Red, Green or Orange??

[PatMc]

I am buying my first tractor. I have 120 acres, 70% rolling fields and the remainder in woods. I plan on having a few head of livestock and doing general clean up and maintenance duty with this tractor. I have been comparing the John Deere 5055E, the Case 55A and the Kubota MX5400, all with cabs, all with front loaders and rotary cutters.

All three have about the same HP and PTO HP.

One difference I see is the weight each tractor. Case - 6834 lbs, JD - 6702 lbs and the Kubota is 4251 lbs.

The lifting capacity of the loaders also vary. Case - 4299 lbs, JD - 3192 lbs, Kubota is 2310 lbs.

Of course the price for the Case and the John Deere are very similar (Case is $1200 less expensive) and the Kubota is about $5k less than the Case.

Is that extra weight worth the extra money?

What else am I missing in my comparison?

Thanks for any input.

 

[Deuce]

I'm not too familiar with the larger sized tractors but may also want to check out Massey Ferguson if you have a dealer within reasonable distance.

Back when I was shopping I liked masseys offering that was similar to kubotas grand l60 series. But I didn't need that much tractor so went to a smaller class

 

[85Hokie]

What dealer seems to work with you the best?

All three new units?

When comparing loader caps - make sure they are describing apples and apples ......
some talk about "at the pins" some talk about distance "X" away from the pins.... huge difference.

What are all the bells and whistles that come with these? Remotes..... things in Cab..... other variables?

 

[BigG]

Are you going to be doing any haying on your farm/ranch? If so none of the tractors have enough hp for the new round balers. If you plan on buying hay they will all feed round bales.

Is your place hilly or flat? How big of a mower are you looking at? With roughly 85 acres to mow you will want a pretty wide mower. An 8 foot mower at 4 mph, which is fast for field mowing equals 3.5 acres per hour. A 15 foot batwing will mow 6.5 acres per hour at 4 mph. So these tractors are not big enough for big mowers.

Look carefully at the different transmissions. As you go bigger the different types of transmissions make a big difference.

Also look at the weight ratings of the FELs and make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Some tractor's FEL are rated at ground level and others are hood high and some at the top of the lift height. Kubota tends to be very conservative on their lift ratings.

Have you looked at dealerships? Some are geared to be helpful and others are not helpful.

The more info you give the better the people on here will help you.

 

[UpNorthMI]

I'm not sure you are comparing like for like, I would suggest going to visit your local Kubota dealer, the weight difference tells that you are not comparing the right Kubota series, maybe you should be looking at Kubota M series not MX.

 

[PatMc]

I'm not too familiar with the larger sized tractors but may also want to check out Massey Ferguson if you have a dealer within reasonable distance.

Back when I was shopping I liked masseys offering that was similar to kubotas grand l60 series. But I didn't need that much tractor so went to a smaller class

thank you

 

[BigG]

I'm not sure you are comparing like for like, I would suggest going to visit your local Kubota dealer, the weight difference tells that you are not comparing the right Kubota series, maybe you should be looking at Kubota M series not MX.

Like UpNorth stated maybe compare a M6060 to the other tractors.

 

[UpNorthMI]

Take a look at this it compares a Kubota M4-061 to the John Deere 5065E, I think you are jumping a bit in price!

 

[PatMc]

What dealer seems to work with you the best?

All three new units?

When comparing loader caps - make sure they are describing apples and apples ......
some talk about "at the pins" some talk about distance "X" away from the pins.... huge difference.

What are all the bells and whistles that come with these? Remotes..... things in Cab..... other variables?

All three dealerships are close to home and I personally know someone at each dealership. I have not yet heard anything negative about any of the dealers.

Yes, all three units are new the bells and whistles are comparable. I started with the John Deere and then went to each dealership armed with the list of options included with that first tractor so I believe most of the options are very similar.

I also mis-stated my original post. The lifting capacity is for the rear not the loader. Each spec sheet states the measurement was taken from 24" behind the pins.

 

[PatMc]

Are you going to be doing any haying on your farm/ranch? If so none of the tractors have enough hp for the new round balers. If you plan on buying hay the will all feed round bales.

Is your place hilly or flat? How big of a mower are you looking at? With roughly 85 acres to mow you will want a pretty wide mower. An 8 foot mower at 4 mph, which is fast for field mowing equals 3.5 acres per hour. A 15 foot batwing will mow 6.5 acres per hour at 4 mph. So these tractors are not big enough for big mowers.

Look carefully at the different transmissions. As you go bigger the different types of transmissions make a big difference.

Also look at the weight ratings of the FELs and make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Some tractor's FEL are rated at ground level and others are hood high and some at the top of the lift height. Kubota tends to be very conservative on their lift ratings.

Have you looked at dealerships? Some are geared to be helpful and others are not helpful.

The more info you give the better the people on here will help you.

Thanks for the reply - and baling has is not in my plans. Most likely, I will have another farmer come bale the hay.

I would classify the ground as hilly. The elevation varies as much as 40-50' across some of the fields. The Case and the Deere dealerships both recommended 8' max cutters that use a 3-pt hitch. The Kubota was paired with a 6' cutter. I agree that the larger the cutter the better, but I am hoping to not have to cut all the land if I can get someone to bale the hay.

 

[PoTreeBoy]

Obviously, none of knows exactly what you're dealing with. But if I had 80 acres to mow a couple times a year, I'd be looking at a 12 or 15 foot bat wing cutter (assuming it's in large tracts). And an M7060 or larger (in Kubota). I saw an MX5400 at my dealer and its a nice rig, but I think you need more HP. It depends on how much time you have and are willing to spend on the task.
You might also consider what your lifting needs are. I have no doubts the MX will lift round bales, but I'm not sure about handling double-stacked on a trailer, if you need that.

 

[PatMc]

I'm not sure you are comparing like for like, I would suggest going to visit your local Kubota dealer, the weight difference tells that you are not comparing the right Kubota series, maybe you should be looking at Kubota M series not MX.

I agree with your statement. The Kubota dealer is the one who came up with the size for me, after we talked about my usage and that I was comparing it to the JD 5055E. I did a little research on my own this morning and the tractor that has the comparable lifting and tractor weigh was a Kubota M4-061. A little more HP and a price jump of about $16k over the MX5400

 

[PatMc]

Take a look at this it compares a Kubota M4-061 to the John Deere 5065E, I think you are jumping a bit in price!

Good info, thank you.

 

[UpNorthMI]

I agree with your statement. The Kubota dealer is the one who came up with the size for me, after we talked about my usage and that I was comparing it to the JD 5055E. I did a little research on my own this morning and the tractor that has the comparable lifting and tractor weigh was a Kubota M4-061. A little more HP and a price jump of about $16k over the MX5400

How much ground work are you doing? You talk about general tidy up work. What are you doing with the 85 acres of rolling ground? What are you really doing with your new tractor? If you are only doing tidy up and maintenance a MX5400 with cab is a great machine you don't need any more weight or HP.

 

[ItBmine]

Orange and green are both good in that size class, but i would absolutely substitute the red to a Massey Ferguson.
I'm a big fan of the big IH ag equipment, but those Case IH compacts are just rebadged LS's. And from everything I have ever read the only ones that aren't are the CVT transmission models, and those CVT's seem prone to problems.

Here's a review found interesting.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Have you asked your neighbour-farmers ? see what they use,on a daily basis. ALL tractors look purdy in the showroom but it's when they get dirty in the field that counts !

 

[mikester]

I am buying my first tractor. I have 120 acres, 70% rolling fields and the remainder in woods. I plan on having a few head of livestock and doing general clean up and maintenance duty with this tractor. I have been comparing the John Deere 5055E, the Case 55A and the Kubota MX5400, all with cabs, all with front loaders and rotary cutters.

All three have about the same HP and PTO HP.

One difference I see is the weight each tractor. Case - 6834 lbs, JD - 6702 lbs and the Kubota is 4251 lbs.

The lifting capacity of the loaders also vary. Case - 4299 lbs, JD - 3192 lbs, Kubota is 2310 lbs.

Of course the price for the Case and the John Deere are very similar (Case is $1200 less expensive) and the Kubota is about $5k less than the Case.

Is that extra weight worth the extra money?

What else am I missing in my comparison?

Thanks for any input.

I'd be looking for 60+ PTO HP, large front tires, a heavier machine with more loader capacity, front and rear remotes. A cab too if you have head room.

 

[Bmyers]

The weight comes into play if you will be doing field work (ground engaging work). If you are plowing, discing, planting, etc. where you are having ground engagement, weight becomes important. Grandpa use to farm his 80 acres with a 35 HP Massey (actually his first few years were with horses), but as money allowed he moved up to larger tractor 75HP range, which is small for most farms, but his farm was small also.

It would be nice to buy a nice large tractor with all the bells and whistles, but remember to save money for the implements. Without implements, your tractor's usefulness will be limited. If your primary need is mowing, look to see what the PTO requirements are for the mower size you are looking at. Rhino has a 12ft batwing that would work on any of those tractors. I believe the MX5400 has around 45PTO HP which is well within the range of the 12ft batwing (Rhino also as 10ft batwing with a min 25 PTO).

I would encourage you to make sure you leave enough money in your budget to buy the implements. Yes, you need to get enough tractor to meet your needs, but if you spend all your money on the tractor and nothing leftover for implements, you will have a pretty tractor to drive around in, but your work will be limited.

PS-don't forget to add the rear remotes to use a batwing. If you plan on using a grapple, you will want to add in the 3rd function valve on the loader.

 

[PatMc]

How much ground work are you doing? You talk about general tidy up work. What are you doing with the 85 acres of rolling ground? What are you really doing with your new tractor? If you are only doing tidy up and maintenance a MX5400 with cab is a great machine you don't need any more weight or HP.

That is a very good question....I am hoping to have someone else bale the hay on the majority of the open fields. We are planning on building a lake and I would use the tractor to keep the grass cut and clear out some of the woods (we have a lot of dead wood laying around). When we get a couple head of cattle I can also see me moving around hay bales for feeding. I am not advocating for a larger tractor, rather questioning whether the extra weight of a tractor with similar HP is worth the extra few thousand dollars.

 

[PatMc]

Have you asked your neighbour-farmers ? see what they use,on a daily basis. ALL tractors look purdy in the showroom but it's when they get dirty in the field that counts !

good idea, I may take a drive around to see...thanks!