Buying Advice Help me spend money on a tractor

[MiserableOldFart]

I currently have a NH Boomer 24. It is starting to nickel and dime me on repairs. I am not handy so repairs done by dealer. It is currently in the shop needing $2600 in repairs. That is shortly after $1400 in repairs. Ranges from hydraulic hoses worn out to the shaft of the cooling fan cracking. We have a leak on the seal around the HST and they say the need to split the tractor to fix that.

They will give me $8K on the trade. A new Workmaster 40 is like $31K. The WM 35 is only $1500 cheaper.

The 24-horse of the boomer is a bit underpowered for our use, which I think might be causing some of the repair bills. They will give me $8K for a trade. If I want to trade it in at another dealer I would need to pay the $2600 in repairs.

I am not wedded to blue. We have a good Kubota dealer nearby. We have a JD dealer as well, but lord Green is expensive.

Basically, we are an 18-acre horse farm. Tasks mainly include moving manure, bush hog, and plowing snow with the bucket (land of lake effect). We use small squares so the way the tractor gets used for moving hay is by throwing some small squares onto the bucket and driving from point A to B.

The Boomer 24 has a pin on bucket. A Quick Attach bucket would be nice.

Any thoughts on what Kubota, Deere, or NH would be a good match?

Thanks in advance for thoughts.

I have a Workmaster 40 bought new in '21. There are some things you should know compared to your Boomer 24, or at least my Boomer 26DA that it replaced. First the great advantages are much more power, 3 ranges, and much - much more stability on uneven ground, and a basic suspension seat.
The downsides are a little less ergonomic, no true dual operation of the loader (only goes up/down or angles up/down at a time, not simultaneously.) and is much louder. The rattling of the ROPs was annoying. No tool box is another . The loader bucket is MUCH thinner than the one on my TC26DA, and MUCH more easily bent. You won't be using bolt on pallet forks with the standard loader. The 4 wheel driver lever is under the seat and not visible as it was on the little boomers. On my 26 hp machine, it wasn't much of an issue because unless I was going on pavement, I never took it out of four wheel drive. The larger tractor has enough basic traction in two wheel drive to keep it there most of the time, but if you leave it in four wheel drive, you won't notice it right away like on the little boomers. Overall, it's a big upgrade, with the downside very minor.

 

[MiserableOldFart]

2R every day. I wouldn't even look at anything with an E at the end, for my needs. Honestly. The non-removable loader of the E's would kill any thought of ever buying a 3E, for my varied uses.

The 2R is a nice tractor, I actually like the operator station, visibility, and ergonomics of the 2R better than my 3R. If I needed something bigger than the 2R, and couldn't afford a 3R, then I would probably be shopping used tractors or other brands.

That said, we all have different needs and priorities. Check out both, get educated on the differences, and decide what works for you. With the 3E, you keep the parts availability, dealer support, everything else that comes with buying a Deere. That's worth something, especially if you like to use a dealer for maintenance or repairs.

The 2038R is a beautifully made tractor and I considered it as a possibility. I think it's quite a bit smaller than the Workmaster 40, and a more refined tractor as well, more comparable to the Boomers than the Workmasters. I never compared the prices, as I decided on the Workmaster 40 because I like the dealer and he's closer. I forget what it was about the comparable MF tractor that I didn't like, but it came down to the Kubota 3901 vs. the NH Workmaster 40 in the end.