Which Kubota to get

[canoetrpr]

IMHO the L3240 is too small a machine for your needs. For my 14 acres of pasture I think that if I were to go with a Grand L over my L3400, it would be a L3540.

I think that you ought to seriously think going over 40hp - at the least to allow you to run a 7ft light/medium duty bush hog.

For starters, if you have pasture and not a lawn that you are cutting, don't get a finish mower - get a bush hog. I thought that I could get by with a finish mower on my pasture which is in about as good a shape as any pasture could be - flat and well cut. Boy would that have been a mistake. You don't realise how many rocks and logs you will hit. If your pasture is in good shape then a light duty rotary cutter like the woods BB84 will do you really well.

I KNOW that my L3400 woudl handle a BB72 just fine. Wish I had gotten the 6 ft based on advise from this forum. I got the BB60 instead and I don't mind the seat time but its not great mowing the fence line.

Basically you want as much HP as you can afford so long as you also get a loader and will allow you to run a 7 ft medium / light duty rotary cutter. Don't compromise on something like a loader. I'd rather get a L4400 with no HST with a loader than a 43+hp Grand L similarly priced without a loader.

The best deal going IMHO is the L4400. If you want HST, I would not suggest going below the GL 4x series or looking for a lightly used GL4x30.

Good luck.

 

[JeremyL]

I love my MX5000. 50 HP continues to surprise me by how much oomph* it has.

A sun canopy is a cheap essential and not only adds to comfort but adds to safety since a cool operator is less likely to make careless (hasty) mistakes.

Wish I had taken the near unanimous advice contained here in TBN and gotten a FEL. 4WD depends on your terrain, weather, and whether you have to tractor in all kinds of weather or whether you can stay inside when it is too wet.

*A highly technical tractor term.

Good luck.

 

[Bob_Young]

Hi Lab Owner,
If you're just cutting grass, no rough stuff (or nothing over 1"), the L4400/BB72 combination would give you great bang for the buck and probably hit your budget nearly dead on.

If you're going after the heavy stuff, plan on a BB720 with an MX5000 or M4800 (su or dt) to handle it. The BB720 is built like a tank and weighs around 1200#. From a weight standpoint, the L4400 will have more than it can handle; hence the recommendation for a lower end M-series. The power increase over an L4400 is small, but the weight difference is significant. An M5040 would be ideal, but it's a budget breaker.

I've got an L4300, predecessor to the L4400 and very similar in terms of weight and power. The BB720 I own is just too heavy for it, though I sometimes use it hooked up 2 pt. without the top link attached.
Bob

 

[LarryRB]

Hi Lab Owner,


If you're going after the heavy stuff, plan on a BB720 .
Bob

I just replaced an old hog mower with a BB720.. Great mower and yes, it's a real brute,, You know you have a mower behind you when a 720 is hooked up..

 

[bxowner]

You asked for advice... and only one person has mentioned the term "used." Call me "Captain Obvious", but there's just no other way to get more for your money. I'm amazed at the number of 100-400 hour used tractors out there.

Another big saving step would be to get away from HST. It's convenient for sure, but unless your 40 acres doubles as an obstacle course, it just isn't "necessary." I brush hogged 15 acres with a Deere (HST and no cruise control) this summer and got a pretty bad charlie-horse in my right leg from pushing that pedal down for hours at the same time as fighting back the bounces. Boy was I longing for a set of gears.

A lot of the municipalities around here - especially the highway crews - are running Challenger cab tractors. I think they're affiliated with CAT, but are built by AGCO. Anyway, here they replace them every 2 years at auction. Brand new 40hp cab models run around $22-25k. Not sure what they end up at used, but a low hour machine is probably right in your range with all the "goodies" everyone's been mentioning (more hp, A/C cab, etc). I'm well aware that this is a Kubota forum, but if it so happens the best tractor for you isn't orange, then so be it. You'll be spending a lot more time with it than us!

 

[crazyal]

bxowner, that's odd that you see a lot of Challengers because I've seen plenty of larger Kubota M series and some green tractors doing the roadside mowing on the state highways in NW VT. I assumed it was being done not by state workers but maybe it was contracted out. Maybe the interstates are different than the state highways.

I've gone to a few state auctions (never looked at tractors though, just trucks) and never saw any great deals. It just seamed that too many dealers were there to make sure any deals were bidded on so the deal wasn't as good any more. Maybe equipment is different.