Buying Advice Chinese yes or no.

[ishiboo]

Last year I bought a 60 HP Mercury 4 stroke outboard. The crate it came in said made in China. Unpacked it and motor also said made in China. Wasn't too happy but it looks like Mercury builds all their 4 strokes there now. No complaints with the motor, it's as good as my 2 stroke Mercury's that came from Wis. Chinese labor can make quality products when they use good components.

Not all 4 strokes. 75hp and up are built here. The smaller outboards have been made by Tohatsu for some time. Not sure if Tohatsu builds the 40-60 in China, or if Mercury has their own plant or contracts them out.

The thing is, China can produce as high as quality as the US, but it's not much cheaper than we do it for due to process refinement here... so then add shipping, and you might as well make it here. We cannot come close to making things as inexpensively as they can though.

 

[Roadbuilder6]

People get stuck on buying new. None of my tractors have been new and all have been great. I bought my first John Deere with 88 hours on it with a ton of attachments (backhoe, thumb, pallet forks, loader, mid mount mower, york rake, ballast box etc) for under 19K. John Deere wanted $27. I would rather have a reliable, easy to get parts for, and good tractor that I didn't have to worry about, then a new Chinese machine. Take the questionabilty out of it and buy a used tractor that you can afford.

 

[tigers2007]

As a former Jinma 254 series owner, I would say "yes, buy one" if you want a no-frills and low-budget machine. I used the **** out of the one I had and it did a good job. I bought it for a song and had to do a clutch on it amongst other maintenance items. They go cheap - don't overpay for one of these machines. I sold it for a good price too and I now wish I could buy it back from that guy. I see you are in AU with 15 acres so a 254 series with shuttle shift would be a great buy. Consider the "Foton" flavor of Jinma's as some came with upgraded features. Regardless, a compact chinesium tractor is just fine for a 15 acre operation for all-around use. If you are just doing plowing, planting, etc. why not just buy an old IH, Massey, Ford, etc for a couple thousand dollars?

 

[jix]

Not by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin, will let the Chinese in...... but thanks tiger.:thumbdown:

 

[Ross71]

I have a DongFeng 254, from new with loader. It was assembled from a kit in England by the importer/constructer/dealer. So far, no loose bolts. It cost £8000 with the loader and 4in1. The equivalent Kubota would have been about £18000. Didn't use it much for first 3 years, only about 70 hours. It has 550 hours on it now. I needed a 4wd tractor, otherwise I might well have gone for an old massey 135 or similar, I am constantly delighted with my machine and think I made the right choice for me. The tractor is used pretty hard, but just keeps plugging on. Yes it is basic, and very simple but that does put it inside my ability diagnose and repair zone.

The only major failures so far have been 1. needed battery replaced after 4 years of operation. 2. alternator packed up during haymaking last year (full of grass) and 3. radiator core sprung a leak, had to be re-cored.

My only other niggle is that the Chinese grease nipples are rubbish. They snap so easily. I bought a load of german ones as replacements.

I have a very good dealer, an hour or so away, who stands by his product. He keeps all maintenance parts in stock, and most spares. However, he would not have been able to supply either a replacement alternator or a replacement radiator.

Yesterday, a mechanic from the local Claas dealership had to use my tractor. His words- "seems an excellent little machine"

 

[etaylor0056]

I had a NORTRAC 254 and it was a beast although I had to be a good mechanic to own it!

 

[whizdbiz2]

I have limited experience...

My brother bought the kids a chinese made sand buggy... they were thrilled... problem is it works out to a couple hours working on it for every hour of fun... within the first two hours the transmission quit... ZERO help from the importer even with warranty... after teardown it was found to be a nut that had backed off... which is good.

I bought an American made CUV with a Chinese made GY6 engine/transmission. the GY6 is a common engine on scooters. It has never run right although doing a bit better now since I cleaned the carb and precisely adjusted the valves. The carb is a problem on these and a new one, if I can still get it, is over $250 (manual choke, most on the market are much cheaper with electric choke). Now the transmission has a problem, pops out of forward, in reverse it's fine. Not sold on Chinese machinery for the most part. I've owned it since '04 and have only been able to put about 20 hrs. on it. The rest of the machine has no issue at all and is built very strong. I do have a China engine on two generators that so far are running and starting very well.

 

[ultrarunner]

I'm disappointed... at least the kids are learning how to work on and repair it!

So not a total loss.

 

[G31]

I'd be willing to bet that any American brand of equipment made overseas is made to their specs, QC standards, and probably has factory personnel on site overseeing the operation. You should get very little, if any difference in quality and reliability than if it was made in the U.S. Most of your power tools, including well-known, quality names, are made in China. DeWalt only recently started moving production back to the U.S. from China.

Buying something that is strictly Chinese, and merely imported here under a number of names, is certainly playing with fire.

 

[GManBart]

I'd be willing to bet that any American brand of equipment made overseas is made to their specs, QC standards, and probably has factory personnel on site overseeing the operation. You should get very little, if any difference in quality and reliability than if it was made in the U.S. Most of your power tools, including well-known, quality names, are made in China. DeWalt only recently started moving production back to the U.S. from China.

You're making a lot of assumptions there.

I got a crash course in the topic of high-profile American companies outsourcing to China, and it can be extremely complicated....with absolutely no way for the consumer to know what's going on.

Many/most American companies don't have their own representatives on site when they outsource something to a Chinese company, and many of those Chinese companies outsource part of the production to other Chinese companies, so you get multiple levels of different Chinese companies, and trying to track all the parts and pieces isn't very realistic. In fact, at some big name Chinese companies, they require escorts and restrict access to their facilities when U.S. citizens who are actually employees of the company visit production facilities in China.....seriously. They don't even want their own employees knowing what's going on at times.

Many times there have been failures, or recalls, due to sub-contracted parts being counterfeit, not meeting specs, etc, so even dealing with a respected Chinese company can lead to problems since they have to source various components and materials from other companies.

It's a very tangled web...but on the bright side, it's a safe bet my picture is on a dartboard somewhere in Beijing.