1st time buyer - 35 hp comparisons

[GeneSimm7]

I have a friend who owns a marina/boat dealership and he bought some Kubotas and some Kiotis and said the Kubotas were mostly trouble free while the Kiotis were constantly having problems.

 

[Quickster2]

I had an older style Yanmar 336D for several years. Great machine. Needed a bigger tractor for haying on our 10 acres at home and our 167 acre hunting property in KY. Ended up with a Kioti DK45 after a six month research and test drive journey. There are now 4 Kioti's in my extended family. Another DK45, and 2 of the newer CK series. The only issue with any of the machines was a bad ultrasonic weld on my Brother-in-Law's DK45 diesel tank back in 2009. We're lucky in Michigan with Michigan Iron & Equipment as a dealer. My 2 neighbors next to my hunting property have Kubota's. Also great tractors. A used one without the emissions would be a good find in either brand. Daedong (Korea) owns Kioti. Was the world's largest diesel engine manufacturer when I bought mine. Good luck with your search.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

I read the first page of 13 (on my phone).
Go bigger if you can. I have 54 acres of foothills. Half wooded. I started looking at 35 hp range. Bought a 73 hp Kioti. It’s been solid, but I often wish I had a bigger one I have never wished I had a smaller one. I own a Ventrac but thats a different animal and I bought that to keep my wife from trying to brush hog steep hills.
I know that money sometimes dictates what we can buy but if you can, go bigger.

 

[Hermio]

I’m in the market for a 35 HP tractor and I’ve done a lot of research as a first time buyer.

The tractor will mostly being used for dirt work around the house (2 flat acres) and lifting items with the FEL. I also have 100 acres of hunting property to brush hog roads/shooting lanes, and plant about 5 acres of food plots.

Dealers seem to be a hot topic when it comes to tractors so I’ve narrowed it down to these, their time selling the tractors and distance from me.

YT235 - 2 dealers (1 has been selling Yanmar for 8 years and is 25 miles away, they only sale yanmar products). Other one is 40 miles away, didn’t get details on selling time

Kioti ck3520SE - 27 miles away, only been selling Kioti for 8 months.

Kubota L3302 (or L3902) - 2 dealerships within 20 miles. Been selling as long as I can remember.

Anyone have any experiences with these tractors, part availability, etc? I’d be doing as much repair work myself as possible.

Kubota is excellent. I worked mine really hard and managed to wear it out in 2500 hours. However, if you are doing a lot of lifting and considerable ground engaging work, consider a heavier tractor in that power range. I would suggest looking at Mahindra. At the same engine power, Mahindras weigh more, have higher loader and 2-point lifting capacity and larger tires and axles than Kubota. However, heavier tractors burn more fuel doing such things as bush-hogging, as it takes fuel to move that extra weight around. Also, go for hydrostatic drive. It is safer in the woods and works well with FELs. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Hermio]

I would be shocked at a 35hp tractor mowing two acres an hour unless it’s a lawn.

I mowed 1 acres per hour with a 4' bush hog on my Kubota B7100 HST, and 1.5 per hour on the lawn with a finishing mower. That was only a 16 Hp tractor. I now do 5 acres of bush hogging per hour with an 8' dual spindle brush cutter on my Mahindra 5035 HST. That is a 49 Hp tractor. So I find 2 acres/hour to be credible with 35 Hp. BTW, an HST actually can cut faster, because you can speed up when the cutting is easier and slow down when needed. The gear drives tend to be set at a speed that works in the toughest spots.

 

[oosik]

Unless you have a whole lot of time - you will definitely need something bigger than 35 Hp to work your property.

I bought my Kubota M6040 - brand new - in 2009. It's been completely trouble free for 15 years. My M6040 weighs just a tad over 10K pounds. FEL with grapple - RimGuard loaded rear tires - heavy duty rear blade.

The dealership is 25 miles away. It's a family owned business. They are all farmers and understand the in's/outs of being "out in the country".

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Well, it isn't the same for all.

I've never heard of a shuttle that needs clutching. It would seem to kind of defeat the purpose. But there you are, and you own one called by Kioti? as a "syncronized shuttle"...and it needs clutching. That doesn't make Kioti's requirement for clutching universal.
My wife's YM336 Yanmar worked differently, and our old 3020 JD worked differently too (picture below), and our newer JD works differently from both. It doesn't even have a foot clutch. Yet all of those were shuttle and power shift combos.

The confusion is one we've seen before. There just doesn't seem to be a standard terminology for that type of geared transmission using a hydraulically powered shifter and clutch. That problem with how to describe something happens a lot in mechanics. Kubota calls their version the "Glide Shift". It seems to depend a lot on how a manufacturer - or their advertising translators - decide to describe the features of their own version of power/shuttle shifters.

What's more important to me is how how a particuar system works in a particular brand or model. Simply calling it a name doesn't mean much when different brands use the same wording to mean different things. In the posts in this thread I was comparing YM model Yanmars from generations 40 years apart to help the OP understand what to expect from that sort of transmission. It wouldn't surprise me if there were different models in between that worked differently.
rScotty


View attachment 848674

My kioti 7320 is a shuttle shift. They actually call it a power shuttle. You dont touch the clutch to go from forward to reverse. Clutch only for changing gears. Three ranges of gears 1-4 in low medium and high. I have never put it in high range. If I am going from one sidenof the property to the other, on the driveway I will put it in 3 medium. If I’m carrying something on FEL 1 or 2 medium.
The last couple weeks the tractor has been used to box blade a road that was getting rough, carry tote cages of firewood, use root grapple to move debris piles, boxblade a field that was too bumpy for comfort dump and spread buckets of gravel on shared road to fix the rough spots, move and dump lime. Move, create raised beds for garden, consolidate/ smooth the dirt left over after burning stumps and debris piles. I need to put the 8 foot rotary cutter on and do some crazy cowboy stuff on the back field and in the mountain laurel forest near my tool shed.

Once you have a tractor you will discover many things that you need/want to do with your land that you simply didn't dream were possible before. If you are married your wife will come up with a lot of things for you to do also.

 

[stancel]

I've owned about all of them at one time or another. Couldn't care less about emblems, paint color or corporate names. Times are changing fast and lots of the new comers are offering higher quality for the same or less money than the brands with a loyal following.

All that being said, I recently traded my Kioti CX2510 in for a CK3520. I got the HST SE. My Kioti was flawless and I loved it, but I still shopped all the brands over again. Came down to Mahindra and Kioti. In the end, the build quality and features Kioti offered for the same money or less decided it. I only have about 50 hours on my new Kioti but man I love that machine.

Those big brands spend a fortune on advertising and creating customer loyalty. All that money is wasted on me, but it obviously works. I would rather a manufacture that spends all that money on their products.

 

[4x4moses]

First of all, welcome to the forum! When anyone asks me what size tractor they should buy, I repeat the advice of my brother-in-law (who has EIGHT tractors). He recommended I buy "as much tractor as you can afford." And I agree whole-heartedly! I was looking for a 35hp model to maintain my 80 acres of fields & forests. When it came time to buy, I decided 45hp was even better. I've never regretted that decision. In fact, I've never heard anyone say they wish they'd bought a smaller tractor!

As for brand recommendations, most major brands are dependable. Availability of service and/or parts is a BIG consideration. I compared design/features/specifications/price on (in order) John Deere, Mahindra, Massey Ferguson, Kubota, and Kioti. In the end, the choice was between Kioti and Kubota. Good vibes from the dealer (and price) swung the pendulum toward Kioti. After almost 6 years I still love my DK4510!

 

[kjack1960]

I think you would be thrilled with any of those choices. I agree that the best thing is to make several visits to look them over and do test drives. You will learn something every time.

My thoughts from a distance

Kubota is a great tractor, but I don't like the Micky Mouse hydro treadle. This is their economy model
Yanmar makes great tractors - how is the price
Kioti - might have the most/best features - most bang for the buck

That said, any of them would be great

If you are looking for something larger, that Kioti NS series is kind of like Goldie Locks - just right

The video of the NS loks to me like Kioti took Bobcat upgrades and added them to this line at least . Bobcat is just a rebranded Kioti and they did this to Bobcat back arournd 2012 and forced Bobcat out of the tractor bussiness for a few years . If you go back to those years you can see that Bobcat made 500 upgrades to the Kioti or at least they claim they did . The one thing I can say for sure is that the front end on the Bobcat in those years was built way heavier than the Kioti .