John deere 3032e or 3038e?

[bigriver]

Anyone own or operated either of these tractors with a loader? Just wondering about the performance.

Thanks

[bustuout]

my co-worker has the 3038 and absolutely loves it-hell he's given up his other hobbies and thinks he's a farmer now!!!!!!!!!!!

[bigriver]

The 3038e price is considerably less than some of the other JD's of equal horse power. Just curious about the response of the hydro transmission on this particular model, operating features, etc.

Thanks

[AnotherOkie]

I just bought a 2008 kubota L3400hst about 2 weeks ago. During my searching, I looked at the jd 3032e and 3038e. Same frame, loader, transmission and engine, but the 3038e has a turbo. They look to be alright, but very plain. No drawbar, No fuel gage, No mid-mount pto, no cruise. I don't think you can remove the loader very easily either.

I will say the price was tempting though. $15 something for the 32, and $16 something for the 38.

[picker77]

I bought a 3032E about a month ago. Dealer threw in the drawbar ($111 option), and it DOES have a fuel gauge, just not one in the dashboard's display--instead, it's a mechanical float gauge built into the fuel cap, and you can read it clearly from the driver's seat. Also, JD offers a parking stand kit for the 305 loader, although I didn't get one for mine because I won't be taking my loader off, I just drop the bucket when I mow. It comes with the excellent JD Quick Attach setup on the loader, allowing you to drop the bucket in a matter of seconds if you don't like mowing with it hanging out there, or if you want to switch to a set of pallet forks or other JDQA compatible device.

I drove both the 3032E and the 3038E, and they are identical tractors except for the turbo'd engine on the 3038E. There was $1100 difference in the price, which is not all that much but only buys you a little over 5 hp. Also, right or wrong, I always felt that a non-turbo engine would be more trouble-free in the long run, so I bought the 32 hp 3032E. If I lived up in Colorado or somewhere above 5000 feet I'd have bought the 3038E for sure. Excellent Yanmar industrial engine of their latest design, with everything easily accessible for maintenance. The E series is a perfect size tractor for me (I'm 6'4"), and they have plenty of leg room and simple, well laid out controls. 32 hp is plenty of power for what I need, and the hydro (two speed on both) is smooth and quiet--as hydros go. No cruise control available, as the man said. So far I haven't missed the CC, but if I mowed a lot with this tractor I might. Nice tractor, and I really like it. Plenty heavy and powerful enough to get things done, small enough to still fit in my shop with my truck, even with loader and box blade attached. Easy to load up and haul with a 16' utility trailer.

The only other tractors I was really serious about were Kubota's B series, which are nice tractors, but the 3300SU was $1600 more than the 3032E and the cramped leg room turned me off. For me the lack of foot/leg room made Kubota's heel-and-toe type hydro pedal very uncomfortable to use for back-and-forth loader operation. OTOH I really liked the JD's roomy operator position, much better foot and leg room, and the twin pedal hydro controls. Not spending $1600 more didn't hurt, either. That's going to buy me a set of green quick-attach pallet forks and a few other things, and I'll still come out ahead.

For some reason the Japanese still don't get it on leg room for taller guys. In my case, even though I like orange and drove a Kubota for the last 15 years, designing their operator positions for people less than six feet tall pretty much cost them a sale. I suppose they can afford it, but you'd think they'd wake up and add a notch or two more to the sliding seat adjustment. What's it cost to make seat rails that slide back another 3 inches? Sheesh... :confused:

[Silver Landscaping]

Just bought a 3032E last month. I'm amazed at just how much I can get out of this small tractor. The loader was strong enough to flip full size round hay bales up onto a 16' trailer. Pretty plain jane but does everything I want it to do. Ran sickle bar mower, 5' bush hog, hay rake, post hole digger, and box blade on it so far and it has exceeded my expectations every time.
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[Jelinek61]

I just ran a 3032E two weekends ago. My buddies dad rented it for doing some food plots on the property he just bought for deer hunting. I ran the tractor almost the whole time because they really didnt have any experience. We mowed about 2 acres with a 5' brush hog and then used a 5' tiller to break the ground. We also leveled out some crushed concrete for a pad to park their camper on. My only complaint was that the hydraulics on the loader were almost to quick and kinda jumpy, almost like you would move the controls then after a little delay it would move really fast. It could just be that it was a rental machine that had taken some abuse but it had low hours and looked to be pretty new.

[picker77]

Yeah, the first day or two I ran the loader I was pretty jerky with it, too. The Joystick is very sensitive. My previous experience with a loader was on a good sized JD 4020 with a big 7' bucket JD loader with two-stick controls. With that one, it was like shifting a '37 Dodge truck when you moved the levers, they each had about 12" of travel. :laugh: However, the plus side of the 3032's sensitive joystick is after I got used to it, I could easily do very small and smooth movements in all four directions without a lot of arm-waving. I'd still prefer a fender-mounted joystick, I think, so my arm could have a place to rest, but I'm getting used to this one. Float position works great, too. You just have to train your hand a little and get used to the feel of it and not be too ham-fisted to start with.