Buying Advice Should I buy John Deere 5055e?

[farmall70]

Looking for advice on what tractor I should buy. It will be used for rotary cutting a little over 15 acres 4 to 5 times a year. I have a 6ft rotary cutter rated from 30 to 60 pto hp.

When I do the first cutting it is typically around 3ft tall and can be thick in spots. I have been using a 60 pto hp tractor which I am able to go around 4 to 5 mph and the tractor has never really showed signs of struggling.

My budget is around $25k. I am thinking about buying a John Deere 5055e 2wd (rated 41 pto hp & 48 pto maximum). I do not need a loader or 4wd as all I will use it for is rotary cutting. Only looking at new tractors.

Will the JD 5055e have enough pto hp for what I want to do? Anyone have experience with this tractor? I have heard mixed options on the e series. Any other tractors you would recommend based on my budget?

 

[Roadworthy]

Rule of thumb is five PTO horsepower for every foot of mower. Your six foot mower would then require thirty horsepower. Due to the height of the grass exceeding that a bit is not unreasonable. So yes, the tractor would be up to the job. It can be more a matter of dealer support. Good luck with your new acquisition.

 

[rScotty]

What are you looking for that is different from the Case IH 70A? That's a nice tractor, recent build, non-emissions control type diesel - and that is something that is preferred by many. The Case should be just about broken in now, and would then be just entering its most reliable years. So I'm curious, why change?

 

[farmall70]

It has had the ECU replaced (at 75 hours) once due to a short. Turn the key and it starts sometimes and not others. Now I am at 95 hours it is doing it again.

 

[rScotty]

It has had the ECU replaced (at 75 hours) once due to a short. Turn the key and it starts sometimes and not others. Now I am at 95 hours it is doing it again.

Well, that's no good. Sorry to hear that. I made the mistake of thinking that since it was a older model (tractor data says 2008) that it would be a pre-ECU type. My mistake. Are the electrics on the JD 5055e more reliable?

We just had to replace the ECU in our JD 310SG - at 6000 hrs. Cost was about $2000 plus a service call. JD must rebuild the ECUs; they asked if I wanted to keep the old one or would rather have a few hundred bucks credit for it. To me that says more than I wanted to know about the reliability of their ECU. They also offer and "upgrade kit" that moves the ECU to a more protected location.

If it had happened at 95 hours I'd be on the warpath as well as switching to a different tractor.

I've heard that some Kubota has a pretty good insurance policy that covers breakdowns. That might be a factor next time I buy. I wonder if JD has something similar?
From reading here on TBN I've come to the conclusion that in today's tractor world a warranty is only as good as the dealer, and that not all dealers have professional service departments.

When I bought the last tractor we added some lines to the sales contract spelling out who was responsible for hauling the tractor for service during warranty as well as a few othr things.
rScotty

 

[hawkeye_miner]

We have a 5055E with a 6' mower and it handles all types of mowing fine. It's a no-frills machine, but always runs.

 

[3Ts]

I'm like Hawkeye - I also have a 5055e with a 6' bushog and don't have any problems cutting fields. Sometimes the weeds are over 3', but weeds are easier to cut than grass.

 

[Notforhire]

I had a 2011 5055e and it had plenty of power to run my six foot cutter and I'm at 3000ft above sea level.

The 50 series has gotten a lot of bad press over the years. I would suggest doing some research before committing.

 

[mo1]

Looking for advice on what tractor I should buy. It will be used for rotary cutting a little over 15 acres 4 to 5 times a year. I have a 6ft rotary cutter rated from 30 to 60 pto hp.

When I do the first cutting it is typically around 3ft tall and can be thick in spots. I have been using a 60 pto hp tractor which I am able to go around 4 to 5 mph and the tractor has never really showed signs of struggling.

My budget is around $25k. I am thinking about buying a John Deere 5055e 2wd (rated 41 pto hp & 48 pto maximum). I do not need a loader or 4wd as all I will use it for is rotary cutting. Only looking at new tractors.

Will the JD 5055e have enough pto hp for what I want to do? Anyone have experience with this tractor? I have heard mixed options on the e series. Any other tractors you would recommend based on my budget?

If all you are going to do is run a 6' bush hog in grass 4-5 times per year, that only takes a tractor with about 40 engine HP and 30ish PTO HP. A Deere 5055E would be way more than plenty for that task, that tractor should be able to run a 10 footer doing that kind of cutting without trouble. The open station version is rated at 59 engine HP, 45 PTO HP and in Nebraska's testing made 51 PTO HP. For the record, the CaseIH 70A is rated at 70 engine HP and 62 PTO HP, and in Nebraska's testing made 64 PTO HP. Unless you want the 12-speed Power Reverser transmission, I'd look at the 5045E instead of the 5055E. (The 5045E is not available with the Power Reverser transmission.) The 5045E is nominally rated at 50 engine HP and 37 PTO HP. Nebraska didn't test it but based on the other 5E 3 cyl tractors' results, I'd guesstimate it makes about 43-44 PTO HP which would be more than enough. The nearest Deere conglomerate dealer's ads list a new 2wd 5045E for $18k and a 2wd 5075E with the SyncShuttle transmission for $25,500 so you should be able to come in well under the $25k number. FYI, list price on the Power Reverser if you want that is about $2800, so add about $2k for that transmission to a 5055E-5075E.

My family has a cabbed 5083E and it's been a fine tractor with about 1500 hours on it. It's the Tier III version so no DPF. About the only gripe anybody has with it is that the 553 loader is a little slower than the open station but otherwise nearly identical 5410 with the 540 loader that the 5083E replaced. I chalk that up to the 553 being a larger loader than the 540 and taking more hydraulic output to run, therefore it is slower. Before the 5410, we had a late 1970s 2wd 2240 which is exactly the same wheelbase as the current 5045E-5075E units and uses the same basic 2.9 L three cylinder engine. We had no problems with that tractor either. The 2240 being 2wd was notably more maneuverable than the MFWD 5410 and 5083E.

I'd also strongly reconsider looking at only a brand-new 2wd tractor. There are a number of very lightly used ones that show up for sale for a reasonable discount over new. The nearest Deere conglomerate dealer had a 2wd 5065E with about 500 hours that they had listed at $16,500 that had just sold (I assume for less than $16,500.) New would be about $23k if you can negotiate reasonably well.