Price Check L2501HST w FEL & LP-1860 deal

[Pinzgauer]

Longtime L-185DT owner. Primarily used to cut 4 Acre pasture with a 60" rotary cutter (Bushhog SQ60) as well as maintain trails/clearings/creekbanks on 14 wooded section of our property.

The L-185DT has been a great tractor for us, very reliable, and has no issues cutting what I need to cut.

But my rotary is wearing out, and I need a FEL, so I'm ready to upgrade. Also want HST to make it easier around the creeks and for the wife.

Really want an L, and the L-2501HST with QD loader is right at where I'd like to be size and pricewise. I'd have loved the higher HP of the older 3310's, but don't want DPF/commonrail.

So I'm homing in on the following deal:

L-2501HST- $12650
QD FEL $4425
----------------------------
Tractor Subtotal 17075

LP-1860 $1790 (List as far as I can tell)
Cruise $450 installed (seems high, MSRP $206)
metal Canopy $500 (Aluminum diamondplate, too many branches when in the woods to have fiberglass)

Total with all discounts: $19500

This was based on 84 mth 0% financing, which also adds $331 in paperwork charges. I'm covered under my homeowners.

Went to field day, so I might get another $100 off.

Questions:
- Is the base tractor/FEL combo a reasonable price given all the discounts (including $1000 for two implments)
- Should it cost $250 to install cruise on an HST 2501?
- What should the cash price be. (60 mth drops another $650 off due to more discounts).

Any input welcome. I've not shopped around, and would like to buy local if possible. But do need to know if this is competitive or not.

As an aside, back in the mid 90's I started and maintained the compact-tractor-list email list, which over years migrated to yahoo groups where it's largely abandoned. But early on (pre-web), it was a great source of info.

 

[goeduck]

That sounds like a fairly good deal to me based on a few other threads on the L2501.

 

[goeduck]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...out-buy-l2501-fair-price.html?highlight=L2501

 

[Homeline]

That pricing w/ the Kubota financing...looks like dealer is giving you a fair deal. Would imagine thats with ag tires. Might recommend springing for the SSQA option on the loader.

Unless your trying to stay away from emissions, the L3301 should be about $1500 more. Thats a good bump in HP for not too much more money. Something to think about.

The mower should be about $1200-1400 in package deal. But they got to make a buck somewhere.

If your handy with a wrench, you can put the cruise on yourself. It's all bolt on. Dealer will say its time consuming. Took me about about 4 hours, but that included some thinking time. Could easily do agian in 3 hours or less. Also, contrary to what the instructions say, the left rear wheel & fender DO NOT have to be removed. I've been meaning to make a thread on when i did mine. For the money & time its very nice when mowing. Plus another lever to play with!

Coin toss on the canopy. I have a fiberglass one the dealer let me have for $275. While not correct for my L3301, it fits & looks fine. Was an old stock & pre-distressed unit with scratches. I have since added more! Very robust though.

 

[Pinzgauer]

That pricing w/ the Kubota financing...looks like dealer is giving you a fair deal. Would imagine thats with ag tires. Might recommend springing for the SSQA option on the loader.

That pricing is with the SSQA loader w 66"bucket (whatever the std SSQA one is).

And yes, with ag tires.

Sounds like cash price should be lower, what range, few hundred?

Unless your trying to stay away from emissions, the L3301 should be about $1500 more. Thats a good bump in HP for not too much more money. Something to think about.

Looking to dodge the DPF and (I think, need to confirm) stay with mechanical injection

The mower should be about $1200-1400 in package deal. But they got to make a buck somewhere.

Yep, had jumped out at me that it was list price.

If your handy with a wrench, you can put the cruise on yourself. It's all bolt on. Dealer will say its time consuming. Took me about about 4 hours, but that included some thinking time. Could easily do agian in 3 hours or less.

Great input. Dealer indicated it took the 3-3.5 hrs, that was their shop time.

Coin toss on the canopy. I have a fiberglass one the dealer let me have for $275. While not correct for my L3301, it fits & looks fine. Was an old stock & pre-distressed unit with scratches. I have since added more! Very robust though.

I'd jump at that!

 

[goeduck]

One member indicated on another thread that the L2501 performed like it was a higher HP tractor due in part to having the same displacement as the 3301. But looking at tractordata it seems the 2501 is 1.6 and the 3301 1.8L.

In any event, not having DPF would be a big plus.

 

[Pinzgauer]

Ended up getting the HST 2501 with quick detach front end loader, tooth bar, diamond plate canopy, Cruise, backhoe w thumb, 1860 cutter.

Love it, any concerns over power have been met, the backhoe, feel, and cutter do all I expect and more.

I'm able to cut knee-high grass in my mostly flat pasture in medium range wide open with the 60" cutter. Which is significantly faster than comfortable in some spots, and much faster than my old tractor. Every now and then if it's higher than knee high or particularly thick the RPM will drop slightly below PTO speed. I just back off a bit on the pedal and it's fine. Or it will power through if I leave it as is, I've never stalled it.

I was surprised to see how much even mild inclines impact cutting speed. Don't know if this is a hydro thing or what. It's certainly not a problem as I don't want to run fast on the inclines, so just slow down a bit.

No matter what, the capability to instantly vary my ground speed allows me to cut my pasture in about 25-30% less time it used to. My wife's comment after a couple of decades of watching me cut the pasture is that I'm cutting it significantly higher speeds than I used to.

The 1860 cutter is cutting very smooth relative to my 20yo squealer 60 it replaced. It's a bit more tedious to get adjusted for height, and changing the trailing wheel height takes tools where my Squealer had a pin and a clip.

I did not fill my tires due to soft ground in the back property. So digging undisturbed dirt with a front-end loader I have to take light cuts. But I'm not building highways, more knocking down ancient humps of dirt that were Beaver lodges, back grading gravel drives, Etc. Have already moved two dump truck loads of wood chip mulch, relocated a bunch of dirt that washed onto a driveway back where it belongs, etc..

The backhoe digs better than I expected, and with the thumb is proving invaluable. I was able to drag & position two 15 foot telephone poles across a creek, then set cross ties on it with the backhoe thumb. Picking up and setting the ties took a tenth of the time verses doing it with chains and the front end loader. Especially since I did not have to dismount. I'd basically back up to the tie with the backhoe extended, turn around and operate the backhoe controls to close the bucket / thumb, raise it slightly, then back up to the bridge, position, and set it. All from the driver's seat.

Disconnecting the backhoe was very easy if you follow the youtube video process, really took less time than it did to hook up the cutter.

The aluminum diamond plate canopy so far seems to be the right pick. I've already hit tree branches that probably would have cracked fiberglass. it does take some getting used to relative to driving a tractor with no canopy. I do think the diamond plate reflects a lot of engine noise downwards, and will probably add some sound-deadening material. I'm adding a ham / gmrs mobile radio, so the aluminum makes a better antenna mounting point as well.

The tractor cranks very smoothly, instantaneous starts, and runs just like I would expect a new Kubota to. It does use more fuel than my old L-185dt did, and is quite a bit noisier, especially with the HST whine. But I'm also using the tractor for many more things, and with the engine at higher RPMs for front end loader and backhoe work. But it's definitely hearing protection required.

Everyone who said the 2501 works harder than spec's would imply was absolutely correct. While I'd love to have one or two sizes larger, not having the DPF makes it a good trade-off.

Hopefully this feedback will be useful for others considering the 2501. I had concerns about power, which turned out to be completely unfounded. It's the perfect tractor for our property, and I'm very pleased with my purchase.

 

[vvanders]

Yeah, inclines will rob any tractor of PTO power. You really notice it on our geared 17HP PTO Ford running the flail mower. You're diverting power that goes to spinning things to the tires to drag it up the hill.