A good day!

[Raincoast]

Hi Folks;
After a month of obsessing & reading everything I could get my hands on... Spending HOURS going through the forum archives and leaning on the members here for some excellent advice. We did it.
We took the first ferry to Vancouver Island this morning & drove south, checking out tractor dealers on the way.
First stop, the Kubota dealer in Courtenay. Drooled over all the expensive shiny orange stuff & continued down island. Next stop a Mahindra dealer with 3 slightly sun bleached new tractors & one used 5522 with a puddle of hyd. fluid under the hoe. Big tractor! Drove beautifully but the 3 pt hoe mount kinda turned me off. The new 3616 was a joy to run & affordable, so definitely on the list.
Last stop, a Kioti dealer south of Nanaimo, who was in the middle of moving to a larger (and nicer) facility. (A good sign, I thought)!
We drove the few tractors he had on the lot, but they didn't have the CK 35 I was really interested in.
Long story short(er)... After seeing I wasn't going for the 25 horse models. He drove a DK45SE out of the shop & watched me fall in love. Drove it around for a half hour. Love the "glide shift" shuttle and the shear size & heft of the rig. The hoe looks big enough to tackle some of our larger stumps. The cockpit was large enough for comfort too. Definitely not so much with most of the other test drives.
What with moving & dealer incentives etc etc. he brought the price down to $1,200. More than the leaky Mahindra. My wife & I did that old married farts look & said DONE on the same breath...
We left a deposit & drove back to the ferry. Tractor will be delivered to the ferry dock on the Island side next week, when I'll hand over the cheque, drive it onto the boat & bring her home.
That should be ANOTHER good day.
A great big Thank You! To all the folks on the Mahindra & Kubota pages for their generous help & advice.
I'll post some pics when I figure out how.
Cheers Y'all. Dan

 

[paulfun9]

Congrats On the new machine!

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Welcome to the pack!

 

[Haoleguy]

Congrats Dan. When you get the DK home become familiar with all of the maintenance steps and keep up on the schedule. It will last a long time.

 

[scoutcub]

Congrats Dan!

Never thought VI had all those dealers! I spent 4 years across the ditch in Port Angeles....still have property there, love the rainy coast....

Enjoy the DK, heard lots of good things on em. I'm assuming you must have some serious stumps there to move....

 

[dave1949]

Sounds great. Have fun tackling your stumps. Every ornery stump that finally comes out feels like a small victory. :laughing:

3rd function hydraulics on the loader and a grapple would be your friend for stumps but you can manage without.

 

[Raincoast]

Thanks for the kind welcome, guys. It's great to be finished with the purchasing research. Now the learning curve is gonna get really steep.

I spent much of my working life as an Aicraft Maint. Engineer, so I'm pretty used to scheduling & documenting maintenance events. I plan on keeping a logbook for the tractor and record everything... Not only to help me stay organized, but it should help with the re-sale (at some DISTANT future date).

Yeah... There are a whole bunch of add-ons that I'd like to get. Kinda blew the wad for now, but Christmas lists just got a whole lot heavier. What?!?! Everyone's always complaining that they can't figure out what to get me for Christmas & birthdays... We can start with the box blade..............
Cheers guys! Dan

 

[kneedeep]

I may be a little prejudice but the 'Leaky Old Mahindra' WAS $1200 cheaper!! :confused3:

Sounds like you found a good fit with the Kioti, congratulations roposetoast: and welcome to our little world, Old Fart!! :biggrin:

Now you can start a real $$$ Christmas wish list :santahat:.

Good luck and be careful with the new boy toy. :thumbsup:

 

[Raincoast]

Hey knee-deep;
You were certainly one of the guys the THANK YOU went out to! No offence to the Mahindra! It would certainly have done the job, but needed hydraulic work & a frame mount system for the hoe. More than I wanted to get into, right out of the gate.
My point was, that for an extra twelve hundred bucks I got a brand new tractor with excellent dealer support & a WARRANTY.
The 3616 was a really nice rig too, but not anywhere near the tractor the 45 is. And almost the same price. Literally pennies apart when all was said & done.
Yeah... The Kioti is a great fit. I really wanted an HST, but with very limited movement in my right ankle (from an old injury) i found the rocker pedal horribly awkward to use. The clutchless fwd / reverse shuttle shift works perfectly for me. I will have to re-locate the foot throttle though. My crabby old foot doesn't bend in the right places to make it a smooth operation.
Your "be careful" comment is well taken. I worked heavy equipment in the bush one summer & know how quickly things can go wrong!
Cheers. Dan

 

[kneedeep]

You are welcome. I am partial to Mahindra and recommend them. A good fit is what is important as all tractors pretty much perform the same basic tractor task.
Understand the foot problem as I am now sitting around with my left foot propped up recovering from surgery #3 following a fall that dislocated my foot from ankle. It is pretty much locked up except for about 50% up and down and no sideways movement. Its all I can do to operate the clutch pedal. This surgery repaired the 3 middle toes that had become 'hammer toes' making walking painful. I hope this is it for the knife.

Enjoy the new tractor and all the things that can be done now. TBN has become a daily ritual for me to keep up to date on all the new and old of the tractor world. See you on the web!!

:thumbsup: