Newbie needs help, all advice welcome

[chuckb50]

Hello all,

I would really appreciate some honest advice from any and all of you who hang out here at Orange Tractor. From the looks of things here there are people who know a ton about Kubotas.

My wife and I just recently bought an acreage. It needs work. Lots and lots of yard work. So here's my question.

What should I buy? Obviously you all think Kubota is the way to go, or do you? Are there any regrets out there?

I honestly have no idea what a good tractor looks like, sounds like, or should cost me. I'm sure I could go to the dealer and he could tell me 20 thousand or more reasons why I need a new one. What about used? What will I need to get me started? I realize I will need to spend some money but I don't want to waist money.

Please just chime in and tell me what your opinion is. Good, bad and ugly.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Chuck

 

[benelli_t]

How much acerage you own? What type of work does the property need. Do you own any equipment right now or do you have acsess to some? If so or they heavy duty or light duty. Once some of these questions are answered, you should be able to decide how may HP tractor you need. Oh yeah, you will need to ask yourself how much money are you willing to part with.... LOL!

 

[Mr. K]

Hey Chuck, welcome to the site and the forum, thank you for signing up!

benelli_t's right - you have to assess your needs and what you plan on using your equipment for. Mowing? Clearing a driveway? Hauling a trailer full of firewood/feed/vegetables? Digging out stumps?

Depending on your needs you'll end up with a horsepower range, 14-18 horsepower puts you into a B6000, B6100, B6200, B5200. A bit more power than that puts you in the 20s for horsepower, L2050, L2250, L2650 more than that and you are into the 30s, L3350, etc.

A 14-18 horsepower Kubota is still plenty capable. A B6200 can still blade a driveway, mow, cut and load up dirt with its loader just like any other tractor.

All of that being said, I don't think theres a Kubota owner out there that is upset that they have too much power available from their equipment! We hear guys all the time that wish they bumped up a bit to the next model.... this probably isn't helping you make up your mind!

 

[chuckb50]

Ok, I have 20 acres. Some trees, but lots of them in the wrong place. Too close into the driveway. And speaking of the driveway ... too narrow, no gravel ... needs work. Maybe I need a bobcat?? It's a fairly level area, one small slope towards the back.

I want to put some spruce trees in. Not real big ones but not seedlings either. I talked to a guy that used an auger to drill the holes for his 4' trees.
And I guess I will have to plow up or rototill the area.

Of course I'm going to want to cut the grass. A lot of it (about 12-15 acres) is in hay and the neighbor will cut it. I'm thinking I will probably get a small riding mower for around the house. Lots of shrubs and trees to navigate round. But there are some wide open areas too.

As far as the equipment I have ... a 20" push mower, a whipper snipper and a rake. Hey! I lived in the city.

As far as how much I want to spend. Well I don't know for sure. Can I get what I need for $10,000?

Thanks for your input and advice.
Chuck

 

[benelli_t]

Ok, I have 20 acres. Some trees, but lots of them in the wrong place. Too close into the driveway. And speaking of the driveway ... too narrow, no gravel ... needs work. Maybe I need a bobcat?? It's a fairly level area, one small slope towards the back.

I want to put some spruce trees in. Not real big ones but not seedlings either. I talked to a guy that used an auger to drill the holes for his 4' trees.
And I guess I will have to plow up or rototill the area.

Of course I'm going to want to cut the grass. A lot of it (about 12-15 acres) is in hay and the neighbor will cut it. I'm thinking I will probably get a small riding mower for around the house. Lots of shrubs and trees to navigate round. But there are some wide open areas too.

As far as the equipment I have ... a 20" push mower, a whipper snipper and a rake. Hey! I lived in the city.

As far as how much I want to spend. Well I don't know for sure. Can I get what I need for $10,000?

Thanks for your input and advice.
Chuck

What is your plans for the trees? If you dont plan on trying to remove huge stumps, I wouldn't get anything bigger than a 35 hp max. You would be better off having someone remove the stumps instead of spending lots of extra dollars for a bigger tractor than you need. However, a 30hp tractor with equipment will eat up 10k really quick. Just a good 30 hp 4x4 will be around 10K.

 

[chuckb50]

Thank you for your help so far. I have not had much luck finding anything yet. Everything is either too big, too old or too new (as in brand new). And I'm starting to see what you mean benelli t, it seems I'm going to have to jump off my wallet for a bit more than 10k.

I agree. I think I need to have a 30 hp 4x4. I think those are the L series. I looked at what I think was a B series and it seemed beefie enough but a tad small. As you can tell I'm not really up on my Kubota knowledge yet. However, I think the folks at this site have got lots of good info even for those of us not quite in the know yet.

I'll be back with more questions
chuck

 

[Orangefox40]

Hi Chuck,
Here it is a year later and I'm just getting the hang of this wonderful site and looking at some of the older topics. I'm wondering if you have found your dream machine or are you still hunting? I have 14 acres and yes I was looking at a 30ph 4x4 in the B7800 but even used they are hard to find and still too pricy at $18,000. My dream machine is the B21TLB loader/backhoe but these babies were built like shermine tanks for landscape contractors and even 10 year old B21s run about $23,000, now replaced by the B26TLB. I have done a fair bit of research on models and based on what you have said about your place and what you would like to do I would strongly recommend a B series Kubota. My brother-in-law has 29 acres and has a B2360 and loves it. These little mighty mights are beefier than you think and because of there compact size they are very agile as well. After looking at a lot of the web ads and dealer used equipment I placed an ad in the locate paper, (Haliburton, Ontario by the way). I was fortunate to find, very close by, a B7200HST 4x4 c/w front end loader, rear blade and rear tire chains for $6,500. Unless you plan on hugh projects I really think the L series tractors are more than the average small acreage owner needs. I also looked at the other makes such as JD, New Holland, Kioti. All are just as pricy and all come with their own set of problems. Kubota does seem to have the best track record for reliability. The one Kubota disadvantage would have to be the cost of parts. This in some cases is just short of robbery. On the other hand you only have to fix them half as often as the other makes.
For what it's worth,
Ron

 

[Eric McCarthy]

Don't let the size of these tractors fool you. I've owned a B6100E for about 8 years now and I still get blown away with the kinds of things I can do with this little slice of heaven. I grew up on an L275 that my father owns and his Kubota is still standing strong today. My thing is you get what you pay for in life. I believe Kubota's are reasonably priced. As fas as some of the other tractors out there, John Deere is an over rated over priced hunk of steel. New Holland bought out Case IH, so both a New Holland and Case tractors are now one in the same, just ones blue and the other is red. And for the love of god if you buy new or used anything make sure you get a FRONT END LOADER. Those of us less fortunate to own a loader really wish we have one on our tractors! Check out www.kubota.com for some hassle free shoping and look over www.tractorhouse.com for great deals on used tractors of all shapes sizes and flavors too!

 

[gltrap54]

Don't know about your neck of the woods Chuck, but here in good ol' NE Kansas, good used, low hours, Kubotas are as rare as hen's teeth. If you're looking for a particular model, that makes things even worse. Ebay is an option, but there's shipping & you have to trust the seller.

Traded my B7500 recently (01/300Hr) to my local dealer for a new B3200 (FEL, 72" MMM). Took a pretty good hit on the trade in, but Kubota was offering 60 months free financing......... The dealer literally had a list of potential buyers for my trade & it was sold that day..........

It's all about what you can afford to spend, but make sure you're not underpowered for the task at hand. I maintain 6A of hill ground along the Kansas River and felt my B7500 just wasn't powerful enough to do some of the things I needed to do, thus I traded up! If your pocketbook can stand it, stop by your Kubota dealer & test drive the new B3200!

 

[skeets]

Hi Chuck from another newbee,, I have to say that I owned a couple of the other brands, before I bought my BX 2360. I have 15 acres down here in SW Pa. a lot of hills and woods,, I have to say that even though it was a bit pricey compaired to the others, I should have gone with the Big Orange from the start, not saying theres not other good tractors just I wish i had started here first.
I have a push blade that works well for moving snow and gravel if you back drag it, a 60 inch mower deck that has no trouble mowing down them damn wild roses. Hauling a trailer load of fire wood no problem and a ton of stuff I could not do with the other ones now I can get into and out of places i could only look at befor..
OH and one more thing, get the bucket if you can I wish I had, I think the difference on the payments was chump change over the payment plan. And like others said I wish now I had gone next size up, not because she wont do what I want, it's simply a case of mine is bigger than yours,,,lol,,

 

[pat331]

Chuck,

You can't go wrong w/ any Kubota you choose, except that you'll want more HP at some point and WILL regret not getting a FEL if you failed to buy one initially. I bought an L35 (comes with FEL & BH) because I knew I was going to build a house and therefore I dug the foundation, dug the water & utility lines, installed the sewer system, and dug all kinds of holes to plant trees, shrubs, etc. Take of the maintenance and the Kubota will still be with you years from now. Good Luck!

 

[ValveJob]

Chuck,
Reading your post was one of the things that influinced me to join here. You might see the new thread on the L3400DT. I went through the same delima. Anything I got would have been a lot better than what I was doing (a lot of manual labor).

I felt I was doing the right thing before I bought orange but I gave it over a year of thought and a lot of looking to get there. I don't think I could be happier.

I have to move large rocks, gravel, dirt and more. I need to cut a few acres, clear, and grade. I have everything from fairly level (little of that) to too steep to drive on. A lot of hardwoods and a lot of rock and even exposed bedrock. The 4 wheel drive in my limited experience makes up for 15 plus HP, especially when combined with the compact size.

Tom

 

[woodworker]

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[woodworker]

Hi newbie from another newbie Make your decision slowly.Two of my friends bought M5040s and laughed at me when I got my L4400.We all had the same uses.Clearing woodlots,grading long driveways.planting trees ect.I agree you should get enough power and add the weight of the tractor is a major factor to consider.The L series 2800,3400 and 4400 are not fancy but are workhorses.Both of my friends tipped their 5040s over.My L4400 worked great in tight situations. When bad things happen they happen fast.good luck in your hunt for the right tractor.Orange has been good to me.

 

[woodworker]

Hi newbie from another newbie Make your decision slowly.Two of my friends bought M5040s and laughed at me when I got my L4400.We all had the same uses.Clearing woodlots,grading long driveways.planting trees ect.I agree you should get enough power and add the weight of the tractor is a major factor to consider.The L series 2800,3400 and 4400 are not fancy but are workhorses.Both of my friends tipped their 5040s over.My L4400 worked great in tight situations. When bad things happen they happen fast.good luck in your hunt for the right tractor.Orange has been good to me.