MF 2615

MF2615Fred

New member
I'm researching new tractors to relieve 'Ole Joe, my Dads' bought new in 1960, MF35, now w/16K plus hours and am looking at the 2615, AWD with Shuttle shift. The styling is very modern and have design features that appear better than JD, NH and Kubota. But they all build good equipment.

I'm also retired back on our hilly WV farmland, using 'Ole Joe for clearing old hay fields, grown in pastures and lane grading; no farming.

The 2600 series started in 2008, is assembled in India, as is Mahindra and appears to have more QA issues than models built in Japan. As big as MF is worldwide and owned by AGCO Inc, the issues I've read about, would seem to be very few and may be the infamous 'Monday' produced tractors. Opinions are the build quality has diminished on units coming out of India.

Getting a 2WD tractor to steer on these hills requires a lot of single sided braking, more of an issue than traction, IMO and would be less wear and tear on an AWD tractor.

I am Honda loyal and seem to be MF loyal, as well, because of 'Ole Joe.
My loyalty to Honda is not only for their high QA standards, but for their service manuals, that are 2nd to none. Not having this manual is a deal breaker for me and haven't looked into that yet.

Opinions are welcomed.
 

bczoom

Senior Member
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Welcome to the forum!

If you've kicked the tires on the different brands and you're most comfortable in the MF, then it's probably the right tractor for you.

With any tractor, dealer support is key. If you don't have a good dealer to help with any issues, regardless of brand, you're not going to be happy.

Personally, in hilly/wintery environments (I'm north of you up in PA), I'm all for getting the 4x4 MFWD. It's selectable so you only use it when needed but it's a real life saver (sometimes literally) when you get in some situations where 2WD will give you problems.

Are you getting a FEL (loader)? That's about the handiest attachment there is IMHO.
 

Doc

Admin
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Hi Fred!
Welcome to Net Tractor Talk. :tiphat:
Sounds like your dads tractor sure served you well. Those old MF's sure were tough to beat. I am not as familiar with their new offerings but like BCzoom suggested, if you have sat in the seats of all those you mentioned and the Massey fits you best then that is the one to go with as long as the dealer support is there.

On the other hand, if you have not sat in all the other seats I'll suggest that reading the online info and handouts on the tractors helps get you acquainted but sitting in the seats shows you the ergonomics of each tractor. All else being equal you want the tractor that fits you best. We all have our differences so that the placement of the controls can make a difference in your ability to work hours in the seat without back pain, hip pain, leg cramps etc.

The best two pieces of advice I got when i was tractor shopping was sit in as many seats as you can and get a front end loader with the tractor son. Both were excellent pieces of advice so I pass the wisdom along as it served me well.

Which part of WV are you from? I'm in SE Ohio right on the Ohio river. I can see the hills of WV from my back porch.
 

MF2615Fred

New member
Our local dealer has a 2615 and 2635 on the lot and I'll be checking them out soon. $25K gets the AWD 2615, with the 250 bucket w/grill guard and rear remote valve, 8x8 tranny, and filled tires. I need to do some more research to get more familiar and comfortable with this big ticket item.

The person I spoke with is a family acquaintance through church and the next closest dealer is down river about 30 miles farther. I may call them to see what price they have, but probably need do a deal with my nearest dealer.
There are 2 service manuals listed on the ARCOpubs website, $136.62 and $76.50 and an addendum. I need to find out if both are needed, or what.

Our farm is 10 miles back in the hills from the river at Proctor, but I'm living right in Proctor (during the winter) and can throw a rock into the river from the house. I should modify my avatar and add a pic of 'Ole Joe and my location.

The front end loader is really a no brainer because of its' versatility in being easily detachable to add other implements, like a fork lift.
 

Doc

Admin
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Sounds like a good plan. Forks added to the FEL are one of the best additions I've done. Makes the FEL even more versatile. I also use a clamp on hitch on the FEL to easily and precisely move trailers around. I have a pole barn and things get kinda tight but with the clamp on hitch I can easily maneuver all the trailers right in where I want them. I store 3 boats plus mine in the pole barn, so you can imagine how tight it might be.

I'm just down river from you, below Marietta. We were just up your way last weekend. Made the trek to Cabala's and wandered on into Pittsburgh for a short visit.

I tried to deal with the dealer closest to me and it simply didn't work out. I had to drive to one 45 minutes away and in the long run it was worth it. I saved quite a bit of money and they have done me right the few times I did need a little service. The dealer can make all the difference. Course since you have a family acquaintance there that might help. Good luck with your tractor shopping.
 

MF2615Fred

New member
Now I want to kick the tires on a 1648 Massey after looking at a 2635 (they didn't have a 2615 on the lot). That tractor, with it's huge tires, is much bigger that 'Ole Joe and probably more than I need.

I started out looking at compacts, but wheelbase width is critical on my terrain; these units all have their bases set in and look top heavy on the lot. The 26, 16 and 15 series have max wheelbases of 75.6", 63" and 59", respectively. Seeing a 16 w/the base set to max would be nice.

The 1648, at 3715#, is a really nice compact tractor. It has the 47 HP Iseki Tier IV engine (with hidden exhaust), 4 tranny options, big lift capacity (for a compact), an array of very good cockpit controls, i.e., mid or rear PTO w/ push button control and good implement selection.

A dealer in OH may have one on his lot, so I will talk to my dealer this week for his opinion. He only had the 2635 and a slew of 1533s' on his lot. I may get on my bike and travel to see one in the flesh SOON, spring is almost here.
 

GreenWannabe

Senior Member
Gold Site Supporter
When I was tractor shopping, I had to go out of town to several different dealers to see tractors even similar to the ones I was seriously interested in. For some reason, my local dealers did not stock the tractors on my short list with cabs. The models I found out of town with cabs were not the model I wanted, but wereat least in the same family, so I was pretty comfortable that the cab layouts would be similar to the particular one I wanted. Good luck in your search.
 

MF2615Fred

New member
My tractor was delivered last week and am starting to play with it.

I've ordered the Tooth Bar for the 250 bucket, nylon sleeves to cover the grapple hydraulics and now looking at a Kodiak Cat 2 HD (70HP) 7' Blade with Quick Hitch. The Land's Pride and Woods are comparable but priced twice as much.

A thread's no good w/o pics, but I trashed my small pics and the larger are too big to download, so I need to take more pics.
 

GreenWannabe

Senior Member
Gold Site Supporter
From another thread on uploading pictures:

I use irfanview for viewing multiple pics and resizing quickly. It's a free download:
[URL="http://www.irfanview.com/main_download_engl.htm"]http://www.irfanview.com/main_download_engl.htm[/URL]

This is just one of several free downloadable programs you can use for resizing photos. IIRC, the maximum size of an uploadable picture is 800x800, total size no more than 300kb, and the forum software will resize as needed from there.

Perhaps that will help you in getting your larger pictures uploaded.
 
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