This is going to be long and I apologize in advance! This is my story and might help someone deciding on a tractor. Hi to everyone on the forums, I have just purchased a brand new tractor and are looking for some opinions and direction! First of all let me give a quick intro and some history since I am new to the forums. I am 25 years old, my wife and I just purchased our first home and property right at 6 ac. We are located in a rural area of NC east of Charlotte, we have neighbors around but I can't see them through the woods we love it!. Needless to say we are stoked to be starting our lives out in the country and are happy to be able to enjoy this lifestyle. This property has a small pond, some woods, lots of large trees in the 3 ish acre yard and a nice 2+ acre field in the back where we hope to have some animals and a large garden. Now let me explain the previous owners had lots of stuff... stuff everywhere that manually would take YEARS to collect and dispose of. There are rotten down chicken houses, sawed off stumps, bricks/building materials, yard art ornaments etc. You know the 30 yr of get rid of it means to throw it in the woods mentality. In general I find new things I want to burn/bury every time I walk around the edge of the yard/woods.
So a little on myself, I have been around/on tractors since I was old enough to walk. I did not go to day care I spent my early years between my grandparents growing up. One grandfather was a collector and restorer of 2-Cyl. JD's, I worked along side him until he passed a few years ago. On my dad's side my papaw was a big vintage mower and Massey Ferguson guy. Some of my earliest memories are of hearing that big 51' AR popping away down at the shop! My dad is also quite the tractor guru, we have where I grew up a 58' JD 420 which logged all the lumber for my parents house before my time. An early 90's JD 970 4x4 FEL which I learned to drive early around the house helping with all the projects and have spent countless hours on. As well as a early 00's 4210 hydro with a belly mower which I have accumulated the most of the 2000 hours on mowing. My Dad and I as well as my brother were the maintenance crew for all this equipment through the years (my dad works for Caterpillar) so there was no shortage of mechanical fortitude and learning that I did through the years how to tear down and fix about anything.
So all this leads to my tractor purchase that I just made... As you can see I am a die hard JD fan so I started there thinking I was going to buy used. That faded quickly since second hand equipment in this area is solid gold bullion from many reasons including COVID. So I knew new was going to be the way to go comparing prices to some really clapped out equipment I have looked at. I went to my local JD dealers and drove the 3038E hydro (it was in budget and so I though in what HP range I wanted) and was surprised to feel how that machine resembled a Power-Wheels toy more than a tractor... so I did some searching and found a 4044M at another dealer and at a significantly higher price I really liked this unit, however all of the plastic and emissions parts terrified me coming from operating the seemingly solid-iron John Wayne JD 970 back home. So the search continued because JD's hefty price for what I got was not really an option.... sorry JD.
Next on to Kubota, the dealers in my area have ZERO L4701's and only a couple L3901's that sell while I am trying to drive to the dealerships! Finally got to run a L3901 with FEL and it did not impress as the prices were very close to JD and there was not room for negotiation since these machines were selling like $2 pistols. I begin to think if I am expecting too much from these modern smaller machines? Running the old geared JD 970 or that 58' JD 420 seemed as if you had endless power before you could spin a tire and all the weight to stay planted on the ground, just let the clutch out and let her eat. I thought what gives with these new machines is it all the hydro trans systems that gives them the wet-noodles feel? Now running a FEL I can see where hydro is nice, but all I have ever ran on an FEL have been geared or shuttle machines (mainly the JD 970) and am completely fine with shifting and clutching.
I really didn't consider New Holland, Massy Ferguson, or Kioti/Branson/others because there weren't dealers really in easy access in my area.
The next topic was the endless abyss of YouTube and forums reading discussing the emissions equipment on tractors these days.... sheesh the EPA and the govt. control on such a minor dent in carbon emissions from privately owned machines really made me sick along from some of the problems I have heard (mainly from earlier models but newer ones have not had time to break honestly IMO). I really started to not be interested in a new tractor with an SCR/DPF after all the added failure points and potential expensive issues. My Dad warned me about this from all the grief he deals with machines at Cat and how he would not own one until the tech. catches up with what they are asking these systems to do.
Reliability is a big thing to me comparing to my Dad's legendary JD 970 with 3000+ hrs with its simple geared design with the 4cyl. Yanmar which asks no questions cranks every time and runs like a scalded dog till this day with normal maintenance. This tractor literally has had nothing replaced over its lifespan except one clutch, a set of tires, a voltage regulator, and a couple of batteries.
So this brought me to Mahindra... There are two dealers in my area which I drive by constantly and have always just glanced by and not given much thought to because I have been blinded by Green since I was old enough to shift gears on a tractor. However let me tell you the dealer experience I had with these two (easy to find if you search in my area) were absolutely phenomenal. Great salesman who were not pushy and actually knew the machines. Great service staff which I have had multiple long phone calls with and and in person chats at the dealership about parts availability for the the units I were looking at. As well as straight up honesty about the warranty process and what is covered. Now let me tell you it felt strange and my fingers were tingling a bit when I first was visiting a Mahindra dealership it felt like a true betrayal to my history with Green paint but let me tell you it faded quickly when I discovered the amount you can get for your money and the old school feel of actual heavy steel in their tractors. Honestly I was wanting to compare the 2638HST to the 4540 and the 2638 being a newer design gave me the feel the JD's did with the hydro, I really felt at that moment hydro was not for me. After seeing in person the shear size and weigh difference between the 2638 and 4540 there was no more question the 4540 was the only option. I drove this thing around a while, listened to it run, felt it up and down under the hood and had me some research to do! Got some pricing and waited it out a week to think it all over and watch every video on YT and fall asleep every night reading forums... such is life.
So Mahindra sold me on three main topics, NO DPF this is a no brainer and I don't really know how their engines are compliant with Tier IV with just their common rail and DOC but I am not asking any questions. This machine is a tank next to the JD units I looked at with little to no plastic around and heavy steel I feel like I went back in time and bought a real tractor from the 80's or 90's brand new. Next lift capacity is impressive, and price for the amount of machine you get and bundle savings with all the implements I was going to have to pay cash for over time with the higher price of the JD..... and P.S. yes I could readily get AG tires because R4's are lame.
I came back to the dealer this Saturday and promo's had changed for October and I got IMO a steal of a deal. I walked away with the 4540 4x4 FEL, pallet forks, 6ft box blade, 6ft bush-hog, and a 7x20 14K trailer for cheaper than just the 4044M OTD financed for 0.99 for 84 mo. I really did not want to finance for this long but I will still have some warranty left by the time the loan is complete and I get a trailer which starting out here I need for all sorts of projects. This also helps out with the payment as we have many projects around the house in need of cash. I didn't feel to bad at 0.99 since interest would only be at around $1500 for the length of the loan. I plan to have this tractor indefinitely as a tractor purchase to me is a lifetime or very long term investment that will serve many purposes around our property as well as my parents get older working in tandem with my brother back home maintaining their property.
Now to the questions.... with the mechanical knowledge and all the tools and welders on tap with the help of my Dad I am confident the minor issues I have seen from other owners we can keep this thing running for years out of warranty. Simple things people moan about like fuel leaks/fuel tank liner, fading paint blah blah, electrical/wire harness things, and the occasional gremlin in the clutch I think can arise in any machine and should be easy to deal with on such a simple machine. Is there anything else I need to be considering for this machine to last decades, are there any more problems that you all have seen that are preventable out of the Mahindra lineup? Also what are some other attachments I need for this size property, what would you all recommend? Next bucket teeth I want some but what kind are the best, should I buy a second bucket over time to put teeth on?
And to you negative Nancies who say "foreign, red,
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