Buying Advice: LS Tractor

[Simon64]

Hi All,
I posted on the site a while back, when I first learned I was moving with my US wife to the East Coast of NC. At that time I was looking to choose between Green or Orange, but the cheap side of me wants to look at the alternatives, so Light blue has appeared on the radar.

So we have bought 18 acres of flat land, with a 1000ft gravel drivel. The land is split with 5 acres are woodland, 2 acres of yard, and the remaining 11 acres will be laid to horse pasture. Most of the time will be rough cutting the woods and pasture, FEL work with the muck, and maintaining the drive and trails in the woods.

We are buying a mower for the yard, so looking at what I need.

Considered the Kubota L3301, and the JD3032, and was going to run 5ft implements. I did look at the 3R series and the Grand L's but just a little too steep price wise. So here I am considering the LS XG3037, and the XR4140 or XR4040 (Is the difference just the engine, or is there more?) These all give me the chance to run 6ft implements, and potential for a wood chipper at some point in the future.

Would welcome thoughts, especially from those running these machines. I know the 3037 is a value line, but do I miss out on a lot?

And by chance has anybody experience of the LS Dealers in Eastern NC, and who might be good to speak to.

Thanks!

 

[TheSpoon]

First the easy question, 4040 vs 4140:
The XR4040H has a tier 4, 4 cyl. Shibaura engine, regen cycle every 5 hours.
The XR4140H has the new tier 4, 3 cyl. LS engine, regen cycle every 50 hour.
There are some minor differences in FEL/3pt lift capacities also, but I don't believe anything major.

With the LS you'll get a few more "optional" equipment as standard vs the 3301. 2 rear remotes (for running a Top-N-Tilt to help with the driveway maintenance for instance), and telescopic lift arms were 2 of the bigger things in my book. The rear remotes were about a $1200 add-on for the 'bota. Some other nice things in the LS are the 2 hydro pumps (1 for steering, 1 for implements), dual pedal for the HST instead of the awkward rocker pedal on the kubota (awkward for me, maybe not for you, and this is assuming you're thinking HST vs gear), and heavier (1000+ lbs vs the 3301, about 800 if you go with the 3037 I believe).

I was recently in the same situation as you land is similar (7 acres woods, 2 acres pasture (really just 6' ragweed), 1 acre finished lawn). I had started the process looking at the L3301. And long story short, ended up getting at XR4046 (being delivered this weekend). Price was the big push away from the Kubota, the LS standard equipment sealed the deal.

I'm 90% sure it's going to be more tractor that I need for nearly everything I'm going to be doing with it, but (and this is what I was check with the dealer you work with on), they would have had to order me a XR4040 or 4140, and he had an 4046 on the lot. So, he cut me a deal and the cost difference between the 4040 and 4046 was only $600 (since he was already invested on the 4046). I paid about $6k less for the LS than I would have for the Kubota.

Hope that helps.

 

[s219]

You can certainly run a bigger chipper on the larger tractors, but you can still run a chipper just fine on the 3-series tractors from any of these brands. For example, I think an L3301 could comfortably run a 5-6" chipper. I have a 4" chipper (bought when I had a smaller tractor) and my L3200 doesn't even notice the dang thing even when feeding the chute full of 4" wood (it's a Wallenstein, so the throat is 4"x10" and it can handle quite a bit more wood than the 4" capacity suggests).

I will say that LS is by far the better value, and I think they are every bit as good. If I had to stretch to think of advantages of the orange and green brands, it would be resale value. Kubota in particular holds value very well. It's just the way they are perceived in the market.

Also don't overlook Kioti, they are also offering an outstanding tractor for less money than the big boys.

 

[George2615]

Also, the XR series are premium tractors. They have more standard items that are options on other brands. I have the XR3037HC (Cab model).
The motor differences were already mentioned but not labeled right. The 4040 has the Shibaura engine with 5 hour regen and the 4140 has the LS engine with 50 hour regen cycle.
I found that since LS started selling tractors under their own name as opposed to building them for others they have been very competitively price and worth looking into.

 

[Underdog57]

Hi All,
I posted on the site a while back, when I first learned I was moving with my US wife to the East Coast of NC. At that time I was looking to choose between Green or Orange, but the cheap side of me wants to look at the alternatives, so Light blue has appeared on the radar.

So we have bought 18 acres of flat land, with a 1000ft gravel drivel. The land is split with 5 acres are woodland, 2 acres of yard, and the remaining 11 acres will be laid to horse pasture. Most of the time will be rough cutting the woods and pasture, FEL work with the muck, and maintaining the drive and trails in the woods.

We are buying a mower for the yard, so looking at what I need.

Considered the Kubota L3301, and the JD3032, and was going to run 5ft implements. I did look at the 3R series and the Grand L's but just a little too steep price wise. So here I am considering the LS XG3037, and the XR4140 or XR4040 (Is the difference just the engine, or is there more?) These all give me the chance to run 6ft implements, and potential for a wood chipper at some point in the future.

Would welcome thoughts, especially from those running these machines. I know the 3037 is a value line, but do I miss out on a lot?

And by chance has anybody experience of the LS Dealers in Eastern NC, and who might be good to speak to.

Thanks!

I vote for jumping up to the 40 series. Heavier frame, bigger front tires, etc.....
I had settled on on a 3039 back in 2013 and decided to go up the to R4041H, and I'm so glad I did!!
I am very happy with mine, (300 hrs)

 

[NC419N]

If I had a LS dealer close to me I would have a 40 series today. But Kioti has a close by dealer that does a great job for us here. My vote is for the best dealer support that you have near by with a fair price I may add

 

[Simon64]

Thanks for all the replies to my questions.

I know that the dealer counts, which is my only big worry. Thentwomdealers are about 75 miles away. I will have a trailer, and am happy to drive but a bit of a slog if I have big issues.

The purchase seems to be turning blue!

 

[ckirklen]

I was thinking Kubota till I read all the "check out LS" messages on this site. Once I started looking at all the data and actually drove both of them, it was a no-brainier. I got the XR-4040H and named her Elsie (put an 'E' in front and an 'i.e.' on the end). Very, very happy I decided on it; not as well-known as the orange and greenies, but it's a very well engineered machine. My dealer is 50 miles away, but I'm banking on the fact that a well-built machine won't be going there all that often. ;-)

 

[Fallon]

I have a Kubota L3200 (current model with tier 4 emissions is the L3301). Its a great machine & better than the equivalent John Deere's. However it is an economy machine & as I noticed this winter, has no cab. I'm likely to upgrade to a similar sized premium cabbed machine in the next year or so. LS is a significant contender on my list. From the research I've done so far, I'm assuming quality will be 90-95% of my Kubota & engineering is about 85%. But price for a premium cabbed machine from LS is about 80% of an equivalent Kubota or only a hair more than an equivalent base model with no cab.

 

[fixitman123]

There is a dealer in Alliance NC, Bay River Outfitters, which is about 40 miles from Washington.