Tell what made you decide to buy the tractor you did, and what do like/dislike now

[oosik]

I bought my Kubota because of dealer service on my previous tractor. In 1982 I bought a new Ford 1710 from this dealer. It was the ideal size for everything except maintenance of my mile long driveway. It wasn't heavy enough to plow deep snow with the back blade and didn't have sufficient power to crown, ditch etc in the summer. I ended up using a snow thrower in the winter - have any of you cleared a mile long driveway with an open station tractor and a snow thrower? For some reason no matter where the discharge chute is pointed it blows back on you. Then after a couple hours driving in reverse your neck gets so stiff you think it will never straighten out. In the summer the little Ford & I would make dust clouds up and down the driveway and hope that helped. In 2009 I bought my current Kubota from the same dealer. The Kubota is more than enough for driveway maintenance. Its heavy enough to not be deflected when plowing deep snow with the back blade and its got enough power to thunder down the driveway pulling an 84 inch wide grading scraper. There are other brands of tractor in this area but dealer service and assistance means an awful lot out here where I'm located. None of the other brand dealers seemed too real concerned about whether or not I bought their tractor. Besides, the original dealer gave me a fantastic trade in on the little Ford. I've had no problems what-so-ever with the new 2009 Kubota. At times I wish I would have bought the cab model but I used the little Ford - open station - for so long I don't think I could get accustomed to a cab. I dress for the weather, like the wind in my face and the smell of pine trees. I also own and ride a Harley.

 

[SageBrush]

We had really old tractors before the little Kubota L4330, even did the Russian Belarus stuff. After lots of research we settled on Kubota in 2003. Its been a great machine, no issues. I knew going in it was a compromise tractor, R4 tires for loader duty, GST trans since we do a good bit of soil work. The 4 cylinder engine has been smooth and strong for it's size.

A cab would be nice, but that would keep me out of the yard more. I do lots of brush cutting and the 4x4 has been great in the rough woods with water crossings. We just have 84 acres and I only have about 2 acres of garden. I've pulled many trees and hauled lots of the logs to the splitter. Its a flexible machine and has been completely reliable. Hasn't failed me once so far. Just filters, oil, fuel and one battery since 03. I would purchase another one, I think the 4330 was the right size for my application. I'm very glad we didn't get the 30hp version. The 40hp is just enough for our needs, good fuel burn, doesn't bog down too much but it does get "worked" still.

 

[wcampbell47]

Ok here goes. I owned an orange 21 hp 4 wd that I used to clean up around my place. Neighbors, then contractors, asked me to do work for them. I realized I need more hp and a larger loader bucket. I opted for a B3200. I wanted a more powerful but not large tractor as most of my work is around established homes and yards. I wanted an HST. The dealer let me load the tractor on my trailer and haul it 80 miles to give it a try. Brought it back the following day. Purchased it a week later.

Dealer service, price, size, horsepower, and transmission all played into the mix on my decision. The zero down and zero percent interest rate played a large role in the purchase as well. I billed $4k in work by the time my first payment was due.

 

[DT86]

For me it all started when the old tractor was about to bankrupt me in repair costs. I had a big project coming up and couldn't depend on it anymore. Having bought a RTV 900 the year before and loving it I went straight to the Kubota dealership. I had already compared tractors online and had seen all I really needed to know. I know the dealer from my younger running around days and he treats me right. I had a size bigger than I needed picked out but he didn't have one so he cut me a sweet deal on the next size up (HP wise).

 

[Gary Fowler]

When BIL and I purchased our 42 acre farm, we had no tractors or equipment. The place was grown up badly so BIL hired a local non-profit group to bushhog with a 750 JD with a 4 foot BH. He ending up buying that little tractor. We needed a tractor with a FEL and something larger than the 750. I had been reading how well the greymarket tractors performed and how cheap they were so I ended up with a 45 HP Yanmar with FEL. It really performed well once I got all the gunk out of the hydraulic system.

After a couple of years of sweating in the heat on the Yannie and my BIL had stepped up to buy a NH with AC Cab, my wife said "Why don't you buy a tractor with an air conditioned cab like Rodger's. Well I didn't need a lot more encouragement. I asked my BIL what his cost and he said about $30K so I went looking for something in that price range. I was brand blind and shopped at all the dealers everywhere I went for the next couple weeks checking tractors and prices. Friend of mine was very happy with his Mahindra, so I put them on my list to find a dealer. JD guy didn't have any CUT tractors on the lot, just large AG tractors, so his name came off the list. I had to return to work overseas for 8 weeks and I spent a lot of time internet searching tractors and reading TBN for opinions.
When I returned home I had an internet deal worked out with a local MF dealer on a 1652 Cab with QPS but when I actually sat on it, it didn't fit me at all. The price was $35K IIRC. So I recommenced my shopping, stopping at two Kubota dealers on the way home (both owner by same guy)> Left my info with the salesman at the first place who had no cab tractors in stock and suggested that I go to the main shop in Hot Springs which I did. The only salesman there was too busy to talk to me "as he had to get a new sale ready to ship out" at least that is what he said. He did give me a brochure after I explained that I was looking for something in the 50 HP class with a cab and he suggested that I look for a Grand L but didn't bother to show me around. I left my phone number and asked him to call me ASAP as I was ready to buy a tractor. NO CALL so I called him back a few days later, got voice mail, left message and still NO CALL BACK.

I had ran across the LS brand when I was looking for a Kioti dealer in Baytown Texas who had quit selling Kioti and switched to LS. I like the way they were built and the guy gave me some pricing on a 50 HP but without a cab and he had none coming in with cabs (this was in Houston 8 weeks ago) so I had kinda put them out of my mine a bit. I was looking for a Mahindra dealer about 90 miles from my house but when I got there he sold LS along with Mahindra and had 2 of the P 7010's both with Cabs and all the other tractors were open station. I compared the Mahindra's with the LS and found that I liked the LS much better. He gave me a first quote price of $35,500 which was just a bit more than the best deal I could work with the MF on a 50HP tractor. I continued to get some prices from all the other dealers (except Kubota who to this day has not returned my call, maybe next time I am in there getting parts for my B26 I will just let him know how he missed his chance) Anyway, I found another LS dealer a bit closer and talked to him about the 7010 at the other dealer. I had killed over a week of my 3 week vacation tractor shopping and was ready to close the deal. I told him that if he would get the tractor from the other dealer for the same price, I would buy it. I was ready to pay cash but he said they had a 0% financing plan for 24 mo. same as cash so I filled out the credit app. left him a check for 10% down and left. The next morning he called and said he was going to go pick up my tractor. We had looked at an 8 foot rake while I was there so I asked if he would bring that out with him and I would pay him when he off loaded the tractor. Well at 4 PM he had my tractor in my yard with a full tank of diesel with my rake on the back. This is how I ended up with a 70HP tractor when looking for a 50HP.

I immediately took off the rake, put on my box blade and headed to an area where I was to build a small pond. I worked about 3 hours that day, got up early the next day and before dark had my little pond dug. A few days later I was back at work in Africa and my baby was setting alone under my shed patiently awaiting my return and other projects.
Turn forward a couple years and I was doing my favorite thing, reading TBN and I got a PM from a member way up north about a guy way down south selling a B26 TLB for $25K with 69 hours on it. He was thinking to sell his B21 and buy it but was having some problems selling and said if he couldn't sell in a couple of weeks, he would pass the deal to me. The owner was also a TBN member and we exchanged several PMs on the tractor info. I didn't think too much about it since it was still in my northern friends bag, but decided to do some checking. After doing online pricing of new tractors and Tractorhouse.com comparison to prices,It looked like a very good deal and after a week or two of checking, my PM guy said that he would pass the deal to me if I wanted it as he had had no luck with selling his TLB. I decided that I could use a TLB especially since my P7010 was too big for a lot of my chores now. We made the deal via email and I explained that I was overseas and wouldn't be home for a few more weeks which was ok with the seller. I ordered a 20 ft. -12K rated car hauler to be delivered to my daughters house in Houston so when I came home I could drive down, visit a day or so, take the trailer and go pick up my TLB. Did exactly that, then headed North to visit two of my sisters. Made the 1000 mile trip dragging the trailer and tractor about 600 of those miles, visited daughter and grandkids, 2 sisters and made it home 3 days after I left with a new addition to the crib. Now I end up using the TLB more than the LS. I still can hardly believe how versatile a TLB is and how much I use it. Cant believe that I got by without one for so long.
We are kind of tractor poor on the 42 acre farm now with a 19HP JD, 26 HP Kubota, 45 HP NH and 70HP LS but we have sure spread the money around amongst different brands. Also indispensable on the farm are BIL's JD Gator and my Kubota RTV900 which are daily users for both hauling and just plain save the legs transport. That is another thing I didn't think would be needed but soon realized the importance of having transport around the hills, creeks and 1/4 mile x1/4 mile property

 

[ajd187]

I bought a Deere X320 in 2010 because we just bought a house with a 2 acre yard, all grass. Coming from the suburbs with a 0.25 acre lot, my little 24" push mower wasn't going to do the job. I bought mostly because of brand recognition and the fact that it was priced fairly competitively against Kubota, Cub Cadet, etc. I chose a lawn tractor over a ZTR because I thought I would mount a snowblower to it to clear our 150' driveway. But once I saw the cost of doing that, I bought a 30" Troy Bilt snowblower instead.

Well after 3.5 summers and 3 full winters, I realized all the equipment was too small. I was going to get a ZTR and a plow contract. But then I found the cost of plow contracts! So I decided on a 1025R instead. Before buying I priced the Kioti CS2410, MF GC1705, and Kubota BX series. I ended up going with the Deere because the pricing was close and they have a few premium features that the others don't. Plus I had dealt with the same sales guy on my X320 a few years back, and my wife went to college with the service manager at this dealership.

 

[Beltman60]

first thanks to Tim720 for starting such a cool thread

My experience with tractors started at birth with my grandfather owning 60 acres of some pretty hilly land
Buy the time I was about 12 I was runny his tractors doing anything he would do with them
He had a Massey Harris 50 with a gravity loader and trip bucket
With no power steering and him raising about 50 head of cattle a year made me get some big arms at an early age cleaning the barns out about every 2 months

His other tractor that was mostly for the field work was a MF165 diesel
Great tractor for plowing, planting, and hay making

Now when I was 14 my parents moved the family to a 42 acre farm that was mostly flat hay fields
My dad bought a JD 2010 diesel that would really like to drink the fuel
It did a good job at making hay at first then plowing, planting and working the fields

In 76 he bought one of the best tractors I feel at the time were out there
A Deutz diesel 6206 that would pull hard and sip the fuel
He still has it today with 7800 hrs and it still looks almost new (still gets a wash and wax job every year)

OK now my story
When my wife and I were in the process of buying a farm for my daughters horse habit I gave my dad 10k in cash to go find me a tractor that would fit our needs
After about 30 auctions and numerous driving around to see the best tractor in the county (yeh right) he came up with nothing
In the mean time he let me bring his Deutz down and use it to do some bush hogging and other stuff
Even growing up using that tractor I was intimidated around the barns and knew I didn't want anything that big

He said that he had 2 auctions within about 30 miles coming up on a Sat and I should come with him and see what was out there
we go to both auctions and they have what I think I'm looking for (something in the 40HP range with a FEL)
So we go and start the bidding on a JD 2020 leaking oil everywhere with what looks to have 6800 Hrs (broken tach)
I go up to 8k and the bidding continues up to $10200.
I look at my dad and he says see what I mean they go for a couple of grand over for what they sold new 40 years ago

Well we don't even go back to the other place because it had a newer tractor in better shape that was larger
On the ride home I was pretty disappointed in the fact that I didn't think I would be able to buy a tractor but needed one in the worst way once the weather broke

You see I have one of those penny pinching wives that told me under no circumstances we are going to buy a new tractor
So I've been looking into all sorts of tractors on for about 6-7 months now and finding nothing
I start looking at things about 5 years old only to find that they go for only a couple of grand less than new

So despite the wrath of a woman I go and price out new with her not knowing of coarse
I go and check all the different colors, just need a tractor

I end up going out to a place my dad had done some business with over the years and talk to the salesman he knew him pretty well
He spends about 2 hrs. with me looking over his inventory and other stock he can get
He also lets me know about there zero % financing for 72 months
So I go home and with my tail between my legs tell the wife what I have been doing the past month
She is a little upset but heres me out
I tell her on monday for lunch we would meet out there and consider buying new as we would not have to let go of the 10k I gave my dad and we could use that for other things her and my daughter wanted or needed and our payments would only be $200/ month
She looked at me and said why do I need to go you already made your mind up and thats it
I said we go out there and you don't approve we won't get it but think about what I said for the next day and a half and meet me there

Monday comes and the wife is hardly talking to me
On the way out the door to go to work I ask her if I should pick her up at work or will she meet me over there?
She says she'll meet me

We get there about the same time and meet with the salesman and he has it right up front by the front of the sales office
All nice and clean and ready to go
I ask my wife do you want to get on it and drive it?
She looks at me and says what do I know about driving a tractor
I tell her because it is hydrosatic it drives just like her automatic car
So she hops on it to amuse me and I show her how to start it (you know turn the key thing)
And have her put it in gear lift the FEL and show her the forward and back peddles and off she takes
Goes down the drive and on the way back I notice a slight smile
She pulls up to where the salesman and I are standing and releases the forward peddle and almost comes off the tractor
Looks up at us and says might take a little getting use to
She says go ahead if thats what I want

So go in to have him price some things I want on it (rear remotes and a few other things) and ask him about service and cost to pick up and deliver it for service (we have a JD dealership about 10 miles from us and he is closer to my dad and about 30 miles away) and he says for the next 3 years any time they pick it up and deliver it it will cost $50
I said DEAL

So in April of 2011 I became the proud owner of a NEW JD 3032E
It now has close to 300 hrs on it with no service needed only required maintenance

I use it hard for it being the little thing that it is and it hasn't let me down
I've had it on 2 wheels too many times and in mud down to the axles

Now that wife of mine who was totally against getting a new tractor, well after a month or so she tells me I don't know how we did without it the first 8 months and go ahead and sent in 2 payments
I told her not while paying 0% on that money but I get the hint

All is good