Talk me out of a Kioti CK3510SE HC

[marchanna]

In my search for a tractor, I didn稚 see much difference at all between brands. The only difference I found was price and customer service at the dealer. I checked out McCormicks, LS, Mahindra, Massey, JD, and Kioti for newer cuts, and looked at IH, Massey, and Landini for larger but older tractors. In the end I went for best value for my money, I drove by the Kioti dealer one day and saw a used Kioti had just came in and the price was right, so I bought it.

 

[arrow]

Its not lacking at all ! That's just something they have to convince themselves of so they can justify spending more money for their brand. The other argument you will see is when someone who has never torn the machine's down into pieces try and say one is engineered better than the other. Both statements are next to impossible to argue unless your an engineer or a tractor mechanic who has been inside both machines so it easily deceives the OP, and gives the current poster satisfaction in some form.

You do not have to be any of what you mention a person has to be to notice things like metal thickness in important areas. axle beef, quality of welds, operation smoothness of controls, dash layout, seat comfort, lighting and general ergonomics. I feel engineering goes beyond the innards and what you see on the outside, may be a telltale for what is being used on the inside. Cost cutting or meeting price points can be invisible as well as visible.
My Mahindra 3016 does the job for me but it is akin to a Fred Flintstone car in comparison to some of what I saw and experienced. Upon having to tear down the front mfwd of this tractor because of a gear failure, my assertions were justified to me.

 

[marchanna]

@arrow, I think you make a valid point, but I would also like to offer a contrary argument. Often in more recent times I have observed quality suffer for the sake of fit and finish, cars, trucks, tools, even equipment. Even with tractor manufacturers we see a huge investment in making them pretty with a lot of bells and whistles. Well this all comes at a cost; if a manufacturer has to keep within a certain price point then the money spent on beautification has to come out of build quality. A company that chooses to spend the money on build quality will have difficulty selling their tractor for the same price as one that has all the bells and whistles.

Have you ever heard the saying, they just don稚 build them like the use to?

I tend to believe that manufacturers focus more on visual appearance these days than they do on build quality. Aggressive sales drive the market, whereas customer service and support has fallen by the wayside. I don稚 think any brand is immune to this.

I learned from my mistakes here. Now I知 always leary of robust ad campaigns and excessive features.

 

[seijirou]

You are a very lucky man!

And thanks for the photos ... great looking tractor ... congratulations !!! We've seen the shiny photos ... now we need to see it dirty!

Dirty!

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

That's not dirty! We can still tell what color it is.

:laughing:

Congrats on the new tractor.

 

[paulfun9]

You do not have to be any of what you mention a person has to be to notice things like metal thickness in important areas. axle beef, quality of welds, operation smoothness of controls, dash layout, seat comfort, lighting and general ergonomics. I feel engineering goes beyond the innards and what you see on the outside, may be a telltale for what is being used on the inside. Cost cutting or meeting price points can be invisible as well as visible.
My Mahindra 3016 does the job for me but it is akin to a Fred Flintstone car in comparison to some of what I saw and experienced. Upon having to tear down the front mfwd of this tractor because of a gear failure, my assertions were justified to me.

I do understand that also but being a person who is very mechanical with lots of real experience building/modifying all types of equipment, someone who is a known fabricator with a very long and well known reputation for building things that can take abuse and last. I still do not see the lack of quality or engineering that many of these people say exists. In many cases what I looked at only showed me their statement is reverse of the truth.
If you feel the way you do and have a skill set that enables you to decipher build quality why would you be the owner of something as you say is " akin to a Fred Flintstone car in comparison " ?

 

[dbchaplin03]

It痴 been a few months now... any regrets? I just bought a new one that will be delivers on Saturday. I bought the open station though because all of my work is in the trees. Just waiting on the 3rd function valve install and my box blade that is going to take an extra week to get here.

Super exicted!

 

[seijirou]

It痴 been a few months now... any regrets? I just bought a new one that will be delivers on Saturday. I bought the open station though because all of my work is in the trees. Just waiting on the 3rd function valve install and my box blade that is going to take an extra week to get here.

Super exicted!

No regrets at all. I'm nearing 50 hours now. I'm sure you're going to love yours.

 

[Learnmore]

Thanks for a great thread. Just ordered mine today! Got a tiller, grader blade and front forks. Should keep me busy for a while.