Pete O
Silver Member
G'day all, been lurking for some time but have just registered and this is my first post. I live on a 4-acre property in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. We bought an old Ford 4100 with FEL a number of years ago but it was pretty sad when we bought it- the seller lied outright about many things I asked about directly prior to buying sight unseen- and it is now at the point where we don't consider it worth further repairs and we are planning on buying a replacement.
We have considered the options of buying another old tractor & loader, buying a used tractor and fitting a new loader etc but we have pretty much settled on purchasing a new tractor complete with FEL and 4-in-1 bucket.
To give some idea of what we use the tractor for, we cut around 13 tons of firewood each year mainly on our own property and the loader is used extensively for that; general lifting and carrying tasks including moving dirt and tanbark etc around the garden; I have a 6' grader blade that is used to keep the driveway in shape; a rotary drainer that gets hooked up once a year to freshen up some spoon drains; a PTO- driven 3pl cement mixer that sees occasional service; last week I used a borrowed 5' rotary hoe to put in about 1/4 acre of new lawn.
I have been looking online at various budget Chinese tractors- a friend has recently bought an Enfly 45hp tractor and is very happy with it- but I am very wary of budget Chinese products. Also their dealer / importer is located about 2000km from us in another state.
I spent today at the big annual farming field days near us, looking at compact tractors of various makes- John Deere, Massey Ferguson, Case, Kioti, TYM, Kubota, Apollo. (The Ford NH salesmen chatted amongst themselves whilst I examined their compacts but did not deign to approach me). The one that seems most attractive at present is the John Deere 3036E, offered with 4-in-1 FEL and HST for a shade under $24,000. This compares very favourably with the 45hp enfly tractor at $20k, was about $4k less than the direct competitor in the Case range, a full $6k less than the 35hp Apollo.
The only negative I could find with the 3036E is the lack of remote hydraulics; I have nursed vague plans of fitting my grader blade with hydraulic swivel and tilt but really not sure what else I might want remotes for- how big a bonus is it to have the remotes, and how big a deal is it to retrofit them?
I'm keen on the HST, primarily because I want something that my wife will be willing to use- she is very intimidated by the old 4100 and with bad knees she can barely depress the clutch pedal. I think she will be able to use a HST machine comfortably.
I'm keen to hear any experience or knowledge of this tractor, any known problems, any other helpful advice before we drop some serious (for us at least) coin. I don't think I'll get much of a resale price on the 4100 as I'm not prepared to lie about it, so we're expecting to find ourselves at least $20k out of pocket and don't want to regret it.
Pete
We have considered the options of buying another old tractor & loader, buying a used tractor and fitting a new loader etc but we have pretty much settled on purchasing a new tractor complete with FEL and 4-in-1 bucket.
To give some idea of what we use the tractor for, we cut around 13 tons of firewood each year mainly on our own property and the loader is used extensively for that; general lifting and carrying tasks including moving dirt and tanbark etc around the garden; I have a 6' grader blade that is used to keep the driveway in shape; a rotary drainer that gets hooked up once a year to freshen up some spoon drains; a PTO- driven 3pl cement mixer that sees occasional service; last week I used a borrowed 5' rotary hoe to put in about 1/4 acre of new lawn.
I have been looking online at various budget Chinese tractors- a friend has recently bought an Enfly 45hp tractor and is very happy with it- but I am very wary of budget Chinese products. Also their dealer / importer is located about 2000km from us in another state.
I spent today at the big annual farming field days near us, looking at compact tractors of various makes- John Deere, Massey Ferguson, Case, Kioti, TYM, Kubota, Apollo. (The Ford NH salesmen chatted amongst themselves whilst I examined their compacts but did not deign to approach me). The one that seems most attractive at present is the John Deere 3036E, offered with 4-in-1 FEL and HST for a shade under $24,000. This compares very favourably with the 45hp enfly tractor at $20k, was about $4k less than the direct competitor in the Case range, a full $6k less than the 35hp Apollo.
The only negative I could find with the 3036E is the lack of remote hydraulics; I have nursed vague plans of fitting my grader blade with hydraulic swivel and tilt but really not sure what else I might want remotes for- how big a bonus is it to have the remotes, and how big a deal is it to retrofit them?
I'm keen on the HST, primarily because I want something that my wife will be willing to use- she is very intimidated by the old 4100 and with bad knees she can barely depress the clutch pedal. I think she will be able to use a HST machine comfortably.
I'm keen to hear any experience or knowledge of this tractor, any known problems, any other helpful advice before we drop some serious (for us at least) coin. I don't think I'll get much of a resale price on the 4100 as I'm not prepared to lie about it, so we're expecting to find ourselves at least $20k out of pocket and don't want to regret it.
Pete
), sit down and honestly talk to the salesman about your needs. A good one will sell you the tractor that you need, not the one that's on the lot. Being on the mainland, they can get that tractor easily. The price looks good, especially if that's a 'Field Day' special price.
