Looking for info on Kabota,John Deere,Branson tractors

Or other brands.
There is a good Kabota dealer in Fairbanks (100ish) miles away .
I'm looking for thoughts , experience with the 16-40ish horse power tractors for firewood logging and log handling.
Also cold weather operation. ??
Thanks in advance.


P.S. I'm also planning on putting a snow blower on it in the future possibly. And plan on getting either a scraper/grader or a box blade.
And will be getting a front loader at time of purchase.

 

I have a Kubota BX2660 (26 hp) purchased Feb of 2011 that I use almost every day; I do my own fluid changes. The only issue I had was replacing 1 hydraulic hose. Still using the same battery for 10 years now, never a starting issue. The tractor has been kept outside at times, more often it's stored in a 5 ton truck box, no heat or block heater used. If and when I ever purchase another tractor I'm definitely sticking with Orange... My apologies to you 'green guys'.

 

How have you been Glen? Good to see you. I just bought a L3301 from ESI Fairbanks. A 100 miles, sounds like you made the move to Delta, congrats. I had a Deere 4300 (35hp) burnt up in the house fire back in January. I replaced with the L3301 (33hp). The Deere is a more refined tractor, especially in the valving for the hydraulics. Kubota has a higher ground clearance, Bobcat quick attachment connection for the FEL. ESI did a nice job for the winterizing (block, oil pan pad, battery trickle charger), starts up @ -38* no issues. I have a 3 point snow blower, also the box grader, forks, grader blade and a brush hog. I also like that the panels are metal (not much plastic on the machine compared to the Deere) If you want to check it out, I have some logs, you can get a feel for it. I will give you a text in the next couple days.

I bought it used 264 hours, they did not have any new ones, but were supposed to be getting some in. The Anchorage also had a L3301 that was in their rental fleet.

 

I bought my dump trailer from White Spruce in North Pole. They were good to deal with. I didn't ask them about the Branson brand, I haven't heard anything about them. They seem to sell a few, up until I bought my dump trailer I always swung by and looked at what they had in the lot. I can look up on my paperwork and find out who I talk to @ ESI and White Spruce if you want.

If you like Tai food, check out Noodle House in Fairbanks, next door to Big Daddys BBQ.

 

Good morning, Tom!

I think i was there. They have a pic of Guy Fieri outside?

 

Good Morning Tim. Yes, Guy is in front drumming up business.

 

I just bought a used TYM T390. Same as Branson, Scorpion, Kioti, & Mahindra I think. 2000 Model year with 585 hrs. It's been solid so far, box blade, loader, skidding winch & some other attachments I have around. Mine is glow plug only which is fine for here. Kubota 39HP engine is what I liked. It handles logs better than my buddy's 35hp Kubota, it's really surprised me with what it'll do. Ergonomics aren't bad either. My point with all this is, I think I'd go Kubota but a little bigger HP if you can.

 

Open station or Cab?

You mention log work, what do you intend to do? Use it as a skidder with a rear winch and move logs with a grapple/pallet forks? There are lots of Horsepower options across many size tractors for running PTO gear, sounds like loader capacity could be the big item that pushes you to a larger machine. Knowing what you will realistically be doing weight/size wise can help spec an appropriate machine. Also if you want to run a front snowblower, that might steer you to a model with a mid-PTO to accommodate that.

From the Kubota line up on the smaller end you would be looking at the B or LX series; both can have mid-mount PTO's for a front snow blower but they are on the lighter side of things so you can still use them around the house on finished lawns (on Youtube look up GP Outdoors videos for what a B can do). Up from there would be the L-series and then the MX series. Price wise the L and MX aren't that far off each other, but the MX being a utility tractor might not have all the bells and whistles.

As a point of reference, for me in Vermont I picked up a B2601 over the summer. With R14 tires, 60" Landpride grapple, 72" rear blade, 60" box blade, QH15 quick hitch and Rimguard filled tires for a little under $25k (0% down, 0% for 5 years). You can play with the Kubota pricing tool and you might notice the prices aren't actually that difference from B to L since you lose some items (like mid-PTO) stepping up to an L.

This Messick's video has a good overview of the lineup, and he has more video's on the specific models. Note that this video was before the "big B" models were phased out, replaced with the LX series:

 

Wow, cool.
Rope; yes we moved to Delta. We LOVE it here. The house is gaining on it. Had a bit of a bobble this year. Blew my left rotator cuff completely. Had reattachment surgery on April 29 and got out of the pillow sling on June 10. Geneva is standing on what I started with then. (What I got done before the snow stopped me LAST year).
And where we are at the moment. Got the roof on before the snow came.
I had no idea you had a fire. I hope everyone is OK ?

 

I probably should have put the previous post in a pm.
I will be using the loader a lot. And would love to have a skidding winch, but everything costs.
At the moment my loggin iron consists of a snow machine 550 Arctic Cat Panther. And my 650 Arctic Cat 4 wheeler.
I need something to lift and carry , pull and push.
I would also like the pto to do lots of things.
In reality I need at least 30 horse power. 40 would be better. But I also want to stay under 8,000 lbs.

 

The other side of the coin is price. The investment will be worth it. But it has to be something I can afford.
It will be summer before I'm back to work I think.
I've been released back to work. But am still building.

 

Everyone is okay, wife broke her keg 2 weeks before the fire 8.9 months pregnant. Rebroke her leg worse and broke her cast of below the ankle. Was -30* apparently casts don’t like the cold. 3 of the kids and I were at dry land hockey we made it through with the clothes on our backs. Lost everything else. Baby boy born 6 days after fire.

We have insurance, and no complaints.

 

Thank you very much !
The vid was informative!
I will need to watch it a few more times I think.

I'm thinking the L series with manual transmission. 30 horse.

 

Manual will be way easier to winter start, hopefully you can find one. I looked for months and feel lucky to have talked ESI Fairbanks out of the L3301 HST. The salesman didn't really want to sell it (rental fleet), but talked to the VP and was done deal in a few minutes over the phone. I have had a Deere 3039R ($42,000-cab- no attachments) on order for right at a year, back in the summer. Craig Taylor Fairbanks told me the tractor should be in June of 2021. I am in my L3301 for $31,000 included is Bobcat quick attachment FEL system, pallet fork w/cage, bucket, box grader and 6' brush hog. Tractor was $23,000 and the attachments $8,000. It was -25 and wind of -37* she fired right up, moved a few bucket loads of spruce. I am almost 45 hours on the machine now rolling upon 296.5 hours.

The L3301 is a nice rugged, modern/old school tractor, the operator station is bigger than the Deere 4300. Front grill guard tilts forward and the hood, grill and side panels rise a one unit giving good access. I would not hesitate to buy the L3301 if I was to do it again.

 

That sounds like just right. Having a clutch I can push in to isolate the engine when starting is important to me.
The biggest challenge for me is it would put me on a payment schedule that is above what I want to take on . But 25 to 30 k would be doable.
By starting with a new or very low hour machine I shouldn't have to mechanic just to do some work.

 

I put over 2,000 hours on my 50hp Kubota with no repairs needed (one tire repair due to an antler piercing the rear tire tube). Be aware the block heaters have a finite life - I replaced mine either two or three times in the 2,000 hours. Of course I figured out it wasn’t working by trying to start it when I needed it. I’ve started it with just the glow plugs at around zero, but sure wouldn’t recommend it. With my new tractor I’ve made sure to have a spare here on the shelf.

We aren’t cold enough to need to heat the transmission, but at 10 degrees (+10F) I can feel the difference in the hydraulic clutch, and I make sure to run it for a bit before trying to use it. This is my first winter with hydraulic clutch, so no experience yet below zero.

When I sold it, with 2,400 hours and 12 years, I got 78% of purchase price for it.

 

Thank you.
The high resale is why I'm thinking it will be well worth it to buy new.
I've been studying Kabota's web site.
I'm thinking the L4701DT would be just about ideal for me. Growing up we had a Minniapolis Moline RT that was 30 horse and with loaded rear tires was 3998 lbs. We farmed and logged with that tractor. It was amazing the work we did with it. But it Definately took skill . it didn't have a loader. But Dad built a snow plow for it.
If I stay under 7,000 lbs it will be easy to mobe on my car hauler trailer.
I would like to put a pto powered Cordwood saw .

 

I need to work my way thru the Kabota thread. Get some more education.

 

The 3301 is around 8 grand less than the 4701 here in Fairbanks . So that is significant.
And 25 horse and under have No emissions stuff on them.
Learning .