Chinese yes or Chinese no way??

[shamban]

I recently posted the question "what tractor should I buy" and I was blown away by the response. I even brought my wife in to show her how many people offered such great advise.

I was surprised that I received a few "private" messages from folks bragging up some low cost Chinese tractors. I wondered why these people would not post in the thread. I figured they are either A. Salespeople who would be recognized as phony 'owner operators" or B. afraid to make a pubic recommendation in fear of ridicule. Which brings me to my question...

Are brands like Farm Pro, at half the price of the big 3, really junk? Is anyone aware of any side-by-side testing done by a an unbiast source?

I struggle with the idea of buying this versus an American brand. But I also work in the hydraulics industry as a manufacturer of seals and I know what it's like internally at places like JD. They want US to buy American but they will buy from China in a heartbeat. I often feel I would be more patriotic to buy a Chinese tractor and donate the cost difference to an American charity...anway..I digress...


I appreciate your thoughts and opinions on this subject. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Joey

 

[TBrown]

Not having any personal experience with Chinese tractors, I can't speak to their reliability, but...

I'm afraid that when it comes to compact tractors, there are very few, if any, american made units. Some have a certain amount of domestic parts, I think the Cub Cadet Sub-compacts have alot of U.S. made components, and Power-Trac's are largely made in the U.S.
Most are manufactured in either Japan or Korea.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Are the chinese tractors junk. Absolutely not. But you have to go into them with your eyes wide open. In MANY areas there are no full service dealers, warrenties are generally a serious question you should ask about, some places have excellent service, others have no service within a reasonable distance.

Here is an interesting thread that you might want to glance at: I didn't see the Big Savings . . .

Some things to really consider are who will be using the tractor, what tasks do you want to accomplish, etc. Generally most people will agree that hydrostatic transmissions are both safer (especially for a novice) and much faster for some tasks like FEL work and lawn mowing. Hydro is also much better if you have hills. Most people choose R4 tires becuase they are a good compramise and can be used for mowing the lawn as well as for real tractoring. Most chinese machines only come with Ag tires which are great if that is what you need, but are going to tear up the lawn badly. So assess your needs, for many people the chinese machines fit their needs, for many people they end up being something far less than desireable.

 

[Tom_W]

Aren't all of JD's small tractors made overseas? As far as chinese tractors go, check out their forum here and read up. My opinion is that the savings you get up front with the chinese tractor is spent on repairing them. Some folks I know tried them and most were very unhappy. One person who doesn't use his much is ok with it. I looked at them when I was shopping and realized it wasn't for me. Those people that contacted you privately could have been dealers. I haven't really ever seen anyone here put down a make of tractor that they didn't like other than posting their opinion like me.

 

[SteveH_CT]

Have you looked the forum for the Chinese tractor owners? They may be able to answer this better. I've personally read some pretty bad experiences from folks who've bought the Chinese tractors - lots of problems at delivery. (of course the big 3 never have problems at delivery /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif) But I've also often read that if you are good with a wrench, you can usually fix all some of these issues fairly easily. Then you get into parts availability as a big issue - at least it would be for me.

I think it's unfair to lump all the Chinese tractors into one group since there are, even amongst the Chinese tractors, more established and less established brands.

The bottom line is check em out - see whats right for you. I think after a while too much advice gets overwhelming, especially with a vastly open question like I see here so often... "Help me Decide, or which one is right". Basically you need to decide if one of the Chinese units is right for you. I would strongly encourage you to go to that section and do some research - Ask a lot of questions - and by all means go check out some of these other brands. Then you'll know what's right for you.

Good Luck with it! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[SteveH_CT]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Aren't all of JD's small tractors made overseas? )</font>

You're joking... right? This has become the stuff of urban legend. No - all small JD's are not made overseas. Are some parts... yep.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Joey, by the way, you really should fill out your profile so we can see how much land you have, what type it is, climate, etc. It really can help people give you more accurate information.

Regarding one point I didn't address: The issue of American brands. John Deere and Cub Cadet are probably the only two American companies I can think of in the CUT market. Both have the majority of their smaller CUTs made overseas. JD has many units made by Yanmar in Japan to JD specs and designs; some may be made and assembled in the US but I have no clue which ones. Cub uses Kioti of Korea to make some of their units, not sure who makes the rest of their tractors; Cub Cadet is a division of MTD. Case/New Holland is a division of FIAT of Italy, but the Farmall and New Holland CUTs are made in Japan by Shiburu (sp?). There aer many minor brands that also have tractors made in Japan, Korea or India. Many ship major components here (often to Georgia) and have them assembled here.

I think it is pretty fair to say that most of the Compact Utility Tractors are INTERNATIONAL machines.

 

[To20Chris]

Spend some time surfing the Chinese tractor forum - I think you'll get a reasonably accurate picture of what owning a Chinese tractor is like.

 

[mscott]

I've owned several tractors throughout the years and have been reading these forums for the last 3 or 4. A couple of years ago I sold most of my land except for 20 acres and let my 25 hp Kubota and 65 hp Belarus go with the property. Keeping 20 acres for myself I decided to look for something in the 35hp range. I heard all the horror stories about the Chinese tractors but after checking them out for myself decided to take a chance on buying a Jinma 354. I have NO regrets at all. Sure it has a leak or two but it has over 200 hours of abuse and has not once failed to start even in the coldest weather. No it does'nt have the best paint or the smoothest castings but i'd put her up against any of the big 3 when it comes to hard work. I know several people that own them personally and they will all say the same thing. Its usually guys that have never even worked one that will talk them down.

 

[normde2001]

"I was surprised that I received a few "private" messages from folks bragging up some low cost Chinese tractors. I wondered why these people would not post in the thread."

To answer your question, as I recall, there is a pretty strict rule about not being brand specific in this category, as opposed to comparing different brands. I imagine the private messages were adhering to that policy.