BRANDON – Manufacturers and dealers are reporting a large demand for mid-range tractors.
One factor prompting farmers to buy new is the serious penalties that often lurk in used tractors.
A used 100 horsepower tractor with mechanical front-wheel drive, loader, cab, adequate hydraulics and a convenient transmission costs about $30,000.
The drawback is that many of them have spent much of their working years with their axles up to the bearings in corrosive livestock manure.
They have been locked into front-wheel assist, their steering turned lock-to-lock, always in full-forward or full-reverse and the loader and hydraulics have been pushed to the limit in all weather conditions.
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People who have bought these so-called good deals often say, “never again.”
Realizing that North America is a big market for new tractors in this range, Asian manufacturers began exporting lower-cost, mid-range tractors to our shores in the 1990s.
It was not a trend North American manufacturers wanted to see. To stave off the Pacific tsunami of cheaper chore tractors, John Deere and Case New Holland now offer their own chore tractors with lower prices.
At the recent Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon, Case displayed a 95 h.p. Farmall with air conditioned cab and mechanical front assist for $63,468.
Down the aisle, John Deere displayed a 130 h.p. tractor with mechanical front assist and a John Deere air conditioned cab for $69,900.
Here’s a look at what these two tractors offer:
John Deere representative Darryl Gerrard said the company didn’t cut a lot of corners in designing the bargain basement 6130D.
It’s powered by a four-cylinder PowerTech E John Deere engine with replaceable wet sleeves. As well, it has a wet clutch for better durability. There’s a shuttle reverser so the operator doesn’t need to clutch for forward and reverse, but there is no powershift transmission.
“John Deere has responded to customer demand for a tractor that has just the basics. People are asking for a good functional tractor that’s brand new. They know what happens with a high-hour unit that’s been through the mill,” he said. “These are the kinds of prices farmers were used to 25 years ago.
“There’s a three-point hitch at the back, a power take-off with 540/1,000 r.p.m. and a simple open-centre hydraulic system.
“It uses the standard JD air conditioned cab with the same control layout found in other Deere implements, but without the extra electronics and do-dads,” Gerrard said.
“This is what we call a good, basic clutch tractor. Just a plain Jane, meat and potatoes tractor.”
In the entire 6D series, the four-cylinder engine block is the stressed frame member at the front of the tractor. Although there are no front frame rails, a front-end loader can be added for about $10,000.
Moving up a step to the 7030 produces a power gain of a single horsepower.
This series has a 131 h.p. engine, but it’s now a two-valve, six-cylinder engine with an actual front frame.
Base price bumps to $79,000 and producers get more functional features.
Moving up one more step to the $99,000 premium, h.p. is still 131 but it’s produced by a six-cylinder engine with a four-valve head. As well, this model comes with electronics.
Over at the Farmall display, Case representative Tom Borsa spoke candidly about the 95 h.p. tractor.
“This tractor is here – 100 percent – to stave off the Pacific Rim tractors. That is the purpose of this tractor. Now, that being said, this is also our most popular h.p. range for Case IH. We’re actually amazed at how many of these tractors we sell.”
Borsa said a lot of farmers buy these tractors in the two-wheel drive version to replace their 30-year-old 970 tractors or old Fords that have been retired from service.
“So now they have a brand new tractor,” he said.
“It runs the loading auger, does utility jobs around the farm with the loader, mows the borders around seed plots and things like that, but it’s brand new, so it’s reliable. And it’s affordable. Plus, people like the old-fashioned, no-nonsense simplicity. It’s that ‘I can fix it myself with a hammer’ kind of attitude. These are not complex tractors.”
The Farmall that compares most directly to the JD 6130D has a three-point hitch, power take-off with 540/1,000 r.p.m., dry disc clutch, forward-reverse mechanical shuttle, MFD, air conditioned cab, open centre hydraulics with two remotes and a four-cylinder diesel.
Rear tires are 18.4 x 34 and front tires are13.6 x 24. The front-end loader sells for about $10,000.
The Farmall is priced significantly lower than the Deere but has less power.
Ironically, these tractors designed to fight foreign imports are imports themselves. The Farmall is built in Turkey and the John Deer is built in Mexico.
