Recommending a Tractor - LS?

I read with interest below the responses to old's post about recommending a tractor brand to his neighbor and/or friend.

The LS brand was not mentioned. There is a LS dealer, I consider him a pratical fair guy, near me who seems to sell a ton of LS tractors and he says they don't seem to have issues. I am a JD fan but if I was buying a tractor I would at least look at the LS. Oh, I would also look at Kubota.

Does anyone have any knowledge and/or experience with these LS tractors?

Paul

I would google LS tractor reviews. You cant always believe what you read.

They were also sold at one time as New Holland, Montana, Farmtrac, LandTrac, LongAgri, McCormick, and Landini tractors.

There?s an LS Tractor Dealer in my town, the city utilities depts have several LS tractors and several big farming operations are using them, have not heard any bad things about them. My neighbor cut my hayfield two days ago with one, big cab tractor with ac, matter of fact, several of my neighbors have bought LS tractors, I believe if I were going to buy a new tractor I would probably by LS

LS tractors would not be the issue. The trouble is the lack of much of a dealership network and Company US network instability. If you have a good dealer near you then your lucky. Most people do not.

Also look at the resources the average LS dealer has. What I mean there is what kind of shop does he have? How experienced are his mechanics?? Do they have the training and knowledge to work on a modern DEF system with loads of electronics??? The guy that was great repairing the simple little mechanic LS made tractor 5 years ago maybe totally clueless on the modern ones. If you do have major issue what company resources are there to get your tractor up and going again???

What you have to watch out for to is how does the average LS tractor user use his tractor. This makes reviews hard to gauge. Their biggest market is the compact tractor market. I see a lot of reviews if guys raving about how great/cheap their LS tractor is. Then they tell you have it is five years old and has 150 hours on it. Heck with that type of duty cycle any tractor should hold up.

What about the Company??? This "new" version of LS is just 8-9 years old. Prior to that they made tractors under other names but did not sell direct retail in the US. So their US operation is still in its infancy.

So what about the tractor??? They seem fairly good. The trouble is your not just buying that tractor. Your also needing the after sales support. You also need/want a residual value for your tractor. This is the big unknown with LS. They can say they have made tractors for 35 years and they are correct. They have not sold in North America for any where near that long. Look at Kioti tractors. The company and dealership issues makes the resale on them be pretty low. Seemingly good tractor but the other things hammer its value.

So how will LS be in the future??? Who knows. If your not ever going to sell or trade then they may fit you perfectly. I just would not be comfortable "gambling" on that at this point. Looks like one dealership in Iowa and 1 or 2 in Wisconsin. That would be tough here. In other areas of the country they seem to have more. Still a big concern to me.

Well for a stupid country boy what does LS stand for LIMITED SLIP????

Maybe Lear Siegler??

They are a nice looking tractor but I always wonder what your going to do in ten years If the company changes names again or disappears altogether ?

Lots of doubts posted, but then there were doubts when VW's showed up in North America and the same thing later when the first Japanese cars appeared. And we know what happened with those eventually. But of course, this tractor situation might be different, not all stories have a happy ending.

Thanks everyone for the replies. There was a lot of good information there. Thanks again. Paul

Paul I think if one really gets down and compares tractor for tractor he will find the price advantage is not all that great. Easy to look at things like horsepower and weight but compare pump capacity, and features like transmission, collar shift or hydraulic shuttle . I run into it all time pricing KUBOTAs features like lift out lift arms, seats with armrest, just lots of ways to cut corners on tractors. KUBOTA makes economy tractors, no rubber floor mat, gear drive transmissions , cheaper dash. Customer will come on the lot and price them but then walk right over and buy the tractor with more creature comfort. Other thing is the parts situation. With a dealer that is selling 400 or 500 units a year ,they are going to be able to stock more parts than say a dealer that is selling 10, to 15 units a year. That company has been around and sold under various names and certainly do not want to down the tractor but again if the price difference is not there why buy the tractor. We had a couple of guys come trade in two or three year old ones and getting rid of the used ones was tough. Resale will certainly not be what it is with a know brand.