Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Compact Tractor?

A late friend's oldest son worked at a GM dealer,
and the owner decided to take on a Mahindra
franchise. Been probably 25-30 years ago when
they weren't well known in this area.
The son got designated the tractor technician
and started doing the make readies and warr
work. After a while, there was so much warranty
( mainly involving fluid leakage) that it was
interfering with his GM work. He said that he'd
never had to install so many helicoils in the
soft metal of those Mahindras in his life.
A hose or tube would just blow out during use
and strip the threads in the soft metal.
He finally had to threaten to quit unless they
delegated the tractor bs to somebody else.
Being he was the best qualified transmission
tech they had, they had to comply with his
request

If you are happy with your old cub, keep it and look for a used skid steer. I have a 26hp Kubota with loader and many attachments. Love the attachments but for loader work a skid steer is so much handier.

I'm not much on the little compact tractors I don't fit my usage larger ones yes..
if I was in the market for a smaller compact/subcompact tractor I would probably be weighing the difference between John Deere M series of the appropriate size.. a Kubota. and I would probably sneak a good look at a Massey Ferguson in there... not so sure about the Massey small ones but lately they have been turning out some pretty impressive stuff in larger tractors for the money..

How about a REAL compact tractor?

This ...was my dad's old 1959 Sears/David Bradley Suburban garden tractor. I grew up with this old thing. I tried restoring it the best I could after my dad passed in 2002, and got it running, repainted it, etc... and all was good, until sometime back in 2009 maybe 2010, I had it running when, Ka-POW... and that was it. The old 1962 Briggs & Stratton (upgraded by my dad) 7.25hp engine blew.

I had a JD 2025 with a quick attach loader and a snow blower. It had a 3 cylinder yanmar diesel and hydrostatic transmission. With the addition of an engine heater it would start even in sub-zero temperatures. Eventually we bought a rear mounted blade to smooth out roads and bush hog mower. We got a lot of use out of the unit, never had any issues with the machine or the attachments. Well worth the money.

My youngest has 5 acres and a JD 1025E.
Does all required tasks....and then some!
Has front loader, brush hog and a tiller!
Handy as a pocket on a shirt!

My neighbor had a little Kubota (LS185?) for sale for $1500. I knew it ran because he used it frequently. Front loader with a very hefty box scraper. I looked up the gannon and it was $1500 by itself. 4WD diesel. So far it has spread 65 tons of rock and done innumerable chores at my new place as well as the neighbors. Can't believe I got one at that price. It also has a PTO. Flywheel on that little motor must weigh 100 lbs.

Good luck finding that kind of deal!

Bought a used B7500 with a small brush hog, loader, and a snow blade for $7500. Moved about 30 tons of landscaping material with it, mowed and snowplowed with it. Got offered $11,000 for it and sold it. Then bought a much newer L3560. Seems very capable for my needs. Tractorhouse.com has many deals on tractors and I had mine shipped 2 states over for around $1200.

I bought a used 2017 kioti 3510 hydro stat. it had about 1200 hours on it. what I didn't know and later found out is a rental company bought it. when its bought by a rental company the warranty is only 2 years. so my 2017 had no warranty. I have had the DPF filter clog twice and now the dealer claims the motor is bad. I have spent 3 grand in repairs and still have a dead tractor. I am not sure I believe the dealer that the motor is bad, it was running great before it went into limp mode. Now after they "worked" on it. it will not start now.

tractors 25 hp and under do not have to have emissions. in the case of kioti if you get a 2620, which has the same frame and is the same tractor as my 3510 just with the 25hp motor. you can actually turn up the power to equal the 3510. I don't think kioti makes a bad tractor. in my situation its a combination of bad mainteince and a bad dealer probably both in my case. Most of these tractors are Korean made and many of them use similar parts,

after looking at all of them I think I would buy a TYM/branson if buying new. The TYM seemed to have a little nicer finishes and the BIGGIE is they use mechanical injection on their tractors. What this means is you can just chuck the DPF at any point you want to. this is HUGE as these machines age. The only concern about TYM is how good their parts and dealer network will be as the tractors age.

LS has a 10 year 0% finance right now. TYM has it for 7 years I believe right now. the reason these machines aren't really out there on the used market is most people buy them with cheap financing. in many cases it makes a lot of sense to just buy a new machine. I honestly wish I had. I love my tractor and am struggling with serious withdrawls not having it.

I bought a Massey Ferguson 1723 two years ago and have been very happy. Backhoe performs way out of proportion to its size. I rototill, box blade, snow blow, and plow and disc with it. Great little tractor.

I went to Kubota in Lewiston with every intention of buying a similar sized tractor but got treated like crap by the guy on the counter. I went around the corner to the Massey dealer and got treated very well. So I went with the Massey.

The Dealers can make it or break it when it comes to sales
If I am ever in the market for another tractor my 1st move will be to find a dealer I like.

My Dealer in Commyfornia was and is GREAT but I am moving out of the State and they will be to far for support.

Branson is a POS

Suprised I havent seen Yanmar mentioned above. I test drove most manufacturers offerings in the 25-30 hp range. Very happy with my Yanmar.

I 'tried' to buy Kubota.
The localest dealer being 35 miles away at the time.
I went there with intention of purchasing one on the spot.
They were total azzwipes and acted as if there wasn't another tractor to be bought.
The Kioti dealer is in my hometown and clearly appreciated my business.
They've come and took care of a couple of small issues and changed the oil twice[all at N/C].

Hard to beat a Kubota.

I have a Kubota 2501 and love it. My brother has a JD 3025 and has had WAY more issues than I’ve had, as I’ve had zero issues in 325hrs of use. If you get a compact tractor, make sure and get a tooth bar to stiffen the bucket.

At our old place we had a Kubota 2601 with a loader. 5 acres, all timber and I used a flail mower on it to keep the black berries down. 52" if I recall. It was great. Stayed with the house when we sold it. Only think I regret about selling. I should have kept it.

I’m surprised also,If I was looking for a new tractor I would definitely consider Yanmar.

one advantage to kubota is you know the company aint going anywhere. years from now you're likely to be able to get parts for it. The other is if you don't like the dealer you can probably just got to a different one.

kioti does also make the bobcat tractors they just have different paint. I am thinking about taking my kioti to the bobcat dealer to see if they can figure it out. They work on heavy equipment more. the local kioti dealer just sells kioti and golf carts.

This may not apply to most folks here but my late landlord bought a Kubota about 25 years ago with a substantial savings. In my area around grape harvesting season a lot of farmers rented tractors . You would see new Kubota tractors with white plastic “skin” to protect the paint on the hood and fenders. After the season was over there was a company that sold them at a discount. Tractors still carried a warranty . Landlord had a front seal leak and they came out and fixed it , no charge. Kubota tractor is about 34 hp and only problems with it was electrical and that was caused by sulfur that is used to dust the grapes. Sulfur wipes out alternator in a few seasons. I always liked John Deere but times change and I think Kubota would be hard to beat. Products from India are coming up the ranks. I see this in machining tools. Farmers know what brands hold up. Ask a farmer!