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If a 6K mower or garden tractor wore out in ten years, I'm willing to bet it didn't say KUBOTA on the side. We had a 17hp L-series Kubota 20 yrs ago when they cost absolutely nothing, abused it & its implements to death for four years and sold it for more than we paid for it (after the import tax drove the prices way up). We kept the little 12hp diesel G4200 with a belly mower, which cost less than 2K back then, as I recall, and have tried to kill it ever since. It now retails for about six grand. We mowed 29 acres with it for a couple of years, and 8 rough acres ever since, often letting the biggest part get 2 feet tall before we bother with cutting it. We mow down brush and 1" maple saplings that a bush hog should really do, and gnereally beat it to death.It hauls feed and grain almost every day, and must have over 3000 hrs on it, perhaps more (no hr meter). We change oil and filters only once a year, and it has never been tarped, much less kept in a shed, and we live in VA, which has plenty of rain, snow and ice. So far this Kubota has never seen the dealer, and the only repairs it's needed have been some new steering gear parts that my wife replaced herself, and the deck has had plates welded on it where the rain & ice have rotted thru everywhere. Oh, and two new spindles and a couple of batteries, too. I'm buying a new Kubota L3130 next week, and its Bush Hog should extend the life of the little rusty Kubota indefinitely, but if it fell to pieces tomorrow it would still be the best money I've ever spent. And when that unkillable diesel motor finally goes, you bet I'm headed straight down to buy its $6,000 modern equivalent. I've had a few used IH Cub Cadets and Wheel Horses over the years, too, just to have a spare when the Kubota deck belt breaks (mean job to replace), but even those, which are miles ahead of the MTD-type crud, don't hold a candle to the Kubota for toughness and, to me, just aren't worth the little money they cost.
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