The Challenger tractors with Perkins engines were the ones with powered by CAT on the window sticker.

 

CAT own Perkins, so they re-badge the Perkins engines with CAT decals.

They are Perkins engines, but CAT calls them their own, because they are. Smart marketing, huh

Chris

 

I purchased a New Holland 3 years ago. I was is a similar boat. I have a 580 case but I wanted something smaller that I could use to clean out stalls and so on. I shopped for a year or so before I decided on the new holland. I looked at all of the brands and determined that on the same size tractor new hollands loader would lift almost twice what the others would. I bought a TC35D which will lift around 1800 lbs 10' high as compared to the others at aroung 1,000. I handle wet 5' round bales with ease.

 

I have never owned a Kubota, but from what I hear they are nice tractors. I almost bought one a few years ago, but decided to get the John Deere 4600 instead. The main reason was I wanted a backhoe that was sturdy enough to give reliable service but yet be easy to remove from the tractor. The problem with the Kubota, as I remember it, was the backhoe was more or less permanently attached. It would take several hours to remove. I also looked at the Massey but they only offered a backhoe that attached to the three point hitch. I think a backhoe would put too much stress on a 3 point hitch. The Deere's backhoe attaches to mounting brackets that are attached to the tractor. The mounting brackets seem to be very stable and allow removing the backhoe in about 5 minutes. I bought my tractor new in 2000. Consequently, things may be different in 2004. I'm sure most of the tractors have good diesel engines and would run a long time if maintained properly. You need to decide how you are going to use the tractor, and then buy one that best (or comes close) meets your needs. One other thing, I also wanted a 4 in 1 loader bucket which at that time was only offered by Deere. Hope this helps.

 

Signature600, where is your dealer located at? How large of a dealer are you?