Been out here in the high desert for 10 months now. Living at our off grid ranch for 7 of the 10. This has been our retirement plan as seen in another thread. Anyhow, I already had a SigForum member who shall remain un-named <cough> Old Rugged Cross <cough> talk me into a Kubota Skid Steer for moving, lifting, pushing, and general equipment work. That little conversation cost me about $44k. I thought I was safe, but who knew it was a gateway!

So after much research another purchase of an Orange machine has me grinning ear to ear.

In researching the Kubota Vs. others, I kept coming back to this as a work machine. Although Kubota has put some emphasis on sportyness in the XG850 Sidekick, it really is a get the job done machine. Stacked up against the Polaris Ranger 900 or the Honda Pioneer 700 (Ranger or Pioneer 1000 is a 1 liter and I consider to be in a different category because of that), the Sidekick falls in the middle price range and power wise. The tipping points for me, the kubota dealer is closest and I already had a relationship with them, 2yr warranty on the kubota vs 6mo on the ranger and 1yr on the Honda, and of course price. Honda and Polaris dealers wouldn't budge on pricing If I took financing with rebates and they had no option for 0% interest. My dealer gave me 10% off MSRP on a 0% for 60mo. I will always take a no interest loan when the price is right. Things I'll use it for. Firewood collection, running fence lines, moving steel targets , and the like. It doesn't have the speed of the sport models, but 40mph is plenty fast for me and the grandkids. Already tested in some canyon washes near our place.

My landlord has a big job with snow removal. His tractors are Kubotas.
Should I need that type of equipment, I will go with Kubota.

Perfect for dragging coyote carcasses back to the lair to be skinned!

Looks great, we could use one of those around the farm!

I do love the orange beast we have:

Nice machine.
I too got the orange fever this summer.I succumbed to it and bought a BX 23s tractor with the back hoe and a stump ripper, loader,60"mower deck,forks, and a post hole digger with a 12"x48" arbor and a 20' 10,000 pound trailer to haul it around.
I love the BX 23S, The ability to easily remove the front loader and rear backhoe is wonderful.
I drop them when not needed and cut the grass.
Living in Chicago gets me some looks when mowing the lawn with the beast ( I do have a huge lot for Chicago)but "Go BIG, or GO Home" fits well with me.
I have tackled and completed projects around the house that I have only thought about for years.
It will also serve me well this winter with snow removal.

GO ORANGE!

Welcome to The Orange!

Kubota - The Sig of Tractors.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Welcome to The Orange!

Kubota - The Sig of Tractors.

Yea, but I can afford more Sigs than Oranges

I came to the same conclusion and ended up with the black one, would have preferred the orange model, but the dealer had extra black ones with the snazzy wheels to dump and gave me a discount. Tractors and UTV's I love me some orange, but for skid steers, CTLs, and excavators, check out Takeuchi if you have a dealer near by.

I think we need an orange subforum. Sigo, congrats on the new tool.

Love the orange!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Stlhead:
I came to the same conclusion and ended up with the black one, would have preferred the orange model, but the dealer had extra black ones with the snazzy wheels to dump and gave me a discount. Tractors and UTV's I love me some orange, but for skid steers, CTLs, and excavators, check out Takeuchi if you have a dealer near by.

It's nearly a two hour one way to my Kubota dealer. I checked out Takeuchi, if I was using the skid steer in a professional manner, they would have been in the running. Everything I have read rates them at the top of the skid steer game, including their pricing. But for personal use around the property, Big Orange fit the bill.

quote:

Originally posted by mark_a:
I think we need an orange subforum. Sigo, congrats on the new tool.

Is there an option in the waiver to petition for this?

Fine choice! I bought a brand new Kubota B7100 4wd hydrostat small tractor with a 60" belly mower back in 1981 and have had several since. Never a bad one.

That looks like FUN!!!

Very nice D. That should be very useful out there. Gas engines are not really Kubota's area of expertise. But anything they put their name on is Gtg! Congrats. Does that have their Hydro tranny?

Thanks again for the chat the other day

Love to see the pix of your Skid steer. That is a peach!

Congrats! Very nice! Would love to have a small Kubota tractor or side by side UTV.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Very nice D. That should be very useful out there. Gas engines are not really Kubota's area of expertise. But anything they put their name on is Gtg! Congrats. Does that have their Hydro tranny?

Thanks again for the chat the other day

Love to see the pix of your Skid steer. That is a peach!

Interesting you should note gas engines not being a Kubota thing. Current motor in this one is a Kubota design and a Subaru build as I have understood the relationship. Plans are rumored that Kubota will take the manufacturing in house within two years.

Great chat, I hope you find what your looking for and get much enjoyment out of it.

I love the SSV65 Skid Steer. I have more dirt than I can shake a stick at and a toy to shove it around with.

quote:

Originally posted by Fusternc:
Congrats! Very nice! Would love to have a small Kubota tractor or side by side UTV.

I've had it 3 days and put 104 miles on the RTV and 1000 miles of smiles on my face.