Thanks for helping me get this :)

   / Thanks for helping me get this :)
  • Thread Starter
#21  
Thanks, I feel pretty thankful to get this tractor.
 
   / Thanks for helping me get this :) #22  
Plastic lasts a long time. I bought a Korean microwave at BJ's Wholesale Club some years ago, and about ten years later I noticed that the controls seemed to be disintegrating. I investigated and found that I'd never removed the plastic store protection. Did that, and it lasted another ten years. It was still going strong when the spouse decided she deserved a new one. This one from China, sigh.
 
   / Thanks for helping me get this :) #23  
As others applaud, me too -- I think buying at 435hrs a barn-kept or garage-kept machine that does not look like it was beat up is just about the perfect compromise between buying new vs finding a good one used. It will outlast you and I would expect be reliable.

About the filters -- you can't really tell from them about oil changes nor is it all that important.

About tire notching: Don't do it. The benefits are negligible if not negative. The last time I notched tires was my tricycle when I was 5 years old and I still regret it. I expected it to do better in mud and maybe it did but the damage was worse than the benefit -- as it would be for your Kubota.

I have never owned a cab model and in my circumstances that's a good thing. I'd have torn it to pieces bush hogging and bouncing around. I assume you checked the cab features like heat and air conditioning. Cabs are full of things to go wrong but in adverse weather obviously worth it.

For next spring: Tillers are hard to go wrong in that you'll never put that many hours into one (I bet) and getting some good brand that is not worn out is pretty easy to do. The grapple is going to be a much-used tool if you have any farm connections, woodlands or woodsy things to do. May be on the tractor more than the bucket. Thankfully you have a skid-steer compatible quick attach (SSQA) on your loader so there are hundreds of things that fit to pick from.

Grapples are readily available for SSQA mounting and you need not go for the high priced spread nor the ones that are very heavy and 'heavy duty' claiming. Many on the market. I like the ones made in the cottage industry that seems to breed among themselves down in the Carolinas and makes near identical units. I use the Wildkat brand (same as Mid-state or Pro-Works) in the $1500 bracket new weighing 785 lbs and mostly made of 3/8" steel. Teeth are pairs of 3/8" plate and yet described as medium duty. Heck it is indestructible in reasonable usage I think. I found I could pick that sort of tool up at a dealer with nothing more than my pickup truck and save some $.

For my limited knowledge/skills I think having the 3rd function controls installed on your tractor is better than doing yourself. If you have the extra remote in back for hydraulics it is an "any shop" kind of job or do it yourself & just use one of your remotes and in-cab control valve. But the first class way to do it is (what you alluded to) with the 3rd function in the loader valve joystick and I'd have that done by a tractor shop.
 
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   / Thanks for helping me get this :) #24  
After lurking and hopefully learning from everyone here, I finally got my first tractor today.

It's a 2012 Kubota M7040 with 435 hours that's been garage kept all these years. Got the zerks greased up today, the coolant tested good, changed the wiper blade and peeled all the factory plastic off the seat....it's mine now.

Tomorrow I'll change the oil and filter, fuel filter, check fluid in the diffs, transmission fluid and install my LED headlights and change all the other aux lights/turn signal bulbs to LED as well. I'm sure I'll think of more. In a few days I'll pick up my 85" 3 point snow blower from the Kubota dealership down the road. They said something about having to cut the PTO shaft to fit the M7040. Also my tire groover will be here in a couple days so I'll be able to groove the tire lugs for a bit better traction.

Thanks for all the experience you guys have.....I'm sure I'll need assistance again.

Anyway, here are a few pics :)

The "other" orange ride sitting in the barn is my daughter's car.
Good choice. I have a 2007 model of the same tractor (no cab - my bad). It does everything I need on my 90 acre cattle “ranch”. I love it.
 
   / Thanks for helping me get this :) #25  
After lurking and hopefully learning from everyone here, I finally got my first tractor today.

It's a 2012 Kubota M7040 with 435 hours that's been garage kept all these years. Got the zerks greased up today, the coolant tested good, changed the wiper blade and peeled all the factory plastic off the seat....it's mine now.

Tomorrow I'll change the oil and filter, fuel filter, check fluid in the diffs, transmission fluid and install my LED headlights and change all the other aux lights/turn signal bulbs to LED as well. I'm sure I'll think of more. In a few days I'll pick up my 85" 3 point snow blower from the Kubota dealership down the road. They said something about having to cut the PTO shaft to fit the M7040. Also my tire groover will be here in a couple days so I'll be able to groove the tire lugs for a bit better traction.

Thanks for all the experience you guys have.....I'm sure I'll need assistance again.

Anyway, here are a few pics :)

The "other" orange ride sitting in the barn is my daughter's car.
Good choice. I have same model and love it.
 
   / Thanks for helping me get this :) #26  
Looks about as close to new that you can get in a used machine. Congratulations, Great choice and find in tough times.
 
   / Thanks for helping me get this :)
  • Thread Starter
#27  
Looks about as close to new that you can get in a used machine. Congratulations, Great choice and find in tough times.
Thanks. You mention "tough times" and I see it everywhere. Shortages of many things and what you can get the prices are through the roof. I figured I better not let this slip away or I'd regret it.
 
   / Thanks for helping me get this :) #28  
This coming summer I'll be getting a tiller, set of forks and adding a third function for a grapple
Congrats; very nice find and I'm sure you will love it.

I know this is almost heresy to advocate this on this site, but I would not get a third function to operate a grapple because you have no reliable way to feather the operation of the grapple. Instead I'd use the rear remotes which are controlled by a real valve.

I spent the money to put a third function on my 4060, used it for one day and went back to using the rear remotes like I had on all of my previous tractors. I even tried using a flow control valve on the third function, but that didn't work either.

My grapple is part of my pallet forks and I use it to secure loads as well as a way to hold brush and logs on the forks. As such I need to be able to softly open/close the grapple to hold what is occasionally a pretty fragile load or to slowly release a log into the dump trailer. The fast action of the third function just didn't do that for me.

Just my $.02 based on my experience.
 
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   / Thanks for helping me get this :)
  • Thread Starter
#29  
Thanks for your input. I don't need to to a lot of work fast and would much prefer to be able to finess the grapple.
 
   / Thanks for helping me get this :) #30  
Very well kept machine. Enjoy.
 
 
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