wiyndog
New member
I bought this tractor new in June 2011 and have had it for 7 months and have about 180 hours on it. I thought it was about time to post my opinions.
First, some background. I live in Hampton, Florida on 17 acres of timber, mostly Southern Yellow Pine. We had about 10 acres harvested (600 tons of trees) so we could build a house and otherwise develop the property for living. I got the tractor for the purpose of maintaining the property and aid in construction. Greenfirth
After having the trees harvested I tried to dig out the stumps with the backhoe. These stumps varied from 4" to 20" diameter. All have a root base that is about 4' deep. It works well for stumps up to 6" after that it becomes too much, sometimes taking hours to pull one stump. I had to rent a medium size excavator to pull the stumps in the area of the house construction. Some of these stumps are too large for the tractor to lift so they can be moved. I have also dug about 1000' of trench varying form 24" to 48" deep. So this tractor has been pushed a bit.
My opinions:
Kioti DK35SE HST: This is a good size tractor for most of what I am doing. Occasionally it is a bit undersized for a particular task, but I feel that it will handle most of what I need it for. The HST is a must for anyone that uses a tractor for anything other than farming. The controls are well positioned, but the seat is too high, I am 6' tall and find the seat too high to comfortably reach the pedals. There have been a few incidents with the tractor. The bottom of the tractor is completely exposed to damage and debris. A wood chip bounced up and threw the fan belt once. An hour later a branch poked up though the engine compartment and dented the radiator and stripped all the blades off the radiator fan. Another time a branch pushed up against a short hydraulic return hose and tore it while bending the metal pipe it was attached to. If you plan to use this tractor in an area with debris that can pop up and damage the underside of the tractor I would recommend getting a skid plate installed. Kioti does not offer one so you would need to have a welding shop make one.
Recently it blew a hydraulic O-ring, spraying oil everywhere. Bolts have come loose; Lok-tite was not used. Overall a good tractor, but some of these things should not be happening on a new machine.
Kioti KI351 Loader: This came with the tractor. It has the quick connect which make changing to the grapple a breeze. It occasionally comes up a little short on power, but is adequate most of the time. The control stick is conveniently located at your right thigh, so no long reach.
Oliver & Dahlman LD60 Brush Rake: I have been using this grapple to lift and move branches, stumps and other tree debris. It works well for larger items, but not for root raking and collecting smaller debris. It has just one grapple ram which does not work well when closing on an uneven load. I would recommend having the type with two rams that work independently. The other issue is that the grapple teeth do not overlap the rake teeth. When closed there is about a 3" gap that allows smaller items to fall out.
Wallenstein GX720 Backhoe: This is not the backhoe I wanted. I originally wanted the Bush Hog BH70, but it would have been a long delay so the dealer recommended the Wallenstein instead. What a mistake! I have had nothing but problems with this backhoe. The first item was one of the wobble sticks came loose, while tightening it I broke a ball and socket connector; poor design. Then one of the eyes broke off of a hydraulic ram; bad weld. When the dealer welded this back together he was welding on the ram but grounded the case, this caused arcing inside the cylinder and burned up the O-rings. I damaged the hydraulic hose to the bucket which eventually leaked and had to be replaced; my fault, but this hose is exposed to everything. Another hose, to the stabilizer, just blew one day; faulty hose. Another ram developed a leak; during the repair the hydraulic shop found that it had not been manufactured correctly. This backhoe is only good for simple light weight digging. It does have a hydraulic system that is separate from the tractor; it runs off the tractor PTO which makes it easier to mount/unmount from the tractor. I got it with the 4-point mounting system which seems to be adequate, the other option would be a mounting frame installed under the tractor which may create clearance problems. It is not comfortable to sit in. With the seat adjusted as far back as it will go I am still cramped. In short, avoid Wallenstein backhoes.
Another bit of advice, no matter what you think of the dealer or the tractor manufacturer do not assume that anything was properly greased. They use just enough grease to assemble it.
I paid about $30,000 in June 2011 for everything listed.
First, some background. I live in Hampton, Florida on 17 acres of timber, mostly Southern Yellow Pine. We had about 10 acres harvested (600 tons of trees) so we could build a house and otherwise develop the property for living. I got the tractor for the purpose of maintaining the property and aid in construction. Greenfirth
After having the trees harvested I tried to dig out the stumps with the backhoe. These stumps varied from 4" to 20" diameter. All have a root base that is about 4' deep. It works well for stumps up to 6" after that it becomes too much, sometimes taking hours to pull one stump. I had to rent a medium size excavator to pull the stumps in the area of the house construction. Some of these stumps are too large for the tractor to lift so they can be moved. I have also dug about 1000' of trench varying form 24" to 48" deep. So this tractor has been pushed a bit.
My opinions:
Kioti DK35SE HST: This is a good size tractor for most of what I am doing. Occasionally it is a bit undersized for a particular task, but I feel that it will handle most of what I need it for. The HST is a must for anyone that uses a tractor for anything other than farming. The controls are well positioned, but the seat is too high, I am 6' tall and find the seat too high to comfortably reach the pedals. There have been a few incidents with the tractor. The bottom of the tractor is completely exposed to damage and debris. A wood chip bounced up and threw the fan belt once. An hour later a branch poked up though the engine compartment and dented the radiator and stripped all the blades off the radiator fan. Another time a branch pushed up against a short hydraulic return hose and tore it while bending the metal pipe it was attached to. If you plan to use this tractor in an area with debris that can pop up and damage the underside of the tractor I would recommend getting a skid plate installed. Kioti does not offer one so you would need to have a welding shop make one.
Recently it blew a hydraulic O-ring, spraying oil everywhere. Bolts have come loose; Lok-tite was not used. Overall a good tractor, but some of these things should not be happening on a new machine.
Kioti KI351 Loader: This came with the tractor. It has the quick connect which make changing to the grapple a breeze. It occasionally comes up a little short on power, but is adequate most of the time. The control stick is conveniently located at your right thigh, so no long reach.
Oliver & Dahlman LD60 Brush Rake: I have been using this grapple to lift and move branches, stumps and other tree debris. It works well for larger items, but not for root raking and collecting smaller debris. It has just one grapple ram which does not work well when closing on an uneven load. I would recommend having the type with two rams that work independently. The other issue is that the grapple teeth do not overlap the rake teeth. When closed there is about a 3" gap that allows smaller items to fall out.
Wallenstein GX720 Backhoe: This is not the backhoe I wanted. I originally wanted the Bush Hog BH70, but it would have been a long delay so the dealer recommended the Wallenstein instead. What a mistake! I have had nothing but problems with this backhoe. The first item was one of the wobble sticks came loose, while tightening it I broke a ball and socket connector; poor design. Then one of the eyes broke off of a hydraulic ram; bad weld. When the dealer welded this back together he was welding on the ram but grounded the case, this caused arcing inside the cylinder and burned up the O-rings. I damaged the hydraulic hose to the bucket which eventually leaked and had to be replaced; my fault, but this hose is exposed to everything. Another hose, to the stabilizer, just blew one day; faulty hose. Another ram developed a leak; during the repair the hydraulic shop found that it had not been manufactured correctly. This backhoe is only good for simple light weight digging. It does have a hydraulic system that is separate from the tractor; it runs off the tractor PTO which makes it easier to mount/unmount from the tractor. I got it with the 4-point mounting system which seems to be adequate, the other option would be a mounting frame installed under the tractor which may create clearance problems. It is not comfortable to sit in. With the seat adjusted as far back as it will go I am still cramped. In short, avoid Wallenstein backhoes.
Another bit of advice, no matter what you think of the dealer or the tractor manufacturer do not assume that anything was properly greased. They use just enough grease to assemble it.
I paid about $30,000 in June 2011 for everything listed.
Your seat is adjustable on height read your book.
