</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Any Kama owners out there lets hear how many hours you have on yours and what problems if any you have had )</font>
2004 KM454 with 70 hours
I understand that it's not exactly fair to measure a 25hp Jinma against the much larger and heavier 45hp KAMA. So don't anybody take this as Jinma bashing. And I'll qualify up front, that MANY of the Jinma maintenance problems were CAUSED by a dealer who was obviously unprepared to properly maintain what he sold.
After hundreds of maintenance hours put into a pair of JM254s, this KAMA is comparatively trouble free. There were a few "new tractor" bugs to work out in the first 20 hours or so. But nothing that a few warranty parts and regular hand tools couldn't fix. And once fixed, the problems STAYED fixed. Where the Jinmas were shop queens, this KAMA has only been laid up 2 hours - while I went into town to get a fuel line repaired. Even with no glow plugs, the engine has started every morning this winter. Fuel consumption seems reasonable for a 2.5 liter engine, seems like I go weeks on a 16 gallon tank. The hydraulic filter is (thankfully) external, but it's mounted so low as to require the reservior be drained before changing screens.
It's nice and wide, with a lower center of gravity than the Jinmas - but obviously can't turn around in a Jinma sized circle. Whereas a 25 hp Jinma turned out to be insufficient to my needs, I haven't come across a job around here yet, that 45 hp won't handle easily. I will say though, that the KAMA has wimpy TPH hardware; I've bent the all threaded ends already - toplink and both vertical stabilizers. Really really soft steel. I've already gone to Pat's Hitches on the lower lift arms, and am getting a hydraulic toplink next month (the KM454 has factory rear remotes). Now if I could only find some vertical stabilizers that fit............
//greg//