Sub compact tractors

I’ve been looking at sub compact tractors lately. So many choices, prices, financing options, ect… Looked at 25 hp Bobcat/Kioti, and 23hp Massey Ferguson in person so far. Anyone have any advice or experience with any of them?

Hi,
There are some good ‘you-tube’ comparison videos out there. Amazingly enough, some of the best I saw were always being compared to John Deere. I’m saying that, several years ago I did buy a used JD 1023e, which had a 54″ ‘auto-connect’ deck, and a 49″snowblower. Exactly what I was looking for. I had checked all the tractor forums, and the for sale websites, and low-n-behold, one finally showed up in Alexandria, Mn. I made the deal and drove up to get it. A year later I bought a loader for it. The H120 with 49″ bucket. LOVE IT!
I knew a fella that bought a Massy and finally traded for a JD. Also knew od a guy that had a Kubota, 2 years later sold it(privately) and bought the 1025r JD. I’ve seen some great deals out there for very low hour JD’s for sale. Many with loader and mower combo. My neighbor has a 1025r and a 72″ deck and loader and loves it. Mine did came with rear wheel weights, but I also later bought a (non-JD) weight box. Every other brand will say the auto-connect drive over decks don’t work, is BS! love mine, If you’re buying new the dealer will help you set ‘everything’ up.

My son bought one last fall. He looked at a JD, Kubota, Massey, Mahindra. He bought the Mahindra. All were in the 23 to 26 hp range.. It was a demo with 4 hours on it, so basically new. With a loader, a rear rough mower, and a rear blade it was 11k to 14k cheaper than the other brands. He didn’t get serious about the Massey because the salesman wouldn’t go outside to even start it or show him the controls. He narrowed it down to the Mahindra or the JD. The Mahindra comes with a 7 year power train warranty. My sons is 4wd or front assist whatever they call it.

I bought a used Kubota B2620 last year. It is a little bigger than a true CUT and I’m happy I got this size for the power and lift upgrades. You won’t be disappointed once you start finding all the things you can use it for. Get a loader!

If I recall correctly we have a member here who sells Kubota when he isn’t out fishing.

I watched a video today showing the JD deck system and the kubota system. Needless to say the video took about 15 minutes of work to get the kubota deck off and the JD was like 2 minutes. Huge selling point. The Massey Ferguson looked interesting, but the deck removal I’m unsure of. I’m definitely getting a loader, belly mower and tiller for starters if I decide to purchase one.

Hi again,
My tractor that I bought used was 2 years old and had 112hrs on it. Looked and ran like brand new and they added a year of warranty to what was left. Buying slightly used I save thousands, enough to go buy the loader new…

Hi again,
My tractor that I bought used was 2 years old and had 112hrs on it. Looked and ran like brand new and they added a year of warranty to what was left. Buying slightly used I save thousands, enough to go buy the loader new…

Used ones have significant savings. Getting a loan for one is the challenge being they don’t have a title.

If I were buying another one I wouldn’t rule out Ls Tractors a guy in town here sells them and sell a fair number. Look them up online. Pretty competitive price point and warranty.

Unless there’s another Kubota salesmen here Dutch was probably talking about me.

I’ve sold JD, Kubota and Bobcat over more years than I care to recount. Well actually it’s been 29 years and in that time I’ve also sold a Case, Cat, Ditch Witch and many other brands. In all of those years and products, Kubota BY FAR is the brand that I would prefer to represent if I had to choose one. Their overall reliability, functionality and performance puts them at a level unsurpassed by any other of the big players I mentioned.

Every one of the brands mentioned here will do the job required, some may do one part better or faster, another may have a different advantage. But these are machines and they can either break by themselves (almost always unexpectedly) or at the hand of an abuser expecting more out of their machine than it was designed for and when it breaks or doesn’t work the way they expect it to, it’s labeled a POS. Regardless, at that time you find out if that company and it’s dealer network can do more than bolt a machine together and really support that machine. This is where my experience with seeing hundreds of machines leave the lot comes in to play. When things go south, I’m the phone number they have on their phone and for me, an unhappy customer is a day wrecker. I have far less of these with Kubota products. Is everything they make a home run? Not at all, every manufacturer has their problem child <cough B3350 cough/>

Regarding the decks, one guy struggling with his deck for 15 minutes is ridiculous and an anomaly. Even the non quick attach Kubota deck can come off in 1-2 minutes. The drive over deck system on the Kubota is a little more work than JD if you call pulling a 2 pins and putting the ramps down. You’ll seem plenty of videos, especially JDs videos, of them effortlessly taking off and putting on the deck in the middle of the grassy yard. That’s great, now try driving over that ramp less deck on your concrete garage or shed floor and watch the deck continue to slide up in front of you. That’s really the last of the reasons to buy a drive over auto connect type deck. At the JD dealer I worked at we completely stopped promoting he auto connect because no matter how much time our shop spent getting it set up just right so it would work, they would get out on the field in the real world, bumping up against landscaping, trees etc, that deck would get ever so slightly tweaked and would not realign so back to the shop it came. To be fair we don’t promote the Kubota Easy Over deck much either primarily because the std deck comes off so easy spending another $4-500 might not be worth it. Even with the ramps Kubota and other demonstrators on YouTube show this on the grass. With either, a Rubber pad under the deck on concrete will help keep it from skidding on concrete. Overall the Kubota set up has proven far more durable snd forgiving over time. My opinion for either brand is don’t waste your money. For those who have had good luck with their drive over connect deck no matter the brand, I sincerely am happy for you. I don’t wish mechanical problems on anyone.

I have my options about Bobcat and Kioti (both Daedong tractors) as well as Mahindra. Especially with Mahindra, cheaply built tractors with a 7 year drive slapped on them. Sounds great until you take it to the inexperienced dealer who can’t get Mahindra to cover warrantable items. No manufacture hands out warranty claims without taking a good hard look at the issue but Kubota is very strong with their 6 year driveline warranty (2 years full machine). As I stated before their reliability is outstanding do warranty rarely come into play, especially on tractors.

Pro tip, if you finance (or even if you don’t) you are required to have insurance just like the car you bought. It has to be on and off property much like a boat, fire, theft, upset, flood. Etc. Kubota offers this insurance and when compared apples to apples it very competitive. The beauty is if you drop a tree on it, roll it over or put it through the ice. You’ll get coverage to replace or repair the issue, have a loaner, pick up and delivery etc. more than one customer has used this (me included) and been totally amazed.

Anywho, I’m with Lano Equipment. We cover the TC Metro area. We’ve been in business for 74 years, are the Oldest Bobcat dealer in the world. I’d be happy to help with any questions you have.

Regards,

Check out tractorhouse.com

Search away.

I’ve had a John Deere 2305 for about 12 years now. I use it year round for mowing (62″ non quick connect deck), moving “stuff” with the loader and 500 pound counterweight box, and blowing snow (47″ 2-stage front blower). It’s been great and the little 23hp Yanmar diesel has been rock solid. Ergonomics are really good – stuff is in the right spot and makes logical sense. Easy to attach/detach all of the attachments. It takes about 5 minutes to take the mower deck off, maybe 7-10 minutes to put it back on. It takes about 20 minutes to put on the front blower or take it off. It takes about two minutes to put on or take off the loader…seriously…most of that time is to hook up the 4 hydraulic lines for the loader. My wheelbarrow days are long gone!

It’s 4WD (selectable) and I use it 100% of the time with turf tires – summer and winter. Absolutely no problem with traction in the winter and I plow 4-5 driveways and about 1/3 mile of sidewalk. I have a soft-side cab with glass windshield and hard-top that I love in the winter.

Mows nicely, tons of power, I have a bagger for it as well that mounts on the 3-pt.

I haven’t looked too close at the 1 series by Deere as the 2305 does everything I need and more.

Scott

As my business is food plot seeds, I talk to many sub and compact tractor owners every year.

The #1 “wish I’d known” with SC and C tractor buyers that I hear year after year is that they undersized their machine and ended up with problems because of it.

Especially in the SC category, these machines are IMO more like lawnmowers than real tractors. With Cat 0 and small Cat 1 3 points, and loaders that can only lift a few hundred pounds, it is very, very easy to overload and overwork these tractors and then stuff quickly starts breaking. You have to look at these capacities really carefully because they aren’t that big. A popular Kubota SC tractor with the quick attach loader has a loader capacity of just over 400 pounds. That’s MAXIMUM capacity, so you can’t use it like a skid steer or things are going to bust. As BHM said, this often gets blamed on the machine or the dealer.

Also, not to start the tractor color war, but some tractor makers have overlapping HP models, some are more light-duty homeowner focused and some are heavier duty and focused on commercial use. Don’t be fooled by the HP rating alone.

There is also the question of work per unit of time. You may be able to “get by” with a 4 foot tiller, but if you’re doing acres of food plots, it’s very, very slow. So guys get impatient and start bumping up the travel speed. Which stresses the implement. Or they snap off the PTO shaft. Uh oh.

There are a lot of good machines out there, I’d just say to make sure you size or even oversize correctly. Read and understand the machine’s capacities and buy a size such that you will not be constantly maxing out or overloading the machine.

Personally, for my property, I started looking at compacts, but ended up getting an ag utility tractor with a loader instead. It has the same HP as some of the compacts I was looking at (55), but as they say, size matters. I got far greater loader and 3 point capacity with the ag tractor. I also got more weight, which I did not fully appreciate the value of until I had some seat time and did a lot of loader work.

Grouse

Great post Grouse

Agree 100% with Grouse. If doing just yard work a sub compact will do, but if doing any food plots type work, the SC will be a big disappointment. I use all of my Kioti CK3510 and thank god I did not go smaller.

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Spent 2 years searching for green/yellow or orange paint. Couple things I learned?

1- very few right priced, low hour, high maintenance units on the market. Many buyers keep them a lifetime.
2- right priced units tended to be over worked, oil leaks, slow hydraulics, etc.

Finally stumbled into a low hours case ih dx25e, priced considerably less than green/yellow or orange paint.

Couple months use and so far it’s going to meet my needs which is helping piling up cords of wood for winter heat.

Good luck shopping. Quite the back saver.

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I do not want a big heavy tractor. My food plots are small. Don’t want to destroy my lawn with a heavy tractor. 4′ tiller would be excellent for me. Loans for a used tractor is difficult being they don’t have a title as I stated earlier.

What’s the main use for the tractor, mainly mowing the lawn? If so, how big of a lawn?

Is it going to be used regularly for other chores, and are those chores neccessary/and/or heavy use things, like dealing with wood for heat, gardening, removing snow, etc or more play type things like food plots?

Is it going to be trailered regularly? That’s a bigger issue than most people think.

From what I’ve seen most guys would be better off with a really good riding mower, and then a 30ish hp mid sized tractor with a loader vs a subcompact or compact . If you don’t use it enough to go that route, renting a tractor when it’s needed might be a better option, especially if a used one is out of the question because you’re wanting to finance. A guy can rent a lot of tractor time vs buying one, and avoid the cost and maintenance issues.

Have an old Kubota L295DT with a loader and 2 riders. They work pretty good for what I need them for. Everyone has different needs and wants. Figure those out, explore options and go from there.

Good luck with it.

Uses would include mowing, snow removal at times (wheeler with plow has worked great for years), firewood chores, food plots, gardening, driveway maintenance, landscaping, and other basic yard maintenance.

John Timm – based on your requirements list, I would caution you about going “too big” as that can be a hindrance for some of your activities. When you say “mowing” are you talking about a regular lawn with a belly mower or a bush hog style mower?

Clearance is a BIG thing for a sub-c tractor. Mine (JD 2305) does not have much so the idea that I would be going through really rough ground or the woods going over small saplings would not happen. But, that isn’t my use.

Three point attachments are another consideration. You’ll have Cat 0 or Cat 1 hitch which will limit the size of attachments you can handle. This means a 48″ tiller at max, a 48″ bush hog at max. If you’re going to be tilling a lot or using a bush hog a lot, I’d consider going one size bigger platform on the tractor.

With the loader I would highly recommend getting a weight box (or building one) for the 3 point hitch regardless of platform size. Makes all the difference in the world in stability to have several hundred pounds of weight hanging off the back nice and low. I filled my JD weight box with all the used lead wheel weights I could scrounge from tire retailers and then topped it with portland concrete.

Good luck with your decision!

Scott

Not sure where you are located or how familiar you are with machinery, but if I was you I’d go check out a couple different, good implement dealers that have compact, subcompact and actually tractors. List them out your needs and drive each one.

Tractors with loaders are way different to move snow than a wheeler or skid loader. Have a back blade and loader on the kubota L295DT, plus 2 4 wheelers with plows and use the 4 wheelers for most snow falls unless heavy, wet and/or over 5″+. Then use all 3 normally.

There’s very few guys I know that ever utter the words I wish my tractor was smaller, but the reverse is often muttered. Finding the right balance between functionality, cost and effectiveness is up to you. But would be cautious and careful not hog tying yourself to something to small and/or expensive with a payment till you’re absolutely sure it’ll do the tasks you need without over stretching it’s capacity or capabilities to do those tasks easily. Everything takes longer with a tractor vs a skid-steer. And ever task or chore takes longer the smaller the tractor hp and size, and puts more strain on it like grouse is saying.

And a lot of it comes down to personality too. Know yourself. If your okay working within the parameters of what the machine is capable of, shouldn’t be an issue to go with a compact or subcompact. If you like to push the redline on the rpm’s and are in a hurry because of time restraints, a smaller tractor might not be a great idea.

Good luck with it.

If your doing “front lawn” mowing, turf tires are a must. Even on a lightweight tractor, aggressive tires will tear up the turf.

One thing that I noticed on the Bobcat tractor I looked at was hydraulic filter exposed low underneath the machine. Your right about the low clearance the tractors have although some don’t have the belly as exposed as others. A 5′ belly mower and a 48″ tiller I would be thrilled with for my application. Since the subcompact tractors are 1500lbs with no implement on them I wouldn’t want a bigger one being they’re over 2000 lbs easy if not close to 3000lbs. I would find this type of tractor extremely helpful for my 40 acres here at home.

We have been very happy with LS 40 hp tractor. Originally was looking at subcompact but glad we went larger. Still mow the lawn with a finishing mower yet can hook up the brush mower for woods trails. Would recommend LS line.

I have full sized tractors for larger tasks, but I wanted a subcompact for doing jobs like pulling the dock and boat lift out in the fall. Moving trailers around, etc. Small and light enough to not tear up the grass. Nimble enough to weave a trailer between a virtual obstacle course of trees, and with a 3 point to be able to use a trailer mover.

I found a Kubota BX1500. It is the smallest hp of any BX and is about 15 years old. I have yet to find a job that it cannot do and do well. It has become my goto mower. The blade speed is much higher than my other rider, so the travel speed also went up and I can reduce my time to mow at the lake 30% and the lawn looks better.

For those wanting a drive over deck, I do not need to take the mower deck off except for maintenance. But in the few times I have had to remove and remount it only takes a few minutes. It is pretty darn easy.

Everyone uses a tractor differently, so you are bound to get lots of opinions. Which should help you narrow in on what’s important to you. As said above, there are much better lawn mowers out there than a SCUT/CUT. So you will not save time mowing with a tractor over a zero turn mower.

For food plot work, I couldn’t get a SCUT back to my food plots without tearing off some critical components on my larger utility tractor. On my property, I needed way more clearance than a smaller tractor could handle. I was also looking to brush cut, so more HP was way better for my application. I have small plots in the woods and while there are times I would prefer a smaller tractor most of those times I have just made my trail a bit wider.

The last thing I noticed when I was tractor shopping, was there were a TON of 1 Series JC SCUT’s on the used market that were only a year or two old. Fewer 2 Series and almost no 3 Series tractors on the used market. I interpreted that, maybe wrongly, as the folks quickly out grow those 1 Series and 2 Series tractors and want more once they see all the things they can (and can’t) do.

Good luck with your decision.

John Timm : wondering if you have made your purchase yet? A lot of/good information/opinions have been shared. Important decision for sure.
In regards to something you mentioned. Loan on (used Tractor).
You’re right in that very few if any lenders will finance a used rig.
What I did, and it may or may not work for you, is being I own my pickup free and clear, I borrowed against my truck(lien). I did have a fair amount of cash on hand as I sold my JD 318, mower, snowblower before. Everyone’s situation is different. Find what works for you.
Let us know what you end up with….thanks

if you can afford it get the 2032 over the 1025r or their respectable counter parts in other brands if you are looking to do a lot more than mow.

we have 2 on the street with these 2 tractors and i’ve used both for various projects. each seem to mow very similarly but as far as using the bucket, the 2032 and the 220 loader can just seriously do way more work.

I’ve been able to do a lot with the neighbors 1025 but when i used the 2032 for a week it was a complete game changer.