Buying Advice Deere vs Yanmar vs Kubota

1libby · Mar 16, 2014

Just entering the 30-50 HP tractor market and would really value opinions and experiences of owners. Need a loader and backhoe. Yanmar LOOKS comparable to Deere (not sure about performance/durability) at significantly less cost than Deere. Any Yanmar owners with pros/cons of their purchase? (I realize price not the only or first consideration).
Thank you, gentlemen!

kenmac · Mar 16, 2014

With yanmar building most compact deere tractors . Yanmar quality will be as good as deere

pmsmechanic · Mar 16, 2014

I know Yanmar supplies deere with engines. My front wheel assist on my 4410 says Spicer. Don't think that's made by Yanmar.

murphy1244 · Mar 16, 2014

pmsmechanic said:
I know Yanmar supplies deere with engines. My front wheel assist on my 4410 says Spicer. Don't think that's made by Yanmar.

A talking Tractor? Wow.

kenmac · Mar 16, 2014

pmsmechanic said:
I know Yanmar supplies deere with engines. My front wheel assist on my 4410 says Spicer. Don't think that's made by Yanmar.

I have no idea what the front end on your deere says, but for several years yanmar had a contract to build deere tractors (including the engine)up to about the 40 hp range. . I couldn't tell you that they built every part that's on the tractor .IE, bolts, gears, housings, bearings, etc, I'm sure that yanmar ( like many other manufactures) sources out parts. My 3110 yanmar shares most of the same parts as a 950 deere

Katahdin · Mar 16, 2014

Welcome to TBN! Yep, Yanmar's experience and quality in producing compact tractors is very much comparable to Deere and Kubota, you're on the right track. Certainly they're a bigger engine maker than a tractor maker, but they've been producing tractors this size as long as Kubota and Deere have.

Yanmar has made complete tractors for Deere in the past. Nowadays Deere is farming more stuff out to India and China instead of Japan, this may be one of the reasons Yanmar is selling tractors in the USA again under their own name.

I purchased a Yanmar LX in 2012, I'm pretty happy with it, I've never found myself saying, gee, I wish I had bought a John Deere or Kubota instead. FYI, I suspect the loader, backhoe, and ROPS for the USA Yanmars are being made here in the USA. Here is a photograph of the Yanmar CB85 backhoe on the same factory floor as a John Deere. This particular factory is owned by Ameriquip in Wisconsin.

You may also be interested in seeing a video of the Yanmar plant in Georgia.

arlen4720 · Mar 16, 2014

kenmac said:
With yanmar building most compact deere tractors . Yanmar quality will be as good as deere

Yanmar is only building the 2000 series models, and maybe a couple other models. The 102x's, 3x20's , 3032's, 3038's and the 4x20's are all built by Deere in the US. Of course, there are numerous parts sourced from other companies. They all have Yanmar engines, with the exception of the 4x20's, which have John Deere engines. The new 4x20 replacements will have Yanmar engines in them.

kenmac · Mar 16, 2014

I had heard that the contract between deere and yanmar had changed, but I didn't know (haven't kept up with )exactly what the changes were...As far as tractors,,,, It's hard to keep up with who is building what. I'm in the A/C business and it's the same way. Back to the OP's question. Don't worry about the quality of the Yanmar. With Yanmar, you will most likely get more for less $$ .

dhagood · Mar 16, 2014

i have a 95 john deere 1070 tractor, which was made by yanmar. it's a nice tractor and i'm very happy with it. my yanmar is green, most yanmars these days are yellow