TC33D vs B7800 vs JD4310

[cedarman]

Got it narrowed down the these three. New B7800/LA402 FEL/R-4 tires @15,780--JD4310 ehydro '03 w/60hrs and 420 FEL @$16,500--NH TC33D '03 w/20 demo hours & 7308 FEL @ 17,700. Drove the B7800 today and was pleased. Heard the Kubota has a better engine and transmission than the Deere (not from the Kubota dealer). Will drive the other two this weekend and make final decision. Any feeling on what the better tractor would be. Will be pulling a finish mower for 5 acres to keep the grass down and use the loader for mooving dirt and landscaping. Have 75 Ozark acres of which 8 are clear but would like to have more. Ideas?

 

[wittgypsy]

I am in the same boat. Looking for a new Tractor. I am in Springfield MO and have finally decided on the B7800 with FEL.
Dealer here quoted me for B7800, 5ft Brush Hog, 402 Loader, Industrial tires 16700.

Michael Springfield, MO

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

TC33 comparies to the L-series, not B. Its much more tractor than the B's are. Can't go wrong with the B7800 IMO.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

The B7800 is a "basic" tractor, the TC33D is a "deluxe" tractor with more features and also has more horsepower. I can't comment on the JD and how it compares. I can tell you that I own a Kubota B2910 which is sort of a deluxe version of the B7800 and I really like it, but I also own a NH TC24D and while it is much smaller than my B2910, I think it is a better designed tractor with lots of very nice features than the B2910. I think you may have a hard time comparing the TC33D with the B7800 because the TC will have more features and more power.

As for the Kubota engines, they are excellent.

If you are doing a lot of loader work, it is impossible to compare the extra visibility that you get with the TC series tractors to anything on the market. The TC has a sloped and curved hood that makes forward visibility excellent. Kubota has big flat hoods that block visibility. Deere has big flat and wide hoods that are even worse for FEL work than Kubota's hoods. I say this, after spending the better part of last week clearing an industrial field with my Kubota and its FEL and I never realized how bad the view is up front until I spent a lot of seat time working only with the FEL. That made me a real believer in the NH hood designs for FEL work.

As for pulling a mower, any one of them will do the job just fine.

 

[DAP]

Neil .. I would be interested to hear you comparative opinion on as unbiased fashion as possible:

B7800 vs. TC30 HST

 

[_RaT_]

Bob, I found that my old L48 had pretty bad bucket vision with all the extra hydraulics for auto leveling and just the beef of the loader. As odd as it may sound, I knew I would adapt quickly. For me, having full bucket visibility is only important until you familiarize yourself with the tractor and it's loader. As long as both ends of the bucket are visible or you have a sighting rod, you get a "seat of the pants" feel for bucket position. Since using my L3830, I had not even thought about the visibility until you mentioned it here. Having said all that, I think increasing the visibility like NH did is great, just not necessarily the end all and be all.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

To be honest, I have hardly spent any time at all with the TC30. I can't give a real good comparision of the two. From what I know of it, its 15 year old technology, made to compete with the off brand tractors. I do think its a bit over priced to do that well.

I have 8 B7800's and No TC30's in stock. Guess where my preference lies?

 

[Bob_Skurka]

_RaT_ . . . I agree that visibility is NOT the only reason to buy any brand of tractor. I was just pointing out something that I found to be truely astonishing between my 2 tractors.

Also, until LAST WEEK I would have agreed with what you said about seeing both corners of the bucket, but last week I got a lot of seat time (several hours at a stretch, several days in a row) and I was doing things with the FEL that I had never done before. I have many hours moving dirt, cobblestones, leveling, etc . . . but last week I was trying to pick up tires, misc scrap, etc and I could not drive into a pile and scoop up a bunch like you would normally do when moving dirt. I had to selectively pick up things. Not being able to see the thing you are picking up is a severe disadvantage.

All that said, I tried to give a fairly qualified description of the choices of tractors. The comparision between the B7800 and the TC33D is not an Apples to Apples comparison for a lot of reasons. I tried to be fair about pointing that out because that was what was asked.

I also did point out that Kubota engines are excellent. I will even go further to say they are the smoothest running/sounding diesels I know of. . . but you don't hear of Yanmar/Deere or Shibaru(sp?)/New Holland engines failing just because they are not as smooth as the Kubota engines. I'm really just trying to be objective, not to be an advocate of any brand.

 

[DAP]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( To be honest, I have hardly spent any time at all with the TC30. I can't give a real good comparision of the two. From what I know of it, its 15 year old technology, made to compete with the off brand tractors. I do think its a bit over priced to do that well.

I have 8 B7800's and No TC30's in stock. Guess where my preference lies?

)</font>

Neil, you're gonna have to be more specific. No TC30's around cause you can't keep em on the lot? I presume you mean't you don't have stock cause you don't need to attempt moving them.

15 yo technology? Can you be more specific about that? I've driven both of these machines more than once. The TC30 is a tuned down a 33D power plant with the old Ford 1250 sheet metal. It WAS missing the motor mounts and vibrated badly under 1000 rpms, but I was wondering just exactly what is meant by 15yo technology.

Lastly, what off brands do you think it was supposed to compete against?

Thanks ..

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

I gotta watch myself because like I said, I am not the most knowledgeable on the TC30. While we do sell New Holland and Kubota, we have 7 salespeople and I do alot more Kubota than New Holland. My understanding of the positioning of the TC30 is as I said, thats about all I know about it. There are probably others here that know more about it than myself.