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  #1  
Old 03-20-2011, 02:51 PM
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Looking for advice on small diesel tractor purchase

The last experience I had with tractors was about 25 years ago, a nice little Kubota. Recently I mowed using a Ford 1100 2 cyl diesel -- smaller than the Kubota but also nice. Anybody have experience with diesel tractors in the 60 hp or less range?

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Old 03-20-2011, 02:59 PM
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Most of the small diesel tractors I would not be surprised if are made in Asia.

Any of them are probably excellent. No personal experience though. The Kubota obviously is a respected brand.

The little John Deeres and such if diesel are probably Asian even if a traditional US name brand.
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Old 03-20-2011, 03:23 PM
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I have a '95 Kubota B7100. 3 cylinder, 16 hp diesel with a 60' belly mower. Worse thing about it is that it has no water pump! Just a thermo syphon system. Runs hot unless I really keep the radiator cleaned out. Have to blow out the dust from the back of the radiator with air hose all the time. Best thing is that it is diesel adn 4wd. I have some pretty steep hills and that makes a big difference. I believe Kubota has some slightly bigger models (B7200, B8100, B8200) that do have a water pump. Not sure which ones do.
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Old 03-20-2011, 03:47 PM
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I bet I over-estimated the need for HP in the OP. If you're doing all of that AND on hills, I doubt I need as much HP as I thought. Thanks for the info, BobK.
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Old 03-20-2011, 03:48 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by t walgamuth View Post
Most of the small diesel tractors I would not be surprised if are made in Asia.

Any of them are probably excellent. No personal experience though. The Kubota obviously is a respected brand.

The little John Deeres and such if diesel are probably Asian even if a traditional US name brand.
The little Ford has a Japanese engine. I don't recall the mfr. It was a new name for me.
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Old 03-20-2011, 04:13 PM
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the john deere's use yanmar engines. some of the best small diesel engines made.
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Old 03-20-2011, 05:10 PM
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Bot- check out Tractorbynet.com for a wealth of info. I have a 22 hp Kioti 4x4 3 cyl diesel tractor that I like more everytime I use it. From what I gather Kioti is basically a Kubota without the name and higher price. Are you buying new or used?
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Old 03-20-2011, 05:19 PM
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Most large tractors you see on farms have very little HP, a lot less than 60. Its all in the gearing.
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Old 03-20-2011, 05:43 PM
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The Kioti is a Korean knock off of a Kubota. The little Ford's were made by Shibauru, and excellent product. They also made some of the brushcutters for Stihl years ago, they were excellent also.
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Old 03-20-2011, 05:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Botnst View Post
The little Ford has a Japanese engine. I don't recall the mfr. It was a new name for me.
Most of the later model Ford diesel tractors use a Shibaura engine, they are pretty well respected but I don't think they are in the same league as a Yanmar or a Kubota engine.

What are you planning on doing with the tractor?

For frame of reference purposes the Ford 1100 has a 13 hp engine.
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Old 03-20-2011, 05:55 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Botnst View Post
I bet I over-estimated the need for HP in the OP.
Tractors are like garages. Nobody ever complains about them being too large.

The reference to tractorbynet is spot on - there's more info there of value than anywhere else I've found. Still, HP is but one consideration, and some would argue not the most important. Of equal or greater value, is the frame size - which as a rule of thumb, will determine the strength of the hydraulically actuated components.

For example, I've a Kubota 3130 - has a relatively wimpy 25-ish HP at the PTO. It suits my needs, and for the rare occasions where I could use more HP (mowing wet/tall weeds on hills, tilling deep when dry), I just slow it down. However, I purposely went with this model over others that were similarly priced in the 35HP range, as they had smaller frames resulting in reduced loader capacity. You can make up for less horsepower on the PTO side of things somewhat by modifying how you operate, but nothing will make a wimpy loader lift more...

Doing it again, I'd definitely go used. These things are tanks - it takes a ton of abuse to ruin them, and plenty of lightly used examples are out there. For most folks, HST is the way to go...I'd never go back to manual after using it.
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Old 03-20-2011, 06:09 PM
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Old 03-20-2011, 06:10 PM
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Several years ago I spoke with a man who has a large used farm equipment business. He swears by John Deere for most things but reluctantly said that Kubota makes the best small tractors. By small, I mean 30 HP or less. This guy really knows his stuff, but the conversation was about 6 years ago. I don't know whether his opinion has changed.

I say get more HP than you think you need. Go with 4-wheel-drive if you intend to use a front-end loader.

I have a Kubota riding mower with a 19-Hp diesel engine and a 60-inch mower deck. The three cylinder diesel engine and hydrostatic transmission are as sweet as any drivetrain I have ever seen. Smooth as silk. The rest of the mower is not as impressive. The gauges rarely work and I quit even trying to start it with the key. I hot wire it every time, which is annoying, but not the end of the world. The hinges that used to hold the hood on were weak. I have had to repair a couple of welds holding the dashboard and steering column. I'm a lousy welder, but even I do better than some of the welds on my Kubota. It also doesn't do a great job mowing. It will cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time, but the mow job is not very even. Even with all those problems, I look forward to mowing with it. Very smooth machine.

Be sure to keep grass clippings and such out of the radiator. The local Kubota guy told me that repeated overheating kills many a Kubota before its day. I keep a shop vac next to my Kubota and vacuum off the radiator every time I mow.
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Old 03-20-2011, 07:51 PM
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Mahindra makes a very nice compact tractor. My neighbor has one similar to this:

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi107256089/

From what I've heard, Mahindra tractors are a joint venture with International but I have no direct proof of that.
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  #15  
Old 03-20-2011, 08:25 PM
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Bot- check out Tractorbynet.com for a wealth of info. I have a 22 hp Kioti 4x4 3 cyl diesel tractor that I like more everytime I use it. From what I gather Kioti is basically a Kubota without the name and higher price. Are you buying new or used?
I'm several years out from the retirement glide, so I am beginning to change from an urban collection of crap to a rural treasure collection. I'm picking-up a well cared for 1998 F150 next weekend with a big 8 cyl (5 l, IIRC) and 120K miles. Then I'll need a low axle trailer. And a small tractor.

I used to laugh at guys my age when I lived in the country. It was like a 8 year cycle. At about 5 years they buy the 5 acre ranchette. They spend weekends and holidays working on the ranchette. Then when they retire they're a bundle of intense activity for 6 months. After a while they start hanging out in town more than at the ranchette. At 8 years the ranchette is on the market.

I'm looking for that guys used tractor.

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