Mahindra Quality

[oldpilgrim]

My 3016 fit and finish is as good as any tractor I looked at before buying it..

 

[TomSeller]

My local Deere sold the Mahindra for a few years and then stopped all of a sudden, I don't know why, I don't think they sold many as I see very few around. I looked at them and they seemed to be pretty well put together. I would have considered one if there was a dealer close by but there isn't. Deere seems to have my neck of the woods locked down.

I guess that's a way to keep selling green. Take on another brand, don't push it hard, then drop the line because "it doesn't sell" and keep selling green. Rinse, repeat with another brand.

 

[atsah]

I guess that's a way to keep selling green. Take on another brand, don't push it hard, then drop the line because "it doesn't sell" and keep selling green. Rinse, repeat with another brand.

I guess.. I went there last week to look at a 1023, they wanted 16,500 for it with a FEL, I said no thanks..

 

[bamboozled]

Tractors are good, any of the implements made by Kodiak suck.

 

[sd455dan]

Out of all the small compact 40HP machines, I couldn't find a better earth-mover than the 4035HST. Loader, backhoe, and ballasted to the hilt gets ya somewhere around 8k. There are not many piles of stuff you can push against that you will not move. The traction it develops with loaded R1s is amazing. The balance of power, weight, and footprint is pretty much ideal for dirt work in tight quarters.

I agree,

I think you got a great combo of power and weight.

this comment got me wound up enough to post something

(....that makes sense that they sell a cheap throw away garden tractor size toy for peasant farmers in 3 world countries)

Got me thinking about a 5530 i was looking into buying , its 6000lb weight before adding the Mahindra loader that can lift 3150 lbs made it clear to me that Mahindra builds some heavy weights.

I see the 4035 is also built heavy duty as well.

 

[Sysop]

Funny you brought that up, I had just added it all up (except the backhoe) earlier tonight. The tractor weighs 4367#, plus the loader (1285#), plus the loaded tires (estimated 400# each). I just pulled out the hoe manual and looked. It is listed as 1010# with the 12" bucket. I have a 16" bucket which is listed as being 17# heavier than the 12", so that all adds up to 7509 pounds. Added extras, tools carried, my arse, 8k was a safe estimate.

 

[DavesTractor]

Tractors are good, any of the implements made by Kodiak suck.

I've read a few of your posts, and based on what you received from Kodiak, I can understand your position. There is no other conclusion for you to draw. Bad welds, bad paint, sloppy finish...all not good. That is not typical of the vast majority of Kodiak product over the years. Kodiak got very overwhelmed by the volume coming from Mahindra dealers. Mahindra pushed them to get stuff delivered as delays were happening. I will now conjecture that for a period of time they probably ran hard and hired new employees, etc. to catch up, and the results were just not good.

Kodiak recently sold to Paladin, makers of Bradco, McMillen, CP and other very high end implements/attachments. They have a relationship with Mahindra already and they understand quality and volume. From here on out, we ought to see consistency and quality.

 

[Sysop]

That makes good sense. When I went to buy my tractor the dealer had told me of implement shortages. They indicated they were just selling more implements than tractors, couldn't get stock as fast as they sold stuff, and that many things that I wanted wouldn't be able to be delivered with the tractor, but would be a couple months of extra waiting.

The sale to Paladin does sound like a good thing, my backhoe they made is amazing.

 

[DavesTractor]

Mitsu made the Cub Cadets for a while, and they were almost identical to the earlier 15 series that Mitsu made for Mahindra. Later Cubs were built by Yanmar.

 

[Trillium Farm]

The 1980s and 1990s Kubotas are where Kubota made a name for themselves. Very good machines.

ABSOLUTELY! I understand later units were not as good, though still good machines.

 

[peterc38]

ABSOLUTELY! I understand later units were not as good, though still good machines.

I'd say you understand wrong then. Do you have any data or hard facts to show that Kubotas "later units" produced after the 1990's are "not as good"?

 

[Trillium Farm]

I'd say you understand wrong then. Do you have any data or hard facts to show that Kubotas "later units" produced after the 1990's are "not as good"?

No hard facts only comments from farmers who have them. These comments pertain to "Farm" tractors not compacts and refer to build quality not reliability

 

[Sysop]

Virtually all companies ride waves of quality and affordability. They produce a nice product at a nice price, people buy it. They start doing things to maximize profits until at some point they get bitten and there is concern they're impacting profits. They then take a step or two back and work hard at quality for a while till profits come back. The really good companies identify the issues they're getting bitten on and react quick enough to maintain an overall good name, this is Kubota (or any other good manufacturer) to a tee. My brother in law has a Kubota 32 horse TLB and under warranty it had 4 hydraulic lines burst, one of the four had burst twice. After the one went a second time he started going to Napa to have hoses made out of pocket rather than dealing with the warranty anymore... Does that make Kubota's bad? no. Does that make their warranty service bad? no. He just caught a model they were attempting to maximize profits by going with lesser quality hose components than other models. I'm sure they corrected it on the assembly line as new ones were coming off to save their good name, but that's what good companies do. No different with my fuel lines on my Mahindra. They changed the part used on the assembly of new units and shipped out updated lines under warranty as needed.

 

[TomSeller]

No hard facts only comments from farmers who have them. These comments pertain to "Farm" tractors not compacts and refer to build quality not reliability

I certainly agree that the 80s and 90s Kubotas were very, very good tractors that cemented the brand and paved the way for improved tractors in general. I would not say that the quality of newer Kubotas has fallen off that standard at all. I will say that some competition has narrowed the gap. You can't go wrong with Kubota. Competition is good, lots of good brands these days.

 

[Sysop]

I certainly agree that the 80s and 90s Kubotas were very, very good tractors that cemented the brand and paved the way for improved tractors in general. I would not say that the quality of newer Kubotas has fallen off that standard at all. I will say that some competition has narrowed the gap. You can't go wrong with Kubota. Competition is good, lots of good brands these days.

I think you're absolutely right, although I think there is more to it than that, and more than what I stated above about them being just as guilty as everyone else at being a good solid profit seeking business that has resulted in a couple things they've had to make adjustments to after the initial release.

I think also there was a pretty major decline in quality of all manufacturing of products we had here in the states for quite some time in the 70s and 80s.

Brands that were some of the originators of the market were being bought out, going under, or started buying other manufacturer's stuff to put their names on. In contrast it was in the 70s and 80s that Japanese manufacturing was really taking off and starting to develop some genuinely high quality stuff. That's when most of the Japanese automakers also entered the US market.

Japan was the best it had ever been at manufacturing of all types at this time. To quote a character from a movie of the 80s "What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan." which at the time was a very popular mindset and held a lot of truth. Kubota had a quality product when quality was a rather uncommon thing and made them as much of the tractor landscape as Toyota or Honda are in the auto market are today.

You are correct that in the subsequent years, the gap has been closed rather than any sort of decline in Kubota, Japanese manufacturing, or anything else. Manufacturing in all countries is flourishing, I think partly due to the "information age" where anyone that wants to learn a subject can do so. We have many amazingly smart people figuring out new technologies and new ways to apply our technologies and they can share and build off each other easier and more productively than any other time in history. I don't really think there are any inherently "bad" brands.

 

[TomSeller]

I think you're absolutely right, although I think there is more to it than that, and more than what I stated above about them being just as guilty as everyone else at being a good solid profit seeking business that has resulted in a couple things they've had to make adjustments to after the initial release.

I think also there was a pretty major decline in quality of all manufacturing of products we had here in the states for quite some time in the 70s and 80s.

Brands that were some of the originators of the market were being bought out, going under, or started buying other manufacturer's stuff to put their names on. In contrast it was in the 70s and 80s that Japanese manufacturing was really taking off and starting to develop some genuinely high quality stuff. That's when most of the Japanese automakers also entered the US market.

Japan was the best it had ever been at manufacturing of all types at this time. To quote a character from a movie of the 80s "What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan." which at the time was a very popular mindset and held a lot of truth. Kubota had a quality product when quality was a rather uncommon thing and made them as much of the tractor landscape as Toyota or Honda are in the auto market are today.

You are correct that in the subsequent years, the gap has been closed rather than any sort of decline in Kubota, Japanese manufacturing, or anything else. Manufacturing in all countries is flourishing, I think partly due to the "information age" where anyone that wants to learn a subject can do so. We have many amazingly smart people figuring out new technologies and new ways to apply our technologies and they can share and build off each other easier and more productively than any other time in history. I don't really think there are any inherently "bad" brands.

I don't think I can argue your points, you pretty much summed it up. Too bad American greed and complacency declined the quality of American manufacturing in the 70s and 80s.. Some day I think it will be back, but I might be observing from 6' under by that time.

 

[Sysop]

I think (hope) those errors are well realized. Now it seems to me the problem is there is a divide in the solution.

Some are fighting to go backwards and trying to recapture "those glory days" of manufacturing in the US when we've engineered so much of the talent out of manufacturing and made most of it simple enough it is not too different from working the "assembly line" at the local McDonalds. Those high paying manufacturing jobs just don't exist for the most part anymore.

The others have realized to be the "leader" in manufacturing, you must be the nation of developers and engineers that simplifies everything for the minimum wage assembly line workers.

Sorta sad, but quite true...

 

[mike69440]

The 1980s and 1990s Kubotas are where Kubota made a name for themselves. Very good machines.

New owner picked up my B7200D last Weekend. A new Kubota similar to the Max28Xl goes around 20K in New England. I could not bring myself to spending that much.

 

[s219]

New owner picked up my B7200D last Weekend. A new Kubota similar to the Max28Xl goes around 20K in New England. I could not bring myself to spending that much.

No way they cost that much. I paid $15400 for a B2920 with front loader, which is larger than the Max 28, and remember at the time people were getting similar prices up in New England (used to be from there, so I paid attention). And Barlows delivers up there and their prices are even better. You could have gotten a new Kubota B in the $14-16K range for sure. Even sticker price doesn't get anywhere near $20K.

 

[Agvg]

Here in Europe Kubota have tried since the early eighties but never had any success, even today the latest and larger kubotas is not near what other brands offer in equipment or versions.

What is different in the US? Was quality so bad on the older brands?