Indiana Yard Farmer
New member
I took delivery of a 2012 John Deere 1026R last night. I did not get a loader on mine, but got the 60 Auto-Connect deck and a Frontier 48 box blade. Ordered a few options on my unit; hydraulic mower lift, rops-mounted front and rear work lights, and a third SCV mounted on the rear of the tractor. Also added a front weight bracket and quick-tach weights for when I till my garden.
Only put a little over an hour on it last night. Really like it so far. A lot quieter and smoother ride than the Kubota I traded for it. My only issue thus far is that the parking brake lever broke off. Anyone else having issues with parking brake levers? Will get with the dealer on that one.
I did quite a bit of research on these forums before deciding on the Deere. I know there are some issues some folks have had, and the one that concerned me the most was the complaints of uneven cutting with the 60D decks. I actually made my deal on May 18th, and my dealer said that they had tractors in stock but the 60D decks were on backorder. Since he had to wait on a deck, he said he would order a tractor as well so I didn稚 get one that had sat out on the lot while I waited.
Because of the issues I had read about with the decks, I asked a lot of questions last night when I picked mine up. The service tech claimed that the backorder was in-fact due to some issues with the decks. He said there was an issue with the Auto Connect that they had been working on? don稚 recall all of the details (excessive / premature wear on a component), but he basically said that Deere is on it, they have a few out in the field that have a trial fix on them, and if all goes well, there will probably be a recall to get all of the old ones updated. He said that their dealership has only had one complaint of scalping, and they are working with the tractor owner on that.
Here in northeast Indiana, it is really dry right now, so the mowing I did last night was not a fair test of the machine but more of a play date for the two of us to get acquainted. I was very impressed with the ride, turning radius, and overall comfort. I really struggled with whether to buy the 1023E or the 1026R?nd I basically gave up a loader to get the 1026R. I think when all is said and done, the comfort features of the 1026R are well worth the extra cash, not to mention the couple extra ponies, which will be nice for tilling my garden with my 48 King Kutter tiller that I already had. And I can always add a loader down the road.
Only put a little over an hour on it last night. Really like it so far. A lot quieter and smoother ride than the Kubota I traded for it. My only issue thus far is that the parking brake lever broke off. Anyone else having issues with parking brake levers? Will get with the dealer on that one.
I did quite a bit of research on these forums before deciding on the Deere. I know there are some issues some folks have had, and the one that concerned me the most was the complaints of uneven cutting with the 60D decks. I actually made my deal on May 18th, and my dealer said that they had tractors in stock but the 60D decks were on backorder. Since he had to wait on a deck, he said he would order a tractor as well so I didn稚 get one that had sat out on the lot while I waited.
Because of the issues I had read about with the decks, I asked a lot of questions last night when I picked mine up. The service tech claimed that the backorder was in-fact due to some issues with the decks. He said there was an issue with the Auto Connect that they had been working on? don稚 recall all of the details (excessive / premature wear on a component), but he basically said that Deere is on it, they have a few out in the field that have a trial fix on them, and if all goes well, there will probably be a recall to get all of the old ones updated. He said that their dealership has only had one complaint of scalping, and they are working with the tractor owner on that.
Here in northeast Indiana, it is really dry right now, so the mowing I did last night was not a fair test of the machine but more of a play date for the two of us to get acquainted. I was very impressed with the ride, turning radius, and overall comfort. I really struggled with whether to buy the 1023E or the 1026R?nd I basically gave up a loader to get the 1026R. I think when all is said and done, the comfort features of the 1026R are well worth the extra cash, not to mention the couple extra ponies, which will be nice for tilling my garden with my 48 King Kutter tiller that I already had. And I can always add a loader down the road.
