Buying Advice Yet another newbie, trying to size this right

[leonz]

Chuck -- I've sent you a PM.

All -- I'm a bit confused, probably due to my complete lack of knowledge on 'best price' and how much attachments cost.

So I ask this question with open honesty; I'm not at all attached to that 7610... but doesn't the inclusion of a backhoe and snowblower account for the price on that used tractor? And the low hours? (132 hrs seems low to me. No? Yes?)

For comparative purposes: The same dealer quoted us $25,800 for a new B2320, same equipment.

Editing to add: You are an amazingly helpful group of folks!! Thank you all SO much for this input!!!

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As long as you are shopping:

Seriously;

You should ask Brady and Steve Barlow for a price for a BX2660 or an L with a Kubota Deluxe Cab with all weather cab with air conditoning and heater.

Be sure to ask for the deluxe Kubota seat that also swivels so you can use a rear mounted snow caster.


Please contact Ken Sweet for a price for an Allied Farm King snow caster as he is a forum sponsor in good standing. He ships to all his customers from his warehouse in Kentucky.

With regard to snow casters you have to look at one thing, and one thing only which is the size of the "impeller drum" which is the business end of things.

The larger the impeller drum in diameter width and height the greater the snow casting ability.

For example the Group 2 snow casters built by Pronovost have impellers up to 34 inches in diameter with an 12 inch deep impeller drum so you have to be sure you have a very large impeller for the snow caster.


The front mounted snow casters have a smaller impeller drum in most cases as the snow casters size is limited by the underframe mounting system and the propeller shaft arrangements from the mid mount P.T.O. forward.

The front mount snow casters are also limited to the machine that they are mounted on and lose trade in value as they can not be mounted on other machines in most cases, whereas a rear mounted snow caster can be mounted on a new machine with ease as the larger ones are group two mounting systems.

You lose much less value with rear mounted snow caster as it can be mounted on larger machines.

And driving in reverse with the rear hydro pedal is not hard to do as you can simply twist slightly in the seat and use your left foot to push the reverse pedal down and braking is esasy as the snow caster will become an anchor as it is being pushed on the ground and it will create a large amount of drag to stop the BX or L quickly.

You can buy a wider snow caster with no worries as it will still be an excellent snow removal tool and you wil be able take half cuts at a higher travel speed and you will never be underpowered as the design of the rear mount snow casters will pull all the deep snows into the impeller.


With regard to mowers you should also ask Ken Sweet about his line of flailmowers as a flailmower can be used for lawn mowing and pastures as well as trails with less work and much better mowing.

The flail mower with its design will not throw things like a rotary mower will if it impacts them and is safe to use around 2 and 4 legged rug rats and especially along ditches and mowing a yard.


You should also look at our flailmower threads to see the advantages of a flailmower and there are lots of good before and after photos too.

 

[acme97]

For what it's worth, you might want to consider either a 4n1 bucket or a root grapple for whatever unit you go with. I have a 4n1 on my Kubota L35 backhoe and a WR Long Root Grapple on my Kioti DK50SE. To move piles of stuff and clean up, which sounded like one of the main things you would be doing for a while, they are a life saver!

 

[Ductape]

Polimom, I'm in NH also, and if you'd like ....... you are more than welcome to come to my house and check out my B3030. With enough notice, I could get a few attachments ready for you to hook up, if not use. You can ask questions, and I'd be happy to offer advice in a nonsalesman-like setting. Like anything else, in the tractor world, the sky is the limit. It can be difficult to discern between good advice, bad advice, and fantasy advice. I will agree with other members here who have suggested starting with the B series, and possibly going up in size. Although the BX is a great, capable tractor, it's weak point is ground clearance. For bush hogging, and alot of dirt work, you would want to add some belly protection to the BX to avoid expensive damage to the hydrostaic cooling fan. The B2X20 series tractors are excellent, and worth looking at in comparison to the 7610. Again, the 7610 is an excellent tractor, but it may be worth considering the improvements Kubota made over the 7610, such as the three range transaxle, under-seat mounted hydraulic valve, integrated backhoe, etc. Stepping up to the 'large' B series , such as the B3200, etc. will give you more capacity to run larger attachments ..... such as a 5' bush hog insted of 4', etc. Steeping up to the L series again brings potentially more capacity. But, running a front blower will require going up to the Grand L without going with an aftermarket, rear PTO front blower.

The price on the 7610 you got isn't terrible, but if you are seriously interested, I'd be offering less. One thing I have to say is, that whomever traded that in took a beating at that dealer...... so there is definitely room to move on their asking price. As has already been said ........ if you intend to finance, do some real number crunching. Once you factor in interest on a used tractor purchase, you should consider new. With zero percent financing AND a factory warranty ....... it makes the difference between new and used much smaller.

 

[Chilly807]

I guess you need to look at several factors, including what you're going to be doing the most of, and how fast you want to get the jobs done. For active management of 16 acres, mostly forested, you need a tractor that's comfortable around the woods, with good ground clearance. My L3400 with AG tires has over 13 inches of clearance, and the underside is relatively durable. Stumps still need to be cut low, and sticks are bad news for wires, cables, and fuel filters.

If you're going to be managing the woods properly, you will need either good solid clear trails or some excavator time to put in proper roads for access. A small backhoe simply won't cut it for that kind of work, they're best at small ditching jobs, getting out small stumps, generally at digging minor holes.

For 2 acres of pasture you don't need an L series to mow, that's about an hour job with mine. A B would be a nice fit for that.

Loader capacity is something to consider. Until you get up into the Grand L series, most loaders don't have much lifting power. The Kubota loaders, in case you didn't know, are rated in KGs of lift ability related to the loader number. I.e., an LA463 loader will lift 463 kilograms of weight at the bucket pins.

Front mount snowblowers will normally require a mid-PTO, I use a loader bucket and a rear blade to cope with snow. If you opt for a plow, bear in mind you need the power and more importantly, the weight to push it. Good ice chains will be a must for anything except a blower, and they're never a bad thing even with a blower.

The BX's excel at semi-urban chores, they're great for mowing big lawns. The L's are good for hobby farming, we have a small horse operation in a rural setting. The B's bridge the gap between BX and L.

Fuel consumption shouldn't even be a consideration to you. Until you get up over 50 HP, none of them burn enough fuel to be a concern in my opinion.

Tires may be, however. AG tires are to lawns what garlic is to a vampire, but have great traction under poor conditions. R4's are better around lawns, depending on how much the tractor weighs, but offer less traction in mud and snow.

Sean

 

[Agrantina]

I dont have much to add but I skipped the B series and bought the L3240 which I really love. I dont think I would have been as happy with less HP or smaller tractor. I was very surprized on the tight turning radius of the L3240 and its just at 5ft wide with AG tires I have.. I 100% happy with it, but now I want the 4240 with a CAB!!!!!!!!!:confused2:

AndyG

 

[General Lee]

I vote for at least a B3200. It has a mid pto so you'll have that for your snowblower. I I i used to have a B3200 and it was a decent powered tractor. A little on the light side for heavy ground engaging work in my opinion. It sounds like you have alot of future ground engaging projects, with that said I'd take a look at the L3200 or L3800. They can be priced decently but you won't have the mid pto. I've been doing alot of projects around my place and from owning a B series and now an L series, if I were you look no smaller than one of the larger B's such as a 2920, 3200, 3300.

 

[Chilly807]

What's the latest verdict on the B3200 engine vibration? I've never owned one, but heard a few say they found the vibration level objectionable..

Sean

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I had a B3200 and never had a problem with the vibration. Never noticed it at the RPMs I ran at doing the jobs and implements I used.

 

[Polimom]

Wow. You folks are flat-out wonderful! Thank you SO much for all the thoughtful input! I wish I could say I understood everything said in this thread; hopefully I'll look back one day and laugh at myself. :thumbsup:

Ductape -- I'll PM you, see if there's a way to work that out -- very kind offer!

Sean -- thoughts on the woods challenges are great. I need to get a bona fide forester out here to draw up a management plan, and it may very well turn out that we bring somebody in for some selective cutting anyway, which will necessarily require some access bigger than foot trails. Worst case, we'd be cleaning up their access if we do that.

It's most likely we're going to end up with either the 7610 or a new 2320. Hubby's shift up is reluctant, and we've had an astounding number of large 'one-time' expenses out here in our first year on the property.

Best I can tell, though, if we call this wrong and still end up too small, the worst that will happen is we'll be handling tasks more slowly than optimal... and all of these tractors seem to hold value for resale astoundingly well (compared to... say... a car).

Given that we started this whole process with a determination to buy a sub, I'd say we've learned a lot here.

 

[Reg]

Yet another "I'm a newbie, I need advice" thread. Very sorry -- but... well... I am a newbie. And I need advice.

My husband and I bought a place w/ 16 acres; 2 acres or so pasture and a pond, another acre or so for the house and lawn, and the rest is woods with overgrown trails. Prior owners kept horses (4 stall barn), and the pastures are split-rail fenced -- mostly. (The rest of the fencing is rock walls and piled tree limbs.) The land is rocky and hilly, and some of the woods are wet. Probably 300+ ft drive, paved, curved and hilly.

We have an old beater Snapper to mow the lawn, so any mowing we'd do with the tractor would be brush hogging in the pastures / barn lot.

We think we need: FEL, backhoe, serious front-mount snowblower, and the brush hog. Backhoe would be for clearing drainage and stream outlets, repairing fences, moving boulders (if weight is too high, we'll dig holes and roll), pulling smaller trees / stumps.

We also think we need to stay on the small dimension side, to manage rehabilitation of the woods trails (navigation issues).

We've looked at several new tractors, like the Kubota B2320. The dealer has a used B7610 as well.

What think ye? Is that the right range for the work we have?

What THIS "Ye" thinks is that you have little/no idea of what size tractor you want/need, other than small enough to fit between some trees of unspecified size and spacing.... however you seem to have already settled on a brand name (-:
??? Curious ???

I don't know your budget - or if you will be assuming that 0% interest financing is somehow "free".
You seem a bit set on having a back hoe, which is a FINE idea, but that is one of the more expen$ive attachments and there ARE other ways of doing most of what you outlined.

I'm going to suggest you look at something along the lines of a used TLB, say a JD 110.
The construction industry is still DOWN, you may be able to find one in a distressed sale situation.
That will get you through the major HEAVY tasks and if you sell it in a couple of years - hopefully if/when the construction biz has recovered - you have a good/fair chance of recovering ALL your investment.
BTW, these are about twice the weight of many Cat 1 CUTs, so offer some serious digging, pulling, pushing power.

You might like it, you may want to not downsize a couple of years from now (-:

I am a bit puzzled that you are visiting "Show rooms" looking at "New and shiny things".
Again, I think the used market would offer better value, as long as you aren't just looking for a driveway ornament to impress neighbors with.
See other thread on such topics as waxing tractor wheel rims (-: