I Think the GC2310 May Be the One

neilrpf · Jun 27, 2006

As a Craftsman garden tractor owner, (two of them), living on five acres, (mow three, and have a small pond and brush), I have been obsessing for over two years and trying to save for a John Deere tractor.

I have been drooling over the JD 2520 and finally today was able to build and price a JD 2320.

I want a small tractor, with a MMM, FEL and backhoe. I want to move trees and dirt and mulch, (for my wief) and other things around the property, plus I want to cleanup the pond and increase the depth and size and am in no hurry to do it quickly. And like I said, I have three rough acres with all kinds of different grass to mow, plus I might need a box scraper to level some ground here and there.

Like I said, I've been obsessing over John Deere until this past weekend when I ran across a Massey Ferguson GC2310, which I understand comes with a factory backhoe. The more I looked at it and the more I studied and compared, the more I want it. Okay, enough about my sickness for tractors.

I would like to find out what other brands of tractors besides the Kubota BX23 to compare this tractor to, to get an idea of how it competes in price and performance. I don't want everyone to do all my research for me but if anyone has already went through this, if I could just get a list of the different brand tractors that you feel is at the same level, (including John Deere), I could take it from there. Of course, any recommendations will be most welcome because I am obviously an amateur.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Neil

aesanders · Jun 27, 2006

The new Kubota bx 24 is another tractor similar in style which comes with a factory backhoe standard.

Simplicity's Legacy Xl also has a backhoe available for it.

Other models such as the John Deere 2210 and 2305 can easily be fitted with available backhoe's from alternate companies such as woods.

I like them all and if I was loaded with cash would have one of each. However when it comes to a standard loader/backhoe package the Kubota and Massey models are hard to beat and also priced very well to boot.

I'd recomend the Legacy over any if you are 90 interested in grass cutting as I believe it is the best mower in the bunch. However, when all decked out it is the most expensive of the lot.

A couple other machines to check out would be the Ventrac and Power tract articulating machines. The Ventrac, in particular, has a great website that has ton's of video's on the machine and all attachments and is definately worth spending a half hour looking at.

Here is the link:

http://www.ventrac.com/