katoomed00
Silver Member
Nortrac looks like the Komoto (Chinese) brand that I've seem on Craiglist in S. Louisiana.
Ok, so whats the deal with the NorTrac tractors?
- Thread starter northernsierras
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otlski
Gold Member
One question for the original poster. Will you be making your living with your future tractor? If yes, buy something else. I have a Nortrac 204 and have had it 11 years. I use it for plowing the driveway, firewood duty, creating trails in the woods; all on my 12 acres. You know, basic landowner use. If my livelihood depended on it working I would get something else.
Mine has always been garaged so it has held up well as far as wiring goes. Repairs have been front driveshaft (plowing), steering linkage (rock in the woods), some broken hardware, fan belt, and probably a few minor things I cannot remember. The wiring is a weak point as well as the various mechanical linkages. Starting below 20 degree F is tough so I run a heater, and oil pan heater, and keep the battery topped off. I go through glow plugs like crazy.
The tractor is unrefined but stout. At 20 HP, low gearing, and 3000 lbs, she had pulled a lot of box blade duty in the rough terrain. The tractor will out work me. Four hours on "Jinny" will have you reaching for the Advil. A more refined tractor likely would not.
Resale value is definitely weak here in CT. Everyone here wants a Deere or Kubota. Now that I am on a better position financially my next tractor will be a Kubota or a Massy.
So will you be using the tractor to make a living? Honestly, I ask that question to myself a lot. If yes, I buy top quality. If no, I might go cheaper.
Mine has always been garaged so it has held up well as far as wiring goes. Repairs have been front driveshaft (plowing), steering linkage (rock in the woods), some broken hardware, fan belt, and probably a few minor things I cannot remember. The wiring is a weak point as well as the various mechanical linkages. Starting below 20 degree F is tough so I run a heater, and oil pan heater, and keep the battery topped off. I go through glow plugs like crazy.
The tractor is unrefined but stout. At 20 HP, low gearing, and 3000 lbs, she had pulled a lot of box blade duty in the rough terrain. The tractor will out work me. Four hours on "Jinny" will have you reaching for the Advil. A more refined tractor likely would not.
Resale value is definitely weak here in CT. Everyone here wants a Deere or Kubota. Now that I am on a better position financially my next tractor will be a Kubota or a Massy.
So will you be using the tractor to make a living? Honestly, I ask that question to myself a lot. If yes, I buy top quality. If no, I might go cheaper.
OP
northernsierras
Member
No the tractor wont be used in a way that i will rely on as a primary source of income. I called a John Deere dealership and asked a guy there about Nortrac/Chinese vs John Deere and other well known brands today and he made the same point as you. He told me the truth is a lot of people depend on the tractor for their business and cant have the equipment down for long periods of time. Large construction companies and industrial farm operations are their primary customers because they have the ability to repair their equipment quickly and parts are usually available on hand. It makes sense. Like other people have mentioned, if you are the kind of person that doesnt know how to change the oil in your own truck chinese tractors would definitely not be for them.
I think most people are concerned about quality and the availability of parts and manuals. At the price nortrac is selling their tractors for vs john deere, naturally it makes me suspicious. What was your experience with manuals and parts availability?
Tractor Seabee
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8 years ago when I was looking at used tractors I saw one down the street that had sat in the guys front yard for 2 years that I knew. Went and asked him if he was selling it and asked questions. It was a five year old JINMA 40 HP or so, he was not sure any more. He said 3 years before it wouldn't start anymore. He had no manuals and said he could not find an after market shop manual. There is no dealer within 300+ miles and every shop he asked for help, as soon as he said it was a JINMA, they said, sorry we cannot help you. He had no way to get it to the dealer down in N OR except pay somebody.
He said I could have it for $4000. The battery was dead, mice nests and gnawed wire everywhere, engine oil looked like milky black goo, tires were flat, and no visible hydraulic oil. I am a pretty good mechanic but saw this as a bad deal. Offered to load it up take it to the scrap yard and split the return scrap value. He said no. 4 years ago it was still there. Haven't looked since, maybe I should, he may be ready to scrap it. If I fixed it, would probably not be able sell at a small profit.
Ron
He said I could have it for $4000. The battery was dead, mice nests and gnawed wire everywhere, engine oil looked like milky black goo, tires were flat, and no visible hydraulic oil. I am a pretty good mechanic but saw this as a bad deal. Offered to load it up take it to the scrap yard and split the return scrap value. He said no. 4 years ago it was still there. Haven't looked since, maybe I should, he may be ready to scrap it. If I fixed it, would probably not be able sell at a small profit.
Ron
sd455dan
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Gee the guy couldn't find manuals - took all of 5 seconds to find circle G or Affordable using search or better yet from the sticky at the beginning of the chinese tractor forum. Farm boys probbably has them to.
Most chinese tractors don'i have a (regular) service manual... They usually are sold with a parts manual, an operators manual and an engine manual.
If that is not enough information to do repairs then they should probably not buy a chinese tractor to begin with.
Judging by your description of what the oil looked like- sounds like the owner would have been WAY over his head just adding oil- let alone a complicated procedure like changing it...
fidowanttobe
Platinum Member
My friend just bought a 150HP CIH tractor that must have been owned by this same guy!! In Sturgis SD I found a guy using an older Jinma that had been beat to $%*t! Tires were completely bald, gauges and hood missing, but it was still pulling logs. The guy was quite the character, but told me he hated it at first and was gonna run it in the ground till it died, then he smiled and said "But the da#@ thing won't give up the ghost". All depends on the owner.
I bought the Nortrac manuals for my Jinma as the actual Jinma manuals are very vague. Very happy with them.
Give Affordable Tractor, Circle, or Ranchand a call. Honest guys that will give it to you straight and might even get you a better deal than Northern.
OP
northernsierras
Member
Got a hold of someone from nortrac this morning. From 2000-2010 the tractors were Jimna. The tractors past 2010 are foton. Northern tool website doesnt list the repair centers for these tractors but according to the guy I talked to there was a couple repair centers in the nearest big city to me which is surprising. He said it comes with a detailed repair manual that lists every part and how it goes on. When i asked why nortracs tractors are so inexpensive compared to other brands he said because the other brands use a lot of fancy stuff like hydrostatic transmissions and electronics. He said these tractors are very basic and designed to be easy to work on and use similar designs from back in the 60's and 70's. Also said the 55xt and 70xt are new tractors that just came in and they dont have loaders yet because they're currently being designed by a company called koyker. He said all the parts for repairs are readily available from northern tool.
Bob Rooks
Elite Member
You should check out the Yanmar, Caterpillar, Gehl, Terex, Case, etc forums for people that use these machines to make a living with. Each top domestic brand has it's issues. They all do. It's a fact of life.
As an aside, I have used my dozer commercially quite a few times. No problems.
There is a lot of tribal superstition based solely on nonsense, and even more subconscious prejudices when it comes to tractor favorites.
Check to see where Masse Ferguson are made now. Here's a start.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...ractors-manufactured-different-countries.html
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Looks like a nice tractor to me and it's engineered for years of trouble free use, what more could you ask for except for a quick detach bucket and a 5 yr. money back guarantee like Mahindra offers.
NorTrac 35XTC 35 HP 4WD Tractor with Front End Loader - With Hybrid Tires - YouTube
NorTrac 35XTC 35 HP 4WD Tractor with Front End Loader - With Hybrid Tires - YouTube
otlski
Gold Member
The Nortrac parts manuals were good. For repair info I search internet sources and gleen what I can. I have had zero issues with parts. Tommy at Affordable Tractor has stocked everything. I think that my biggest long term issue is when something major goes wrong and I am either in over my head or I cannot commit the time to make a cost effective diagnosis, in either case I would be tempted to replace the subsystem (such as say the tranny=expensive) rather than tear it down to replace parts (=cheap but time consuming). If there were viable repair dealerships, I would have a third option.