Who actually makes the tractor and whose engine and transmission does it carry?

[Reddogs]

I was looking at the LS tractors at the dealer, and noticed it had Mitsubishi engines, but now I am told the LS uses Yanmar, Mitsubishi and LS engines depending on model. Now I know my John Deere is basically a Yanmar drivetrain with engine and transmission, but the FEL and Backhoe are to my understanding made by John Deere. The Kubota is a Japanese brand, and yet to my understanding the drivetrain with engine and transmission along with the FEL and Backhoe are made in the US by Kubota. Who and where is the real manufacturer of the tractors, and is the whole tractor made by them or the drivetrain with engine and transmission 'farmed out' so to say to another manufacturer? Or do some just get it from whoever, like they built the Jeep in WWII?

 

[BnRidge]

Are there any photos of these companies actually making there own products, other than assembly? I worked since 1990 in sheetmetal jobshops, and could see a lot of the outsourced parts and subassemblies used on others assembly lines. But we were certainly not Cat, Case, Deere, Komatsu, etc, etc. It doesn't take much for purchasing and engineering to put together and submit parts documents for outside quoting and eventually outsourcing. And, other than cost savings internally for those companies, what would be the difference if parts were outsourced to their specifications and qc requirements, or if they were done internally to their specifications and qc requirements.

 

[sea2summit]

I was looking at the LS tractors at the dealer, and noticed it had Mitsubishi engines, but now I am told the LS uses Yanmar, Mitsubishi and LS engines depending on model. Now I know my John Deere is basically a Yanmar drivetrain with engine and transmission, but the FEL and Backhoe are to my understanding made by John Deere. The Kubota is a Japanese brand, and yet to my understanding the drivetrain with engine and transmission along with the FEL and Backhoe are made in the US by Kubota. Who and where is the real manufacturer of the tractors, and is the whole tractor made by them or the drivetrain with engine and transmission 'farmed out' so to say to another manufacturer? Or do some just get it from whoever, like they built the Jeep in WWII?

Yanmar makes engines in only the small deere series, not sure what other engines are used. Yes Kubota moved a significant portion of its manufacturing to US soil. I don't think any of the big manufactures are getting their engines or transmissions from "whoever" when they farm them out, it's a pretty deliberate process. Also keep in mind companies like Kubota and Yanmar started out making engines and just decided to start their own tractors where as some other companies started with tractors and now may or may not make the entire tractor. I would have no fear with any of the big names, once you go lower tier tractors or gray market that's when I'd be a lot more concerned about who made the parts (like cabelas tractors...shudder).

 

[Torvy]

John Deere started out making plows, if I recall correctly. Case was also an implement manufacturer first, I believe.

 

[Root Cause]

Yep, it is complicated but Ford, Toyota etc don't make car parts either.

There are Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers that spend millions to get just a chance to quote on parts in the auto world.
Suppliers get hammered if a defect reaches a consumer and a report card is issued annually. It doesn't take much to get a failing grade and if you have reoccurring issues, you will not get to quote on future work for a specified time. That is in the auto world and obviously, tractors are not in that league. At least not yet.

It's not pass it along to 'whoever' but there is a common process that makes it hard for us to keep up.


I worked in manuf. nearly 40 years and typically saw 3 phases of the production life cycle.

1. Start of production - design flaws, poor vendors, and assembly defects are identified and corrected
2. Much time and effort are spent on improving the quality of parts and the finished product to eliminate bad parts from being made much less leaving the factory.
3. With defects low, quality and engineering teams are disbanded. Those who are not reassigned to other product lines are left to find ways to make it cheaper.

That is a long explanation but you can see why phases 1 and 3 cause change and why I try to buy during the phase 2 era.

 

[5030]

Actually, Kubota started out making weaving machines, that produced cloth. The whole history is on their website somewhere.

 

[MHarryE]

Kubota has a time lapse video on YouTube assembling a Kubota engine. No automation. Assembled by 2 people on a rotating stand. Similar to assembling in one’s own workshop if a parts kit is available. Similar to what I saw at the Perkins plant in the UK when they began producing Shabura engine under license and labeling them Caterpillar or Perkins. I’ve always considered assembled vs manufactured as 2 different things. Where are the component parts sourced? I visited an aluminum foundry in the small town of Lone Jack, MO, and saw them casting, and machining, engine blocks for multiple manufacturers. It was a surprise as I thought engine block production was sourced in house and the other components came from sources around the world, but this was when most blocks were cast iron and only specialty engines were aluminum.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I have a Farmtrac that was made by LS for Farmtrac with a Mitsubishi engine in South Korea, they made all the compact tractor models starting with the 270, 300, 320, 360 and the 390 and I believe all of them had the Mitsubishi engines, they also made the same line of tractors for Montana, which were identical other than color and the badging that they put on them, I said all that to say that LS was making tractors for other manufacturers long before I ever saw their own products here in the U.S.

 

[Reddogs]

Yanmar makes engines in only the small deere series, not sure what other engines are used. Yes Kubota moved a significant portion of its manufacturing to US soil. I don't think any of the big manufactures are getting their engines or transmissions from "whoever" when they farm them out, it's a pretty deliberate process. Also keep in mind companies like Kubota and Yanmar started out making engines and just decided to start their own tractors where as some other companies started with tractors and now may or may not make the entire tractor. I would have no fear with any of the big names, once you go lower tier tractors or gray market that's when I'd be a lot more concerned about who made the parts (like cabelas tractors...shudder).

Well it seems Yanmar makes a good deal of them for a vast number of John Deere models, does John Deere have a plant that makes the engines on the larger end?

 

[sea2summit]

Well it seems Yanmar makes a good deal of them for a vast number of John Deere models, does John Deere have a plant that makes the engines on the larger end?

Like I said, small deere series. Not sure what percentage of their sales that is but I bet it's fairly small dollar wise. But again, so what? Yanmar makes a great engine and Deere makes a lot of good products.