New to the tractor world, need advice on used tractors.

[TomIre]

My take? Let's face it, for most of us there is no way to justify our tractor purchase much beyond the fact we enjoy caring for, maintaining, improving, etc our land. Pretty much every post with a question along these lines gets a response of "better to rent" yet I assume all the responses are written by tractor owners!

 

[mercdv]

TnTJake,

I know exactly where you are coming from and I had a similar mindset when I ended up buying a SCUT instead of renting a bunch of equipment. For me, we just had two small kids and bought a new place. I did not have a lot of cash on hand and we both worked full-time. The one thing I had was some extra time. Sure, I could have gotten all my projects done twice as fast but I enjoyed getting out and doing the work in my free time. Some days I felt like getting out and some days I didn't. If I had rented something, I would have had to be out every day during the week I rented it no matter how late I got home from work or how tired I was. With my SCUT, I could simply go out and work a little at I time and wasn't pressured to be out working when I needed a day to recover. My SCUT has more than paid for itself. I still rent if my little tractor cannot do the heavy lifting but it is extremely rare and I've only had to do it once so far. My little JD 2305 SCUT has lifted 600+lbs comfortably (will lift more but I haven't tried it) and it is only a 24hp. I'd say keep what you are looking at to a CUT in the 24-30hp range. You should be able to find something in your budget but it will most likely be an older tractor or a beat up newer one. I'm not one to tell you what brand or machine you should buy without me seeing it because I don't want to steer you wrong. Something that sounds good on paper might look terrible in person. Remember to start it, drive it through all gears (or ranges if HST), take it to full throttle, check the PTO, listen to it, look to make sure the serial number plates are still on it, and most importantly be able to walk away from a potential purchase.

Good luck in your quest to find a new tractor.

 

[TnTJake]

Mercdv,

Thank you for the encouragement and the buying advice. I am looking at two tractors tomorrow. In between going to get metal to build some ramps for the trailer.

 

[jeff9366]

I recently bought one acre of land on a lake. I am clearing the land, then will build a shop and a cabin. It is heavily wooded, slopes about 14 foot from one corner to the other, and has large rocks.

I have rented a Kubota L3600 to grade the drive and install culvert but I am realizing the grade work will take longer than expected.

I have convinced the wife I need to buy a tractor. She wants me to stay around $6000.

i think I may have found the one, though it is a little more than I wanted to spend, it is a Kubota L2350 with 4wd with 834 hours, loader and box blade, asking $8200. I am going to look at it tomorrow.

I think buying the tractor is what I am going to do. The time it takes is of no consequence, I plan on retiring to this house and use it as a lake house until then, but I am not going to move there until at least the kids are gone, that's another eight years.

Kubota L2350

1991 - 1998 L50 Series
Compact Utility tractor

Manufacturer: Kubota

Variants:
L2350F: 2WD
L2350DT: 4WD

Kubota L2350 Engine:
Kubota 1.1L 3-cyl diesel
Kubota L2350 Power:
Engine (gross): 25 hp [18.6 kW]
PTO (claimed): 20.5 hp [15.3 kW]


Capacity:
Fuel: 7.7 gal [29.1 L]
Hydraulic system: 7.4 gal [28.0 L]

3-Point Hitch:
Rear Type: I
Rear lift: 1433 lbs [650 kg]

Power Take-off (PTO):
Rear PTO: live
Rear RPM: 540

Dimensions & Tires:
Wheelbase: 61.2 inches [155 cm]
Weight: 2200 lbs [997 kg]
Kubota L2350 Tires:
4WD Standard tires (ag): Front: 7-14. Rear: 11.2-24
MINIMAL GROUND CLEARANCE.

Kubota L2350 attachments:
front-end loader

L2350 Serial Numbers:
1991: unknown
1992: 51460 (L2350DT)
1993: 52900 (L2350DT)
1994: 55760 (L2350DT)

Mechanical:
Chassis: 4x2 2WD
4x4 MFWD 4WD
Steering: power
Brakes: wet disc

Hydraulics:
Type: open center
Capacity: 7.4 gal [28.0 L]
Pump flow: 4.4 gpm [16.7 lpm]

Page information:
Last update: June 25, 2015
Copyright: Copyright 2016 TractorData LLC
Contact: Peter@TractorData.com

 

[prof fate]

that sounds like a nice package - L models are quite capable machines, 800 hours is nothing.

I went new for a couple of reasons, one being ability to pay for it..LOL. 72 months no interest and no money down- vs having to scrape up $8k or borrow it in other ways.
As long as I can avoid a car payment for 6 years it's not a painful choice.

The backhoe for it was $7500. Yes, i'd love to have it. BUT - i've rented excavators in the past for $250 for a weekend - so I can get 60 days of rental for that money. Since I've only rented 4 days in 20 years...I think I'm good.

Now of course a horse needs buried this weekend...that's $200 to a friend with a backhoe (and that includes shooting the horse..something my GF can't do and I'd rather not do). Still way cheaper than $7500.

And be patient on shopping - check every morning and jump on the deals. I got a 72" bush hog brush hog for $550 - in excellent condition, cause I was checking every day with my morning coffee. I was the second call (8 am sunday) and by the time I got there at noon (110 miles away) he'd had 5 other calls. Good deals go fast.

 

[TnTJake]

Well I went and looked at the tractor, the 800 hours is a guess, he got the tractor from his dad, who had it for 8 years and used it to brush hog 4 acres, the hour meter went out "about 4 years before I got it" and it was at 404.8. (He showed me it). He replaced it when he got it and it has 43 hours on it now. So who knows the real hours? But if he is telling the truth, 850 seems accurate. There is no noticeable leaks, a couple hydraulic hoses need to be replaced but aren't leaking, everything works, he did have to replace the curl cylinders, (he said they were bent when pulling a large log back with the bucket?) I wonder about that, but the loader frame has no notable damage/tweeks. Drove it and all gears work fine, 3pt and loader work (couldn't get it into float though and the curl down seemed slow), PTO works (no load but he has a new fence that he said he borrowed and post hole digger and used to put it in. I got him down to 7500, somewhat reluctantly, I think I'm going to pull the trigger on this one.

 

[mercdv]

IF you feel confident in what you see and that the hours are pretty accurate, I'd say go for it. Hoses are an easy fix and it comes with two attachments you will need right off the bat for your projects.

 

[jeff9366]

Congratulations on your Kubota purchase. Judging by tire wear, 800 engine hours is probably accurate.

2,200 pounds bare tractor is a pretty light machine. Current model BX series Kubotas are ~~ 1,700 pounds. Take it easy on little beaver.

During the next eight years I am sure you will get everything done.

 

[mercdv]

I bought the tractor. The guy thru in some forks that clamp onto the bucket after I told him that I am going to build eventually. He also had a shop manual for it. I feel pretty confident that he was honest about everything. I took the tractor to the lake land and only got to use it briefly before another storm blew through, but it pulled up much more dirt in the box blade than the L3600 I rented did and it wasn't even set as aggressively. Anyway I am feeling good about the purchase and am excited to be a tractor owner.

Congratz on the purchase, judging from the picture the number of hours stated are probably pretty close to accurate. His story about the log could also be true. It could have fallen back into the tractor while attempting to pull it with the fel. Looks to me like they might have bent the cylinders when flipped up on the bucket or off the bucket into them. Now I'm just going off the picture that is hard to really tell without walking around the tractor. The damage to the top edge of the bucket, the hydraulic tubes on the cross member, the scuff on the cross member, and the damage to the grille area is what has me thinking that. Overall from the picture (once again hard to tell), it looks like it is in pretty good shape except for the accident with the log he confessed to having and even that damage doesn't look like much. Hope you get lots of hours out of that thing and enjoy your time on it. Do not forget to make it harder for someone to steal it. It won't keep the experienced thief from taking it but you can certainly keep your average meth head confused as to why it won't start.

Also check your PM's ASAP....

 

[TnTJake]

Thank you all for the advice.