my step-dads friend bought a 4710 john deere 48hp 4wd and he loves it

 

About the only overseas tractor I would ever, ever, consider would be one of those Itailain (sp?) tractors, I believe that the name is Zetor.

Any other overseas tractor, I would avoid like the plauge....

Ford, Case-IH, JD, would be the ones I would lean towards, with money being the deciding factor...they all make fine tractors.

 

Have a neighbor whom bought a kioti (korean) its a real piece of crap. It gets stuck all the time and its a 4x4. the belly mower has to come off when using the bucket or any ground engaging equipment. Parts are always breaking off it like mower wheels belts breaking and it has only a 2gallon gas tank. STAY far away from these beauties..... oyea it cost 18,900 bucks what a rip off.

 

DO NOT Get a dear, after using a 318 for a few years, (it's a '93 I think) It smokes, it's noisy, and is not a very good mower. If you are wanting an inexpensive, hard working small tractor look at the new Kubotas, yes I know you've had one for 14 years and want a change (you have your reasons I'm sure), but at least go look/use one before you go to something else.

 

looks like we got plenty of farmers here, my family owns a nice little 35 horse kubota. now we were very skeptical of the jap tractors but this one is a dream. we used to have 2 ford 9ns but one was sold and we managed to crack a block on the other one, so we got the orange one. if we had better spent the money i would have bought a ford probably to stick with the reliability(cant beat tractors that go for 65 years)... if you want a loader DONT get a deere, the buckets bend too easy.... oh and mahindra is actually nothing more than an 81 international. when they were going out they went to india and taught them how to build tractors. so you get a decent machine for half the price.

 

i really like using kubotas. We have a really nice New Holland at work, a Boomer. they dont come regularly with a bucket, but they are made, and available. they come in anything from an 18-55 HP. i actually think I like the New Holland over a Kubota.

 

we never did own a new holland, are they still actually ford or did ford just sell all their tractor building rights to them?

 

im a "old" ford tractor fan, (and i mean old ford tractors, i am only 34) we have a 46 2n (bought new by my grandparents , took deleivery 2 weeks before my dad was born). a ? 8n, dont know the year, but is a front distributor, but has the "ford" script on the fenders, has a sherman loader (trip bucket) and a backhoe unit. and finnally a 64 ford 4000 (not the junk select-o-speed) that my other grandpa bought new. my earlyest memories were of the 64 4000, dad had took it to town to get fuel and i had went along, it had a cracked manifold and a leaky gas cap, well when he throttled down and turned into the driveway, it backfired as fuel sloshed down the side of the tank and burned long enough to burn in 2 the 1/4 fuel line. i dont remember the fire trucks, but i do remember the parts coming in and getting in trouble for running off with the steering wheel or the proofmeter, e.c.t. i was only around 3 then. when i first started driving it, i hated it, the clutch had a strong return spring and i had to jump on the pedal to push it in, likewise letting it out in a controlled manner was difficult until i got leg strength. to make matters worse, it was difficult to start before it was converted to 12v, anyway, i like it now and am considering putting it in machinery shows, you see 9n-2n-8n tractors quite frequntly and deere "a" & "b" all the time in shows but i have never seen another 4000 wide front end 5-spd. ive only ever seen a few select-o-speeds. i would recomend the 4000 as a loader tractor, short wheelbase, powerfull/economical 172 4cyl, (nwer ones are 3 cyl diesel) and power steering, both the 2n and 8n we have are equiped with a overdrive unit between the motor/transmission, i like the 8ns, if i were to get one though, id get one of the later models that had the side distributor, the front-mounted ones are difficult to work on. there is a ford farm tractor site that tells all about the ford history and why they all say new holland now. but back to the original topic (sorry for all the reminicing) if i had the money for a new tractor/loader, i would really consider kubota. my second choice would be a deere product. happy shopping! Dave.

 

You know if I could find a good one I would buy it.

 

Just to clarify a few things mentioned in previous posts...

Ford Motor Co. has had absolutely nothing to do with any tractor made since about 1989. They sold the entire agri/industrial equipment line to Fiat about that time. Fiat was given 10 years to phase out the Ford name and color. Yes, they're still blue, but not the same shade. In recent years, Fiat also bought Case/IH and now calls the entire outfit "CNH". There is some "cross-over" of models between the red ones and blue ones. (same tractor, different color, different model number...)

The Select-O-Speed transmission, on the whole, is NOT a junk transmission. I'd say that the vast majority of failures were (and are...they're still out there going!) due to poor maintenance and lack of understanding. When properly maintained (fluid changes, band adjustments) they're a great transmission.

The N-Series are nifty little tractors, but for real work a '55-'64 model would be a better choice (hundred series, -01 series, early 2000-4000).
Live PTO could be had, a little more power, better hydraulic system, and a variety of loaders can be mounted.

When purchased new, tractors and loaders are generally sold as separate units. A dealer could still make a customer a "package deal" at their own option, but unlike auto dealerships, each unit is ordered in separately and installations are made at the dealer.

If it means anything, I'm the Service Manager at a NH dealership. Turned wrenches on blue stuff (and others..) since early '89. Not trying to be "uppity" or anything. Just thought I'd let you know where this comes from.

BTW, if anybody has an old Ford tractor, or just has questions about 'em, just ask. I love those oldies and like to help others keep 'em up and running. I don't know everything by a long shot, but I've helped a few people along the way...

 

around our farm all we have is green machines, all have earned the name JUNK DEERE. CASE has done a pretty good job and have really up'd the anti for deere, personally i think deere can do better with there trannys but this is my experiance with 7700, 4250, 4560, 8210's not to familiar with the smaller JUNK DEERE products but i would take a walk over to CASE and see what they offer. the only thing good about deere is there resale value, one of the many reasons farmers buy them.

 

if you want a older tractor go to www.ytmag.com you can ask all kinds of ????? to the people that own older tractors, and look at buying one, buy parts, etc....... really neat site.

 

cpe41, thanks for clearing that up for me. i woulda never guessed fiat bought them out in 89.

racsan, the date that your ford 8N was built should be cast on one side of the rear axle case. i believe the same thing goes for the 2N and 9N. my shop teacher brought in an old 2N for us to rebuild when i was in highschool, and it had stamped that it was a 37 model if i remember. pretty amazing little tractor, for being 67 years of age.

oh on another note ill back up massey ferguson, the man who bales hay for us has 3, two cab tractors and a smaller 60 horse model id say, but i dont ever see them break and they are constantly used.

 

ehhh i was wrong it was a 9N, they produced 9Ns first in 37, the 2N during the war, and the 8N was later.

 

One other thing everyone should know, there no tractors (not counting lawn mowers) with less then 80 hp built in the US. For the most part John Deeres are built by Yanmar or other manufacturers and use a Yanmar engine. South Korea and Japan seem to be the point of origan for a lot of these small tractors, but some also come from France. The Mahindra is built in India (largest tractor company in the world), at one time they where using International Harvestor shop equipment to build clones of those tractors, but they have since evolved from that 1960's engineering. My understanding is that John Deere is in the process of establishing a plant in CHINA at this time. There are a few John Deeres that have the major components assembled in the US but from 100% imported parts.

The old Ford 9N, 2N and 8N where pretty good tractors and still are today if all you doing is some small jobs, but they just can't compare to current compact tractors in terms of power, hydraulics (they don't even have remotes) and manuverability.