Opinions wanted: NH Boomer 3040 used, LS R3039 new

hartmacw · Mar 13, 2014

My wife and I recently purchased her grandfather's 80-acre farm, mostly pasture, and I'm in the market for a 4WD utility tractor with FEL. We had an Allis 5040 with no FEL that only started and sometimes ran on certain moon phases. That went goodbye at the auction. My limit to spend, $15-18K, that's it. Closing costs on the farm got the rest of it

I have looked at all of my used and new options within a reasonable radius of our farm. I will mainly be doing bush hogging, brush/fence clearing and cleaning, and moving a few round bales from time to time. And in winter time, snow removal, lots of that. I also plan to use it for garden, plowing and tilling and general other work around the place.

I am not partial to color, so let's just get that out of the way. I am looking in the 40-hp range and the two tractors available to me right now in my range are a used NH 3040 Boomer with 400 hours, 250 FEL, and 62" tiller for $16K even + free delivery. I have also been quoted $18,500K for a new LS R3039 with FEL out the door with delivery and 5 year warranty that I have not read about yet.

I will NOT buy a tractor without looking it over and trying everything out. I have already looked at the LS. I will look at the NH soon. Can anyone give me any pointers on either of these tractors for something I should consider or look for that I might not be thinking about? Are either of these tractor prone to any common problems that I should specifically ask or look about?

Thanks in advance for any input.

davrow · Mar 13, 2014

Hmm, you need a bush hog for the LS, which is already over your limit. I don't think it is within your consideration range, even if I do like it better.

Guesseral · Mar 13, 2014

Ok where to start. The boomer 3040 is made and manufactured by Shibaura of Japan, a newer boomer I think the boomer 35 would be an LS manufactured tractor they are manufactured in South Korea. There are many people in the New Holland section who swear by there Shibaura Boomer and just as many in the LS section that swear buy their LS tractors. The LS that you are looking at since it is an R series would be a Mitsubishi powered tractor with tier 3 engine (before the new government regulations) and they are getting scarce to find, the LS XR series being the XR3037 had a Shibaura engine tier 4. The used boomer 3040 you are looking at would be a tier 3 engine. LS started making the NH boomers and the case/in B series in 2010. There are those who will tell you to get the older boomer because they were so superior and there are those who say poppycock the LS is a fantastic tractor. Me I like the LS, but that could be because my Montana was manufactured by LS and I love it, and also because I just like a warranty there is no better feeling than having a warranty even if you never get to use it.

Well that's about all I got. The best place (s) to ask this question is on the NH or the LS forum although they could both be one sided answers. Good luck!

Guesseral · Mar 13, 2014

davrow said:
Hmm, you need a bush hog for the LS, which is already over your limit. I don't think it is within your consideration range, even if I do like it better.

Good point. See if you can get them to through in a bush hog you never know everyone wants a sale!

hartmacw · Mar 13, 2014

Guesseral said:
Good point. See if you can get them to through in a bush hog you never know everyone wants a sale!

Sorry guys, in my haste to get a question out I should have clarified exactly what I'm looking to get for my budget. I already have or have access to all of the implements I need. I just need a tractor to pull, push, turn or otherwise operate them

So the $$ I am budgeting for a tractor is JUST for the tractor/loader, no implements. And as you pointed out, I have already read all of the comments in the LS/NH forums about the specific models I'm looking at, I just wanted to post here because I didn't really want that one sided answer, rather an objective "what to consider" type of answer in terms of issues one may have that the other may not.

Now to add a fly in the ointment, I just found a green/yellow 2005 4120 4WD 400x FEL with 825 hours, Hydrostat in my price range, $17,900. Pictures look like it's extremely clean and well kept. Going to look at that tomorrow. Thanks for the comments so far.

hartmacw · Mar 13, 2014

Guesseral said:
Me I like the LS, but that could be because my Montana was manufactured by LS and I love it, and also because I just like a warranty there is no better feeling than having a warranty even if you never get to use it.

Well that's about all I got. The best place (s) to ask this question is on the NH or the LS forum although they could both be one sided answers. Good luck!

Thanks that was very helpful. The dealer who quoted me on the new LS also had a used Montana 3940HST with loader and 182 hours for $14,900 too. Thought I'd swing by and look at that just to make him think about that LS quote a little harder

Guesseral · Mar 14, 2014

hartmacw said:
Thanks that was very helpful. The dealer who quoted me on the new LS also had a used Montana 3940HST with loader and 182 hours for $14,900 too. Thought I'd swing by and look at that just to make him think about that LS quote a little harder

That could work also.

Notforhire · Mar 14, 2014

I believe the NH3040 is pretty much the same as a NH TC40A/DA. If you do a search on the NH part of the forum, there was a list of the failings/problems people had with this tractor. That may be of some help.
The LS built tractor that replaced the Shibaura in the NH line was more of a utility size, rather than a CUT.
I have no experience with LS, but not being very compact myself, I prefer a full size utility to a compact.

Best, Bill

TSO · Mar 14, 2014

The more appropriate sized LS to compare with that 3040 would be the LS R4041, or the newer XR4040. The R3039 is a size down. Just as a point of reference, search the New Holland forum and keep an eye out for how many problems threads you find on the Shibaura built tractors (3040,45,50, TC33,40, etc) and how few, if any, you will find on the new LS built ones.

Like Guesseral pointed out, some will say the Shibaura built ones were better, but I find that to be quite an overstatement considering the dependability we're seeing with LS built tractors.