old B6100

[tonkadave]

A dealer has a 1979 B6100 4wd. with 1850 hours. Its in pretty good shape and everything seems to work. Vertical exhaust. Needs a paint job. They just installed new rear axle seals. They say it came from a nursery. It has some type of spinning hubs on the outside of the front axles. I thought it may have been for some type of sprayer.? Dealer wants $1800 for the unit with no attachments. Is this a good deal or just average price? I would only use it as a hobby tractor for pulling a cart around or something like that. Seems like a lot of hours to me though if not on the engine then on the unit as a whole. Any thoughts on reliability of these units?

 

[DieselnHooters]

sounds very good pricewise,in my area those go from $3000 to $4500 canadian. Make sure the 4WD engagement lever isnt broken or seized up,a common problem on those small early models . 1850 hrs is really not that much especially considering it is 25 years old,if properly maintained those machines can easily attain 5000 hrs before they need an engine overhaul. It will pull a cart-trailer twice its weight with ease ,I still see some of them around, most times with a rototiller or a RFM.

 

[maxtractor]

This spring I sold my 1979 B6100 that I had used for over 20 years. ( I bought it used.) I sold it for $2600 along with a rough Woods MMM and a good tiller. It had about 2000 hours on the meter and was still running strong. I sold it to my father-in-law for what the dealer offered me in trade. So I don't think I got a high price for it. When I was talking to the dealer while he was looking at the B6100 he commented on the high number of hours. I asked him what the engine was good for and he said it would go 4 or 5 thousand hours. So I said it still had half it's life left and he agreed. I sold it because the MMM deck was rusting through and I wanted to upgrade to a B7610. For a hobby tractor you will get tons of use out of it. By the way don't let its size fool you, the are strong tractors that can really pull. Power was never a problem. The only limitation is the light weight of the tractor causes you to loose traction. They are great little tractors.

 

[Egon]

The chances are it will be good for much more than 5000 hours if properly looked after.

Egon

 

[Kelvin]

tonkadave,

The B6100 is similar to my first Kubota B7100 (1978?) that I had. If the B6100 you're looking at is 4wd / gear drive, then the model number would be B6100D.

The reason I sold my B7100 is that the mid-mower design was not as good as the current mid-mower designs and I do a lot of finish mowing. There are times that I miss that old tractor, though, as I thought it was fun to use.

If you buy it, you need to become familiar with its "thermo-siphon" cooling system (no water pump or thermostat). In this system it is very important to pre-mix the antifreeze-water solution and to use no more than 50% antifreeze in the mix. I've noticed that stores are starting to sell pre-mixed 50/50 antifreeze.

Good luck,
Kelvin

 

[WVBill]

tonkadave,

I can't offer any thoughts on the fairness of the price - all I can say is that by 1978 B6100DT is NOT FOR SALE!

My Father-in-law bought it new and gave it to me 3 years ago with an hour meter he said "stopped years ago" at 650.

Niether he or I have had a single problem with it. Mine has a Kubota loader that runs off the forward PTO.

Can't think of what the spinning hubs might be. There's no indication of anything like that in my user manual.

 

[DDFARM]

I have been running a B6000 4wd for the last 30 years and have never had a problem with it. I bought it used in Franklin,Ct with a front end loader and backhoe. It's a little tired now but starts good except in very cold days. Three years ago I bought a new Kubota L2550 and the dealer offered me $5000. site unseen for it, but I will never part with it. I think you can probably get the unit a little less than the 1800. because of its age. If its in good shape, you will find that its got alot of guts for the 13HP driving it.