I've spent the last couple month on and off looking at tractors and had it narrowed down to an LS 3040 or a Mahindra 3616.
Went out yesterday to make the purchase. I was slightly leaning towards the Mahindra since the brand is wider known and parts are plentiful.
In the end I went with the LS. It was being sold by the largess tractor dealer in the area (handles mainly Massey) while the Mahindra was being sold by a dealer that's primarily a car dealer. The folks there were car salesmen and it didn't take more than a few mins to realize that none of them had a clue about tractors. When I mentioned "draft control" he said well the radiator has a good fan on it. They had an area about 50' x 60' with about two dozen attachments in it. The guys there weren't sure what they were called.
When I went to White Tractor in Burgaw, NC he had about 2 acres of attachments. No salesmen. Just the owner and the service people. No one came out and I had to go knock on the owner's door and tell him I wanted to look at some tractors. He knew the specs and details of every piece of equipment, tractor and attachment he had. The inside of the store was wall to wall racks and shelves of equipment and add-ons. One of those places you walk in and it inspires confidence and a good feeling.
So ended up with an LS 3040 shuttle, front end loader, 5 ft slipcluth bushhog, 5 ft tiller, 5 ft box blade, a toothbar for the loader bucket, and auger with 6" bit that came in at $20,300.
He's delivering it this afternoon after work on his way home since he lives just a few miles from us.
We have 16 acres of young and scrub pine packed with bayberry bushes and briars. Only about 2 acres of it is cleared. Going to start bushhogging this weekend and clearing trees later in the month.
Nice part is I found about a dozen and a half telephone poles on the back 6 acres where someone had planned to build a pole barn but abandoned it. Once I get an area cleared they're going to become the support for MY pole barn.
The land here is predominantly sand since we're only about 4 miles from the shoreline. So come spring probably going to take a shot at a small pond in the yard.
So... that takes care of my weekends for the next year.
Went out yesterday to make the purchase. I was slightly leaning towards the Mahindra since the brand is wider known and parts are plentiful.
In the end I went with the LS. It was being sold by the largess tractor dealer in the area (handles mainly Massey) while the Mahindra was being sold by a dealer that's primarily a car dealer. The folks there were car salesmen and it didn't take more than a few mins to realize that none of them had a clue about tractors. When I mentioned "draft control" he said well the radiator has a good fan on it. They had an area about 50' x 60' with about two dozen attachments in it. The guys there weren't sure what they were called.
When I went to White Tractor in Burgaw, NC he had about 2 acres of attachments. No salesmen. Just the owner and the service people. No one came out and I had to go knock on the owner's door and tell him I wanted to look at some tractors. He knew the specs and details of every piece of equipment, tractor and attachment he had. The inside of the store was wall to wall racks and shelves of equipment and add-ons. One of those places you walk in and it inspires confidence and a good feeling.
So ended up with an LS 3040 shuttle, front end loader, 5 ft slipcluth bushhog, 5 ft tiller, 5 ft box blade, a toothbar for the loader bucket, and auger with 6" bit that came in at $20,300.
He's delivering it this afternoon after work on his way home since he lives just a few miles from us.
We have 16 acres of young and scrub pine packed with bayberry bushes and briars. Only about 2 acres of it is cleared. Going to start bushhogging this weekend and clearing trees later in the month.
Nice part is I found about a dozen and a half telephone poles on the back 6 acres where someone had planned to build a pole barn but abandoned it. Once I get an area cleared they're going to become the support for MY pole barn.
The land here is predominantly sand since we're only about 4 miles from the shoreline. So come spring probably going to take a shot at a small pond in the yard.
So... that takes care of my weekends for the next year.
