Starting my search for a SCUT

Caution - personal opinions below!!!

I think you might be selling yourself short if you don’t at least LOOK at kubota and the aforementioned Kioti, and maybe the LS and TYM, maybe even Mahindra. Those last three brands will be cheaper than the others, and they’re usually great machines especially for the price. But I’m on this forum way more than I should be and have read many stories about chronic issues (major and minor) with all brands of machines. Those stories tend to be from a non-proportional ratio of Mahindra, LS, and TYM. Kioti seems to be a little higher quality than the other 3 (LS, TYM, Mahindra). You might find that the loader lift capacity for JD, Kubota, and Massey is within a few lbs, and the other brands are much higher. I feel those are inflated numbers and that capacity REALLY pushes the limits of the machines, whereas the Big 3 brands are a little more conservative to help preserve the life of the machines and safety of the operator. (Hint - loader lifting capacity can be increased without major upgrades to the machine).

If I were in your shoes, I’d look at all the brands but I’d really only consider Kubota, MF, JD, and maybe Kioti in that order but that’s just me. I’ve played with SCUT and CUT for a lot of years with a few different implements, but never a stump grinder. IMHO a stump grinder is only good for grinding stumps. A backhoe on a SCUT is a lot of power in a really small package and won’t have any trouble digging out even a medium to good sized ash stump since the roots just tend to rot. The backhoe will also do A LOT of other things, especially when equipped with a thumb, although the choice to rent the mini ex to dig the pond would likely be a wise one (I’ve run one and would take it over a backhoe any day except $$$).

Also if you ever deem your projects complete, a SCUT with loader and backhoe or even just a factory backhoe setup for a common machine (think Kubota and Deere in particular) is incredibly easy to sell. Not sure about the stump grinder. Someone looking for a used factory backhoe might not be picky about having the exact swivel seat or the exact roll bar or the other things a TLB is factory equipped with.

Controversially, I’m also a big advocate of the rear mounted snowblower. Cheap, simple, universal, easy to install, and you don’t need to choose between a front end loader or a snowblower… you can run both simultaneously. Also with the front mounted, you’re pretty limited to like one or two models the factory offers for your model tractor. You can easily run a 60” blower, but I think the largest unit the factory offers for front mounted is 54”… and prepare to pay several thousand for it. You can find a good used 60” rear mount for under $1k usually. But I don’t mind turning around to operate the tractor.

Again just my humble opinion but to summarize, I’d be after the TLB from one of the big 3.

I forgot to mention as a bunch of others already hinted- whatever you buy, make sure it has skid steer quick attach on the business end of the loader, and quick attach for the loader frame itself. Make sure the control valve stays with the tractor when the loader is removed. I think that’s pretty standard across the board for new machines now, but on some of the early quick attach loaders the valve stayed with the loader, rendering it inconvenient to install a plow or front snowblower on the tractor without a second control valve setup. Super easy to find buckets, forks, grapples, plows, and a myriad of other attachments. You won’t appreciate it unless you don’t have it, especially if you frequently switch between bucket, forks, plow, and/or grapple.

I don’t have it on my machine and it’s somewhat cost prohibitive for me to convert at this time… about $1800 to buy the loader side SSQA bracket and covert my bucket to SSQA.

A couple weeks ago I bought a random Kubota factory loader setup for cheap partially due to the off chance I might be able to use the SSQA bracket it came with. Sadly it’s way undersized for my loader.

The cub cadet branded SCUTs were pretty rare, just not many out there. Big reason they’re not well supported- not financially viable for the company or dealerships. The true Yanmar stuff is more common so the odds of long term support are a lot better.

There are A LOT of 20+ year old machines of pretty much all brands out there with a lot of hours on them that haven’t required much more than generic oil/fuel filters and mostly generic fluids.. basic maintenance stuff. It’s fairly rare to have lack of parts availability completely cripple a machine, but it does happen. Your odds are pretty good going with any brand, especially one that has a lot of product history, that you won’t have a major breakdown within your 20 year target, even mixing in a little abuse. Your odds are even better that lack of parts availability won’t permanently cripple your machine when something does break. Sure, maybe you’ll break a headlight or something that was discontinued and doesn’t exist on the used market. Just install an aftermarket light bar. Break an unobtanium hood latch on your 25 year old machine? Bungee cord will do just fine! if you break your transmission case or engine block that’s no longer in production and can’t be found used, well, now you might have a problem.

Yanmar isn’t nearly as common in North America as it is overseas. Lots of imported parts will likely always be available.

As far as lift capacity, I’ve always taken them with a grain of salt. Kubota and Massey I know for a fact are under rated based on personal experience. Couple examples- my L4610 is rated to tow maybe 6000-8000 lb. I’ve exceeded 30,000 lb on multiple occasions. Attached photo is my L4610 pulling a dump trailer (3000 lb) with conservatively 8 yards (27 scoops with a 1/3 yard bucket on an excavator) of soaking wet fill sand (3200-3500 lb/yard). I also had close to .75 yards of that same wet sand in the bucket on other trips with a full trailer. The trailer was far too heavy to self dump - I had to scoop out a bunch of sand as well as help it dump using the loader. And I did break the trailer(destroyed a rim and the studs) due to overloading. A Kubota L2900 is rated at maybe 5,000 lb towing capacity. I’ve exceeded 12,000 lb hundreds of times. By the way - those examples were with the 3pt hitch, not the fixed draw bar. They will lift a lot more with the 3pt than they claim in their literature. Safely? I dunno… but they will do it. I’m pretty sure the loader on my Kubota L4610 that’s rated at 852 kg will pick up more than 1000 kg (2200 lb, 24” ahead of the pins). Based on how easily it picks up .75 yards of VERY wet sand. I’ve also picked up and moved a 7’ wide 3pt twin auger 2 stage snowblower that weighs well over 1,000 lb. On a 400+ lb industrial lifting table. On a heavy duty 50 lb pallet. Using a 60 lb pair of forks. Clamped onto the cutting edge of the bucket. Center of gravity farther than 3’ ahead of the pins. Yes- my bucket is bent now, and I had to straighten and reinforce the forks. I often wonder whether or not some manufacturers include the weight of the bucket in their calculations…

Park a Mahindra and similar sized Massey or Kubota next to each other. Dimensionally they’re pretty close. Front axle housings, curb weights, loader arm dimensions, and cylinders are pretty close. How can the Mahindra be “rated” to lift so much more than the Massey or Kubota? It’s several hundred pounds from what I can recall off the top of my head. I honestly don’t know those answers but can only speculate my “rated without a bucket theory,” higher hydraulic pressure (either of which I suppose could be verified), or just a lower factor of safety being advertised because that’s how Mahindra or (other brand) handles their business. With The “big 3” Kubota, Deere, and Massey - which are pretty much legendary for dependability- similar models are spec’d really close to each other.

The knob is a “drop rate” adjustment. It only controls how fast the 3pt lowers, which is very handy for heavy implements. Common on most machines. I refer to “position control” as a control lever that relates directly to the height of the 3pt. All the way forward is all the way down, all the way back is all the way up, and anywhere in between. The height of the 3pt corresponds to where the lever is put. There’s usually a little set screw that can be easily adjusted to the minimum or maximum height you want to stop it at. Most SCUTs I’ve operated employ a momentary hydraulic valve. Push forward to lower, pull back to raise, return to center when the 3pt gets to the desired height. Good to hear that more SCUTs may offer position control! It was a feature I wished my Massey GC2300 had. That and a glow plug indicator light. And a tachometer.

The adjustable length for the lower arms I think is called “telescoping lower links.” For SCUT, most of the implements can be slid a couple inches one way or another because they tend to be pretty light weight compared to full size implements. Might come in handy for a brush hog that’s a bit heavy, though. Maybe available as aftermarket upgrades to many machines.

The added lever to raise/lower the 3pt IMHO is an unnecessary feature on a SCUT. Due to the small machine size, it’s easy to reach the control lever next to the seat from behind the tractor, or even lift the lower arms by hand. On a larger or cab equipped models, this would be an indispensable feature.

Quick hitches are great for those of us that change implements on a regular basis. I cycle through different implements that have different 3pt pin spacing so I don’t think it would be very practical for me, plus I use some drawbar implements that might require removal of the quick hitch for clearance during tight turns.

Features I wish my tractor had: universal skid steer quick attach, 3rd function loader valve (for a grapple or 4 way bucket), and rear hydraulic remotes. They can be added of course, but they’re really expensive. I wish I would have looked for a tractor that had those features from the factory (or previous owner added), or put them on 5 years ago when it was like half the price they are now! Oh yeah… and maybe a heated cab with AC.