Final Answer: GC 2310

ahunter · Feb 5, 2005

Fyi: I would like to post this for those still individuals visiting the Massey discussion board shopping for their tractor.
I am opening a small business this spring that will be catering to the residential homeowner, doing light excavating, ponds, stump removal and post hole augering and setting. After extensive shopping the GC 2310 was the obvious choice. Runner up in my shopping was the kubota bx-23. These are very similar tractors however after some actual time in both seats the Massey will do more - easily. Make no mistake the bx-23 is very capable but has lower lift numbers from both the FEL and the BH and here in Canada the GC 2310 is almost 6000.00 more affordable. I have experience running both John Deere and CAT full size equipment and I must say the Hydraulics on the 2310 are great! I also purchased a "Worksaver 720" heavy duty 3PH Auger with 9" and 12" bits. This implement fits easily on the 2310's REAL Cat 1 3PH. I will attach photo's of my new machine shortly and should anyone shopping have specific questions please don't hesitate to ask.

Adam Hunter.

DougM · Feb 6, 2005

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I looked at green I looked at orange and settled on RED
All were good but for me I liked the GC 2310..
Hope that U have a good time with yours.

DougM

cag · Feb 6, 2005

Hunter good to see you made that choice I think kubota is over price. Here an example of prices in my neck of the woods....... BX23TLB 23,500 GC2310TLB 19,500..... CAN funds of course.... cag

LBrown59 · Feb 6, 2005

Mine was 15500.oo US funds.
Don't know what that is in Canada funds.

cag · Feb 9, 2005

LB I hope my post did not insult you, or any other BX owner. I simply stated the price difference in my area. I would also like to mention that when comparing the specs of the two, I notice the GC2310 to be in my view the better tractor. But then again, specs and price may not always be what make's one choose a specific brand .... cag

LBrown59 · Feb 10, 2005

( LB I hope my post did not insult you )

==========
it's ok
it didn't

44trxfun · Feb 10, 2005

( I also purchased a "Worksaver 720" heavy duty 3PH Auger with 9" and 12" bits. This implement fits easily on the 2310's REAL Cat 1 3PH.)

ahunter, congratulations on your new beast and upstart business. I'd love to see pictures and hear your impressions of that auger once you've had some experience with it. As for (my) GC2300, I was told it was limited Cat. 1. When I asked more about the limitations, the dealer was a little vague. After a year and a half of ownership, I've come across a couple things I feel limit it. First and foremost is lift height. It can be a problem with Standard Cat. 1 implements on uneven terrain. Secondly, I've had to grind about 1/4 inch off either side of a Cat 1 toplink to attach it to the tractor.

I'm not meaning to hijack your thread or start some big rau about Cat. 0 vs. Cat. 1 (there are plenty of posts devoted to that on the board), but just wanted you and other prospective
buyers to know my experience with the limitation.

Good luck in your new venture!

ahunter · Feb 10, 2005

Hi 44trxfun! Thankyou for offering your input on the 3 PH topic. With respect to the Worksaver 720 auger it does not use a top link, the "centre" arm on the auger serves this purpose. On the 2310 this centr arm did in fact conflict with the painted sheet metal across the back of the tractor. The fix was to trim (or square notch) the tractors sheet metal to allow the the auger to raise to the full upright or travel position. I trimmed the metal easily with a die grinder just to give the implement a little extra breathing room.
I would like to point out this is no fault of the tractors and the 2310 still does have a true CAT 1 3PH. The auger I am using is a real brute! It's over 5' long and wieghs @ 160 LBS without a bit. If you are interested you can visit the worksaver website at www.worksaver.com
Thanks and take care. Adam Hunter

44trxfun · Feb 11, 2005

Thanks for the followup, Adam. That looks like a nice auger! In my haste to comment on the 3PH, I forgot to mention that I'll also be very interested in hearing about and seeing pictures of your backhoe work. More and more, I'm giving myself little kicks for not getting a TLB of some sort> (computer has locked in caps mode>)

gsganzer · Feb 11, 2005

I don't disagree with you that the little Massey is a good tractor. I looked into all of the sub compacts about 1.5 years ago and went with a BX2200. I tried really hard to purchase a Massey but either couldn't find one or couldn't find a Massey dealer that wasn't pissed off over selling them. Apparently the Massey dealers had open stock, so any dealer could sell another dealers machine. All the dealers I dealt with kept getting their GC's yanked out from under them.

I finally did find one at a dealership and was a little dissapointed in some of the fit and finish. The one I looked at had obvious wrinkles and waves in the sheet metal and just generally looked a little "cheap". It also didn't help that the dealer couldn't answer a single question about the machine like do the deck wheels float like a BX or make ground contact etc. etc? In fact I was so dissappointed in the whole affair, that I wrote a letter to Massey.

Just last week I had the opportunity to see one at a dealership again. The machine looked better, the dealer was knowledgeable and enthused about selling them. If I had that response a year and a half ago, I would have bought one.

The things that had led me to a BX a year and a half ago were dealer knowledge and a mature product. The BX has been refined to the point that there really isn't anything left to improve. It's a little tougher to be the first one to market with something. All your competitors have something to copy and the market was already proven to be profitable. They just make something similar and add a little to each specification.