Definitely go bigger, that tractor is a toy. I have a tier 3 on a mini skidsteer and it’s been good to me. With some research, I think you can find which engines are reliable and which ones have issues with the emissions stuff. It’s unrealistic to think every tier 4 is going to give you problems. Cost of the tier 4 is what is the biggest limiting factor in my mind.
I don't think the price is out of hand, but not a deal. As a comparison, I sold my tractor 2 years ago. It was a 9 year old B2620 with a loader-no mower. My tractor was several years newer than the 7510, has 5 more hp than the 7510, had 750 hours on it, and was immaculate-the buyer knew me and knew the tractor. He paid me 10,000.
Here price is OK, if I was going older and not ordering what I want that brings price down. However without knowing the lot, you’re having it on makes it really difficult to tell you what size tractor do you need. Seeing your snow Yoop, I would definitely get one with the blower. And what do you want it for? What is it going to be used it for?
Yooper - I'm a small farmer. I was told a long time ago not to go less than 40 hp as many implements you may want to use require a 40 hp minimum. I guess the question is how do you want to use the tractor? Kubota makes a good quality tractor ans does JD. Our JD dealer is 4 miles from my farm, and the nearest Kubota dealer is much further away. That tipped the scale to JD for me. Distance to mechanical support is something to consider...
Snow removal would be one of the uses that remain constant throughout the entire life of the tractor in my possession. Other uses are digging out stumps (small ones) trenching, spreading gravel and soil and probably telling my neighbors it isn't working whenever they want something done! There is one neighbor that usually comes running when I start up the log splitter with a bunch of uglies to split for him. I rented a mini excavator a few years back (for trenching a drain field) and he was waiting in the wings for me to push some soil around in his garden. I told him I only have 8 hours rental time on it and will let him know if there is time left at the end of the day. I also made a comment about the rental fees and the rental place being almost an hour away (one way) and his eyes kinda glazed over and said oh...…….
This. I see GM and Dodge are offering 84 months ,0% financing and 3-6 months no payments. This will likely be different than the 08 ordeal in that this time , most world economies will be in the chitter . Bargain basement prices are on the horizon .-‘
For that use I would stay under 40 horse! Bigger tractor=bigger maintenance costs, whether it’s fluids, tires, etc.... They are also are much heavier, which can cause more damage to your lawn. A large tractor is also tougher to navigate in small areas. A complete service on my 35 horse tractor can be $500 just in parts. Digging up stumps is gonna be your biggest challenge. They do make a small, quick attach stump digging bucket which I would like to try. If you get a John Deere they do not have a universal quick attach bucket system like all the others, they have their own system.
Frontier makes a Skid Steer Carrier Adapter for JD and there is a Skid Steer to JD carrier adapter so you're not 100% stuck if you already have a slew of attachments and you have the right size tractor to use both the attachments and carrier adapters
You hear from the bitchers. I've talked to others who have the tier 4 and few have problems. The ones who do have problems with the tier 4, at least most of them, stems from the fact that they want to idle the engines. That is not the thing to do with tier 4 for sure. I at first steered away from them but eventually bought a tier 4 and it has been trouble free so far. However, I don't yet have a couple thousand hours on it either.
There are an occasional dealer who will state that but around here I believe most have found that to be not the case. They just are not having many problems. I did have one dealer for sure lead me away from one type of tractor. Said he did not plan on selling any of those for a while even though he has dealt with them for a long time.
The guy who told me this is a Service Manager for Kubota Inc. I know him well and trust him. That’s why I made that decision. I was also told the epa engines have to be run a certain way, I don’t have any interest in that.
If you plan on digging stumps, in my estimation that would be way too small. I know times are tough and we are a long way apart but if something comes up and you would like to try our a Kubota with backhoe, come on down and I'll let you dig stumps until your heart is content. That way you could try a larger tractor and also the front end loader and backhoe. No charge.
That's sort of my thinking too. So I jumped in headfirst and so far I like it. It is a bit different when it goes into the recharging state but you just continue with what you are doing. The only requirement then is to keep the rpm's up and it will tell you if it is too slow. The engine also sounds different then but still works just fine.
