John,
That's funny. You deleted it here but Hal left it up on his site (with the disclaimer that you need to read every post and contact the individuals before making a decision). That was a pretty exciting thread for a tractor forum and a real eye opener.
It did not turn me away from chinese tractors mind you. The analytical part of me (with several spreadsheets & the wife's support) decided that although I don't mind working on tractors & such, right now I'd rather spend almost twice as much $ and less TIME dealing with any tractor issues. I'm just putting in too many hours at work to find the time for it.
If I had less money and more time there is no doubt in my mind that the Jinma or Northern version would be tops on the list of tractors I'd be looking at.
Thanks for pointing me to that, its good to see ALL sides of a story (or at least most of them).