Why is green paint so expensive?

[RollTideRam]

I sold my 20 year old Deere and bought a new one. That is what I wanted. I drove by a Kubota dealer, but I don't like the color. I shopped around and got the best price I could get on my 2520, then I bought it. I'm happy and that's all that matters to me. JC

 

[NDAWIND]

Cliff I agree with you. Im new here and know less about tractors than probably most people here, but it is like Deja Vu reading these type of threads. Reminds me of the motorcycle forums. People would always have to come in and say how much smarter they were for buying a Honda vs a Harley. After all they both get you from A to B, etc, etc, and the Honda is cheaper. Funny thing was often times the loudest of those wound up on a Harley later on. You are right anytime someone starts a sentence with "not to" thats exactly what they are trying to do. I will never understand why anyone cares what someone else buys, but hey Im not a smart person or I wouldnt have bought an overpriced Harley and JD.

 

[patrick_g]

Yanmar diesels in boats? Sure. The little twin was very popular for small sailboat aux engines. Mostly it was a price thing but they were OK, mostly. Serious folks went Westerbeke or Perkins 4 bangers in boats over 30 ft and up to the 40's and some makers put them in boats up to the 50's.

Not sure how this effects a Yanmar powered tractor.

Pat

 

[BillyP]

Yanmar diesels in boats? Sure. The little twin was very popular for small sailboat aux engines. Mostly it was a price thing but they were OK, mostly. Serious folks went Westerbeke or Perkins 4 bangers in boats over 30 ft and up to the 40's and some makers put them in boats up to the 50's.

Not sure how this effects a Yanmar powered tractor.

Pat

You lost me, Pat! What are you trying to say

Yanmar Marine SY Series (720-900 HP)

 

[Glowplug]

Im new here and know less about tractors than probably most people here. . . .but hey Im not a smart person or I wouldnt have bought an overpriced Harley and JD.

You may be inadvertently bringing up a whole separate point there. Do some people buy John Deere that don't know much about tractors just because of the familiarity? I know you are being sarcastic and I am not saying that you are not a smart person; but it does bring up that question.

 

[patrick_g]

Gemini5372, You said, "I remember when kubota was the same kind of gamble and I think you can find thousands of satisfied kubota owners."

Wow, talk about senior citizens...

Kubota has been in buisness, continuously for over 100 years. When was their survival in question? (Since WW II)

Just kidding about the senior citizen thing but not Kubota as they have been in business over 100 years. Didn't know they went through any difficult times (since WW II or at least since the 40's) None of the major makers are new to the buisness.

I am one of the Kubota owners who is pleased overall and would give Kubota a fair and equal chance to sell me another tractor in competition with the other major players. I have no ego investment in the color of my tractor. I was however feeing "validated" when it tured out that my gen contractor building my house had the same model I had (less cab.) He was a very experienced guy and operated lots of equipment and had nothing bad to say about his Kubota experience.

I'm sure there are Kubota owners who have horror stories that would curl your toenails, I just haven't met them yet.

Pat

 

[Dargo]

Do some people buy John Deere that don't know much about tractors just because of the familiarity?

I'm sure quite a lot of people do. It really wouldn't be a dumb move on their part either. I know of at least two lawyers and one physician who purchased JD tractors because they didn't know tractors all that well and had absolutely no desire to spend hours researching all the new brands. JD has proven over decades to be a good solid "blue chip" and, without doing research, would be a good safe bet for a buyer who doesn't know much about tractors. It's actually hard to see a flaw in their logic. I'm sure a lot of people just like the ones I mentioned also buy Lexus vehicles. For them, it's a pretty darn safe bet to be a quality vehicle and they needn't do hours of research first. With JD and Lexus, those people can simply pick out the one they want, negotiate or shop the price, and buy one without any second thoughts or regrets.

 

[patrick_g]

You lost me, Pat! What are you trying to say

Sorry Billy, I was relating my specific experience (limited) which was in small sailboats (usually under 40-50 ft length. Yanmar twins were very popular aux engines in that application and had a good rep for reliability in the boats under about 40 ft. It has been a few years but I think the twin was about 20 HP. Perkins and Westerbeke both had popular 4 bangers in the 25-30 Hp range. These larger engines, of course, cost more and were much quieter and smoother than the V twin. Often the boat layout/design was such that there were two basic alternatives for an aux engine. Outboard (not popular above about 25 ft or so) and a Yanmar V twin with a V drive.

I think there was a non-marine version of the V twin that was used in lots of applications other than marine, possibly a small tractor. Since the service characteristics of marine service and running a tractor are similar, the V twin I saw so many of would have make a good little tractor motor.

Being a popular marine engine is an excellent recommendaton for a tractor engine.

I have no personal experience with large Yanmars.

The Cummions B series engine (like in a Dodge) but with different injection and cam etc. is used in marine applications to produce 400 HP for days or weeks on end. Yet we don't see Cummins in a tractor so maybe that argues against my premise that marine success augers well for a good tractor motor.

Pat

 

[mike311]

I sold my 20 year old Deere and bought a new one. That is what I wanted. I drove by a Kubota dealer, but I don't like the color. I shopped around and got the best price I could get on my 2520, then I bought it. I'm happy and that's all that matters to me.

rolltideram, I like the way you think!

 

[flusher]

I'll be honest. I really want to buy a Deere, but Kubota and NH both offer more tractor for the same amount of money. At least that's how it stacks up in my area. I won't even complain about all of the other colors that offer more bang for the buck.

I guess it's just frustrating to have to compromise on what I want in a tractor (HP, 4WD,tranny, etc.), just to get a Deere. You would think that the "Big 3" would be pretty close on price. I guess those extra dollars go toward marketing, which is why I want a Deere to start with.

My question is: Why should I spend the extra $3-6k to "go green"? I'd love to hear biased and unbiased answers.

Don't have a good answer to your question. But here's my story.

In May05 I bought my first tractor, a new 2005 21-hp Kubota B7510HST with LA302 FEL (4-ft bucket) for $12,600 ($10,000 for the tractor, $2600 for the FEL per the invoice) with the 0% financing for 36 months deal. Had just bought a 10-acre spread (flat pasture land) in Jan05 and getting something to mow the weeds was the first priority.

I looked at JD, NH, Mahindra. The JD and NH equivalents were a few thousand more expensive while the Mahindra was within $100 of the 7510 price. I didn't have a strong preference for any tractor color then and still don't.

I'll admit that the extra bucks for the JD and NH brands was some deterrent, but if I had really wanted a green or blue tractor I would have paid the difference willingly.

I also looked hard at Yanmar, especially a YM1700 with a 4-ft Kokyer FEL.

Decided that I would go orange since Kubota has the lion's share of the CUT market along with a good reputation for reliability.

I got a lot done in the 18 months that I've owned the 7510 and don't regret the purchase. Only 17 more payments and it's all mine.

But like Dwight Yoakam sings: "Baby things change". I decided last summer that I want to be a hobby hay farmer. Need more tractor hp for tilling, so in July06 I bought a 1966 MF-135 diesel (45-hp engine) to handle the plowing/discing chores. I'm cleaning up and repainting the 135 now (the cold weather project).

If I had it to do over again and knew then what I know now, in early 05 I probably would have seriously considered a pre-owned 60-70hp tractor like the JD-2640 with a 6-ft FEL bucket that my neighbor has. There are plenty of pre-owned JDs around here and I probably could have found a 1970s-80s vintage JD/FEL combo in the $10-15K range that fit my wants. In fact, finding that JD is my project for 2007.

I'll keep the 7510 for a while since it's small, light weight and handy for working around the house and orchard.