Sub Compact Tractors
 

Me with my dream tractor. Kioti CS2520....and a beer, of course. Calaveras County Fair last weekend.
Been subcompact tractor shopping for a while now. Time will tell.....

Drink a few more of them beers and it will follow you home. ;)

You could make a nice fire break around your place with that toy.

This is sooooooooooooooooo funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've discovered that shopping for your first subcompact tractor is much like shopping for your first China bike!!!

It doesn't matter what brand (John Deere, Kubota, Massey Ferguson, New Holland, Kioti, LS, etc...etc...), they are ALL made in South Korea and under most cases, brought here to the US for assembly.....or built there, then imported. (Think Hondoid CG motor and frame regardless if it's Bashan, Haosan, etc).

They all share a bunch of the same parts and assemblies......and watching the forums, much like the China Bike World.....it all comes down to "dealer support"....because, much like the China Bikes of today.....none of them are "bad" or to be steered clear of.

At the current time, being a China Rider, I'm not afraid of any of them because....well, get me the parts and I'll be fine.

The LS Mt125 with a loader and backhoe is boiling to the top. I have a dealer within 1.5 hours of Volcano who can promise me parts, filters etc..... That works so far. Going to check it out this week......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTgZwsvNU8g

I own a 10 acre ranch. I spent months researching tractors, and came to conclusions identical to yours.

John Deere and Kubota: MAJOR sticker shock

LS is my first choice due to dealer support and price. Kioti is nice, but the dealers are few in my area.

My budget was very tight. I couldn't afford a brand new tractor. I scoured the interwebs, looking for used tractors. I stumbled upon this beauty - a fully restored 1958 Ford Workmaster 641 for $4700. I went to look at it, and it followed me home. :) It needed a new distributor cap and a new rotor. The local NAPA had both in stock - cost me all of $18 + adjusting the gap on the plugs and the points. I bought a 6' yard rake at Rural King to help level out uneven terrain.



http://www.tractordata.com/farm-trac...-ford-641.html

Awesome find, Hunnicutt! I had a guy locally who had a nice Ford 8N for sale but with my land, I need 4WD. He only wanted 1000.00 for it with a few of the drag implements! Ran perfect......
I wish Katoranger was still around. Great China Rider and VERY much into tractors.

Thank you, 2LZ. If that 8N is still available, BUY IT!!! The implements alone are worth more than $1000. My yard rake cost about $900 including the wheel kit. Heck, if the rear tires are in decent shape on the 8N you're already ahead more than a grand!! There must be car / tractor shows in your area. Old tractors are a huge hit with everyone (including me).



I really want a 4 wheel drive with a bucket loader. My back isn't in the best of shape, and the bucket loader could save me a lot of pain hauling and lifting crap. For the time being I can get by with my 641.



How much land do you have?



What do use use your Rhino 250 to do? I'm still trying to figure out which would be best for my needs - the Rhino or the Bull. I really don't like centrifugal clutches and belt drives. Seems like a single failure point to me. (Sorry to drag your thread in a different direction. I'm new to rural life and have a lot to learn.)

Unfortunately, the 8N is long gone, though it did take him almost 6 months to sell it!

We don't have a lot of land. Just three acres but almost half of it is a roll-off hill, which is why the 4WD is needed. Also why I'm looking subcompact. I have a lot of tight spaces in the trees.

Regarding the Rhino, I picked it up to give my lawn tractor a break. We used that little lawn tractor for EVERYTHING....and I wanted to make it last. When we're doing light duty cart work, I use the Rhino. If I need any real power, I use the lawn tractor (24hp).

The biggest drawback to the Rhino (besides lacking brute power) is the manual clutch. Sometimes I may overload the cart and coming up the hill takes a lot of clutch slipping to get her rolling. Little sucker has yet to cook though. Must be strong enough.

I have two Kubotas and one Kioti, all four wheel drive and diesel. All are good. One Kubota stays out at the ranch here in SWFL. It has a front bucket, bush hog, belly mower, two post hole diggers and a back blade. I have a trailer to haul it around. Another Kubota stays in WNC and it has a belly mower, back blade and a drag for the long and steep driveway. The Kioti is the newest one and it is just doing mowing at our 5.5 acres here in Fort Myers. It is the smoothest runner of he three.

Thanks for the input, Barnone. Been a while since we chatted. The Kioti is a great tractor and (in China Bike terms) is most "proprietary" regarding being a complete Daedong product. Problem is it's all on a waiting list with Kioti. I may not be able to get one until December, according to my local dealer. They are a great tractor though. My first choice actually.....but the LS is also supposed to be a great unit with the Yanmar motor, etc....

Getting Closer
 

If we can get some kinks worked out, this may be the unit.
Hydraulics, both trans and attachments work like silk. I was impressed. Power steering is effortless. One finger.

That LS looks like a nice tractor. I shopped new and used, but ended up with a Shibuara 22hp diesel 4x4. No idea what year it is, probably early 1980's but completely overhauled in 2008 with low hours. Great tractor, but the high center of gravity and no rollover protection scare me sometimes. I don't know if the old Fords are rollover prone but this one has been on two wheels once on a very gentle slope with a load of feed in the bucket and it scared the crap out of me. I got it for a small firewood business and unloading animal feed and maintaining a little stretch of dirt road around my property. About once a month I have firewood customer wanting to buy or trade vehicles for the Shibuara.

When I was in the market I found a lot of rebadging happens with the subcompact tractors. Everyone knows the Ford and Yanmar name, but few people have a clue what a Shibuara is. I learned that Shibuara happens to be the OEM for Ford and Yanmar and maybe MF subcompacts from the 1970's and up. So there are some good deals on the "off-brand" stuff.

New rebadged "off brand" units I nearly bought were the McCormick (X1.25) and the Branson (2205H). A dealer in Bakersfield had a McCormick X1.25 with a syncro trans for $10,999 last year. I called to make a deal but they had just sent it out to a job as a loaner. When it was returned with about 100 hours on it they offered it to me for $9999 but I had already bought the Shibuara by that time. Rural King sells a rebadged Korean subcompact at a good price, but no dealers near California.

You're so right. As mentioned earlier, shopping for a subcompact is like shopping for a China Bike. Rebadging, etc. Notice the LS is blue.....and so is New Holland. That's because LS has been making New Hollands for a long time.

My neighbor bought a new Kubota BX sub but man.....they want a ton for them. Same with Bobcat. Nice stuff, for sure but bust out the wallet.

My brother bought a Branson last year. He loves it. I believe that Branson was just acquired by TYM. Another nice affordable tractor.

The only thing I'm balking on is I was hoping to get a skid steer quick connect. This one doesn't have it but for the price, I may have to overlook it. I'm not looking for a bunch of implements anyway.....

She's Home
 

Gonna be fun. Loader, backhoe, box blade. Very happy with the deal, especially here in CA. The Rep was excellent. Walked me thru everything. Spent hours here.

Ah crap. I'll never see it again.....