Hi Woodbeef: Fancy seeing you here-you had provided some suggestions/responses on antiquetractor. I have looked at Century (carefully) and have seen the Bransons. They are almost identical-differences being in the importer. The Century loader/frame is very strong-at least it impressed me (not easy being a cynic). The problem I saw was American JAWA isn't really promoting them (the way, say Branson does, or, Mahindra's push to capture market share), i.e. they don't hype them. My sense is the dealers are not "strong" types (at least the one around here). Also, the importer is (or seems) VERY conservative. Example, Century use the same BH as the JD (along with the Yanmar engine on the 40 Pto HP one). The only BH they offered was the JD 47 model BH (painted red) which was just too short for me. The JD 48 would have been just barely ok. Since the model 47 and model 48 use the same attachment mechanism, and since the Century loader frame (to which the BH subframe is attached) is probably the strongest I've seen it would seem reasonable to be able to use the slightly larger hoe. The dealer thought it would be no problem but when he checked with engineering (the head engineer is from Zetor) he said he didn't want to risk it, i.e. no warranty!. So, I don't have a Century sitting here. I liked the Century real well. But despite the quality and engineering, the lay-out (I really like the below floor fuel tank fill!), etc. they don't sell very well. I was told by a major third party equipment manufacturer (who shall remain nameless) that Century is close to the bottom is sales figures-too bad. The importer has shown that just because you have a better mouse-trap, the world will not necessarily beat a path to your door. My conclusion was that there would be a big hit on resale. Engine service probably would have been ok since a JD dealer could probably get parts if needed. Anyway, take care. JEH
