I just wanted to take a minute to thank all of you - here and on the JD forum - for your input and assistance. I've already learned a lot about these little critters just from reading through the forum, plus several of you have taken the time to answer my questions. I haven't run out of questions, by the way! Anyway, it's all led to our recently acquiring a B2320HSD with FEL & 54"MMM. Notice I said "our acquiring" .. She's in on this, too. Pretty smart of me, don't you think?
Which tractor do I want/need?
That's the $64 question, so I'll run through the deciding factors for me and maybe it'll help someone else narrow down the choices a bit.
First, what I need it for: We have just under 20 acres - mostly pasture - with around 2 acres improved around the house (with unpaved drives to maintain and places to mow in amongst trees). Was hoping to find a single tractor that would do it all but decided there isn't one. If it was big enough to handle a 5-ft shredder (rotary mower), it was too big to be comfortably maneuverable in more confined spaces around the house. Decided to keep my old Ford 601 to mow the pasture and then get something smaller - with FEL - for around the house.
In my area, the main dealers are JD, Kubota and New Holland. They all seem pretty decent brands to me, and the dealerships all seemed accommodating enough. You could toss a coin and not be too wrong where one brand vs another is concerrned. I admit to being a little predisposed toward Kubota going in, but JD always has to be considered, too, so I gave them a serious look. And NH was worth a look but I just, for some reason, didn't get too excited. Maybe it was because it was the highest-priced in the size range I was looking for, and they didn't seem too willing to work with us on price.
On gear drive vs HST, I had to remember the FEL plus mowing around trees. Shifting all the time with the 601 when working in confined areas gets old real fast, so picking HST was kind of a high-priority.
I also got pretty focused on the "B" series and JD's equivalent (2320) because I'd just rather have a radiator-cooled HST than the fan-cooled version. Nothing against the "BX" series or the JD 2305; they're all bulldogs and everyone knows it. My comfort zone, though, was with radiator cooling for the tranny.
What I liked about the "B" series: Some little things made the difference, like a steel hood, a temp gauge (kind of important to me), and a 3-speed range in the HST. Ergonomics? Not too much of an issue to me; I figure I can get used to however it's set up. (If I was on it 8 hrs/day, I might think differently.) The rocker pedal for fwd/reverse versus side-by-side pedals? Again, not much of an issue. Reliability? Seems good with all of 'em but I did sense fewer breakdown problems here on the Kub forum than some of the others. So the "B" kind of floated to the top in my mind. (That may be a bad way to describe it since other things float to the top, too. Oh well, you get what I'm trying to say.)
Tried to buy something used but the problem I ran into was high resale prices. If it was only a few years old and in good (or even not so good) condition, the price was pretty dang close to new pricing. So why not buy new?
Anyway, that's my story & I'm sticking to it! Now I just need to get some more seat time and learn how to use the quick attach features of the FEL & MMM. Hope this hasn't been too boring a read but figured it might be useful for someone still on the hunt. And, yep, more pix are coming. Heck, I've even washed it once .. will try to get some pix before I get it dirty again.
Oh, and one more thing: I stuck a HF Quick Hitch on it so I don't have to manhandle the box blade. Had to replace the top hook bolts with pins to allow the 3PH on the blade enough clearance to get hooked at the top. So far, so good. ("So far, so good": That's what the guy said that fell off a skyscraper. On every floor he went by going down, that's what they heard him say: So far, so good. From an old Steve McQueen movie.)
