Daedong DK35 4.00 star(s) (1)

Daedong DK35 My Mate Joined at the Hip
Model Year: 2004

Edited by John Cameron 20.01.2014. Dear Muhammad you have asked me to do a review of the tractor to assist future buyers make a more informed decision about the purchase of a tractor. I am more concerned that this report is made available to existing DK-35 owners who like me have problems with the steering. There are two parts to this report the first is my assessment of and satisfaction with the tractor; the second is a technical report of how we diagnosed and fixed a steering problem. Could you please ensure that the various bits go to the most appropriate location in your website Part 1: I bought my DK-35 second-hand 3 years ago because I needed a front-end loader that I could manage given my failing strength (thought to be due to age at the time but subsequently turned out to be Parkinson’s disease). At the time I had a 1960 Fiat 2WD 56 hp with an added bucket without power steering. Eventually the only way I could turn it was to lift the front wheels off the ground with the hydraulics on the bucket, point the wheels in the right direction, lower the wheels and drive until I had to again readjust the direction. We live in the hilly Northern Rivers of New South Wales on the east coast of Australia where the annual rainfall is 90 inches and the soil is deep red basaltic clay. Bogging was a potential problem given my next available vehicle was a Kubota 15hp with turf tires. You can imagine my delight when I drove the DK-35 home from the previous owners' farm some 4 km away. It drove like a car, moved through the gears easily and between ranges easily. I am a 76 y/o pretend full-time farmer/forester of 15 years. Our 25 acres was originally (Pre-1880) a subtropical rainforest. It was first stripped of its valuable Red Cedar and then clear felled for for diary production. Following the loss of milk quotas in the 1970’s the land was turned over to beef production and the pasture poorly maintained. The introduced weeds of lantana and Camphor Laurel thrived and quickly turned most of the property into a Camphor Laurel monoculture with a fringing lantana pioneer community. This eventually took over 15 of the 25 acres by the time we arrived in 1988. Since then we have been turning parts of the monoculture into rainforest and others into mixed species cabinet timber plantations. Half a dozen cattle keep the grass down. This is a long-term project that we will on partly see to its maturity. Under normal circumstances it takes both of us to keep our heads above water. However with my age and developing Parkinson’s I was starting to lose ground to the march of Camphor Laurel and lantanas I could only work at half the rate. The KB-35 has changed the balance as it gives me 3 times the capacity to manage the property compared to my prior circumstances. I work it very hard, mainly shifting soils and mulch with the bucket but also for fencing, knocking in star pickets, and for pruning the plantation trees with a pole saw from the raised bucket, ripping ground and laying irrigation pipe. In short it increased my productivity by a factor of 3. So you can imagine my concern when the steering started to become stiffer and stiffer in the 3 months leading up to Christmas 2013. I consulted with my mentor Andrew who searched out repair and replacement options and who suggested I join TractorByNet.com to seek advice, which came overnight. By this time Christmas had come and friends of ours John Christine and Jack came to look after the farm while we were away visiting family. The responses from your members encouraged us to do a full diagnosis, which we did and so isolated the problem: a seized bearing in the geroter due to rust. John, who like Andrew, is very mechanically minded asked if he could pull it to bits to see what the problem was while we were away during Christmas –New Year week. We had ascertained that we would need to replace the unit as the local rebuilder said he could not locate spare parts.John rang me after 4 days to say he had pulled it apart and cleaned up the bearing and it was now good as gold. Saving me a minimum of $1,400 dollars. Thank you John! During the whole of it life it has spent has spent 90% of the time out in the weather. The top of the geroter has 3 screws and a hole for the relief valve that can hold water. This is probably how the water got into the geroter. I have now taken steps to appropriately house the DK-35.

Pros: Robustness, reliability, gearing and steering when working.
Cons: Steering when left out in the weather.