[Guest]

I am thinking of buying a Nortrac 20 horse 3 cyl deisel with loader for 8600.00 new. from Northern. Has anyone had any experience with these? Or heard comments about them? Thanks Postman

 

[Gary in ohio]

nortrac is just another of the hundred names used for the Jimmina Chineese tractors. The chineese tractors are based on old US design but the fit and finish is plain slave labor quality. If I had close to 9000 to spend on a 20hp tractor it WOULD NOT be a chineese. I would look at the used compact market, You didnt say if you got any accessories with it, but for $0k you can get an older kubota or JD, Heck I have seen new cub cadet 20hp diesel being sold at end of the year sales near that price. If you do get it make sure you visit http://www.ctoa.net/ and keep up with all the Chinese Tractor Owners Association Home doing.

The nortrac Northern warantee is pretty poor unless you know how to work on tractors. They will say they have dealers all over the US, but unless you know of a local one then your out of luck. And then will they be a dealer in 6 months once they have had to deal with a repair. If you want to save some money and go with an "import" go with the Yanmar Grey market tractors, 4-6K for a nice 20hp 3cyl diesel, Used and not without issues itself but a better tractor than the chineese.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/ is a great site for both yanmar , chineese and other tractors.

 

[comfortablynumb]

you could buy a nice used bobcat for 9K

 

[Jolly]

Ah, but I found a Homier dealer the other day, who would sell a 20hp in the crate for 3K + shipping (about $500).

I agree, you need to be able to work on them.

But I believe they are here to stay.

 

[Gary in ohio]

The homeir are the same chineese tractors. Now the homier tractor are cheaper and might be worth it at that price. at 9K its NOT worth it.

 

[Beeman]

You get what you pay for. There is no resale value on the cheap tractors to go along with the poor warranty, lack of parts, and lack of people that can fix them. But look at the money you will save.

 

[Gary in ohio]

Check out http://www.equipmenttraderonline.com/adsearch.html

I dont know where you are but just using the search terms compact and a price limit of $9000 I came up with a lot of options. Your best bet is to find a local or semi local dealer to buy from.

 

[shakeytails in KY]

I was at the Farm Machinery Show in Louisville last weekend and priced some tractors. I was looking at 80-90hp, 2 wheel drive, no cab. Funny thing, I could get a Massey Ferguson for just a little bit more than some off brand that may or may not be around in a few years. Before you go spending your hard earned cash, check out major manufacturers- you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Guest]

I don't know what you will be using the tractor for, but if you will go to a Ford dealer they have farm tractors that are not in the compact utility class that are pretty reasonable.
They are two wheeled drive, but are truly tractors and not toys.

I have one of their toys, and while it is an excellent hard working tractor, it sure isn't built like a true farm tractor.

Just all depends upon what you need one for.

Would I ever consider buying something I might not be able to readily get parts for????
Nope, I wouldn't consider it for a second. Unless a dealer has been around for at least five years I wouldn't consider buying from him either.

Just my opinion of course. You do with your money as you please.

 

[rambler]

China makes a lot of ok cheap clothing.

China tractors - Uck. No parts, poor fit, no dealers, poor castings.

No point in repeating - whatever Gary said so far, that's my opinion as well.

--->Paul

 

[scorpian5]

I was at the local Farm & Fleet this weekend and they now sell Cub Cadet mowers and they have a 27 HP model that is right around 9k but the optianal loader and mower add around $3500. they look like a pretty solid machine for a small farm

 

[Beeman]

Scorpion5,
Sorry to tell you that Cub Cadet was bought out by MTD, which means most of that tractor is probably outsourced overseas.
Someone mentioned Ford tractors. There are no more Ford tractors or dealers, there is New Holland, Farmtrac, and Long.
You can easily find a very good used fullsize tractor with a loader for under $10k.
Shakeytails,
An 80-90hp tractor, what are you using that big a tractor for? Do you have a large farm?

 

[rambler]

Scorpion5,
Sorry to tell you that Cub Cadet was bought out by MTD, which means most of that tractor is probably outsourced overseas.
Someone mentioned Ford tractors. There are no more Ford tractors or dealers, there is New Holland, Farmtrac, and Long.
You can easily find a very good used fullsize tractor with a loader for under $10k.
Shakeytails,
An 80-90hp tractor, what are you using that big a tractor for? Do you have a large farm?

Any tractor under 100hp, (for that matter any tractor, truck, or car) will have parts made from overseas. Many people consider Japaneese vehicles to be superior in quality to some made here in the USA. The problem is with these specific _China_ tractors - there is no support here in the USA for them, and they are of a very poor 'fit & finish'. They are being sold by mass liquidators with no follow-up support. Cub Cadet may not be what it once was, but it still has a dealer network 7 a parts supply system. _Much_ better than the low-cost China stuff.

I own 3 Ford tractors, 1 NH, 2 IHC, and 1 Oliver tractors. The only current name is NH, but I assure you Ford & the other tractors still exist, and are pretty well supported by their current dealer network.

If you round-bale hay, that's about the size tractor you need. for real tillage, you need bigger. Even the newer high capacity small square balers need about that hp. To run an 8' snow blower, you need about that hp. Just an average utility size tractor these days.

--->Paul

 

[Ross]

Fords are probably the easiest to get after market parts for as well. I had a devil of a time sourcing parts for my old Case backhoe but it's no older than my oldest Ford which is still off the shelf. 80 hp is certainly top of the utility class, you can farm with much less too.

 

[scorpian5]

I know cub cadet is made by mtd i have a self propelled push mower and i love it. There is a big difference in a cub cadet being made in china than a company in chia making one and selling it here in the usa. As for big tractors you can buy as big as you can afford to make the payments on but at least around here the smallish tractors seem to do most of the work and the big ones do there job in the spring and fall plowing and such and sit in the shed the most of the time

 

[shakeytails in KY]

Beeman, we put up about 30 acres of hay x at least 2 cuttings. There's also plenty of free hay around here if we had reliable equipment. We have a 50 hp loader tractor that will actually do the job, but it doesn't like it. And it doesn't have enough power for a discbine or round baler which we intend to purchase in the future. We had a 90 hp Oliver. but it decided to throw a rod so we're in the market for another tractor. I can get a good used tractor for under 10k, but I was toying with the idea of brand new for about 30k. Just thinking if I buy brand new- I shouldn't have any problems for many years...

 

[Ross]

There are some excellent new tractors based on old proven lines out there. Long sells what used to be Ford 3000, 4000, 5610 6610 with Perkins engines (I think) which would be a fine tractor. New Holland still sells the line that started in the 60's as the Ford 5000 etc. built in Mexico as the much improved TB series putting out much more horsepower and hydraulic power. Case IH is importing Turkish built JX tractors which are the old Fiat Hesston lines from the 80's which were/are still great if simple tractors. All these are very much cheaper than the electronic laden main line tractors. I'm not sure I agree you need more than 65 hp to run most round balers, I certainly ran our old Vicon 1210 (probably one the worst for needing power) on a Ford 5000. My current Krone (M+W) 4x4 baler is rated for 45hp and would be fine on my DB 990 52 hp if it had the hydraulics to lift the gate. (it might now its been retrannied) Our NH 315 is not exactly a light duty square baler and the DB pulls it great. All our tillage is sized for 60 hp and pulled by our biggest tractor which is only 75 hp. We farm 200 acres but only till 10-20 per year. A discbine does need hp, which I just can't bring myself to buy to only cut hay, which a regular haybine does on half the hp. We did have a 105 hp Ford and it might have done the same jobs effortlessly but also needed more fuel to do it. I don't miss it one bit. Well maybe for uprooting trees and hauling back three hay wagons at a time. I leased my last tractor and will do that again as it expenses so well on our taxes. (buy out after the lease is very cheap too)