Comparison Kubota M7040 vs Chinese Kubota M704. What's the difference?

   / Kubota M7040 vs Chinese Kubota M704. What's the difference? #1  

Peterselgey

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I am looking to buy my first tractor for 100 + acres in Australia. I had decided that the Kubota M7040 with FEL would be perfect for our application. Ie general duties. But there is a guy importing Kubotas from china called the M704. Apparently the kubota factory has recently opened up in china. Does anyone know if these tractors are the same or are there some major differences. Obviously they are much cheaper, but look the same. Not sure if they have hydraulic shuttle or its more mechanical? Thanks for your advice.
 
   / Kubota M7040 vs Chinese Kubota M704. What's the difference? #2  
According to my Google research, they are identical, including the hydraulic shuttle, to the 7040 but made in China with Chinese labor and Chinese (world) iron. Depending on the discount, I probably wouldn't have any issue buying a 704. Just about every part on my 2012 F250 and 2014 Silverado are stamped with "Made in China."
 
   / Kubota M7040 vs Chinese Kubota M704. What's the difference? #3  
The major difference is the M7040 only understands Japanese and English commands where the M704 only understands Chinese commands/curse words.:D
 
   / Kubota M7040 vs Chinese Kubota M704. What's the difference?
  • Thread Starter
#4  
And one would need to read Chinese to know how to use it. All the stickers ( and there are heaps ) are in Chinese.
 
   / Kubota M7040 vs Chinese Kubota M704. What's the difference? #5  
In days past Kubota's policy was for dealers to not support these grey market tractors. No clue if that is still the case. But they were trying to protect their dealers from a glut of used machines from Japan. Lawsuits finally shutdown the imports, but I don't know if things changed.

You should be fine if you do your own wrenching, maybe not if you want dealer repairs.
 
   / Kubota M7040 vs Chinese Kubota M704. What's the difference? #6  
I wouldn't get within 50 yards . . . err . . . meters of one of those Chinese copies. Who knows what kind of shortcuts they took to reach a price point, and it's anybody's guess whether there's anybody to honor the warranty even if there is a warranty. It sounds like a potential disaster to me.

I believe in buying quality and suffering the pain once. You know Kubota stands behind their machines. Who is going to stand behind this Chinese copy?
 
   / Kubota M7040 vs Chinese Kubota M704. What's the difference? #7  
Point of concern is that Kubota gives the Chinese tractor a different model designation. I have had the opportunity to be responsible for a construction machinery model made in 4 different plants, 4 different countries, each gorgeous a designated market - USA for North America, Brazil for South and Central America, France for Europe, and China for Asia. Some parts had common source but most were locally sourced - as far as locally sourced goes. Having access to failure data I would not have a problem with a machine built in any of the 4 plants although the French plant did stand out a little above the rest. When a company puts their name on a product they are staking their reputation. Different models to differentiate requirements is another story. The 4 models I mentioned above no longer identically built, and the models have slightly different designations. US and France are mow Tier 4/Stage 3B. Brazil and China are still Tier 2. Consequently a Chinese machine cannot go to Japan because of its stringent emissions requirement. Instead it will get a French built machine with a Japanese whisper kit to meet their found requirement. Japan demands quiet, Europe fairly quiet, North America a little noisy, South America and most of Asia don't care if you're deaf by 40.
 
   / Kubota M7040 vs Chinese Kubota M704. What's the difference? #8  
If it's a Kubota factory then I wouldn't worry too much about the quality since China makes both good and bad. Kubota will demand a certain level of quality. That said unless every part is the exact same you could find getting replacement parts an issue. Kubota usually doesn't allow tractors sold in one region to be shipped and sold in another. They purposely withhold information on cross referencing parts from dealers as well as limiting ordering parts for tractors sold in that region.
 
   / Kubota M7040 vs Chinese Kubota M704. What's the difference? #9  
In this case, I think the fare is inversely proportional to the pain of the voyage.
A tractor is built to work hard for a long time.
In the process of doing so, parts will wear out.
Some of these events will be scheduled (consumables) and some will be unscheduled (failures).
How you will deal with this, 2, 5 or 10 years from now, may be something to think about before you commit.
 
   / Kubota M7040 vs Chinese Kubota M704. What's the difference? #10  
I would be very surprised if Kubota would allow substandard products out the door, no matter where the plant is located. Case in point: I purchased a high end Japanese CNC lathe in May of 2013. I soon realized that I needed another one to keep up with the work we had for it. I bought a second machine identical to the first one in January of this year. When we uncrated it, we noticed the tag said "made in China". It turns out we got one of the last machines made in Japan, and one of the first ones made in a new factory in China. So far, we have seen no difference in build quality or the quality of the parts we get from either machine. I was assured by the manufacturer that the Chinese built machine was identical in every way other than where it was built. Time will tell I guess.
 
 
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