Just looked at the Kubota BX series. Still have to visit the John Deere dealer. Anyone have experience with either?

My father had a John Deere for years, traded on a
Kubota. The Kubota had a wider wheelbase and my father's land was hilly.

Also, my dad could pinch a penny so hard Lincoln got a blister.

My Dad had a John Deere, went to a Kubota then back to a John Deere. He hated the Kubota. He said that the bagging system didn't have enough suction. It would barely suck up the grass and the drive belt was very easily dislodged by any debris caught up in the mower. I borrowed the Kubota when my Craftsman was in the shop and the best thing I can say about it was the seat was comfortable.

Chris

I recently purchased a BX2380 and I'm very happy with it. I got the front end loader and the standard 60" mid mount mowing deck attachments. Mowing and loader operations have been flawless. I think the comparable JD model is the 1R with the 23 HP engine. Prices were comparable but with so many of my friends owning and recommending their Kubotas, I ultimately went with it over the John Deere. I don't think you can go wrong with either models. Good luck and have fun.

 
I have had a B7800 Kubota for about 15 years now, and love it. I never even tried the other two biggies, JD or New Holland.
 
If you really want to get experienced comparisons and knowledge, head on over to the TractorByNet Forums, one of the longest running compact tractor forums on the net.
 
Consider what you will be needing to do. If I had it to do over, I would have bought a Kubota TLB, simply because digging here in the hard rocky AZ soil is a royal pain.
 

I have a B series tractor. This is my second B series. I have had zero problems in 15 years of ownership of the two. I use the to do various things on my 10 acres including snowblowing in the winter with the front mount 63" blower.

I mow with a Kubota zero turn. No problems here either. I have a good dealer who stocks normal maintanance parts and has overnight access to other type of parts.

My experience with JD mower - never owned a tractor by JD - was not good.

Look at the Kubota.

Mike

I went with a JD 3520 over the similar Kubota offering, in no small part because I absolutely hated the treadle thing for the hydrostatic drive, and was not a fan of how the loader joystick mounted or felt on the Kubota tractors.

The JD units have a separate pedal for forward and reverse which feels far more ergonomic and logical to me than the rocker pedal / treadle thing.

Other than those items, the Kubota felt like a solid machine I wouldn't have had a problem owning.

Edited to add: See if both dealers will allow you to operate the machines for a while to make sure the controls and ergonomics work for you.

Thanks for the replies thus far. I'm looking for a FEL and backhoe. Mowing is done on a 60" Gravely.
So far the new Kubota BX23s is all I've looked at. I'll be heading over to the John Deere dealer tonight.

We have two Kubota M series tractors. One with front wheel assist that is a sprayer tractor and used for bush hogging, the other spends most of it's time on a feed grinder running at PTO speed.

Both have been pretty much bullet proof. Kubota has taken a huge bite out of the tractor market in the less than 175 horse range.

No experience with their compact tractors.


Unless they subcontract out their smaller tractors then I would lean that way over a Deere on cost/benefit alone. Dealer support is crucial for anything though.

quote:

Originally posted by szuppo:
Thanks for the replies thus far. I'm looking for a FEL and backhoe. Mowing is done on a 60" Gravely.
So far the new Kubota BX23s is all I've looked at. I'll be heading over to the John Deere dealer tonight.

Not to be that guy but depending on the amount and type of dirt work you plan to do, you may be far far ahead looking at a Bobcat. Any type of work that involves digging, pallet forks, grading gravel, etc my Bobcat is head and shoulders ahead of any loader tractor. I guess I would compare costs of attachments as well. I've never priced a snow blower or anything like that for a bobcat vs. compact tractor. I have a rock grapple for my Bobcat that was an astonishing improvement in productivity in tearing out fence rows, cleaning up brush, etc.


But I have no idea the scale or scope of what you want to do with it. The small tractor may be perfect.

quote:

Originally posted by the_sandman_454:
I went with a JD 3520 over the similar Kubota offering, in no small part because I absolutely hated the treadle thing for the hydrostatic drive, and was not a fan of how the loader joystick mounted or felt on the Kubota tractors.

The JD units have a separate pedal for forward and reverse which feels far more ergonomic and logical to me than the rocker pedal / treadle thing.

Other than those items, the Kubota felt like a solid machine I wouldn't have had a problem owning.

Edited to add: See if both dealers will allow you to operate the machines for a while to make sure the controls and ergonomics work for you.

I have just the opposite experience, I really dislike our John Deere's two peddle arrangement where you push one peddle for forward and another one right beside it forward to go backwards. My Kubota uses a long peddle that when pressed forward goes forward and pressed back with your heel goes backwards and seems much more natural.

Kubota's BX series is probably the best selling tractor in it's class selling far more than John Deere. Other than the older BX**50 series which suffered from a very abrupt forward to stop to reverse transition they have a very very good reputation.

Kubota lawn tractors (I think they are T and GR series) are a completely different animal and have had problems with belts among other things.

I'll never spend another penny on JD.

Can't speak directly to Kubota tractors but I have owned skid loaders and mowers with Kubota diesel powerplants in them. They run forever and easy on fuel. Chris

Don't rule out New Holland. My uncle has one and it is a damn nice tractor. His neighbor has a similar JD and told us last year he wishes he knew about NH before he bought the JD

I'd look at them both too. Probably would lean towards Kubota. I've been mowing with 33 year old grey market Mitsubishi for last 17 years. I do take good care of it cause being grey parts are expensive, but it's been an excellent machine. Think I gave $2k for it. Perhaps I'll feel like I've gotten my money's worth in another 17 years.

I own a Kubta BX2360, since 2009, with a 60" mid mowing deck

I wish now I had stepped up and gotten the L series compact tractor, for more versatile use around the yard. I made the mistake of getting turf tires, which is fine in a yard, but worthless pulling stuff. There is no ground clearance, even with the deck off. And some weight is neededon the front end too.

No telling the hours on mine, cutting maybe 8 acres of yards during the summer, since 2009, not a lot of parts breakage, but a few, nothing major.

One thing in the BX Series to watch out for if hydralic fluid leaks fron the rear axle seals. Mine started about. Year ago, and has gotten progressively worse.

Mine may end up at the Kubota dealership shop, where one of the mechanics told me it was a complete teardown of the rear of the mower to repair. $$$$.

I have owned both a BX2370 and a John Deere X758 both with 60" mid mount mower decks. If you are going to use it for anything other than mowing the BX series is much cheaper and is a fine choice. I however just mow and am more than happy with the X758.

My choice to go to JD was totally dealer related and honestly I can be a bit of a jerk so it likely was as much my unrealistic expectations as much as the dealers failure to provide.

I owned a JD750 for 28 years, bought new. When I decided to upgrade to a tractor with a cab, I didn't even slow down going by the JD dealer.

There are two reasons for that.

1. The local JD dealer is a dick. (He bought out the one-man show I bought my original JD from) His main focus is selling $10,000 lawnmowers to yuppies with lawns the size of my living room. His service department couldn't find their ass with both hands and a coon dog. Next nearest JD dealer is over 100 miles away.

2. JD wants a LOT of money for a tractor that is largely plastic, suffers from a plethora of unnecessary electronic doodads with a piss-poor track record for reliability.

My Kubota was a couple of thousand dollars cheaper than the equivalent JD, contains very little plastic, and the dealer has been serving actual farmers since 1958. He understands customer service.

Give two tractors of similar abilities and price, the dealer is always the determining factor.

Edit to add:

New Holland and Massey Ferguson offer very competitive units and are well thought of. Check 'em out if you have a dealer in the area.

Kioti is gaining a lot of traction as well. I actually looked at them but had to go to a much bigger tractor than I needed to get a cab.