Kubota B7610 HST with Loader and Backhoe
Model Year: 2007
So, I live in southwestern Costa Rica (which is not in South America, it is in Central America but the option wasn´t available in the required location field) and recently bought a small 3.5 acre plot of land after working on my 1/4 acre lot and a couple of other rented/borrowed fields for several years. Tired of farming with a shovel and a machete so decided to invest in a tractor. Ï don´t have any previous experience with the things, closest thing is my rototiller. There´s not a huge market for small tractors here. They're kind of unheard of and the only tractors you see are great big ones in sugarcane and pineapple fields. Little tractors can be gotten here new but they are very expensive, at least half again if not more what they cost up there. Luckily, this guy imported this tractor in 2007 and decided he didn't need it sitting around while he spent most of his time in the US. So I was able to pick it up used for a decent price, with the 352 loader and 4672 backhoe. It had about 250 hrs. of light use when I got it. Dude was a nice guy and went through the trouble of importing it for me, so that´s why the dealer gets a 5 too. The thing is pretty darn awesome for being a little teeny 23hp tractor. So far I've used it for moving lots of dirt, moving pretty big rocks, and dragging saw logs around. Not mowing manicured lawns. I am very, very surprised at what this little machine is capable of, so much so that I'm worried that I may be abusing it and it might break, as so often happens to me with new power tools. But, so far it keeps on working. it appears to be a very well made piece of machinery, not a dinky little lawn tractor made of stamped steel, by any means. I really like that if I want to move a rock that's too big to physically fit in the loader bucket, I can just push it around on the ground wherever I need to go. Not bad for a little 23 hp machine. Welded a little tooth rake and bolted it onto the loader bucket, makes grading and stuff a lot more effective, but its especially cool because it lets me pick up big saw logs and stack them, almost like a forklift. Only has little 3" teeth but works pretty well. One thing that hasn't been a problem yet, but I don't particularly like about it is this "limiter bar" doohicky that attaches the 3 point backhoe attachment to the tractor. As I understand it, there are also subframe mounts for backhoe attachments that bolt the two pieces together into a rigid structure. The limiter bar kind of lets the backhoe flop around in a disconcerting manner while you're sitting on it working, even with the stabilizer feet put down. its not that bad if you´re careful but the hydraulics are definitely strong enough to bounce the whole thing up and down and shake the whole backhoe around on the back of the tractor. I think I would really like to be able to bolt the two together with a subframe mount, maybe I´ll get around to fabricating something one of these days. I've seen similar discussions here in the forums, but, like I said, none of this has been a problem, and it may never become one. Looking forward to welding all types of chisel plows and cultivators and manure spreaders and blah blah blah once I´m done with setting up the basic layout of our land.
Pros: Pretty darn powerful, appears well made.
Cons: Parts are available down here, but they´re gonna be expensive when I need them.