Someone mentioned parts availability. For that reason I'd stick with brands and models sold in the USA. John Deere still sells important parts for my 30+ year old JD dozer and some of them are surprisingly cheap. I just bought a fuel pump for $28, head gasket kit for $80, an engine part for $8 that I thought would cost me $50. The fuel pump was cheap because my machine uses the same fuel pump that they still put on new machines today. But the point is that if you can get parts that's most the battle. Unfortunately when owning you don't have the option to just not fix the machine because you'd never recoup your original investment if you don't. So you're stuck and you pay what it cost. There is also a ton of used stuff out there for a name brand machine like JD. I can get most anything that isn't still sold by JD at used dealers. I agree with Eddie completed, I hate owning the thing but it sure has payed for itself over time if you're willing to keep it working. I paid $6200 for my little JD350 but have probably done $50,000 worth of work with it so far. I too can't wait to sell it but I bet I never will.
