Buying Advice Heading for the finish line...

[Wile E Kioti]

Hello, I am a tractor newbie heading to the tractor purchase finish line and looking for any final thoughts anyone would care to share before I pull the trigger. I spent the better part of the past two days testing out and pricing Kubota, Mahindra, and Kioti CUT's. I am seriously leaning towards the Kioti CK30HST with loader and backhoe- it seems to be the biggest bang for the buck and user friendly to a tractor novice. My only concern and holdup is the the issue of the sticking HST pedal issue that I have read about on this forum (referred to as creeping). I asked the Kioti dealer I visited today about this issue and he acknowledged his awareness of it, but stated- "it is not a problem". He went on to say the issue has been isolated to an O-ring of sorts attached to a spindle that comes off the transmission and attached to the pedal, which can be prone to rusting if not kept lubricated; this allegedly leads to an inability for the pedal to spring back to neutral. He claimed that periodically squirting some lubricant on the O-ring renders it a non-issue. Is he glossing over a bigger problem, or have there just been a few unfortunate forum members that got a lemon? I hope to make my decision by Tuesday and place an order for the Kioti or one of the other brands. Thanks in advance for any feedback you can provide.

 

[94BULLITT]

In some cases it may be a lubrication issue. I think most of the time it is a hydro problem. Mine stuck (Bobcat Ct235) and it was always kept inside in a heated garage. It was well lubricated and the return spring was replaced twice. The service guy literally sprayed a whole can of WD40 on the return spring because Bobcat said lubricate it. I know of 3 tractors that had this problem in my area and the dealer did not sell many Bobcats tractors at all. I would be afraid to own another Bobcat CT200 series or a Kioti CK25, 27, 30, or 35. I think some guys on here think the sticking pedal is not that big of a deal but it is when it happens to you. It was a nightmare for me. The fix for me was a Kubota.

 

[crazyal]

My best advice would be to go to the Kioti section of the forum and ask if you haven't already. Hopefully you can find a few people that actually had this happen to them and were able to easily fix it. I'm sure plenty will say they never had an issue but I would want to here from those who do/ did.

 

[Wagtail]

Mate, the way you've described the issue, that more than one contributor to TBN has had this happen to them (which means many more non-contributors out there with the same issue) and a "fix" of you remembering to spray WD-40 so that it will hopefully not re-occur screams "WALK AWAY" to me.

 

[Pierrepont]

The cure for most tractors is better maintenance/lubrication. In this case the tractor may tend to creep a little when stopped at idle. Setting the brake every time you get off the machine is a good idea.

Some tractors MAY have an internal hydro problem. (Appears to be very rare). This MAY cause the tractor to feel like the cruise control is on at certain RPM when in fact it is not. Rocking the pedal to the center position will immediately correct this. It is NOT A CASE OF A RUNAWAY TRACTOR.

 

[Wile E Kioti]

Thanks to all for the input thus far. It is much appreciated. Per crazyal's suggestion, I will try re-posting in the Kioti section for broader distribution and response.

 

[murphy1244]

If you look at a Kubota stay away from the L series. It has the jerky 3 point problem.

 

[94BULLITT]

My pedalstuck for 3min one day. I was back dragging with the bucket the whole time.

 

[Pierrepont]

Why did you not center the pedal when you discovered it stuck?

 

[94BULLITT]

Why did you not center the pedal when you discovered it stuck?

I was making a video and I wanted to see how long it would stick.