Finally pulled the trigger

[Aquabird]

Well, after looking for a couple months now and reading on this forum as well as reading everything I could read on different tractors and different models, I finally got the deal done today.
The tractor and implements will be delivered tomorrow morning.
I started out to replace my 30 y.o. Ford 1520 hst with another Ford/New Holland, except slightly bigger tractor.
I went to the New Holland Dealer about 45 miles away and talked to him I Knew him from buying some implements off him.
He told me that he sold Kubota now and thought they were better suited for my needs. He said that New Holland mainly wanted to sell to farmers or commercial entities.
Anyway I looked at an L3301.
I went to the Ford dealer that I had originally bought my 1520 from and he steered me to a kioti.
I did not want to buy from that dealer as I had just had my Zero turn worked on there and was very disappointed in that work as well as the fact that they could not fix some issues I had when it was under warranty.
At any rate after looking at a Mahindra and then a Massey(which I liked), I visited another Kubota dealer when I looked at an L4701. I liked that, but that dealer steered me toward an MX5400. I really wanted the Turf tires on it and was not able to get those for over a month. I asked about the other tires someone on this site told me about, but they are not available on this model.
So, the tires and implements came in and I signed the paperwork today.
I got a Ground scraper and of course the FEL and a tiller.
I already have a finish mower and a rear blade.

 

[kenmbz]

Congratulations-now you can update your profile and get pictures. Hope this serves you well and long.

 

[Aquabird]

Updated my tractor from my Ford 1520 but none of the implements came up.
Wished I knew how to post pics.
I am going to take some when he delivers it tomorrow.
Thanks Ken

Ed

 

[Johnkn]

Pictures, or you purchased a Prius

 

[jeff9366]

Updated my tractor from my Ford 1520 but none of the implements came up.

There is plenty of room in the "Signature" portion of your T-B-N PROFILE.

 

[Aquabird]

Pictures, or you purchased a Prius

Darn, nothing like pressure! A Prius? Yikes, I retired from Ford Motor Co. That is a hanging offense first off. Then on top of that there was a running joke in the plant about Prius owners....no offense to Prius owners, but you may have heard it.
Yeah, If I can figure out how to post pics here, there will be some on here.
I have posted a few online before but that was a long time ago on a different site.
Where can I read about doing it here?(posting pics.)

 

[Aquabird]

I just edited my signature. Not sure why nothing happened

 

[Aquabird]

I almost bought a Massey Ken. It was the same size as the MX5400. It had 125 hours on it, but the interest rate he quoted me was 6.25% and it would have been close to the price of the Kubota after all the payments were made. I would wanted to put a canopy on it and turf tires. The good thing would be that I would have 2 sets of tires.
I liked where you added fuel.

 

[Thomas]

Congrats on your new investment :drink: glad you didn't have couple week wait time.

 

[Aquabird]

I did have a wait. Since July 1st I have been waiting. I told them what I wanted way before that, but did not give them anything down to order the tires.
Oh well, the wait will be over Friday.

 

[Johnkn]

Darn, nothing like pressure! A Prius? Yikes, I retired from Ford Motor Co. That is a hanging offense first off. Then on top of that there was a running joke in the plant about Prius owners....no offense to Prius owners, but you may have heard it.
Yeah, If I can figure out how to post pics here, there will be some on here.
I have posted a few online before but that was a long time ago on a different site.
Where can I read about doing it here?(posting pics.)

LOL. send them to me and I can post for you

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Gratz Aquabird, I also bought an MX5400 this spring, it's everything I hoped it would be. Terrific machine.

 

[Aquabird]

Bullwinkle, the dealer called me at 8:30am this morn and luckily I was up. Usually I am a late sleeper, always worked afternoons in a factory.
He brought the tractor and stuff out about 9:30 and unloaded them.
It took me about an hour to jockey some of the stuff in my barn around to get the tiller put in there and to get my scraper blade moved and get my mower deck on. I then wished I had gotten the quick hitch. I have never used one, so I do not know how much difference it would make. My wife gave me the thumbs up to get one ordered, so I am thinking about it.

I mowed for about an hour and 1/2 and the frame seems a little rigid on this tractor. My old Ford seemed to ride smoother? I broke for lunch and am going back out to my property to finish mowing and then to grade the drive. I think I could easily have gotten a 33 or 39 hp tractor. This is a beast as for its size. Seems wide and long trying to get it in my small 42x60 Morton building. Not much room for implements either. When I get home tonight I will send pics to John and he will post some, so nobody thought I got a Prius. HA HA.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Bullwinkle, the dealer called me at 8:30am this morn and luckily I was up. Usually I am a late sleeper, always worked afternoons in a factory.
He brought the tractor and stuff out about 9:30 and unloaded them.
It took me about an hour to jockey some of the stuff in my barn around to get the tiller put in there and to get my scraper blade moved and get my mower deck on. I then wished I had gotten the quick hitch. I have never used one, so I do not know how much difference it would make. My wife gave me the thumbs up to get one ordered, so I am thinking about it.

I mowed for about an hour and 1/2 and the frame seems a little rigid on this tractor. My old Ford seemed to ride smoother? I broke for lunch and am going back out to my property to finish mowing and then to grade the drive. I think I could easily have gotten a 33 or 39 hp tractor. This is a beast as for its size. Seems wide and long trying to get it in my small 42x60 Morton building. Not much room for implements either. When I get home tonight I will send pics to John and he will post some, so nobody thought I got a Prius. HA HA.

One of important reasons I upgraded to the MX5400 was that the base tractor width is 20% wider than an L3901, and all that size/weight is nothing but good in my book. But I ruled out using the tractor to mow my lawn. At the time I had a lawn service, but recently had to buy a mower, however my lawn pretty much demands a zero turn mower, not a tractor, to get it done. Lots of contours and tight places.

Curious what scraper blade you bought. I have a Landpride RB3784 multi-way heavy duty blade, but it's actually the only thing about all my stuff that I'm not happy with, it's just been a pain in the keester for me. I've also been working on my driveway, but so far I use the bucket with float 100x more than my blade because my blade is an insufferable pain. Maybe it would have been different if I'd had the full blade hydraulic kit, I don't have any rear hydraulics for now.

Re: storage, yeah, my garage is cleaner than it has _ever_ been, since even buying the house, to make room for all the stuff I refuse to store outside. I have the 6' landpride rotary cutter, it's HUGE. Good-bye to half my metal working bay. Good luck to you.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Oh yeah, quick hitch: I didn't get it, haven't missed it. My only rear implements are the rotary cutter and the blade for now, and I only use the rotary cutter infrequently. Plus the extensible 3ph arms help. But maybe someday I'll have one. For me all the activity is on the front for now, so everything is quickattach on the loader.

 

[Aquabird]

I have a 30 year old Land pride rear blade I had on my Ford 25hp tractor. I usually turn it around backward so that it does not dig into the drive. Not sure how big it is; 5' probably.
I did use the grading scraper to do my stone driveway today. Worked pretty good. As a novice with that I have no clue what I am doing, so maybe with some experience it will work good?

I think changing implements is a real pain with this bigger tractor. Maybe I just need to get used to that too? Plenty of power and turns tight. Tomorrow I will use the FEL to haul some wood I cut up to my truck to take away. I was a little upset that the dealer did not wash the tractor before they brought it. They have a stone drive and area where they set all their equipment and the tractor is covered with stone dust. Right now, I have no running water where I have the tractor at my building. I will cart some out there to wash it tomorrow.
Pics coming.

 

[Johnkn]

Well look at that, Aquabird didn't purchase a Prius after all.. Congrats, that's a Beauty!! For him:

[

 

[Aquabird]

Thanks John, my wife came out and snapped a few pics for me.
They delivered my new septic tank for the new house we are having built on that 7.5 acres. The guy who is putting in the septic system really liked the tractor except for 1 thing. No, rear hyd valve. He wanted to use some sort of scraper....like a pan? He said I needed a rear valve to use that. He is looking for a new tractor of about 40hp to use for his job.
I would bet that I will be paying for part of that tractor.

 

[WoodDuck]

On the ride quality: check your rear tire pressure first. Overinflated tires are common on new units I hear. My Kioti tires were way too hard when they delivered it. I like to air down until my rears have a pretty wide footprint using most of the tire width, much better ride and traction both that way. You may have to play with your seat settings too. My dealer weighs about 140, so the first time my fat *** hit the seat after he delivered it, it promptly bottomed out before I'd even started it! To his credit, he was trying not to laugh while I was making ump-teen turns of the weigh adjust on the seat, but when I seen him struggling to contain his mirth, we both busted out laughing!

 

[shovelmike]

Congrats on the new tractor, aquabird! A fellow Ford retiree here 11 years with tractor division filling parts orders and the remaining 21 building F 150's.
I agree that ZTR is the efficient way to mow the lawn, I got a great deal on a used finish mower but maneuvering with it is a real pain compared with ZTR.
I'm right there with you on storing things inside, being continually perplexed by people with nice buildings leaving expensive equipment outside to be destroyed by the weather or stolen by dirtbags.