Thanks for the insight Drizler, I'll keep an eye on those hoses. Yes, the fuel gauge is a bit flaky on these things as I see the same thing and sometimes nothing at all even when there is 1/2 to 3/4 of a tank in the machine. I think I'm right at 1.5 gallons per hour, as I've put about 20 hours on it and 30 gallons of fuel in it. As far as break in, I've been running a 72" finish mower on it over 6 acres high mowing a new alfalfa crop (cutting the weeds down), and running a 48" brush mower on about 5 acres of land that sat without crop for 3 years (heavier grass and weeds that would choke the finish mower). Of course, the mowers need to be run at full power, but they really don't lug down this tractor at all, maybe a handful of times has the PTO tach dropped below 540 rpm. Other than that, I ran my 55 inch Agric tiller on it last Sunday and tilled about 1/2 acre for a food plot and it had NO PROBLEM with that tiller. I'm sure this tractor can run a larger tiller, but I think I'll stay with this one for now as it works well and can be offset to one side if need be. I'm going to have it back to the dealer here in a week or 2 to have the fuel gauge looked at and the tires filled. The dealer recommends just the rear tires, although my brother has a Kubota (2650) and his dealer recommend filling all 4 tires. I guess they fill them with beet juice around here because it's heavy, doesn't freeze solid and is non-corrosive.
So I've only had it 2 weeks or so and ran it for 20 hours, but it appears to be a good solid tractor. I added a nice stereo to the cab which was pre-wired for it with speakers. The speakers sound real good, and I had to add an antenna. I used a marine coil type antenna so I didn't need to add an aerial antenna external to the cab. I'm not sure who makes the cab but it appears to be of good quality and has quite a bit of German writing on it. I have an employee who worked for a cab manufacture here in MN and he said the German made cabs are very nice and good quality. So far that appears to be true. I have another brother that has a John Deere 4520 (so with the Kubota, the JD and now my Massey we have the brands covered). Anyway, I have spent considerable time in the JD 4520 and right off the bat, the Massey cab has that particular cab beat hands down. The JD 3039r looks to have a similar cab to the JD 4520 so in a cab comparison this info would be relevant. What I like better on the Massey cab over the Deere is the fact that ALL doors and windows have gas assist cylinders on them. The 4520 only has one on the left hand door which is annoying when you want to use the right hand door. The Massey also has 2 more windows, not sure if that's good or bad at this point, but it does. Also comparing a very similar type of running gear between the JD 4520 and the Massey (both 3 range HST's) the Massey shifts between ranges much more easily. The Deere always seems to be a hassle to shift between ranges, and it hasn't changed or loosened up since it was new and now has a few hundred hours on it. I don't have a lot of comparison between the Kubota, mainly because I have never operated it. Like the JD, the Kubota is a very nice tractor and I think they all will and are going to have their pro's and con's, just hopefully the con's aren't show stoppers.
LM
