NX5510 delivered.
- Thread starter LittleBear
- Start date
- Views: 6275
MinnesotaEric
Super Member
Awesome!
And the dogs are cute too.
And the dogs are cute too.
KevT
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2015
- Messages
- 972
- Tractor
- Kubota L3901 HST w/ FEL, ST2046
Congratulations!!!!! Now all you need is SNOW!!!!
OP
LittleBear
Bronze Member
Finding the right tractor for me has been a long, frustrating process, lasting about six months. The motivating factor was last winter when it snowed, and snowed, and snowed, and the bitter wind chills in an open station tractor were starting to be a problem for someone of my age. I have a John Deere 1070 and 6400. Both are great tractors and built the way they used to build them: nothing breaks; they work flawlessly; and they are easy to maintain. Nobody builds them like that today (including John Deere), so I decided I'd look around and see what was available. I wanted a cab tractor for snow blowing in the winter and mowing about 10 acres of lawn with a Woods 90 inch rear mower during the summer heat. I didn't need a front end loader because my 6400 has one.
The cab tractors for John Deere were too tall for my outbuilding doorway unless I wanted to drop down significantly in horsepower and features. So John Deere was eliminated. Kubota looked interesting and had a great reputation although not quite up there with the old John Deeres. I test drove the L6060, and it seemed like a nice machine. I did not like being forced into the single pedal hydrostatic transmission, which I found awkward the hydrostatic transmission also made a sound that was added to the noise of the engine. Another problem with the Kubota was the cruise control did not work in reverse, and I planned on using a three point hitch snowblower. I found this to be a pretty big disadvantage, so I kept looking.
I looked at the New Holland Boomer series with the CVT transmission. It was a nice-looking tractor, but there was an abnormal complaint level on the compact tractor forms for this transmission. Yes, some people liked it. But there was still an unmistakable blip on the radar screen that showed some concerns. So, New Holland was eliminated.
I took out my checkbook and tried to order a Massey Ferguson 1759. The dealer, however, was only interested in selling me the one he had sitting on his lot (I wanted turf tires and the machine he had was covered in rust). My final read on the situation is that the Ferguson dealer really wasn't interested in selling compact tractors. So Massey Ferguson was out.
I was pretty much out of reasonable options, and I began thinking about having creeper gears installed on the 6400 and just live with an open station tractor in winter. I knew Kioti existed (vaguely), but I didn't really consider them a main-line tractor. However, I kept reading and reading and reading, and the reviews on Kioti seemed to similar to Kubota. Kubotas were a lot more expensive, and that made me suspicious of Kioti. What's the catch, I wondered. One real advantage of the Kioti is that it was available without a hydrostatic transmission, and in a large enough number of gears for running a snowblower at a very slow speed for dealing with large snowdrifts. Now, if I was going to put a front end loader on the tractor as my primary usage, then of course I would want the hydrostatic. The hydrostatic is also great for snow blowing, but I really didn't think it's what I wanted for those long hours of mowing during the summer at a constant speed the added hydrostatic noise. So again, Kioti began to look more and more reasonable. I test drove one with the synchro-shuttle transmission, and I liked it. So I placed the order for the above tractor (NX5510 24x24).
Now, I did not like the idea of tier 4. But you really didn't have a choice. A silver lining of tier 4 (at least with Kioti) is that the engine runs significantly quieter. For me, that is a real plus. What's the point of having a cab tractor with a nice stereo radio if the engine is so noisy that you have to blare the radio in order to hear. I could tell the difference between tier 3 and 4 tractors just based on the noise level.
My dealer installed a better radio than what is advertised at the Kioti website. I also ordered a set of remote valves, but I deliberately chose the manual shoot-rotation for the snowblower. I live on a farm and once I determined the direction of the wind I don't really need to change where I'm throwing the snow. Besides, I like simplicity, and I like having fewer things to go wrong. I really wish they had kept tractors simpler. All the computer technology (Kubota is worse than the others on this) and graphics is offensive to me because it's just something else to go wrong. Kioti was also on the low-end of computerization, which was a clear plus.
So what can I say about my new (two hours on the meter) Kioti. I know the following: the transmission shifts well and has more than enough gears for running a snowblower in very deep snow; everything works; it is the quietest tractor I have seen; the stereo and media/flash drive player is very nice; it is new-car-show-room spotless, without a trace of rust or blemishes on the finish (something that certainly wasn't true with the other tractors; every new Kubota I looked at showed visible rust). Perhaps this last observation is unfair because I ordered the tractor new from the factory while these other tractors had been sitting on the dealer's lot for months.
Was it a good purchase? I'll keep you posted
.Tinstafl
Silver Member
Thanks for the write up and your thoughts on choosing. I am torn between the RX and the NX. The NX is narrower and that will work better on the trails but I have lots of mowing to do so I do not want a hydro for the reasons you state. I would say mowing will be the biggest part all summer and maintaining the driveway. Any machine can do that and you are right about Kubota being a bit more dear but the L606 is a great tractor. I kind of want it simpler too though the Hydros are on a lot of machines. I want a cab too. The heat more then the cold and you can add age in to that as well as health. It will keep me going longer.
OP
LittleBear
Bronze Member
Here is a link for a post I did on some snowblower skid shoes for a gravel drive:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/snow-removal/348553-snowblower-skid-shoes-gravel-drive.html
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/snow-removal/348553-snowblower-skid-shoes-gravel-drive.html
MinnesotaEric
Super Member
The NX has both land speed and PTO cruise control. I use the land speed control when I drive from the lake home five miles into town or over to the new parcel.
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