Price Check JD 790 Price Checks

jordanh · Sep 25, 2006

I am looking at the 790 with FEL.

I have two I'm considering:

#1 is a 2000 model with the 30hp engine and a FEL and MWFD. 865 hours. Asking $8900 Its located about 2 hours away. from a dealer.

#2 is a 2006 model with the 27hp engine and 300 FEL with 61" bucket and MWFD. R4 tires. Brand new. Located 2 hours away also. Asking $14,699.00. Of course, with this one I can take advantage of the JD Credit with zero % interest. from a dealer

#3 is a 1999 model (??I thought 790's started in 2000??() was used primarily for mowing. Comes with 6' Brush Cutter, 6' Finish Mower, 6' Straight Blade, and 6' Boxblade, equipped with Ag tires and John Deere 70 Loader, 3-point hitch, PTO etc..asking $11500 from an individual. about 4 hours away.

Thoughts on pricing? What are folks paying for brand new 790's with FEL's?

gordon21 · Sep 25, 2006

#1 is overpriced by at least $1500. That's a lot of hours in 6 years.
#2 is the way to go.
#3 is tempting IF the hours are low and it appeared to be well taken care of. I would consider reasonable hours to be anything under 80 per year or under 500 total. Your advantage here is that everything is bought, tried out and works OK.

The package price is right on the money in the mid $14's. Get an i-match thrown in and ask where to sign. Do consider adding all the other goodies you want to be included in the cheap financing at the same time. If not, you will be spending $500 here, $600 there immediately after you bring your new baby home. $500 per month on top of the $215 payment hurts. Especially if you do it about 4 months in a row. Don't ask how I know this.

Get the JD insurance. It will cover you for a dirt cheap price of under $60 per year. It too can be folded into the financed amount.

My 790 is now 7 months old and has saved me about $8-10,000 in excavation costs so far. By the time it is 1 yr old, it will have paid for itself.

If you decide to get the new one, contact me and I will give you a list of little stuff to buy on the original purchase contract.

BobinIL · Sep 26, 2006

I agonized over what tractor to buy for at least two months. My wife was about to move me into the dog kennel with my Lab when I finally pulled the trigger on a new 790 and 300 FEL. I think it is the best tractor size for me. Big enough to do a lot of work yet I can still haul it on a 16ft tandem axle utility trailer pulled by my Honda Pilot. You can't beat 0% financing! If your dealer has a 790 on hand he should be able to do a little better, Mine was $14,200.00 with R4 tires Most of the guys that had to order them quoted $14,600.00. So far I love mine, I am getting rear wheel weights, tooth bar for the loader bucket and the rear work light.

jordanh · Sep 26, 2006

Well here is where I am at now:

The place with the advertized price of $14699 for 790 and 300 loader new will drop $150 off for $14,549 total. He suggested I get the heavier bucket for the 300 loader which piles back on the $150. If I want a teeth kit its another $375. $694 for 6' box blade. I'd also like to price a post hole digger and 5' rotary mower.

My plan is to take an acre or so of ground and turn it into a fruit and nut tree orchard. This mini farm should provide me an avenue to write off the expenses and the tractor over the next 3-5 years as I get it started before I can start seeing any harvest and income.

I hate to sound stupid....but what is i-match?

I figured that once I made up my mind I would come back with an offer to buy for $14,000 and see what they would come back with at that point.

J

jordanh · Sep 26, 2006

Welp.....I finally got back from my local dealer here in town and got my best deal so far. $14400 for the 790 MWFD with 300 loader with the heavy bucket and grill guard.

I think that may be a winner.

I need to know reasonable pricing on:

6' rear blade

Post hole digger with 2 augers

5' rotary cutter

He mentioned the imatch hitch system (yeah I figgered it out) is $200 to add to the tractor and about $25 in bushings for each implement. I'm not sure if that is a big deal to me or not.

gordon21 · Sep 26, 2006

Get the I-match. Do NOT buy the bushings until you are certain you need them. If you get the i-match now, you will be sure to buy only implements that fit it. The biggest reason some people don't like them is because they already have bought stuff that won't fit even with a bushing set. Do this right the first time. Get only items that are cat 1 compliant and fit the i-match. You may have another tractor in your future. This would save you grief later on. You could easily put your existing i-match AND all your implements on the new tractor. The package price is right in line in the mid 14's.

Many 3PT items only need a couple of $2 bushings from TSC and not the complete expensive kit.

6' rear blade $300-350 for a basic one
5' cutter $650 and up

It is OK to buy other brand attachments and paint them green!!!!!!!

Check out TSC for competitive pricing and a wealth of buying info and suggestions. Their Blue Book can keep you busy for hours reading and learning. It would still be worth paying the dealer a few dollars extra to buy from him and fold into the loan. Otherwise, you will have to go to TSC and spend $500 at a time as I mentioned earlier.

BobinIL · Sep 27, 2006

I bought a John Deere #45 6ft rear blade used for $350.00. I do not think I can hurt this blade with the 790. I also have a post hole digger. I bought one of the off brand, Linebach or something similar. Your I match will not work for the post hole digger because the 3rd link hooks directly to the tractor replacing the tractor 3rd link. It works ok for what I need. I put in several posts for my flight pen (I raise Pheasants) in hard clay and it drilled the holes good but the bolt on cutting edges wore out fairly fast. Also remember to go a little at a time crumbing out the spoil as you go (work the auger up and down about 6" at a time). if you go to fast you could stick the auger in the hole and this is a bad thing. When I used to farm whe had a Danuser post hole digger and that was one hevy duty unit. We could set telephone poles with that digger on the back of an IH 706 diesel. If you have a lot of rocks they will give you some trouble. It sounds like you have a good plan with your orchard!!!

jordanh · Sep 27, 2006

I'm thinkin' hard on it.

Now after closer review of the specs I'm wondering if I 'm going to grow tired of this tractor too soon and look to trade up.

Looking at the 990 you get another 1000lbs in weight, planetary final drive, collar shift meshed gear transmission, nearly double the lift capacity at the 3 pt, and 13 more hp. Larger hudraulic pump capacity, continuous live pto.

hmmm....then you look over at the 5105 and I see SyncReverser even more hydraulic pump capacity and weight for pulling implements. Heck....I'd probably do fine with a 2wd in a 5105.

sigh......

Any thoughts?

tarscraper · Sep 27, 2006

I think the 990 would be a good way to go. It has the weight needed to get all the HP to the ground. It is 4x4 which I have found very handy. Its wide/stable. It has the 4cyl yanmar that loafs its way through work quite easily. I just got the 8B backhoe option for it. I will post pics this weekend. It is about as basic as a tractor can get. No mid PTO if that is important to you..consider that.

No matter what you choose make sure you don't mind shifting if you pick one of these three.

BobinIL · Sep 28, 2006

I would like to have gotten the 990 but couldn't justify the extra $5K. So far I have no regrets with the 790, it is still twice the tractor my 2wd 750 was.