Broken already!

[JWR]

Well - I must be one of the lucky few. My 2009 Kubota M6040 arrived new, with no glitches and still has not its first glitch.

That is great, and certainly the way it should be. I do not claim an all-encompassing sample, but nearly every buyer I have talked with who bought medium sized utility tractors had at least a few serious glitches to be fixed when the thing was brand new. I had a very serious bunch of issues when I bought my MF2660 in 2011 and (being a long ways from the farm and only a monthly crack at getting things done) it took literally 3 years to get all the bugs out. I try to remain objective and believe mine was probably a worst-case. But I have heard from Deere and New Holland owners with bad experiences on brand new machines too. Just browse around on TractorBYNet and there are some horror stories in nearly every brand. Most get resolved of course. Agco/MF stood behind their product for me really well but it took forever. Thank gawd I was not trying to earn a living with that tractor.

After all the dust settles, my view is that you can spend (what to most of us is a fortune) on a brand new tractor expecting it to be trouble free for years and you are very likely to have at least a few fairly serious bugs to get out before it settles out to long-term reliability and satisfaction. I think the big difference between buying a new tractor and a new car is volume. It is thousands versus millions. With cars, the mass production, the volume, and the high visibility of any problems means buyers have no where near the problems with cars that they have with tractors.

Maybe it is bias, maybe it is limited samples but it seems to me Kubota has the better track record on bug-free new machines.

 

[Mattsy Fergy]

I'm a trucker delivering fuel. Every time we get a batch of new trucks, we go through another round of "send it back for warranty work". Last winter every new truck had to go back for a DEF tank heater wiring harness. When DEF freezes, and it does, it shuts the truck down. Peterbilt made the harness too short and it would rub through and short out on a bracket.
Some have already gotten new headlight wiring harness's.
So I'm aware of new equipment issues. Usually it's electrical issues, the mechanical parts seem to last a loooong time.
I know they'll fix it, and it's not stopping me from using the tractor, so it's really no big deal.

 

[Mattsy Fergy]

The "ambulance" picked up my wounded tractor, off the the hospital for it.
They say since there's no power at the temp sensor, they need to find out why.
Predicted it back by end of next week.

 

[cdaigle430]

Only 25 hours and it's already broken:yell:






Mowed all day and temperature never showed above cold mark, where gauge shows even when off.

I checked the connection on top of the motor, the fuses, and under the dash board. All looks good.

Called the dealer, waiting on call back.

Not really mad, yet. Stuff happens. Now I'll see how good the dealer is on fixing stuff.

Had 3 minor warranty repairs done first 1-2 years- for one had to get AGCO rep involved cause the **** stealership was trying to screw me - I had my GC2410 since 2009 then nothing, 0 problems....has been the most reliable machine I ever owned. Owned her for 8 years.....go ahead ***** and complain, then abandon her but you'll be missing out later.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Well - I must be one of the lucky few. My 2009 Kubota M6040 arrived new, with no glitches and still has not its first glitch.

I need to buy a lottery ticket because I must have been lucky TWICE! Both my B3300 an MX4800 were with ZERO "glitches."

I do also agree that stuff happens. Hopefully it's something simple and not the start of an electrical gremlin saga. :drink:

 

[bfloyd4445]

Has it REALLY come to that??

That right there is sad!!

SR

I don't believe that. When you buy from a dealer you are paying him to go over your traCTOR AND MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS BEFORE HE RELEASES IT TO YOU. Sorry for cap lock, hate that key. I most always buy new and make sure I check out the dealers shop in advance and ask around to ascertain reputation among customers. I'm currently in the market for a new deere but all the jd dealers are owned by the same company and they have issues. Tried to talk to JD regarding this situation in Oregon and have yet to be able to get anyone on the phone......that is making me think maybe i should by an MF or NH both companies can be easily contacted by phone and bend over baCKWARDS TO HELP PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS.....SORRY FOR CL AGAIN

 

[JWR]

The reality is that every tractor manufacturer has problems to one degree or another. The critical interface and main difference is the DEALER and my caps key is not stuck. By the way: I mechanically removed the caps lock key from my keyboard and have never been the least bit sorry.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

The reality is that every tractor manufacturer has problems to one degree or another. The critical interface and main difference is the DEALER and my caps key is not stuck. By the way: I mechanically removed the caps lock key from my keyboard and have never been the least bit sorry.

I think this has a lot of validity. :thumbsup:

 

[Mattsy Fergy]

I can't blame the dealer or AGCO/Massey for this MINOR problem. It worked fine for the first couple months. I don't yet know if it's a bad connection in the wiring, a bad gauge or dash circuit board, or something else.
All manufactured items today are a sum of the parts, and all those items are purchased from an outside company. No one builds the complete unit.
I've spent my life in trucking. One job was hauling parts for Cummins. Raw castings came from overseas, most small parts (fasteners, spacers, clips, covers, fittings, sensors, etc.etc.) came from vendors here in the U.S., and the machining was also done here, almost all of it outside Cummins plants, where they basically just assembled the parts, painted, and test fired. If one of those parts is fails, it's not really Cummins fault, it's the vendors quality control.
I would guess that the majority of failures today are in the electronic parts, and there's lots of competition in that area, mostly overseas, and cost is more important than quality to some of them.
It's also far more difficult to control quality on electronics. You can see hard parts and usually know if it's not right. Electronics may test fine with a weak internal part, but will fail when put in use.
The real issue is dealer/MFR support when issues occur. Since my issue is MINOR, I don't expect the dealer to put me at the top of the list of work. The tractor is usable, I think I will know if it overheats, and the dealer is also responsible for lots of farm equipment, which may be far more important at the time.
The tractor is currently at the dealers. I haven't heard from them, but it's only been a couple days. I mowed the lawn the day they picked it up, so I'm good for a week or so, but I told them if my grass needed mowing they better bring me something to mow with. Dealer said they would, but didn't foresee my repair taking that long.

 

[WranglerX]

The reality is that every tractor manufacturer has problems to one degree or another. The critical interface and main difference is the DEALER and my caps key is not stuck. By the way: I mechanically removed the caps lock key from my keyboard and have never been the least bit sorry.

I hate CAPS LOCK as I spend more time having to remove caps (edit out) when I accidentally hit it when I don't want to then I have to edit the caps out.... Wish there was a lock out for that key...

Dale