Last spring my wife decided she wanted to rototill the orchard. It looked like a lot of work so I filled the old Craftsman tiller with gas and told her to get to work... just the beginning of the master plan to get myself a tractor.
Well, months of tractor shopping and lurking here has finally come to a head. Looked at the NH's, JD's, and Kb's, and like I've read here, they're all pretty much the same, it all comes down to the dealer.
The NH place showed me to a TC29 that I wanted, until I saw that they had a custom sun-cracked duct tape fuel cap fitted to it and apparent rain water scum in the fuel filter, "someone must've stolen the cap" the salesman said - moments after he told me what a well stocked service department they have.
Found a JD 4310 that would've filled the bill, but when I asked about the service department rates (while seated in the salesman's office) he told me he didn't know, but I could call the number on his business card and ask for the service department and speak with "Bob", the service manager, who would be happy to tell me what the rates are. I thought "The JD's on this lot must sell themselves, 'cause this dealer sure isn't."
Went to a Kb dealer more than twice as far away and had the most helpful sales dude one could hope for. He acted like my wife & I were the only customers in the world, spent hours with us, showing the differences between the various models, implements, etc.
Ended up with a B3030 with a Loader, 60" Flail Mower (to keep the fire department off my back), a 9" Auger w/power downforce (because the "soil" around here is like concrete), a 60" tiller (because my wife wanted one), a single tine heavy duty ripper (because the budget was already blown and there was no way I could try for a BH - "A man's got to know his limitations"), a 60" Box Scraper with hydraulic ripper activation (sales dude said manual rippers get lost in the dirt at the worst times), and a Top 'n Tilt (because I read that it makes lots of tedious chores easy).
The most important part of this deal for me is that my wife is thrilled. I think I may have to hide the keys, she was using the ripper to pull out old rose bushes until it was too dark to drive.
I may have to start figuring out how to get a second tractor. Hmmmmm....
Well, months of tractor shopping and lurking here has finally come to a head. Looked at the NH's, JD's, and Kb's, and like I've read here, they're all pretty much the same, it all comes down to the dealer.
The NH place showed me to a TC29 that I wanted, until I saw that they had a custom sun-cracked duct tape fuel cap fitted to it and apparent rain water scum in the fuel filter, "someone must've stolen the cap" the salesman said - moments after he told me what a well stocked service department they have.
Found a JD 4310 that would've filled the bill, but when I asked about the service department rates (while seated in the salesman's office) he told me he didn't know, but I could call the number on his business card and ask for the service department and speak with "Bob", the service manager, who would be happy to tell me what the rates are. I thought "The JD's on this lot must sell themselves, 'cause this dealer sure isn't."
Went to a Kb dealer more than twice as far away and had the most helpful sales dude one could hope for. He acted like my wife & I were the only customers in the world, spent hours with us, showing the differences between the various models, implements, etc.
Ended up with a B3030 with a Loader, 60" Flail Mower (to keep the fire department off my back), a 9" Auger w/power downforce (because the "soil" around here is like concrete), a 60" tiller (because my wife wanted one), a single tine heavy duty ripper (because the budget was already blown and there was no way I could try for a BH - "A man's got to know his limitations"), a 60" Box Scraper with hydraulic ripper activation (sales dude said manual rippers get lost in the dirt at the worst times), and a Top 'n Tilt (because I read that it makes lots of tedious chores easy).
The most important part of this deal for me is that my wife is thrilled. I think I may have to hide the keys, she was using the ripper to pull out old rose bushes until it was too dark to drive.
I may have to start figuring out how to get a second tractor. Hmmmmm....
