First Time Tractor: Some advice please?

[TripleR]

I'll add a couple of things based on my opinion only and not intended to ruffle any feathers.

To start with scwells64, I would advise against the 3301 gear just because you'll loose the "live pto". It sounds like you have plans to do regular pto work and the overrun clutch type will get old quick. The extra power for 6' implements and live pto is why to me the 3901 is a better choice.

I'll add this. I married a city girl and brought her to the country. She had never been on a tractor in her life and needed to be trained. I taught her how to operate and a gear transmission was part of the training. My point is "Wife" and "HST" don't have to go together. It's a preference, not a requirement.

Yet again, another one of those "it depends" things. My wife drove geared trucks, cars and motorcycles much of her life, but now it's physically painful.

Just something to think about as we are not all the same and certainly neither are our wives. For your situation it may be a preference, but in others it may well be a requirement.

Now if any of the mentioned models came with hydraulic shuttle...

 

[zippyslug31]

Hey Zippy,
do you run a 6ft cutter as well, or a 5ft?

I may still go gear, as most of the time I will be driving up and down the field! And as I started out with a budget for a L3301, and trying to stay close to the figure I threw at the wife a while back! If she is happy, everybody is happy!


Simon

No cutter in my barn yet Simon... unfortunately. Unsure about which one would be best on the 3901.

I don't recall the numbers when I was pricing mine. Just curious what the difference in cost for HST vs geared is running these days?
Also wondering, have you driven either/both of these transmissions yet? Should help massively with your decision.

While everybody's tolerance to money differs, when I bought mine I just sort of closed my eyes to the final number and spec'd it out with everything that I wanted. I justify it to myself with the "free money" that Kobota offers in financing; that can't be beat. I knew that later on there would be no way I'd want (or possibly could) buy a, for example, backhoe costing damn near $10k... so I just piled it onto my quote. As I recall it, the HST is required for a BH, so I didn't have much choice and let that cost get lumped in too. This turned out to be a happy accident since I didn't think I wanted the HST.
A year later and I (and my wife) have been nothing but pleased with it.
Guess my point is, since I don't farm this will probably be the first and last new tractor that I'll ever have to buy and if I had gone with "probably good enough" I wonder how sorry I would be?
I'm sure I'll be thanking myself for many years to come for not cutting many corners on the options or the model I selected. Of course for yourself you'll need to weigh what your intentions are with the machine and which models will do what you need.

 

[Bulldog]

TripleR, what you said about being in pain is a different ball game all together.

My previous comments were more toward the ones who say their wife isn't capable of using a gear tractor. Not because of pain or injury, just because of lack of training. It just kind of chaps me when I hear HST and blame it on the wife.

I guess my best bet would have been to keep my mouth shut in the first place. Sorry to all my Orange Brothers and Wives...

 

[zippyslug31]

It just kind of chaps me when I hear HST and blame it on the wife.

Couldn't agree more. I'll be the first to admit that I'm really glad I ended up with an "auto"... and I'm a guy who loves manual transmission cars (all 3 of the ones I drive are manuals!).

It's only a bonus that my wife doesn't hesitate to jump behind the wheel... largely due to the HST (she hates driving my cars )

 

[TripleR]

TripleR, what you said about being in pain is a different ball game all together.

My previous comments were more toward the ones who say their wife isn't capable of using a gear tractor. Not because of pain or injury, just because of lack of training. It just kind of chaps me when I hear HST and blame it on the wife.

I guess my best bet would have been to keep my mouth shut in the first place. Sorry to all my Orange Brothers and Wives...

Quite the contrary, you have a wealth of knowledge that we all appreciate and the best way to make a good choice is to be exposed to all opinions and experience.

I hope I didn't offend you or anyone else.

 

[Bulldog]

I hope I didn't offend you or anyone else.

Far as being offended that didn't happen. I wish I had thought about what I was saying because the point about a injury had never crossed my mind. I guess it should because 3 years ago I was paralyzed from the neck down and lost about 95% of my eye sight. I was lucky and by the grace of God have got over most of it and can do almost everything I used to do, just slower.

Thanks for opening my eyes to a wider point of view.

 

[CaveCreekRay]

Holy MOLY!

(Counting my blessings -AGAIN!)

Ray