John Deere 50 or 60-G, general thoughts and stereo install

[Southern Man]

I have been bitten by the new tractor bug again. Been very happy with my 35-D and wish I could find a nice low hour 50 or 60D with a cab.

Any general thoughts, likes/dislikes on the new G series?

second question, what is a good choice for an aftermarket equipment stereo for this model mini excavator and where is a good source to buy it.

Thanks in advance everyone.

 

[andy81]

i just took delivery of a new 60 g this week, only got 10 hrs on it so far digging some stumps out in my yard , traded in a bobcat 435 on it that was a 5 ton machine. the deere is a nice machine quiet cab has alot of power , i did go with a tag pin grabber and buckets and thumb. took 8 weeks to get. the tag / deere thumb needs some improvement, tiny cylinder, moves way to fast thumb its self needs a few more tines on the tip. i new this before hand but figure i will modify it down the road. the bobcat thumb was alot nicer ,and heavier design. the other thing i noticed was getting in and out of the door is a little tighter on the deere. the cab on the deere is radio ready , but didnt have the head unit , the deere hitatchi unit is around $400, you can go on ebay and find a plug and play unit for for $160 with am fm mp3 and blue tooth, mine should be here early next week

 

[Southern Man]

I'm still on the fence about which tractor to buy. The deere 60 has some things I like better but the 306 Cat has a couple nice things about it.
Cat 306 is #1,000 pounds heaver, on paper has 2 extra HP.
Deer has a larger engine without a Turbo 204CI. Cat only has a 148 CI engine with turbo but I like the idea of a larger engine and no turbo to maintain.
Deere has a 1 & 1/2" wider cab but it is 6" shorter and the extra 6" is in the leg area, Cat has sliding windows on both sides, in addition the cat has a roof window blind and the deere does not.
Deere has A/C and stereo as separate units but with the cat both are ran through the main control monitor. If either quits working will be more expensive to repair.

On the outside the deer has a 1' longer reach, both compared with long arms.
Deer has a better quick connect system, the Cat requires you to spend an extra 2 grand to buy the pin grabber.
Cat has an extra hinged door for access points, I never saw the HYD oil filters on either machine.
Deer battery is easy to get to, Cat battery looks to be a pain is the rear to change.
Both tractors has a REGEN system but on the JD you can opt out and the delay the process if you need to, on the cat you can not.

The Cat gravy, On the Cat with the push of a button you can convert the left joy stick to drive mode and navigate the tractor, really nice feature but with that the sticks and pedals are now just in the way and not needed.

Price wise, with the following.
quick connect stick ends
2 buckets
hyd thumb
3 year 2,000 hour warranty, (1 extra year added without added time)
long stick and extra counterweight
stereo

Deere $68,000 cash price
Cat $74,000 cash price

 

[Southern Man]

andy, please post a photo of your stereo set up and where you found it. I was priced the deere unit at $600 and the Jensen model for 350 but it does not fit the side mount well I was told.

I may order my tractor without one.

Andy, if you do any clearing whatsoever buy a stumper rake from USA attachments. Its $2,000 but well worth it. I bought one for my 35 and hardly ever take it off. I promise you after you have had it a year you will say its the very best money you have ever spent.

 

[andy81]

i searched deere 60 g raidio, and a bunch came up but the one i ordered says 12 v raidio for deere 60 d and g excavator and comes out of missouri, and i will deffinately be looking into the stumper rake attachment

 

[KSSS]

What I think is a great feature on the 306 is the EH controls allow you to completely customize how the machine responds. It would be really nice to dial in an excavator like you can a SSL or CTL for different work group performance. The CAT also makes mention of the large increase in lift capacity. I would be interested in how the lift capacity compares between the two. I found the 305.5 to be inadequate in lift capacity, so the when CAT states the 306 can lift substantially more (I cant remember how much they said exactly) than the previous machine, that has to go with a grain of salt.

 

[Tags]

My question would be, do you get any feedback from the controls since they are EH? Like when you're digging around a pipe or fine grading? I would demo both side by side to get a true representation of what each unit can and can't do well.

 

[Southern Man]

Andy, send me a text to 904 three 4 nine fifty 42. I'll text you back photos of the stumper rake I have on the 35d. The 60 model looks just like this one only the teeth are 1/4" thicker. I actually twisted the end of the excavator sick pulling on a stump but the rake did not bend a smidget. high quality product.

 

[Txhayseed]

Southern have you looked into a remote faced radio. The actual electronic section is separate from the face plate connect via an interface cable. You mount them with a lot less hassle and opens up a lot more options for mounting in confined spaces.

 

[LT-x7]

I didn't realize anyone was making diesel engines this size without turbos. I have mixed feelings on having a turbo. On one hand it's nice to not ever have to replace & engine cool down time becomes less important. But one thing to consider if you may find yourself working at high elevations the non-turbo engines struggle to make power. I'm curious to see how a non turbo diesel with a dpf runs at high elevations. Any information comparing fuel consumption? I would expect the smaller turbo engine to be more fuel efficient.

 

[KSSS]

I don't have DPF, but my Taki is around 35 hp without a turbo and it hurts at elevation. I live at 5K, work up to 8K often and on occasion work at 10K. The newest version of my machine (TB257FR) has 50 plus hp, turbo and DPF. I look forward to that machine. Fuel usage certainly goes up and productivity goes down at elevation without a turbo.

 

[Southern Man]

Cat dealer threw another grand at me today, $500 for being a farm bureau member and $500 more for just being a good ole boy. Now the cat is only $5,000 more.

 

[Southern Man]

andy, here is a few photos of the USA attachments rake.

This one has been used about 500 hours, its been truly tried, hooked under big stumps, prying pulling.
Not one single tooth is is bent. The only improvement I could make to this attachment would be to weld a piece of flat bar across the top of the teeth to keep vines from hanging up on them.

This one, the 27/35 size has 3/4 teeth on the stumper and 5/8 on the rake, weighs 650.
the 50/60 size is 1" & 3/4, weighs 875.

When I get my new tractor this will be my first attachment purchase.

 

[andy81]

Well I got the raido installed it is plug and play, and works well, it was $174 shipped to my door, synced up to my phone and Bluetooth works well . The web sight is soundtrackradios.com . and they have an eBay store also. It is listed as a John Deere 50- 60 g excavator radio.

 

[Southern Man]

Well I purchased the JD 60-G, It ended up being $66,125 out the door with>>>>>>>
Cab & Air
long stick and extra counterweight
Thumb
24" bucket
5 year/2,000 hour warranty (bumper to bumper no deductible)

Andy, I'm ordering the Soundtrack stereo in a few minutes. The JD radio was $519.20

 

[andy81]

so far i've been very happy with the stereo, you seem to have gotten a good deal on the excavator. i went with a tag hydraulic pin grabber , tag 12", 24" and 48" ditch bucket and thumb, with the long arm . I paid a bit more with all of the extras and being in ny, and paying 8.75% sales tax. i will say that im not very impressed with the thumb though. the cylinder and pins are small and it is way to fast. the thumb on the bobcat 435 that i traded in on this was alot more robust.

 

[Southern Man]

I just spoke to the folks at USA attachments about the rake, They are building me the heaver rake for the 14k+ machine for the price of the 10-14K machine.
I have to send them a photo and measurements when I get the tractor in hand at the end of the week.
Ill post a photo of it when it gets here.

I sold the 35d open station yesterday for 25,000 with the root rake and one bucket, it had 920 hrs on it but had a couple of nice liquor dents on it that the pervious owner did to it.

 

[andy81]

I’m thinking I’m going to add a couple times to the center of the thumb, I really would like a pro link thumb , maybe one of these days I will modify it

 

[Southern Man]

Took delivery of the 60G this week and started the stereo install.
Mine was not exactly a perfect fit.

The unit itself was about 1/4" to wide so I had to loosen and move the brackets just a little.
Next the mounting holes in the radio did not line up with the holes in the brackets so it will not bolted in, just wedged in between the brackets with the side cover holding it in.

Was easy to use and sounds great, bluetooth connected easily and automatically hooks ever time you turn the key on.

I will have to trim the top opening1/8" on each side and install it to finish the job.

For $145 delivered it is a sight better than the $519 JD model.

 

[Southern Man]