L2501 tlb

[Tunaslayer]

Hello!

I am in the process of buying my first tractor. I gave the dealer this information for my purchase:
-L2501 HST 4wd
-LA525 QA with 66" bucket
-BH77 with 16" bucket and thumb
I was a little shocked at the pricing my dealer gave me. (~29000~ before tax and insurance) There was no special equipment other than the R4 tires. I have been lurking on the forum for a while, and it seems like these are going for around 25-26K. I really want some rear remotes and the third function as part of the deal, but then I will be way outside my budget. So, do you guys that get all the smokin deals just go in and tell them what you want to pay? I have no problem with negotiation, I just wanted some insight as to what is acceptable. I really don't want to insult the guy to the point where he does not want to even deal. Here is my math, please tell me if I am crazy here: $25,645.90 before tax, freight, and insurance.

Base price on Kubota.com: 31,051.00
Minus 10% (3,105.10) 27,945.90
Minus 2300 in Rebates 25,645.90

thanks for any help, and I can not wait to get the General Lee into my Garage.

 

[virginiavenom]

should be able to get it for 26k without any real effort.

 

[XSFMED18D]

Call Barlows in KY and get a quote. At least you'll be able to compare.

 

[MadMax31]

Brady ( Barlows) quoted me 18,000 for L2501 with QT loader and Turfs. BH would fetch 1k per foot. 7' BH 7,000.

 

[Grumpyjoe]

Curious what the end was on this. I just looked at a B26 TLB and was quoted $30k. It is a much heavier and stronger construction tractor. I am still trying to justify the $30k and bouncing between the BX25d and B26. Only a few financing days left this year.

 

[Tunaslayer]

So I settled on the following equipment:

L2501HST with loaded R4 tires and cruise control and clevis hitch
LA525 with QA66' buchet
BH77 with 16" bucket and mechanical thumb

32,000 ish with tax and insurance. I forget the exact number. It worked out to $6000 in cash for the 20% down, and then 325 a month in payments for 84 months. I am sure it is just more expensive near me, as every large purchase I have made has been off the charts. (I live in mass-average cost of living is Ranked 16th most expensive in the continent of America). But there was no wiggle room. There was literally a guy right behind me buying the same tractor, and the salesman suggested going to look at other brands, as these are selling for this price in our area, and that is that. Kinda sucks, but at the end of the day, I am willing to spend a couple thousand more to have dealer service local. The service manager is extremely knowledgeable about the Kubota brand, and actually helped me with my final decisions on the purchase. I plan to keep this machine forever, so a little bit extra up front will be quickly forgotten years from now. Now don't rub it in my face how some billy bob dealer in Mississippi is selling the same machine for 6k less. Just don't want to know..

 

[Thorny]

I agree with you TunaSlayer. There are some dealers who are blowing out the prices, but I suspect that the majority of us are paying a few K more than the numbers I see quoted on this site.

 

[millsrv]

I purchased my L2501 HST 4x4 back in November 2015 at Dolk Tractor in Rio Vista CA.
The Tractor was a lease return form the 2015 Grape Harvest (towed a trailer through vineyard) and had 24 hours on it. It came with zero percent financing for 60 months and the full factory warranty starting the day I purchased it. It is worth noting that there were substantial factory rebates at the time, that reduced the price.
I ordered the Skid Steer Quick Release, 66 inch bucket, R4 Tires, 3rd function kit, and BH77 backhoe with mechanical thumb, all of which the dealer installed. In addition they fully serviced the tractor, included the upgraded pin adjustable 3 point hitch, and threw in a factory shop manual at my request.
They delivered the tractor to my home about 90 miles away. Total cost, including CA Sales (Tax 7.25% in my area) $25,740.
I found the dealers in Central CA to be all over the map on pricing, so shopping dealers proved to be worth the effort.

As of yesterday the tractor has 105 hours on it and is working great.

 

[Tunaslayer]

Millsrv, how is the backhoe performance? We are gonna be tractor Eskimo cousins! I have received some mixed reviews about the combination, and was wondering what your take was. I really want to know if the hoe can pick up the back of the machine? This seems key for scooting and manuerving while trenching. Also, is the leg room as bad as some others have sited? I am taking delivery late next week, so I guess I'll see soon enough, but just wanted your take, as you have owned it for some time now, and have some real world experience. Also, any Pics?!?

 

[millsrv]

Please understand this is my first backhoe and I have zero experience operating others. I am a retired mechanic.
That said, this combination works perfectly for me on my property. We have 10 acres in the Sierra Foothills 2200' elevation right in the middle of historic gold mining country. Rocks are everywhere and the soil types range from sand to concrete like. Everywhere I want to dig I am able to excavate the soil I need to. Sometimes it takes longer due to having to dig around a chunk of granite, quartz, or you name it.
As far a seating, considering I am 6'2 and pushing 265 pounds, no there is not much room. I did raise the seat for the BH77 as high as possible and that helps considerably. There is enough room, could be more, but enough. I do not like having to pull the spring pin on the BH seat every time I fold it up in order to move the tractor for example while trenching. This brings us to your question about scooting the tractor along using the BH. I have done this and it works. Reaching around to raise the loader bucket is doable then raising the outriggers and using the BH will in fact move the tractor, although I have not actually raised the rear wheels off the ground. I am not sure if it will do that although I will try the next time I use the BH.
My friend purchased a L3900 one year prior to me buying my L2501, he also has 10 acres nearby. He opted not to buy the BH77 when he ordered the tractor. He tried mine and now has one for his tractor. I believe you made a great choice buying it now because they are hard to find used, they hold their value big time, and you cannot get zero percent financing unless you buy it with the tractor (at least you could not then, don't know about now).
Let us know how yours works out and sleep well, you made an excellent choice of equipment.

 

[Tunaslayer]

Nice Pics! I am glad to hear the BH77 is not a weakling on the L2501. There are a lot of factors that go into making a machine perform the way you want, and sometimes this leads to sacrifices. I want the ability to take the BH77 off, and do some loader work. This is why I loaded the tires. If it affects the BH performance in a negative way, well I see this as a fair trade off for the performance gains. Only time will tell now. I am still waiting on the delivery...This is the longest 2 weeks I have had in a while! I will upload some shots of the new tractor after delivery, and if I can in fact raise the back of the tractor with the FEL bucket down (not pivoting off the front tires), I will be sure to document it in some photos.

 

[millsrv]

I see that you ordered the tires to be loaded, this is a very good idea and necessary in my opinion. We are in the mountains and therefore have steep grades on our property, the more weight, the better. Be careful when you remove the BH as you will get used to its weight and when it is not there the tractor is very different animal, especially when using the loader. I have a vintage Gannon Rollover scraper that is very heavy so I keep that on the tractor if the BH is off, the weight is really necessary. Believe me, it is no fun sliding sideways down a muddy slope, at least not on a tractor

 

[Tunaslayer]

So I checked out the the tractor last week. Still waiting until Tuesday for delivery. Happy with the size, and the stance. Looks pretty wide and with a low center of gravity. One thing I noticed, the "cruise control" option is within reach of the BH seat, right next to the gear shifter. This might be a decent option for trench work to move the rig forward. Less stress on the moving parts of the hoe. I plan on only using the tractor without the hoe this winter for snow stacking, so I think it will stay stable. Once the dust settles, I am going to cruise Craig's for a heavy box blade for some grading work. I eventually want to find a rear discharge finish mower for the back. Has anyone put a 72" mower on one of these? 19hp at the pto makes me think a 60" might be better suited. Sounds like quality of the deck makes a big difference in the hp needed to mow, with higher blade tip speeds and such. Gonna do my homework on that one for a while.


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[rkidd]

So I checked out the the tractor last week. Still waiting until Tuesday for delivery. Happy with the size, and the stance. Looks pretty wide and with a low center of gravity. One thing I noticed, the "cruise control" option is within reach of the BH seat, right next to the gear shifter. This might be a decent option for trench work to move the rig forward. Less stress on the moving parts of the hoe. I plan on only using the tractor without the hoe this winter for snow stacking, so I think it will stay stable. Once the dust settles, I am going to cruise Craig's for a heavy box blade for some grading work. I eventually want to find a rear discharge finish mower for the back. Has anyone put a 72" mower on one of these? 19hp at the pto makes me think a 60" might be better suited. Sounds like quality of the deck makes a big difference in the hp needed to mow, with higher blade tip speeds and such. Gonna do my homework on that one for a while.


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I run a Land Pride 1672 rear discharge mower on my B2650 which is a comparable tractor and it handles it no problem at all.

 

[Tunaslayer]

Pictures as promised. When the snow dies down, I will be goin out to see if it has the grunt to lift itself with the hoe.


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[BAP]

Nice looking tractor. Should be a great machine for you.

 

[Fractal]

Nice, just got the same one myself, but with pallet forks, FEL, and a post holer. They are awesome machines!

 

[millsrv]

Looks Great, all Shiny, New, and missing the mud, Very Nice Machine. Let us know how you like it once you are able to use it.

BTW make sure to check the hydraulic fluid level after you run it using the BH and Loader for a while working out any trapped air. Sometimes the dealer does not run the machine very long and the fluid level may be low, mine was and I had to add a couple of quarts. It is important that the BH and loader are returned to their retracted (parked) position when checking the level and the fluid is warm, otherwise it is easy to overfill.

 

[Tunaslayer]

All fluids look good right now, but I will keep an eye on it. I am a little OCD with my tools, so I'll probably spend some time this winter dialing everything in to work for me. One thing I noticed right away was that the stroke on the BH levers felt a little bound. Gonna start a post in repairs to see if the gurus can help. I did try lifting the tractor, and it gets the tires off the ground, but it felt like A LOT of stress in the sub frame, and I will probably not be using the hoe to maneuver the tractor around..don't want to risk breaking something to save myself a marginal amount of time..


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[millsrv]

Here are some pictures of a Rollover Gannon Blade that I found on Craigslist.
It's not pretty but it is nice and heavy and the ripper teeth come in handy as it is very rocky here. Works great and is made of Good old American Steel!
In addition are pictures of Bucket Hooks I added shortly after purchasing the tractor, these are very handy.