I’m looking for a compact tractor with a cab to plow my driveway. Kubota has nice compact tractors with cabs. I’m looking at used ones. Should I avoid the newer tier 4 tractors? My new holland doesn’t have any of that.
I don't know a lot about tractors, but I'd rather try to buy a non tier 4 one just to keep it simple. Just like new diesel trucks, compared to older " dirtier" ones, the new ones are more expensive to fix if something breaks, and are more expensive and more complicated.
Jack Straw, my niece was a diesel mechanic at Kubota and new Holland dealer for 5 years.. Before she moved to NH to manage the bobcat dealer.. When tier 4 first came out she said avoid at all costs!! However, they a lot like mtronics on saws improved over time. Most smaller tractors you can still get without. I had this conversation with Well Seasoned about a year ago!! IMO, I would stay with Kubota, bunch of reasons, the downside, here it is next to impossible to get a good clean used one lets say 3 years old are almost new money!
Brian’s doesn’t have the tier 4 but the next size up does. I am now looking at Brian’s model. I really like Kubotas and they have cabs on the smaller ones.
That's why he went with that size.. He chose that model due to the increased FEL carry capacity.. I mean get forks carry a pallet of firewood.. He will be on here later I'm sure he's picking up Maple from Vet now, I Hope!!
All I can say is, for my property size, going though 5ft drifts with the loader over the winter, plowing a plot, digging a ditch, pond, grading the driveway, moving wood with both bucket & forks- I've had zero issues other than wanting more ballast. The L series would've been great for a bigger chassis if I had more room to maneuver. The loader on the B series has more load/ weight capacity
I did a lot of checking and asking questions before we bought. To cut it short, the main thing I found out was that the only people who had problems with the new tractors were people who liked to run the engine at or near idle speed. Keep the rpms up and all should be well. There does seem to be some differences in the tier 4 on different tractors. I heard good reports on both Kubota and Mahindra on that count. I have no problem so far but do have to get used to the engine doing a regeneration every now and them. It takes maybe 10-12 minutes for that and you can keep right on working as it does this. If the engine is not warmed up when the regen starts, it will ask you to rev it up. If the engine is warm, then around 2000 rpm will do just fine.
If you’re looking at used you should stay away from them unless it’s only a year old. They’re still having trouble with the B3350, or they just recently fixed it, I’m not sure. But my point is anything a couple years old or more with tier 4 is much more apt to give you trouble. That’s early in the game, and like any new technology it takes awhile to get it to work in real world conditions. I went through this in both the automotive and trucking industry and it played out the same way every time. Shy away from the first few year models and you’ll do ok in my experience. Having said that, tier 4 is the biggest reason I didn’t opt for more horsepower, and in retrospect I’m glad I did. The L2501 is definitely underrated. It doesn’t lack for power.
I did buy a new Kubota with Tier IV. Like most of you, I still am concerned but I needed/wanted a tractor with the hp that put me into DPF technology. My first regen happened at 26 hours-I was roto-tilling and just kept on working-didn't know anything except for the indicator light coming on. It lasted about 15 minutes. The nice thing about my tractor is that it has a display that tells you what % of the filter is plugged. As I got toward 100%, I planned to do a big job with the tractor. I ran the roto-tiller for around 2 hours. I'll try to time it so I will have at least an hours work when I think it will regen again. I will say that this is the quitest and smoothest Kubota I have owned, and you can't smell any exhaust. I have my fingers crossed long term.
Dennis its a la 534.. So it should be 530 kilos in bucket to highest point.. A little less if on forks past bucket.. Or about 1,100 pounds.
Right. Rule of thumb on Kubota FEL is double the number. So, 534 should lift 1068. 525 should lift 1050, etc.
