Buying Advice John Deere compared to Kubota

[wagne223]

Yes, sitting sidesaddle on an L3901 does feel funny, but how else to work both brake and HST since they are both on the right side?

For what does the L3901 with an HST need a clutch pedal on the left?

I'm sure I'm missing something.

Live PTO

 

[sdquick]

When I was looking to buy it seemed to me that both were good products. However it seemed that Kubota focused on (engineered, built and sold) compact and sub-compact tractors as a primary product. It seemed that Deere engineered, built and sold very big farm equipment and recognized that there was money to made made in the compact and sub compact market. Deere assembles a product from various other manufactures and some dealers seem to not want to bother with you if you are spending less than $50K.

 

[Musdalen]

Live PTO

My JD doesn't have a clutch so it must have a dead PTO

 

[ovrszd]

My JD doesn't have a clutch so it must have a dead PTO

Independent.

 

[Fade2blk]

Since I own a green tractor the correct answer has to be John Deere.:2cents:

 

[rScotty]

Independent.

I think an independent PTO still has a clutch. It would have a clutch for the PTO by itself - that's what makes it independent of the transmission.
Sounds like if Musdalen's JD doesn't have a clutch. If so, it is the basic transmission-driven type PTO.
rScotty

 

[sailingsolo]

ref my 4/23/18 post. had the tractor at the dealers to get a cab put on and while the tractor was there had them look at the problem with the stabilizing arm and they did find a problem. seems there was something wrong with a valve internal to the piston and my having to eat wheaties to pull the lever was the correct procedure. now i can have tea and use my little finger to lower the arm. five stars to the dealer, union farm equipment. great job installing the cab and for fixing the stabilizing arm.

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

I have a 4610 and love it so far. I'll never have a tractor without hst after using one. I really wish it had the jd brake setup on the left side, I miss this from the other tractors I have used.

I was dead set on buying a jd 4520 or 4720 (used) which my neighbor has and i was able to test out a bit, i really liked it. when i asked his opinion he said that and he has bought nothing but brand new deeres his whole life, and that each one he bought he has had more problems with he was saying that he has about 2000 hours on it at the time. His opinion was that he wouldn't buy another one but most likely this will be his last tractor anyways. This was just my neighbors opinion on his experience and keep in mind he has never owned anything but Deere.
I really think a lot of what makes one tractor good or bad is how you run the equipment. I'm not brand loyal and, in fact, just bought a John Deere backhoe. However that isn't anything like the smaller tractors anyhow. I will still consider Deere or other tractor when I upgrade though even though I really do respect my neighbors opinion, however, I'm sure there are just as many kubota owners that say the same thing.
They are both great manufacturers and kubota isn't better than Deere or Deere isn't better than kubota, it's all personal preference, just like the ford vs chevy debate.

Hey Piston, what kind of problems did your neighbor have with his 4520?

 

[RalphVa]

Interesting for this to pop up when I'm thinking whether I should stick with JD or switch to Kubota. The JD dealer is still the closest one, and a good one for smaller tractors. My neighbor deals with a JD dealer that's about the same distance now as a good Kubota dealership because the local dealership here didn't have any of the big tractors like he uses (35 to 40 something hp; currently has a JD 4052).

I'm still seething over JD's ignorance or stubbornness (or something) that makes them buy worthless driveshaft Ujoints and requires them to be greased but puts them in location where they cannot be by the owner. Then Kubota has leaky hydraulic connections and faulty safety switches. JD (on 2 series) has some ridiculous 10 hour grease intervals on a couple zerks vs. majority at 50 hours. Both have ridiculous 2 year cycles on coolant (vs. cars and trucks going 10 years for at least 20 years now).

Now, the controls are the same on the B/BX vs. JD's 1 and 2 series. The main differences are the treedle pedal on the Kubotas vs. 2 pedal HST on JDs and solenoic engagement of the PTO on JD vs. clutch on the JD.

A lot of the choice boils down to what dealers are near you and how good they are. Some of you are lucky in having about 4 different tractor choices. Around here, we've only 2. The big Kubota dealership near here was once a Yanmar dealer. Think he still deals with them, but they apparently aren't as big a seller as Kubota is. Most every garage out here in the Va countryside will have either a Kubota or JD tractor in it. Hardly ever see anything else.

I'd about decided to stay with my 2025R and may, but doing 200 hours on those silly Ujoints (letting the dealer do it; he completely removes them to get at the zerks). However, unless or until JD brings back the dual brakes on the 2 series (they stopped on gen. 2; mine is gen. 1), my next tractor (if I'm still alive then) may be a Kubota because that Kubota dealer over the mountain is reportedly a good one. The other Kubota dealership tried a location in Charlottesville. They appear to be gone. The base dealership out of Orange was not a particularly good one.

Ralph

 

[troverman]

...Most every garage out here in the Va countryside will have either a Kubota or JD tractor in it. Hardly ever see anything else.

There's a reason for that, and it's because these are the best two tractor brands on the market.