The thread which discussed waiting-periods for a grapple after up-front payment prompted me to reveal my learning-curve on tractor and implement buying.
Prelude:
Firstly, I was not new to tractor ownership when I bought my Kubota. For 15 years I mowed my 27 acres of grass runways using a little 9N Ford and a shredder. The 9N was given to me because it did not run....it knocked like field artillery. I found the #1 cylinder has dropped its’ sleeve down into the sump...so I re-sleeved the engine using parts bought online that included new pistons, rings, and conn-rod bearings. I converted it to a 12V alternator, rebuilt the hyd. pump, replaced the rotted-out front wheels and I ran that little Ford HARD for 15 years and gave it back to the person who donated it to me years earlier. (He sold it on CL for $2K shortly thereafter, but I had gotten 15 years of great service from that little investment in parts/labor.)
Hogs showed up in the area and destroyed my grass runways to the point they were unuseable.... it was difficult to drive the TRACTOR on such deeply destroyed ground.... much less try to use it with a little Cessna on 6:00 X 6 tires. I began shopping for implements to repair the runway when the local Kubota salesman came out, looked at my runways and announced that he thought I neeeded a 50 HP tractor, disc-harrow, tiller, and land-plane to make the repairs.
Of course the price of new tractors sent me searching for a good used 50 HP diesel...which began my association with a Kubota M4700 and THIS OTT site gave me the guidance I needed to select that particular model.... as one of the Last made that had no EPA equipment on it. The feedback I got was to the effect that the M4700 was one of the last and better, more reliable of simple “utility“ models made by Kubota. I have found that to be correct. However....
Story:
When I was shopping for a lightly-used diesel tractor I found Two of the M4700DT within 20 miles of my house, both with less than 400 hrs on them, and both equipped the same except that one priced at $17K and the other at $20K but which had a grapple.
At the time I couldn’t imagine needing a grapple and when I suggested that to the seller the $20K seller offered to reduce the price by $1K. I didn’t think that was worth pursuing.... and I bought the $17K tractor.
NOw, three years later... I have occasionally realized that the grapple-equipped tractor certainly would have been an excellent value, ...if only I had a use for a grapple. The addt’l hydraulics up-front and the grapple itself certainly worth the $3K difference in price! IF ONLY I HAD A NEED FOR A GRAPPLE!
I spent $1500 for pallet forks and found they do everything I’ve needed so-far... I have cut down limbs and brush and scooped them up with the forks and carried them to the burn-pile. There have been some truly large piles of brush I’ve moved with those forks and only once or twice have I left the seat to secure a really loose bunch with a bungee when I had a long ways to carry the pile.
Anyway... I’m just sayin’..... I think if I’d spent the addt’l $3K for the grapple it would have been a smarter buy.....IF I NEEDED A GRAPPLE.
For those of you still out there shopping for a tractor and implements.... don’t go overboard buying stuff you only THINK might be cool to have... only to let it sit around outside gathering dust and rust.... like my Land-Plane which seemed a good idea and which i’ve only used once in a test and never again. Or the tiller I bought and sold a year later at a $1K loss. Or the disc-harrow I sold at the same time for another $1K loss. (Bought those because a tractor salesman told me I needed them when he saw the grass runway I was attempting to recover from hog damage. Both, completely useless on turf. What solved my torn up runway was a good rain followed two days later by rolling with a used, 14,000-lb diesel compactor-roller. The roller cost me $7K. The three implements I’ve never found useful for the task cost $7500.... which is another “heads-up” to shoppers.... Your tractor salesman doesn’t necessarily know what he’s talking about when he tells you “what you need”.)
Hope this helps.
Prelude:
Firstly, I was not new to tractor ownership when I bought my Kubota. For 15 years I mowed my 27 acres of grass runways using a little 9N Ford and a shredder. The 9N was given to me because it did not run....it knocked like field artillery. I found the #1 cylinder has dropped its’ sleeve down into the sump...so I re-sleeved the engine using parts bought online that included new pistons, rings, and conn-rod bearings. I converted it to a 12V alternator, rebuilt the hyd. pump, replaced the rotted-out front wheels and I ran that little Ford HARD for 15 years and gave it back to the person who donated it to me years earlier. (He sold it on CL for $2K shortly thereafter, but I had gotten 15 years of great service from that little investment in parts/labor.)
Hogs showed up in the area and destroyed my grass runways to the point they were unuseable.... it was difficult to drive the TRACTOR on such deeply destroyed ground.... much less try to use it with a little Cessna on 6:00 X 6 tires. I began shopping for implements to repair the runway when the local Kubota salesman came out, looked at my runways and announced that he thought I neeeded a 50 HP tractor, disc-harrow, tiller, and land-plane to make the repairs.
Of course the price of new tractors sent me searching for a good used 50 HP diesel...which began my association with a Kubota M4700 and THIS OTT site gave me the guidance I needed to select that particular model.... as one of the Last made that had no EPA equipment on it. The feedback I got was to the effect that the M4700 was one of the last and better, more reliable of simple “utility“ models made by Kubota. I have found that to be correct. However....
Story:
When I was shopping for a lightly-used diesel tractor I found Two of the M4700DT within 20 miles of my house, both with less than 400 hrs on them, and both equipped the same except that one priced at $17K and the other at $20K but which had a grapple.
At the time I couldn’t imagine needing a grapple and when I suggested that to the seller the $20K seller offered to reduce the price by $1K. I didn’t think that was worth pursuing.... and I bought the $17K tractor.
NOw, three years later... I have occasionally realized that the grapple-equipped tractor certainly would have been an excellent value, ...if only I had a use for a grapple. The addt’l hydraulics up-front and the grapple itself certainly worth the $3K difference in price! IF ONLY I HAD A NEED FOR A GRAPPLE!
I spent $1500 for pallet forks and found they do everything I’ve needed so-far... I have cut down limbs and brush and scooped them up with the forks and carried them to the burn-pile. There have been some truly large piles of brush I’ve moved with those forks and only once or twice have I left the seat to secure a really loose bunch with a bungee when I had a long ways to carry the pile.
Anyway... I’m just sayin’..... I think if I’d spent the addt’l $3K for the grapple it would have been a smarter buy.....IF I NEEDED A GRAPPLE.
For those of you still out there shopping for a tractor and implements.... don’t go overboard buying stuff you only THINK might be cool to have... only to let it sit around outside gathering dust and rust.... like my Land-Plane which seemed a good idea and which i’ve only used once in a test and never again. Or the tiller I bought and sold a year later at a $1K loss. Or the disc-harrow I sold at the same time for another $1K loss. (Bought those because a tractor salesman told me I needed them when he saw the grass runway I was attempting to recover from hog damage. Both, completely useless on turf. What solved my torn up runway was a good rain followed two days later by rolling with a used, 14,000-lb diesel compactor-roller. The roller cost me $7K. The three implements I’ve never found useful for the task cost $7500.... which is another “heads-up” to shoppers.... Your tractor salesman doesn’t necessarily know what he’s talking about when he tells you “what you need”.)
Hope this helps.
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