn't one of the brands but I suspect it wouldn't have changed my mind. I have a hundred hours on mine now and am extremely happy with it.