tangstang79
New member
I was wondering if anyone here owns a tb504 or the 404? What are your thoughts, and what if anything have you had to replace and how many hours do you have on it currently?
thanks
thanks
Foton 504/404 info, or experiances with foton.
- Thread starter tangstang79
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- foton 504
Wa11banger
Gold Member
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2013
- Messages
- 302
- Location
- Huntsville Al
- Tractor
- Foton FT404 w/Koyker 160 FEL and a Dig-It Towable Backhoe
Tangstang, I am not a long time owner of mine as you can see from my posts here on TBN, but so far the only things I have had to do to it were from basic neglect by the previous owner. I have a 2004 404 with a Koyker loader and it has almost 700 hours on it now.
I have replaced all filters and fluids.. They were contaminated and I could not determine if they were original Chinese fluids or not so out they came as many on this board have suggested. Other than that I replaced the rear facing fender working lights because the switches on each of them were twitchy so now I turn them on and off from a switch on the dash.
It has done everything I have needed so far including getting stuck as all get, but after the ground dried up a little it clawed its way out nicely.
As many will point out its a lot more basic than some of the big name tractors but for me that's OK, I am not making a living off of it and I think there is nothing it cant do that any of them in the same class can. Plus it has many of the same features they just aren't electronic
It is a work on it yourself tractor for sure.. Big name dealers in my area wont touch it out of of chapped asz syndrome or something, but so far all regular maintenance seems to be easy and the forum is full of experts on this line up. Several helped me learn what was what on a tractor and have walked several others through a split, repair, and reassembly here online. Good group of folks here.
Mine is used for moving stuff from here to there, grading, planting (this next season) and land clearing. I ended up buying a separate backhoe after some research giving me concerns about cracking the tractor. This fear was not Foton specific but for any tractor with this frame type.. However I have seen many with backhoes on them but do not know their specific use or how hard they are used. I was going to attempt to build a subframe for the tractor but decided it was more effort than I wanted to take on at the time.
I have replaced all filters and fluids.. They were contaminated and I could not determine if they were original Chinese fluids or not so out they came as many on this board have suggested. Other than that I replaced the rear facing fender working lights because the switches on each of them were twitchy so now I turn them on and off from a switch on the dash.
It has done everything I have needed so far including getting stuck as all get, but after the ground dried up a little it clawed its way out nicely.
As many will point out its a lot more basic than some of the big name tractors but for me that's OK, I am not making a living off of it and I think there is nothing it cant do that any of them in the same class can. Plus it has many of the same features they just aren't electronic
It is a work on it yourself tractor for sure.. Big name dealers in my area wont touch it out of of chapped asz syndrome or something, but so far all regular maintenance seems to be easy and the forum is full of experts on this line up. Several helped me learn what was what on a tractor and have walked several others through a split, repair, and reassembly here online. Good group of folks here.
Mine is used for moving stuff from here to there, grading, planting (this next season) and land clearing. I ended up buying a separate backhoe after some research giving me concerns about cracking the tractor. This fear was not Foton specific but for any tractor with this frame type.. However I have seen many with backhoes on them but do not know their specific use or how hard they are used. I was going to attempt to build a subframe for the tractor but decided it was more effort than I wanted to take on at the time.
zonta223
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2009
- Messages
- 507
- Location
- Adelaide South Australia
- Tractor
- Foton FT404, International 444 with forklift, International B250, Kubota L2000DT, Truck converted to all terrain forklift and lots of other junk
I have had my 404 for about 21/2 years and have found it to be a good honest tractor........no frills but plenty of grunt and easy to service.
If your FT 404 is the same as mine there is already a support frame from the FEL towers to the back axle to ease the strain on the engine to bell housing joint. Many other makes of Chinese tractors don't have these
If your FT 404 is the same as mine there is already a support frame from the FEL towers to the back axle to ease the strain on the engine to bell housing joint. Many other makes of Chinese tractors don't have these
OP
tangstang79
New member
Thanks i'm going to pick up a century 2535 in just about 20 minutes. It was listed on cragslist earlier this week and i went to check it out yesterday. the seller is the original owner from 2004 and it only has 166 hours on it.