Kubota or John Deer

[rScotty]

I looked at those two brands, and ended up with a Kioti.

Deere dealer had a take it or leave it attitude. Kubota had an old fashioned, uncomfortable treadle pedal for hst controls, an uncomfortable loader joystick, and seemed to have a larg, uncomfortable transmission hump.

Kioti was an unknown to me at the time, but had a dealer I quickly became comfortable with, a good price, and was conveniently located.

My tractor is several years old now, with no problems.

Yes. Kioti is coming up fast.

Isn't that Kubota HST treadle a crazy thing? Kubota actually makes several different shapes of treadle - and all different. Some good, some bad. No standardization, and no choices either.

The one on our TBL is actually nice - my foot goes next to the treadle instead of being on it. Just move your toes back and forth. Very sensitive and easy to use.

But their other models have different treadles. Some of which are crazy dumb designs. I saw one style where the expect a person's foot to fit ON TOP of the treadle and pivor at the ankle. It's apparent that Kubota hasn't put any effort into figuring out a standard treadle design.

Our old Singer Sewing machine has an excellent treadle. So we aren't talking about high tech or new innovations required.

 

[BX23S-1]

Yes. Kioti is coming up fast.

Isn't that Kubota HST treadle a crazy thing? Kubota actually makes several different shapes of treadle - and all different. Some good, some bad. No standardization, and no choices either.

The one on our TBL is actually nice - my foot goes next to the treadle instead of being on it. Just move your toes back and forth. Very sensitive and easy to use.

But their other models have different treadles. Some of which are crazy dumb designs. I saw one style where the expect a person's foot to fit ON TOP of the treadle and pivor at the ankle. It's apparent that Kubota hasn't put any effort into figuring out a standard treadle design.

Our old Singer Sewing machine has an excellent treadle. So we aren't talking about high tech or new innovations required.

I tried looking at Kioti. I try to give them ALL a fair shake, but there are no Kioti dealers in our area that i would bother with. Closest one is to far to drive to for service or parts. I have 2 Deere dealers and 2 Kubota dealers very near me. Both have been here a long time, and alot of the workers have been in these dealerships a long time as well. My main priority is having a dealer with parts & good service after the sale. Sometimes paying a little bit more, has its own rewards.

 

[daman1]

Browse the Massey Ferguson lot if you happen to have one nearby, nice units

 

[rScotty]

I tried looking at Kioti. I try to give them ALL a fair shake, but there are no Kioti dealers in our area that i would bother with. Closest one is to far to drive to for service or parts. I have 2 Deere dealers and 2 Kubota dealers very near me. Both have been here a long time, and alot of the workers have been in these dealerships a long time as well. My main priority is having a dealer with parts & good service after the sale. Sometimes paying a little bit more, has its own rewards.

Well, since dealers are your main priority you are lucky to have good ones nearby.
Everyone has a different implement to use on different land with different priorities.

I had a mechanical shop years ago. Frankly I had mechanics I wouldn't trust with anything more complicated than a can opener, and others who were perfectionists. But they all had to eat and pay bills...so how is a customer to know which one will be doing the work?

rScotty

 

[jyoutz]

Well, since dealers are your main priority you are lucky to have good ones nearby.
Everyone has a different implement to use on different land with different priorities.

I had a mechanical shop years ago. Frankly I had mechanics I wouldn't trust with anything more complicated than a can opener, and others who were perfectionists. But they all had to eat and pay bills...so how is a customer to know which one will be doing the work?

rScotty

You don’t know who is doing the work, but you do know the business that is standing behind that work.

 

[rScotty]

You don’t know who is doing the work, but you do know the business that is standing behind that work.

There's some truth to that. It's very important in the short term, probably less so long term.

 

[BX23S-1]

Well, since dealers are your main priority you are lucky to have good ones nearby.
Everyone has a different implement to use on different land with different priorities.

I had a mechanical shop years ago. Frankly I had mechanics I wouldn't trust with anything more complicated than a can opener, and others who were perfectionists. But they all had to eat and pay bills...so how is a customer to know which one will be doing the work?

rScotty

"I had mechanics I wouldn't trust with anything more complicated than a can opener"
Oh lord, i`ve been down THAT road a few times, lol, couldn`t agree more.

Once you meet and talk to the people working on your equipment, you can request who you want to work on it, if you know & trust them. Get to know them. Might be different for "you", but i know who works on my things whether its my tractor`s, or my truck, or my wifes car. The key to it is, "know your dealer`s & tech`s very well". My wife an i have done the research, we have a couple decent dealers and techs that know us both very well, and we have been going to them for years. When we walk into the dealership, the dealer already knows how we want things done, and exactly who will be working on our things. We have a very good relationship with those who do our repairs, IF, i can`t do them myself. I always make it a point to talk to the tech when i bring anything in so that they know they`ll be working on our equipment. Tech`s actually like that. It also helps to tip your tech very well when you leave, and we DO tip them very well. They never forget who treated them really good. They will go above and beyond for you, IF, you have a great relationship with them.

Yup, you`re absolutely right, everybody`s gotta eat. Some eat better than others.

 

[wolc123]

If you go with a Deere, the mechanic/dealer relationship might not be so important. A Deere dealer is the closest to my place. I’ve only been there about every 100 operating hours, over the 17 years since I bought my JD 4120 brand new, to pick up oil filters.

I didn’t even buy it from them, but rather from another JD dealer, on the far side of our county, who gave me a great deal at the county fair that year.

This baby has been almost completely trouble free over the years. It is American-made, right down to the American-made JD Powertech engine. That was a deciding factor, when I bought it new back in 2006.

At that time, you could still get a JD compact tractor with American-made power, but I don’t think that is still true today. I had a couple of close “grudge-holding” relatives, who had served in the Pacific theater during WW 2, at that time.

The main factors for me though, was the close dealer, and the facts that it equaled the best price and/or seriously outspec’d the competition from Kubota and NH at that time (next two closest dealers).

I did have one minor mechanical issue, just a year or two past the factory warranty, when the starter failed. The local dealer wanted big bucks for a OEM Bosch replacement. I found an aftermarket starter on-line, for about half that cost. I replaced that easily myself (just two bolts and a wire connection), and that one now has more than 4 times the hours on it than I got from the OEM original.

This tractor has not leaked a drop of any fluid, or given me any other serious trouble, over the last 17 years. Most recently, it dug me out from two blizzards this past winter.

 

[MikeFarm]

Hi
I would consider a companies ethics in a large purchase. I realise that such a consideration is sometimes not affordable, but if it is, then one should research it. For a long time John Deere has opposed any right to repair legislation and inhibited other repairers by withholding required information and implementing software locks on engines. Apparently it has now been "settled" but skeptics are wary.

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/10/1147934682/john-deere-right-to-repair-farmers-tractors

Best wishes, Mike

 

[rScotty]

If you go with a Deere, the mechanic/dealer relationship might not be so important. A Deere dealer is the closest to my place. I’ve only been there about every 100 operating hours, over the 17 years since I bought my JD 4120 brand new, to pick up oil filters.

I didn’t even buy it from them, but rather from another JD dealer, on the far side of our county, who gave me a great deal at the county fair that year.

This baby has been almost completely trouble free over the years. It is American-made, right down to the American-made JD Powertech engine. That was a deciding factor, when I bought it new back in 2006.

At that time, you could still get a JD compact tractor with American-made power, but I don’t think that is still true today. I had a couple of close “grudge-holding” relatives, who had served in the Pacific theater during WW 2, at that time.

The main factors for me though, was the close dealer, and the facts that it equaled the best price and/or seriously outspec’d the competition from Kubota and NH at that time (next two closest dealers).

I did have one minor mechanical issue, just a year or two past the factory warranty, when the starter failed. The local dealer wanted big bucks for a OEM Bosch replacement. I found an aftermarket starter on-line, for about half that cost. I replaced that easily myself (just two bolts and a wire connection), and that one now has more than 4 times the hours on it than I got from the OEM original.

This tractor has not leaked a drop of any fluid, or given me any other serious trouble, over the last 17 years. Most recently, it dug me out from two blizzards this past winter. View attachment 792462

if you read through TBN for a couple of decades, I think you'll find what you are saying isn't just limited to Deere. All the top brands of tractor are remarkably reliable. I grew up in the 50s and 60s with US and Brit cars/trucks/tractors...and even appliances that were designed to be "owner repairable". But no more....

That ease of repair spawned repair shops like mine, so I got to watch from a shop owner's viewpoint as the change to 'hands-off" reliability started with Japanese cars and motorcycles in the 1970's, spread to Europe and then back to the US manufacturers. By year 2000 it was complete.

Dealers aren't so important today simply because it isn't at all unusual for a compact tractor/car/mc/boat to go for decades with minimal homeowner style maintenance.

And repair shops have changed to. Rather than emphasize diagnostics, they emphasize parts replacement. Most of us can do that pretty well ourselves. With the internet and a tool box most of us can do that pretty well ourselves. Like your replacement starter proves.
rScotty

 

[mx842]

Personally, I'd be taking your last suggestion. Good for trying it out, but if it doesn't work for you then return it and go find an older, more user-friendly machine. Running an engine flat out so that it pleases someone else isn't on my agenda.

I enjoy running our quiet tractors. Having them is a enjoyable luxury - not a requirement. Working on our land with the tractor purring at an idle is part of what we enjoy about a rural lifestyle.

Running a machine screaming at PTO rpm all the time is not something that I have any interest in supporting. It is expensive, annoying, and inefficient. Manufacturers and engineers who want our business should get off their duffs and quit being lazy.
rScotty

I hear what you are saying about having to run the tractor wide azz open all the time. I don't mind it, in fact you need to run at high rpms to get some things done but there are many times you just don't need to be in the high RPM range all the time.
Sadly it's not the engineers or the manufactures that are the problem here. It's the people that vote for these greenie weenie, green new deal people. There's a lot of money to be made out there pushing this crap on the american people. Don't want to start a political debate here but you cant blame manufactures for this crap. They are just trying to make a living like everyone else and to do that they have to build stuff that the gubment will let them manufacture. If it keeps going the way it is now ol' 5030 will be pulling his hay wagon with an electric tractor some day.

 

[jezreel]

I wanna know about the flashing lights. Whassup with that? And I certainly wouldn’t think the regen would kick in with just over 25 hours.

 

[mx842]

Well after three tries trying to get those dang lights to go off I called my salesman back and he put me through to the service dept. After a couple minutes of them trying to explane all the things I had done wrong, I said wait a minute, don't you think someone should have told me about all these things before, or at leaste shortly after I bought the dang thing? There had been a lot of talking up to this point and I finally asked what do I have to do to get the damn lights to go off. She said oh, you'll have to bring the tractor into the shop because now we need to hook it up to this machine and will probably need to do service on it. I said, AT JUST 22 HOURS. I told her that was probably something someone had told me about too because if they had we wouldn't be having the little chat right now.
I told her I didn't have a way to haul it right now and I'll just use it the way it is and hung up. Shortly after that my salesman called saying he would come buy and pick it up monday or tuesday and I politely said that's not acceptable and that by then I would have something else to ride and work with. Thirty minutes later he pulled into my yard with a trailer and hauled it off.
About three hours later he showed back up and the lights were off. I wasn't there at the time so I didn't get to talk to him and it was after hours when I got home. I had some gravel to spread so I decided to give it a try before it got dark. I got the gravel spread and noticed It was really low on fuel so I went to the shed and pulled out 5 gals of fuel and went to put it into the tank. As soon as I jumped up on the front wheel so I could fuel it I noticed this line of scrap marks of about 14" long right in the center of the hood running long ways from front to back. I went on and put the can of fuel in the tank and afterwards I got a large rag to wipe off the spilled fuel that I knew would be there and while I was cleaning it up I got a little closer look and these marks and they looked like lines about 1 1/2" wide about an 1/8" apart something like what a corduroy road would look like. They were in to spots side by side. Now I know they were not there before it left my yard and now I'm wondering if anyone will remember how they got there. I'm calling the first thing monday morning to see what may happen. I really don't mind a couple scratches but I would have liked the hornor of putting them there myself.

 

[rScotty]

I hear what you are saying about having to run the tractor wide azz open all the time. I don't mind it, in fact you need to run at high rpms to get some things done but there are many times you just don't need to be in the high RPM range all the time.
Sadly it's not the engineers or the manufactures that are the problem here. It's the people that vote for these greenie weenie, green new deal people. There's a lot of money to be made out there pushing this crap on the american people. Don't want to start a political debate here but you cant blame manufactures for this crap. They are just trying to make a living like everyone else and to do that they have to build stuff that the gubment will let them manufacture. If it keeps going the way it is now ol' 5030 will be pulling his hay wagon with an electric tractor some day.

I used to agree with everything you are saying, except one thing changed my mind.
Our business bought a Sprinter delivery van with a MB diesel engine. You've probably seen them; they're everywhere. Reasonable price & now has about a zillion miles on it.

That engine changed my mind about what is possible. Meets all the Greenie requirements, can make 275 hp and will idle for hours so quietly you can barely hear it running. No smell or fumes. Barely sips fuel. No maintenance except change the oil.

So it's not just politics. It's manufacturing and profits too.

 

[Jstpssng]

Well I went and pulled the trigger on a brand new L3301. I got the front end loader, a spreader box and a heavy duty pallet fork for just under $30,000. I'll probably be going back and get a chipper and a bush hog a little later.
So far I have logged 16 hrs on the ol girl mainly scooping up gravel out of gravel piles and spreading it out around my new building site. I have a big top soil pile that I use to fill in low spots around the property and I did in just 10 minutes what it would take me a half day or more to do with my Powerking and little trailer by hand. And I wasn't tired a bit after doing it. As some have stated the loader is a little light for any real agressive rooting and digging but I found out pretty quick that you just have to slow down and take your time after all it's not a D8 cat. Over all I'm pretty happy with it. In 16 hrs it has only gone through a 1/4 tank of fuel. One thing I found that was not really to my liking if the fuel fill. I don't know what brain child came uo with the idea of placing it on top center of the hood, especially with the way these new fuel cans we have today. I can see a lot of of fuel all over the place when trying to ballance yourself in one spot for 15 minutes while fuel drips from these stewpid so called safty cans. Other than that it seems like a pretty solid machine you just have to take your time with it.

I'm a bit late to the party again but congratulations on your new tractor. Take care of it and you will have it a long time.

Everybody has a different way of fueling. I put the 5 gallon can in my bucket, raise it so that the can is higher than the fuel tank, and use a "shaker hose"

to get it into the tank.

 

[mx842]

I wanna know about the flashing lights. Whassup with that? And I certainly wouldn’t think the regen would kick in with just over 25 hours.

Me either but it had a little over 22 hp when they popped up. There's a sticker right on the rear fender telling you what to do when this happens witch when followed did not fix the situation. According to the service department, when those lights are flashing and the warning horn is sounding it has to go to the shop to be reset. It seems like a pile of steaming but I guess now it's part of the show.

 

[Jstpssng]

Me either but it had a little over 22 hp when they popped up. There's a sticker right on the rear fender telling you what to do when this happens witch when followed did not fix the situation. According to the service department, when those lights are flashing and the warning horn is sounding it has to go to the shop to be reset. It seems like a pile of steaming but I guess now it's part of the show.

The hardest thing to learn on my 3301 was about the regen. There was more than one occasion where it sat in the road while doing it, because I couldn't figure out what else to do. Now when the light comes on I know to boost the RPMs until that light stops flashing; and keep on working.

I might do differently if I was in tedding hay the middle of the field though. (Do they still run a tedder across hay?)

 

[mx842]

I used to agree with everything you are saying, except one thing changed my mind.
Our business bought a Sprinter delivery van with a MB diesel engine. You've probably seen them; they're everywhere. Reasonable price & now has about a zillion miles on it.

That engine changed my mind about what is possible. Meets all the Greenie requirements, can make 275 hp and will idle for hours so quietly you can barely hear it running. No smell or fumes. Barely sips fuel. No maintenance except change the oil.

So it's not just politics. It's manufacturing and profits too.

I hate to tarnish my reputation like that . But it is hard for these guys to keep up with regulations with the way they are changing now. I'm glad at least some manufacturers have figured out a way to deal with it. I guess if you have enough hp available you can make anything happen. EPA regulations have been around a long time in the Automotive industry but it is relatively new to farm equipment.

 

[JasperFrank]

Just heard that John Deere will be changing their color schemes of their tractors in 2024. The corp offices did some group studies and found that most buyers prefer their tractors in a red color. So starting in 2024, "John Deere" green is going to be retired, and there will be an ad campaigne around the new "John Deere," red.

 

[mx842]

Just heard that John Deere will be changing their color schemes of their tractors in 2024. The corp offices did some group studies and found that most buyers refer their tractors in a red color. So starting in 2024, "John Deere" green is going to be retired, and there will be an ad campaigne around the new "John Deere," red.

The world will never be the same.