Buying Advice New guy without a clue!

[taylorce1]

Well the CFO or Household-6 as she likes to call herself had a serious heart to heart with me yesterday. She reminded me that I've only been back to work a little over a month now after taking a year off for a shattered leg, and that our O'Crap account is still a little depleted. She's agreed to let me look for a bigger tractor in the future, maybe one with a cab.

Looks like I'm getting the Kubota L3010. It might be a little underpowered for some of my needs, but our household budget will like us better at $13,675 out the door vs. $26,250 for the LS with 6' mower. I feel like I did okay, they were originally asking $15K for the Kubota and I was able to negotiate them down to the price I got with a new 5' Land Pride mower. So 10% down and finance the rest to get the good interest rates, I had $5000 to put down but financing under $10,000 raised the interest rates by 3%.

 

[Grandad4]

That 3010 is a tough old workhorse. If you are not familiar with operating a hydrostat, just remember the "go" pedal on the floor sort of looks like the gas pedal in your car or truck, but it's adjusting the transmission gear ratio, not revving up the engine. So it is a bit counterintuitive until you get the hang of it. Pushing down gives you a taller gear to let you go faster, but with less pulling power. So when your 3010 starts working hard on a hill or mowing in heavy brush, you back off the pedal instead of flooring it.

You should do fine with a 5 ft cutter.

Has the seller given it fresh fluids and filters, etc.?

Best wishes with your new rig. Share a photo or two when you get a chance.

 

[PLanger]

My understanding is that the LS 4000 series tractors run normally aspirated 4 cylinder Shibuara engines (good engines), but the tier 4 DPF was almost "slapped on" in an effort to meet the tier 4 emissions standards - owners her seem to be happy with them, but experience more frequent regeneration cycles. The new 4100 series engine is a new LS design - a turbo charged 3 cylinder. It is suppose to be a much more efficient engine that was specifically designed as a Tier 4 platform with work-through regens that occur as infrequently as every 50 hours. LS builds a very nice, value-packed tractor.

 

[taylorce1]

That 3010 is a tough old workhorse. If you are not familiar with operating a hydrostat, just remember the "go" pedal on the floor sort of looks like the gas pedal in your car or truck, but it's adjusting the transmission gear ratio, not revving up the engine. So it is a bit counterintuitive until you get the hang of it. Pushing down gives you a taller gear to let you go faster, but with less pulling power. So when your 3010 starts working hard on a hill or mowing in heavy brush, you back off the pedal instead of flooring it.

You should do fine with a 5 ft cutter.

Has the seller given it fresh fluids and filters, etc.?

Best wishes with your new rig. Share a photo or two when you get a chance.

Only hydrostatic transmissions I've ever operated were combines and skidsteers. Thanks for the info on operation. The dealer said they had serviced it, and the fluids looked clean and had no burnt/fuel odors.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Love this thread, I paid about 15K for my L3710 with loader and box scraper with about 350 hours on it back in 2003 and it still has under 750 hrs on it now. I think you'll like the tractor and it will hold it's value if you want to upgrade later.

Kevin

 

[sgraustin]

I am new too, so I am not sure that I can provide much information. But I did want to point out something. I looked at all the same brands you mentioned, and explored primarily used Kubotas as well. The prices seem way high to me. I just bought a CK4010HST w/ FEL for $18,800 with two sets of rear remotes installed brand new. I think the CK3510HST priced out at around $17,500. I have not put many hours on it at all, but so far I am very happy with the tractor, and my dealer is a 2.5 hour drive from me. For me, it was a combination of price and ergonomics that made my decision. I actually "bought" or at least had a contract on a used Kubota. When I drove 6 hours away to pick it up, I discovered the HST output shaft seal was leaking and the dealer would not replace it or take money off. Even though I have all the knowledge, skills, abilities, and tools to do this job, I do not have the time nor desire to split a tractor I just purchased to replace the seal. For me, a new tractor with warranty made much more sense, and I only wound up spending about $4k more for a larger frame, brand new tractor with 10 more hp and 6 years of warranty (although it does have the DPF, but I am not too concerned with it). I suppose it is all about what you prioritize, but for me this was the way to go.

Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that I learned that dealers have two or three different pricing structures, which was new to me. There is the 0% financing option, which is the highest price (which is probably what they are showing you), then the "cash" price, which is what I bought at. I did not pay cash, but rather financed through a 3rd party finance company, DLL Finance, with 5.85% interest. My wife is an honest-to-goodness mathematician, and we ran the numbers every which way, and it comes out to about $1 or so difference in the monthly payments when you add the finance fee and the monthly insurance payment, and pretty much dead nuts same money for the life of the loan. And this was for 60 months "cash" 3rd party financed versus 84 month 0%. It just looks better because we financed less money. Some dealers or finance companies also have a middle plan, I think Mahindra called it "Rock Bottom" pricing, which kind of splits the difference. Just some food for thought that I never knew about.

I'm about to buy a CK 4020 for $22k with 2.99% for 84 months. How are you liking your CK3510 HST still?