Is Zetor better?

emernst · May 15, 2000

I have been shopping for a new tractor in the 40-50 hp range. Is the Zetor a good tractor? What are the pros and cons of buying Zetor over JD or Kubota?

Kubota-monkey · May 15, 2000

I have never heasrd of Zetor but all I can say is nothing really beats a Kubota for the money

Bird · May 15, 2000

The Zetor is a Czechoslovakia made tractor, and in the past they even made some of the John Deere models. You can find a few web sites on most any search engine by just using the word "Zetor".

Bird

jdkid · May 16, 2000

Hi ya
from what i have seen on this net most have kubota's and sure they do have some little prob's but to be fair all brands do have them now and them .the best thing i could tell you is any brand is not worth the air in the tires if no one will stand behind them ,i'd look at parts and backup in making my mind up ,cost or colour shoud not come into it .I do know of people in New Zealand with zetor's and some have good runs from them other's are pleased to see the go, parts are a prob to get here and that has let a few down (over 6 months for a set of rings!!)i have driven the JD zetor and found it 3rd world in it's make up very light gear leavers and poor dash layout
catch ya
JD Kid

gordon · May 16, 2000

That long for a set of rings--ouch--! Without a good parts network longterm the tractor is useless. Sometimes a cheaper price in the beginning can be very costly in the long run.
But like any brand there a good models and not so good models but do you want to take the gamble?
Just my two cents worth---
Gordon

emernst · May 16, 2000

I must agree, you get what you pay for. I have scratched Zetor off my list. I am not going to take a risk like that for a couple thousand dollars.

gordon · May 16, 2000

I will say this you have just made a very smart decision. Stick with one of the major brands and you will sleep much better at night.
One thing never buy a tractor that comes with its own rebuild kit and special tools. This spells one thing down the road --trouble--.
Good luck with whatever brand you decide to buy I like orange but thats just me.
Gordon

W5FL · May 16, 2000

There are NO pros of Zetor over Kubota except they are less expensive! Although someone said they made some JD, I do not believe this to be true at all. The Zetor is a heavy agriculture tractor made for third world countries. It is less expensive and not very sophisticated that I can see. They had one at the local stock show here this year. Buy a Kubota if you can, otherwise a JD or NH. All are much better.

Bird · May 17, 2000

Wen, I'll admit to not knowing for sure that Zetor made some of the John Deere tractors a few years ago, but I was first told that by a rancher neighbor, and I went with him to a dealer's annual "hay day" (free barbecue and demonstrations of several different brands and models of hay cutting and baling equipment), and I did some research on the Internet and found that statement on one of the web sites. This rancher neighbor is seriously thinking of buying a Zetor, and of course, I think he'd be making a big mistake.

Bird

MChalkley · May 17, 2000

Yeah, at some point the important question becomes less "How much can I save?" and more "How much do I risk wasting?"

Mark

W5FL · May 20, 2000

You may want to search the archives of alt.rural on deja.com or dejanews.com. They had a long thread on Zetor a few months back. I think there are a lot of better tractors, but all opinions should be considered.

Anonymous Poster · Aug 10, 2000

We recently purchased a Zetor Forterra Turbo 9621. This is a two wheel drive, they now only offer a four wheel version (9641). We looked at the NH TS110 and Deere 6410 and found it to be very close in class. It lacked some of the technical advances like interval whipers and digital dash, but not much else. Zetor has made great strides in features, fit & finish especially in this later model. It has a 24-speed trany, 3-speed electronic power shift. 3-set of hydraulics + zero return, lights everywhere, large curved glass cab, and comfortable seat. The 20% savings probably would not have been enough alone though. The two year bumper to bumper warranty (including tires) helps, we have an very strong and stable local dealer, and we have a neighbor that has been running a Zetor (hard) for more than 10 years and is very happy with his. No regrets so far.

abheye · Jul 21, 2002

Zetor has been around since the 1950s.

Woodbeef · Jul 21, 2002

Wen,

JD Kid is correct. The Deere 2000 series is nothing more than badge-engineered Zetors painted green and yellow! Some were made in Brno,some were built at the Deere factory in Mexico

The Zetor tractors are good for their price range. They are dependable and hard working.

Anonymous Poster · Jan 20, 2003

I know that this is an old thred. But I am new here and thought I would add what I know about Zetor. I was raised on a farm and was a John Deere junkie and had my doubts about them.
But my neighbor has one. It has 52HP and pulls like it has 80. The only problem he has had with it is the clutch and break slave cylinders. But he replaced them with US manufactureed ones.
When he needs parts all he needs to do is make a phone call. They are shiped overnight. And the shiping is free.
As for useing this tractor. It is the most user friendly tractor I have ever used. I realy like how the draw bars have a latch that can be released to extened them for hooking up to impliments. You then just back up and they latch.
One other realy neat thing is. It has a air compressor built in. It is realy handy.
If I was in the market for a larger tractor I would buy one in a hart beat.
TOOLS

Anonymous Poster · Jan 21, 2003

emernst: Some of the comments seem to be from people that have not actually seen them! I cannot speak to operations, but I investigated them as much as possible without a local dealer who stocked them (including, discussions with the head US engineer from Czech). The only one I was able to see and crawl over, under, through was at the state fair. Further, I cannot speak to long term reliability. That said, they are clearly more solid, better engineered and have more basic features than anything else on the market. Example, they have reversible PTO. Ever get a posthole digger stuck and have to dig it out (in, say, dry clay)? Someone else mentioned the standard air compressor. etc. etc. Parts availability from American JAWA should be good. And, worst case, you can contact the factory directly-and, it would be easier finding someone who can speak/write czech/german for you than korean/chinese/indian. IF, and this is the IF, you can find a solid local dealer especially, one that has been handling them for awhile, I would urge you to give them serious consideration. Frankly, from my investigations, they stand up on their own merits regardless of price. JEH

dancce · Jan 21, 2003

I can't add much to what grimreaper said about Zetor tractors, but if anyone has any questions, I would be glad to answer them here or by e-mail.

dancce

RanchMan · Jan 21, 2003

Grimreaper-

<font color=blue>Some of the comments seem to be from people that have not actually seen them!</font color=blue>

Unfortunately that happens a lot here on TBN. Without commenting on anyone in this thread directly, inevitably when a "no name" (e.g. non-"Big 3") tractor is brought up, you will get some legitimate points (i.e. proximity of dealerships, etc.). However, you will also get a lot of the more bigoted comments about how only "Big 3" tractors are worth anything and that everything else is poor quality, poor reliability, poorly designed, etc.

Personally, I think it's sad. I've pretty much stopped arguing with such folks because I've found most are so set in their ways (and so proud of the brand tractor they choose), they have no desire to approach the subject with an open mind. (Kindof the "MY child is PERFECT" mentality.)

As someone with a "no name" brand (Mahindra) some of the folks I’m chastising may claim that I am "bigoted" in the same way, just against the "Big 3." In actuality, that is not the case at all. My choice for brand was based on a frank evaluation of features balanced against what I could gather regarding quality and cost. Since the "Big 3" in my neck of the woods were considerably higher in monetary outlay, they were scratched off the list very early on. Did I give up some things by going with Mahindra? Absolutely! But, does that mean it is a poor quality product (as some in the past tried to convince me)? Nope.

Based on what I’ve read (and some limited personal experience), I personally have no problem with the quality of the “Big 3" brands - but then again, I’ve also read enough to know they aren’t the end-all/be-all of tractors. (They break down too. /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif) That’s OK, nothing’s perfect.

If folks have some real experience with a particular brand or can bring up some pertinent facts, GREAT! But to those who self-anoint themselves as “experts” when they’ve never even seen the brand in question, well, let’s just say I treat such comments with the amount of respect they deserve. /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif Oh well.....

Bird · Jan 21, 2003

Ranchman, I'm curious about one thing with the Mahindras. I visited a Mahindra dealer 3 or 4 times on other business and have only sat on a couple of them (don't remember the models) to see how they felt and what it would be like reaching all the controls. Now I didn't even start the engine on them, but the two I sat on had clutch pedals that were so stiff that I figured it would very tiring to have to use them. Is that normal, were those two unusual (it's been about 3 years ago), or do they have some kind of power assist on the clutch when the engine's running? Incidentally, the dealer leaves everything he has sitting outside in the weather and I have no idea how long those tractors had been out there.

And it's been about 4 years since I visited a Zetor tractor dealer. They were demonstrating different brands and models of haying equipment all day. The Zetors looked good, sounded good, and the cabs had good cold air-conditioning/w3tcompact/icons/love.gif, but I've never known anyone personally who owned one of them. At that time, the dealer told me they only had straight geared transmissions; no HST, powershift, shuttle shift, etc. And of course, I don't know whether that's still true or not.