New Tractor Buyer trying to wade through the muck

I was looking at buying a new tractor and I thought this group could probably help me wade through some of the bull.

The Kubota dealer wants to sell me a M4900 4WD and it seems like a great tractor. When I asked him about some of the bigger ones he kept telling me this one will do all I need it to do. Well, I can not imagine a salesman honestly trying to tell me I should spend less money.  Come to find out that the M4900 is the only one in the M series he has in 4WD. Still, I think it will do all I want it to do but is there such a thing as having too much tractor.

Down the road a ways is the Mahindra dealer. I can not find much about Mahindra. The Kubota website does not include Mahindra in it's comparisons. The Mahindra 5500 has some pretty impressive specs. It is almost 1000 pound heavier, has a bigger engine (displacement), more lift at the 3-point. It is built like quite a beast.

Kubota seems to sell more tractors than anyone else and I am wondering why when the Mahindra has more impressive specs and is about 4 grand less expensive.

 

I use to have a Mahindra myself. It is a good tractor., However, look at the rear axles and other areas, they are cast in the old school way. Meaning, not necessarily always the best way. Machines today, are made many different ways with many materials, Sometimes the lighter materials are much stronger than the old casts system... You should mention what type of property you have,, 100 acres, hilly and rocky or is it a mix of hay fields, hills ?? What are your needs with this tractor? Giving a short bio on your property and needs will gain a much closer and hopefully objective view points to your questions

Thanks Larry, that's a good point.

The ranch is 350 acres of rolling hills. About 50% open and 50% hardwoods. We will be using the tractor for tilling and planting so one of the requirements will be pulling either a 20-20 or 24-18 disc.  Also this ranch has not been maintained in years. We will be pulling a Rhino CY72 cutter to get rid of and maintain a lot of unwanted brush and yupon.

 

Personally if it was me, I would be seriously looking at the Kubota 8530 or 9530, taking into consideration what you need to do now and what will be most probable (opening more land) in the future....

 

Ask for Neil on this site as he is a Kubota dealer and see what he can suggest...

I am not usre how to ask for Neal as the site does not give you an option to email members. Hopefully he will notice this thrad and respond.

In actuality we will not be opening up more land in the future. The hardwoods is our deer habitat. We intend to keep it that way.

 

RAHAN Ranch:

I am not usre how to ask for Neal as the site does not give you an option to email members. Hopefully he will notice this thrad and respond.

Neil is "MessickFarmEquipment" on the forum.

He's good about reading posts so he should chime in the next time he's on the forum.

Brian

Everyones ground is different, but typicaly around here we want to see a 3-bottom plow behind a 50Hp tractor. I assume your also doing your own tillage correct? Thats going to be more demanding than pulling a nice sized disc. For your acerage I would defentialy consider somthing bigger if your looking at this as a long term purchase. The new M-Series tractors are now shipping. I've only gotten the larger 80Hp turbo charged machine and its a dream to drive. It shifts so smooth, they took the best features of the Grand L's and stole the layout from the big M-series machines to build whats a really killer machine. You can also probably find some deals on leftover models, I'd highly consider an M6800, i think it would suit you well.

Kubota is as good as anyone with their R&D but I am still leary about buying a first year model.  This may push me towards the heavier Mahindra. The local dealer has some of the older model larger M Kubotas but they are all 2WD and it gets pretty wet here sometimes.

I also just noticed a 2001 JD 5420 (2WD) with only 400 hours and has a loader. Asking 21.9K. Thats tempting. But still... 2WD...

I would not limit yourself to just looking at whats available on someones lot. Do your homework on All the models that are available and then find whats going to work best for you. For most people this is a huge decision that your going to live with for a long time.

Another huge factor involved here is the dealer who supports your machine. Tractors are not like cars where you can get them fixed at any garage and 9/10 times your just changin the oil. Follow your gut when it comes to dealer support. If your Kubota and/or Mahindra dealer only has a few machines on the lot there is a good chance they won't be there in 10 years to fix any issues that you have. Their attitude towards helping you should be weighted as well.

Thank you everyone for your help. I was about ready to take the plunge with the Kubota when my neighbor told me he had problems with the dealer I was working with. That made me hesitate and in the mean time I found and jumped on a 2002 JD 5520 MFWD at what I think is a very good price. I am pretty sure I can't go worng with this one. Starts right up, little or no smoke, clutch feels good, 3 remotes ... its heading to the local dealer to get a loader put on it and get it thuroughly checked out.

Congrats!!!

That should take care of things very nicely.

Have fun & be careful.

Brian