Buying Advice Why did you buy a John Deere?

[btucker927]

I am in need of some help. Deep down inside I really want to buy a John Deere tractor, but I feel that I can get so much more power with all the options for a lot less by going with Kioti. Please tell me why I should go with a John Deere?

 

[JimRB]

I liked the color. Grandpa had one sitting next to the corn crib and we would play on it when we visited. No other good reasons but parts are fairly well stocked for a long time. No idea how long term parts supply is for Kioti.

 

[shortthrow50]

pretty much the only tractor dealer nearby. Yeah, coulda gone cheaper but when the crap hits the fan, its nice to have the dealer within arms reach. Not only that, always had good service and a good tractor with john deere so why switch. More hp doesnt always mean a better tractor. ****, i can throw a big engine on a pecie of poop and sell it to you for cheap if you want. Good luck with it in the future though

 

[MattLynch]

The only dealers within an hour or me were Deere or Massey, I chose the Deere just because I thought they had a nicer tractor in my price range and lots of good reviews. Do some research into the particular Kioti you are looking at and if it seems to be holding up well go for it. I have heard that Kioti is pretty good, maybe not as good as a John Deere but you sure do pay a premium for green paint!

 

[swick1]

I think if you want to buy once you buy JD. Sure, I like green paint, but I really feel like it's the best company out there.

For me, it was a question of value, not price.

 

[cartod]

I tried hard this time to buy another color other than green. My last tractor was a 1995 JD and I never had a problem with it. So I guess my answer is "guilt".

 

[eagle107]

To be honest, all these paper specs out there that people compare between brands are as good as the toilet paper you wipe yourself with. The real test of a machine is out in the field working. I have owned and used other tractor brands in the same class of compact tractor I have now and I can say that I do see a difference between the new JD and the others I have had. Not everything is prefect on the JD, but I can see the difference with the power of engine when cutting, power of the loader when hitting a pile of dirt and the power of the HST when pushing and pulling, even at low RPMS. Other tractors with an HST setup would just stop when hitting a pile of dirt unless the RPMS were high and sometimes that does not even help. This is a first time I have owned a JD tractor and was skeptical if it was better than the other brands; since owning this tractor, I can say I am impressed.

 

[kiotiken]

I bought my first tractor 3 years ago. I was looking for either a used JD or used Kubota. Why only those two? Because I wasn't well educated and scared to go with a non household name brand.

I bought a JD955 from a Kubota dealer (hey, I wanted to be fair). It was in rough shape after spending it's life on a golf course, but it was a good price and a JD after all. I fully restored it, both cosmetically and mechanically. It was a good little tractor, but given it was almost 20 yrs old with 1800 hrs and having been neglected on the golf course, it constantly required tinker time. The last straw was when the rear diff exploded and it had to be hauled off to JD to be fixed.

I decided to go new after that. I also decided to open my eyes and do some research. I considered JD, Kubota, Case, Landini, Kioti, Branson and a Chinese brand. I put all the important to me specs for each into a spreadsheet, including price and was able to eliminate several. Even though the JD models I was looking at were now outside contenders based on the spreadsheet, I went to my JD dealer, the one I just ponied a couple $K to for repairs and the one I'd ordered all my parts for the restoration but they didn't seem very interested in my business. I sat on them, but never got to drive them.

I was pretty much down to Kubota (B2920, L2900, L3240), Case Farmall 31 and Kioti CK30. (I think those are the Kubota models, but it's off the top of my head)

I to was a little worried about Kioti, both parts and resale. I researched the company (Daedong of South Korea) at felt a little better after that. They've been around since the '40s, built tractors with Kubota in the '80s and now build all CUTs for Bobcat, Landini and McCormick as well as their own Kioti brand. I'm on my second Kioti and my dealer gave me 94% of what I paid after 14 months and 160 hrs on my first one when I upgraded, so resale seems to be fine. I've never had issues with parts and it's also cover by a 4 yr warranty.

Now, I'm not trying to just sell Kioti, it's only because you mentioned it with some hesitation. I think you should compare all brands, drive as many as you can and decide based on features, specs and price. They are all good these days and they've all been around a long time at this point.

 

[kiotiken]

Couple things I forgot. Yes, JD is awesome for parts, believe me, I ordered enough of them to know (for the restore). You can drill down on the web site and find anything you need with part numbers and order them straight to your JD dealer. Having only owned JD and Kioti, I don't know for sure, but I doubt anybody can beat them for parts.

On the other hand, they're very expensive. I did have to wait several days for some of the more obscure parts.

 

[RoyJackson]

I was looking to buy a Kubota B7500 as my first tractor. It was sized right for my needs at the time.
Then a guy at work told me about a Deere 670 with a 60" BEFCO RFM at the local Deere dealer.
The Deere, being used, was several thousand less then the B7500 and was definitely a more robust tractor (that's not to criticize the Kubota though!).
I was very happy with the little Deere and stuck with the brand...