I started searching for NEW equipment over the phone, calling the dealers in Oklahoma and discussing my needs. I talked to them all. Kubota, Deere, Mahindra, and the rest. Nothing runs like a Deere and Tina was leaning that way, but when we tried to talk with them... I hate to say there were two things that knocked them out of the running early on.
1. The Dealer in the area where we were going to buy the Farm was Arrogant and Rude, telling me to do my research and get a real idea what I wanted, the information was on line for me to see; and he would talk to me in person when I was in town and was ready to actually buy.
2, For some reason, GREEN paint was really high in Oklahoma, the same packages of Tractor, accessories and trailer, and a small mower was about 20% higher than the Kubota package. They didn't offer any financing deals at the time, nor any discounts for a straight cash purchase.
I did the research, and called the Kubota dealer and the Salesman called me back within a half hour. I asked if he would like to call when he had plenty of time. He said he HAD plenty of time. We went thru our needs and requirements and he agreed with my assessments. No need to buy MORE tractor than we needed, we should look at what we would be doing 90% of the time. Those few times we would need a larger tractor, we could rent or borrow a larger tractor.
I settled on the L2501 with 4wd and a bucket and bushhog. We made sure we had the Skidsteer connectors and added Forks, hay spear, and grading box. A quick attach three point hitch in the rear and a trailer. Zero Turn mower with 42" deck completed the package. Two and a half years later, we are happy with the performance of the package. Over the last two years there have been a few times we have wished we had a slightly bigger tractor, but rarely. The 2501 has done the job well.
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That pool in the background was gone within the first month. WE gave it away. A teacher drove down from Tulsa to pick it up for her sons. They took the pool, filter system and the deck. That was the deal, take it all. We put Miss Tina's She Shed there, where she does her quilting. Below are the implements:
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The zero turn has done a good job, though the grass catcher attachment Tina added the second summer was a huge disappointment to her. Not recommended.
- zero turn.JPG (205.28 KiB) Viewed 6415 times
She was also very disappointed in the dealer we worked thru once we started using their service. Twice we used them, twice they failed us.
I won't go into the details here, but the customer service was lacking and the work was subpar.
We found someone else to do the service on the tractor and mower. The problem is the owner of the local Kubota dealer owns ALL SIX of the dealers in the geographic area. You can't say, "Fine, you won't fix the issues, we'll take it to another dealer."
The owner just grins, because the other Kubota dealerships are his as well.
Regardless of the issues, Miss T still loves her tractor and spends a lot of time ON it. She makes up things she needs to do from the tractor.
Here she is just clipping the tops of the pasture to control weeds. NOT made up, necessary.
- miss T at her happiest 220530.jpg (187.55 KiB) Viewed 6415 times
We use it a lot, and have used every one of the implements.
