I have a BobCat service and support anecdote. I bought a used BobCat CT450 (engine stamped in 2009/sold in 2011), which is almost identical to the older Kioti DK45/50 series, in fact, even the hood and cab parts are the same diagrams with either BobCat or Kioti part numbers superimposed over the exact same drawings. I needed some grill parts because the tractor had been used by a butcher previously and a dead moose swung out of a pickup bed and into the grill when it was hoisted with the loader. The previous owner also busted the driver's side door glass which he promised to replace during the "transaction to buy". I cross matched filters to Kioti and to other after-market sources depending on the filter and based on a useful bit of research posted elsewhere on this forum. The Kioti brand grill parts were less expensive than the BobCat branded equivalents, but when I tried to order the door glass from Kioti, they stopped the transaction because it was for more than $1000 Canadian and said they couldn't sell expensive parts without a serial number which tracked back to BobCat. So, I found the shopBobCat.com website and located what I thought was the correct door glass available through the North Dakota (right next door across the US/Cdn border) office and ordered it, but there was a snag. My BobCat operator's manual designates right and left as though looking in from the front of the tractor or bucket direction, even though the parts people think of right and left as though sitting in the seat. I got the "wrong" cab door glass as a result, which was obvious as soon as I opened the crate. Contacted BobCat in the US and they just made it right. They credited me for the purchase, then sold me the correct door glass and it will be on its way. Interestingly, after I had commenced dealing with BobCat, Kioti Canada decided they would sell me the door glass but I wasn't backtracking by that point. Local BobCat dealer up here is so focused on skid steers and mini track hoes, they don't know much about the compact tractors, nor do they seem inclined to care or get involved. They do have a couple of compact tractors sitting out front, but not a lot of enthusiasm for dealing with them or helping me source parts. I did better by contacting BobCat e-commerce directly (cheaper as well, though not as cheap as the equivalent Kioti-branded parts where they are interchangeable). So, the relationship is "complicated"
, but I like the tractor and the BobCat loader is better than the Kioti loader which would be on the same Orange-paint tractor model from that year range. Kiotis are very popular up here in the compact tractor market. Less expensive than Kubota but the owners I know all really like them and the dealers that support them. I haven't been able to find any local people who own BobCat compact tractors to ask their opinions after a year or 2 or more of use. I shall see, I guess.
