Buying Advice Kubota compared to John Deere

   / Kubota compared to John Deere #31  
Do JDs have their own style quick attach for the front bucket? I remember reading about that but never got to the point where I was serious enough to look into it. For me that would be a detractor.

At the end of the day I think either tractor would give years of service. Each brand runs the risk of being a lemon and each brand has it's share of poor design choices.
 
   / Kubota compared to John Deere #32  
When I was a kid I played on the Johnny Poppper at Grandpa's farm. My uncle had green tractors. My other uncle may have had JD but we did not visit them as much. I like the color green more than orange. How is that for a silly reason to buy a tractor? I did borrow a new MF from a friend and I like it. I supposed JD, Kubota or MF would have worked just fine but my JD Yanmar has served me well the past 13 years.

I just always figured that when I finally bought a new tractor that it would be green. Or maybe a MF. When we were looking we stopped by the Kubota dealer just on a whim one day and to my surprise found that for our use the Kubota offered more of what we were looking for. More control over the speeds and more heavily built of steel instead of as much plastic - although I still prefer the JD foot pedal on the hydrostat and at the end of the day that's more important than I would have thought. The JD shifted nicer and that's also a biggie, but the Kub had a smoother autoleveler - though it turns out that is not something we use much. The cab space on the Kubota was larger and easier to get on/off, but the seat not as nice. I'm a fan of open center hydraulics on the Kub instead of the JD closed center, but the gauge panel on the Kub is not as user friendly...and on and on it went. We went for the Kubota. After a few years it has worked just fine and I'm sure the JD or MF would have too. . Price was close enough between all of them that it wasn't really as much of a factor as I thought it would be.
Yes, I still wish it was painted something other than electric orange, but I'm trying to like the color. It gets easier the longer it works so well.
rScotty
 
   / Kubota compared to John Deere #33  
I have owned Massey Furguson and Kubota tractors, there is no comparison to quality, reliability and toughness, Kubota has them all beat as far as I'm concerned. I now own my third Kubota tractor, a Kubota dump suv, a kubota lawn tractor and a kubota KX91 excavator. I guess I'm partial to Kubota.
 
   / Kubota compared to John Deere #34  
I bought my first Kubota about 1990 or 91 maybe. I had a 9N but it didn't work on my hills so I wanted 4WD. Didn't know much about Kubota except all the commercial guys seemed to have them around here. So I bought a used one, sight unseen, from an equipment dealer 500 miles away. Never regretted it. When it was time to trade up, I never considered a different brand.

Why? partly because the Kubota is built like a brick outhouse. Partly because one day I was looking at a JD backhoe and was amazed there were no bushings at pivot points. Partly because both the JD dealers here are kinda jerky, and the nearest one has folded camp and moved on. and partly because basically everything on a Kubota is Kubota, not a bunch of parts assembled from other OEMs.
 
   / Kubota compared to John Deere #35  
Yes, I still wish it was painted something other than electric orange, but I'm trying to like the color. It gets easier the longer it works so well.
rScotty

Just think of it as Allis Chalmers Orange, if you're old enough to remember them.
 
   / Kubota compared to John Deere #36  
A lot of baloney from the JD people. Let me set you straight. Kubota builds a higher quality tractor that costs less than a John Deere tractor that no one knows who builds from one year to another. Full stop. I am really getting tired of the BS.
 
   / Kubota compared to John Deere #37  
A lot of baloney from the JD people. Let me set you straight. Kubota builds a higher quality tractor that costs less than a John Deere tractor that no one knows who builds from one year to another. Full stop. I am really getting tired of the BS.

Again, I think they're both quality tractors. But to just flat out state that one is always and without question more expensive than the other really is BS.
But apparently John Thomas and I were the only ones to throw the BS flag on ham's post.
 
   / Kubota compared to John Deere #38  
Again, I think they're both quality tractors. But to just flat out state that one is always and without question more expensive than the other really is BS.
But apparently John Thomas and I were the only ones to throw the BS flag on ham's post.

When we were first hunting for our (semi) retirement home, I stopped by the local dealer (at the time) who sells both green and orange. A bit unusual, I guess. I had no particular bias toward or against either. Likely would have been happy with either. The Deere was more money, at that dealer. That's all I can say. Not saying some guys, some places, get their Deere tractors at matching or better prices.

Two years later, I ended up with my first Kubota, from a different dealer, closer to where we now live. Not likely to ever guy another tractor, but if I was in the market, I'd still be pretty color blind, I'd like to think.

Bought my second Kubota because of dealer, dealer, dealer.
 
   / Kubota compared to John Deere #40  
If one is sold on JD, they should do some research to find out which model of the manufacturer is closest to the JD model they want and buy it direct. There would be a substantial savings, and the quality, longevity etc. would be equal.
 
 
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