Which model to buy?

[RollTideRam]

JimmyJ, I have followed along your thread. I don't like to recommend tractors to others, but I have the 3320. Mine was a couple thousand cheaper and with alot more options including ehydro. I have noticed alot of people from your side of the border buying tractors cheaper on this side. Just for the heck of it, check out Mutton that advertises on TBN. Just to find out how much you could save even with shipping added on. JC

 

[AKfish]

Freight is a backbreaker! I've been lookin' at a new tractor for a number of months and even if you need to move somethin' 5,000 - 6,000 miles it's pretty near impossible to find anything less than $1.25/mile!

Just sold my JD970 a month or so ago. Great tractor! Had a 8B hoe with thumb, new grill guard, tranny and engine heater, expanded FEL bucket (for snow), new R1's with rims(over $1,600) plus turf's with rims, chains all-around, and a like-new 3pt log splitter, 650 hrs - $19.4K. Figured I got about $16.5K or so for the TLB.

So, arrow's price range of $11-15K with FEL is pretty much in line with that.

With 10 acres and hay to move, etc. -- I'd likely stay with a 970-1070-990 range tractor or certainly with the 3000 series.

Don't know your preferences for transmission options but after 3 years of loader work, snow, manure, etc. with a gear tractor -- I'm lookin' forward to my first HST tractor...

Get the HD bucket with your FEL. Best $250 bucks you'll spend, IMO. Also stick with the CX loader, not the X.

And... the value series 5000 tractors are an incredible machine for the money!! They will bale and mow and haul hay much, much better than the smaller frame machines. Don't discount those tractors if you have any future plans for more acreage or puttin' your own hay up or sharing crop/hay work with your neighbor's. For another $1,000 or so above what you might pay for the 3000 or 990 series tractor --- you can have a significantly more capable tractor, IMO.

It really depends on what your current work is and what you think you'll be doin' with the tractor in the next couple of years. Decisions... decisions!!

TBN is a great place to kick the tires and have everybody spend your money for ya, too!

Best of luck with your decision.

AKfish

 

[ChuckinNH]

Another possibility is the new 4105. I like the looks of the larger platform for lifting, though I'm not sure what the capabilities are. It does use a 300cx loader. The hydro is a two speed, so that might be a problem for you.

 

[Millalien]

Arrow and Millalien, are those Canadian prices you are talking about? I'm in the great white north and we get hosed on just about everything tractor-wise.

Canadian? We're talking Benjamins, baby!

My pricing is pacific northwest, which seems to be worse the some other parts of the country.

I think the key is to not jump the gun; compare prices among dealers, if possible; try to get add-ins, like chain hooks, lights and breaks on implement prices.

 

[JiminGa]

5103 with fel quoted at $18200 otd, that's alot of tractor for the money!

 

[Millalien]

I know I keep harping on this, but isn't that price w/o 4WD?

I'm very intrigued by the 5000s, they're almost a ton heavier than my 3320 but are stock w/o 4WD. We had a MF 135 which couldn't cut it for us with rear wheel drive only, and a Case 480 that was a real pain as well traction wise. The two 4WD tractors I've had (670 and 3320) fare much better. I don't use the 4WD all the time, but when I've needed it, which is almost all winter, I need it. The cost of that option on the 5103 would rule it out for me.

 

[AKfish]

It's been awhile since I played around on the Deere "build your own" for the 5000 series but it seems to me that the 4x4 option added something like $4,500 to the equation.

Then there's the dealer discount -- maybe 10% off the MSRP on the value line of tractors -- but that brings the 5103 up to $22K and change.

So, if you trick the 5000's out with the extra rear SCV and a few other options - canopy, etc.; you're still only lookin' at something like $24-$25K "out the door"!

How much more is that over a "tricked out" 3000 series?

Granted, they're a gear machine and not alot of "creature" comforts; but the Hp/Dollar equation is very impressive!

AKfish

 

[arrow]

Millalien

Its no where near the exchange rate it used to be. $20000 US is now equivalent to $20040 Canadian. A couple 3 years ago that would of been almost $30000 Canadian. Our dollar has been weakened so much, that the spread has been really narrowed

 

[exiled]

So, if you trick the 5000's out with the extra rear SCV and a few other options - canopy, etc.; you're still only lookin' at something like $24-$25K "out the door"!

Rear scvs are stanard now.

 

[JiminGa]

yes that was a 2 wheel drive quote. and exiled is right, the rear scv is standard now. mfwd would probably be a must for you guys that play in the snow. Dollar for Dollar I believe the 5103 is a much better choice for light duty farm work, but you do not get the creature comforts that the 3000 series offers.