Comparison Kubota vs Branson?

[Texasmark]

Kubota has been building them for many many years. Branson by Kukje in S. Korea since 1969 under the Branson label. Google Kukje and explore their site and you will see some of the colors they manufacture besides red ones for sale in the US under the Branson badge.

I shopped the colors in '07 and didn't see what I wanted. 6 months later I saw a Branson lineup and bought what I bought. I like it. I have no dealer nearby but so what. I had a rock hit my right cab door and shatter the glass. Called a dealer 50 miles away and told him what I wanted. Got it 3 days later via UPS. Warehouse in the TX. panhandle had 7 in stock.

Price? Mine wasn't cheap by any means and it's not built cheap either.

Don't know about the smaller units. Just know about mine. Would I buy it again. Yes without hesitation.

HTH,
Mark

 

[prichard]

I looked at many brands and liked Branson better than Kioti and LS or other lower cost tractors, plus the OP was asking Branson vs, Kubota. I had some similar experiences as Garandman and there do not seem to be all that many tractor dealers around here. I did not want to depend on 1 dealer an hour or more away if I needed parts.

Just to be clear, I am not bashing Branson or anyone else. I really do like the Branson tractors but I wasn't willing to buy from that dealer and the next closest one is 1.5 to 2 hours away. If there had been a Branson dealer nearby that had a true service center I likely would have vetoed the wife.

 

[4570Man]

But I was asking him. I thought there was some reasoning behind it. That brand is not around here.

I have never seen a Branson or LS tractor in person. Around here John deer and Kubota dominate with a few Kioti. It took me a while to figure out what LS was.

 

[murphy1244]

I have never seen a Branson or LS tractor in person. Around here John deer and Kubota dominate with a few Kioti. It took me a while to figure out what LS was.

I hear ya. I have never even seen a Branson or a LS around here. I was thinking it was a southern brand?

 

[crazyal]

Is this tractor going to be a piece of work equipment that if it goes down it'll have a big impact on your business? To me that's the test for anyone looking to buy a tractor for their farm or business. Even the best tractor in the world is not bullet proof. When something goes wrong can you afford to spend time to take it apart and then order the parts needed to fix it or are you going to be too busy and just want a dealer to get it back up and running?

While I wasn't in that situation (business) I still had to worry about it. My tractor is my first line for snow removal. We can get up to 3' at a time. My drive is all down hill and if the tractor dies I do have a plow truck as a backup but it would struggle in a deep snowfall. I had Deere, NH, and Kubota as the only two brands that had plenty of local dealers. Kioti had one dealer but they didn't have a clue on what they were selling and then shut down not long after. Now there's a much better Kioti dealer so I would add it back to my list but I didn't know the future so I limited myself to the 3 I knew I had the best chances of getting a part in an emergency.

Branson could be a very good brand, I don't know about them, but if you aren't sure about the dealer I would be cautious unless you are sure that a week of down time during planting season isn't going to be a killer.

 

[corvuslanding]

Thanks for the feedback, all. I've looked into LS and Kioti as well, and there's a good, long-term LS dealer in my region but still fairly far away. They seem like a safer bet than the branson dealer for long term reliability, but that's a lot further to go. This may be an obvious question, but why is it so important to have a dealer nearby? Is it difficult to find people to work on your tractor if they aren't a licensed dealer for the brand?

Where I live, the closest dealer for anything is a little under an hour away. The LS and Kioti dealer is more like 3 hours.

 

[jeff9366]

It is hard to find a dependable car and truck mechanic. A tractor mechanic requires vehicle repair skills ~plus~ diesel skills, hydraulic system skills and welding skills.

Dealers find working on brands other than their own unprofitable:

1. no parts manuals, no parts, no parts at wholesale "dealer" price
(Used to be "inch" vs. "metric" parts too.)

2. All tractor brands come apart a little differently but consumers do not want to
pay mechanic's learning curve.

3. no reimbursement for warranty work on other brands

4. consumers often bring in 'other brand' junk equipment

 

[jeff9366]

From where I live, the closest tractor dealer is an hour away. The LS and Kioti dealers are 3 hours.

If you have the dealer trailer your tractor for service plan on paying $1.50 to $2.00 per mile transportation cost.

50 miles = 50 X 4 = 200 X $1.50 = $300​

 

[EddieWalker]

I have a Century from back in the day when they had both brands and a dealership every couple of miles. They overdid it then and failed miserable to support their tractors with parts on a timely basis, or support their dealerships. Comparing mine to a very similar Kubota, I couldn't say which is better, but mine was $4,000 less. I asked the Kubota dealer what made theirs better and they all just said the same thing. "It just is" Which I'm fine with, but not a good reason to go with Kubota.

I doubt I will ever sell mine, but I do want a bigger cabbed tractor in the future. I won't buy another Branson, and doubt it will be Kubota or Deere. I'm leaning Korean again, but it's a toss up between LS and TYM. That could change as I was liking Mahindra for awhile and might still go with them, but I think they have a few quality control issues that keep popping up more then they should.

 

[k0ua]

There are some Branson, dealers in the area here. I looked at one during the farm show about a month or so ago. It looked pretty good. It is still a pretty minor brand around here compared to JD or Kubota. Not even near popular as Kioti or LS either. But that doesn't make them bad.

 

[Helitech]

Around here there are no Kioti dealers, only 1 LS dealer, 3 Branson dealers. More Kubota dealers than John Deere dealers! I'm currently in the middle of the Branson VS Kubota debate myself. In the 50-55 horsepower range the Branson wins in my book. It's heavier, has a much simpler engine, has a fully synchronized transmission and is $5000 cheaper than a similarly equiped MX5200. The Kubota would have better dealer and manufacturer support in my opinion. I'll be doing all of my own maintenance. Anything larger than those tractors Kubota wins! Drove a M5660 SUHD and a M7060, both Hydraulic Shuttle shift. Sweet! $35,000 for one and $38,000 for the other.

 

[Ron50]

corvuslanding I bought 4020R from the dealer in North Plains. Excellent to deal with. As far as service I haven't required any, but I only have 200 hours. Oil changes done myself. The dealer has a mechanic in Tillamook with a service truck because they sell other brands and do work for the farmers. Tractor was more comfortable than some of the others I looked at and castings seemed to be large and well done. I also saw the video with the green tractors on the assembly line in Korea. The engine is a Cummins clone as they also build engines for Cummins. No complaints sofar.

 

[mike69440]

Yes, the GST is sweet, especially if you do not want hydrostatic.

Sold my 32 year old B7200 for what I paid for it, so I owned for Loss of interest in the bank, fuel, oil, and maintenance. The Max28, shuttle I replaced it with has a nice shuttle transmission, stronger loader an thank God for power steering, but the new owner of my old Kubota is very happy. Says a lot about Kubota.

 

[Garandman]

Thanks for the feedback, all. I've looked into LS and Kioti as well, and there's a good, long-term LS dealer in my region but still fairly far away. They seem like a safer bet than the branson dealer for long term reliability, but that's a lot further to go. This may be an obvious question, but why is it so important to have a dealer nearby? Is it difficult to find people to work on your tractor if they aren't a licensed dealer for the brand?

Where I live, the closest dealer for anything is a little under an hour away. The LS and Kioti dealer is more like 3 hours.

My concern was a catastrophic failure. Rare for any brand but you can find plenty of expensive horror stories on here. I just wanted to get on with the work, with no hassles, so a surprisingly small price difference wasn't an obstacle.

I went by first-person references. Had two references for Kioti, one good, one bad. Had a couple good references for the Mitsubishi/Mahindra but they did not have stock nearby. Deere separates their "big" and "small" tractor dealers and the dealer for compacts was very weak and references lukewarm (farm tractors and the "big" dealer were positive). No one I knew locally had an LS or Branson.

Have three co-workers with Kubotas and there were four more on our five mile road (and three Deeres). They ranged in age from five to fifteen years old and up to 1,800 hours, and out of all of those, all they'd done was routine maintenance. As I was able to get a leftover at a good price and 0% from a relatively local dealer, Kubota was the lowest investment risk.

 

[Helitech]

Got a great price on a Branson 5220r today. $23,995. But with 6.5% financing. At 0% with Kubota I can pick up a $30,500 unit for the same payment!

 

[prichard]

Got a great price on a Branson 5220r today. $23,995. But with 6.5% financing. At 0% with Kubota I can pick up a $30,500 unit for the same payment!

So if the length of loan is the same and you do 0 down and only pay payment with no extra, they cost exactly the same.

 

[Helitech]

Actually, 28,174 would be about the same.

 

[prichard]

So not the same terms. Is orange worth the extra? My choice was easier I paid more for orange but not that much more. Of course I was looking at smaller tractors.

Edit: I mis-read your post. I thought you had quote on similar Kubota and payments were equal.
Your looking at MX in Kubota? I can't imagine they could be had for $28k.

 

[varmint]

Here's something to consider: look at Tractorhouse.com's listings for used tractors for sale, and you'll see that Kubota's and Deere's are almost ten times as available as Kiotis, and Bransons, LS's, etc. are scarcer, still. I bought a clean but old Kubota for our first tractor, because it seemed like the best available for our needs: clearing snow, and I needed it! I had great experience with it, so I got another Kubota when I knew more about our needs, and readily sold the first one, for almost what I had in it. The second was too large, as I learned, so I sold it, actually for more than I had paid, and bought the "Goldilocks" (just right) used Kubota. When I sell it, I expect to recover most of what I have in it.

Kubotas, by and large, are good machines that are well built, no doubt others are, as well, but it is in their re-sale value that Kubotas shine.

Others have posted survey results that indicate that Deere dealers aren't as happy with Deere as are Kubota dealers with their parent company.

Watching my neighbor, with his headaches with his new Deere, also reinforces my liking of Kubotas.

 

[EddieWalker]

At 0% with Kubota

When I was talking to the Kubota dealer about their 0% financing, he said that I had to pay insurance on the loan which was more then I liked. I forget the actual numbers, but it was definitely not a zero percent loan!!!