Pulled the trigger on a new Kubota

[JAE 3400]

Hello all. This is my first post on this great forum. Here is a brief history on my tractor ownership. In 1987 I bought 5 acres of woods in the country about the same time I picked up a Ford 8N 1952 model. I went through that tractor from stem to stern including a paint job. Then I started cutting down trees to make a driveway to a future house. I used a pike pole to stack the logs and a chain to drag them to the pile for future fire wood. Two years later I got married at the young age of forty and the pressure was on to get a house built.In 1989 we move in. I used the 8N to do all the finish grade moving a large pile of topsoil with a 5ft. box scraper it took a while but I got the job done. Having had enough of the 8N I bought a new Case IH 1140 in 1992. It had a FEL,4WD.gear transmission. It was a 27hp. Mitsubishi machine and was a vast improvement over the Ford.I used that tractor for seventeen years putting close to 1200 hours on it, and it never gave me one problem. As happens to all of us I got the bug for a new tractor,so I listed the Case on E-bay. It sold seven days later for $7750. Now it was a nice machine I waxed it once a year and it never spent a night outside. I did some figuring and came up with a cost of $20.23 a month to have that tractor for the seventeen years. So I started looking at new machines,JD,New Holland and Kubota. I decided on the Kubota L 3400 with hydro and a fel and a set of forks. Thanks to this forum I discovered Barlow Equipment and bought from them. I am waiting for delivery today around 7pm. I am looking forward to posting and reading all the good info on this forum. Thanks for listening....Jeff

 

[jdfire]

Hi Jeff,

Welcome to TBN and congratulations on your new tractor! I'm sure it'll feel like 7PM is never going to get here! Have fun.

Dave

 

[laen64]

Welcome to TBN, I know you'll enjoy the new toy. Do take a few moments to post the pics.

 

[Baucom]

Congrats on the new Kubota. Those L3400s are good machines. Did you keep the 8N that you restored?

 

[JAE 3400]

No I sold the 8N to defray some of the cost of the Case/IH. They were good old machines I loved the sound of it when it was under a load. They were pretty simple and straight forward to work on, I split it and installed a new clutch and back together in 3hrs. But no live power or hydraulics was a draw back.

 

[Baucom]

Those 8Ns, and pretty much all the other old iron, were good tractors. They can still do a lot of work for their age, but a modern tractor can work circles around them. However, I expect 8Ns will still be going strong when all the current crop of Kubotas and Deeres have already been scrapped as too costly to keep going. You just can't kill those simple old tractors.

 

[Gizmo2]

JAE 3400.
WOW! My life has been really close to the same circumstances as yours. So much so it's scary. The end result for me was to trade my 1988 JD 650 FEL and BH in last year for a JD 2320. Paid $14,500 for the 650 new and traded it for $10,500. I really liked the 650 but after having the 2320 I do not miss the 650 at all. I would say you are a lucky guy, as I was and I am sure you will never miss the other tractors at all either. Good luck with your new tractor.

 

[whistlepig]

I am forever a Kubota guy. When I saw my first Kubota decades ago I have always wanted one. I know machinery. Many years went by looking at them at the dealerships but not having the money. Kubota's are tanks. Just a whole bunch of tractor in such a small package. I got my first new one about two years ago. It was well worth the wait. They will out work a tractor half a size larger in weight. I think the 3400 is the best of the compacts that Kubota makes now. I don't need a tractor as big as the 3400 but I sure would love to have one.

 

[missourithunder]

whistlepig said - "I am forever a Kubota guy."
- "Kubota's are tanks."
- "Just a whole bunch of tractor in such a small package."

Just ride one and you'll see.

MissouriThunder