Jinma Reliability

[dreeds]

I am looking for a tractor in the 30hp range. We have 20 acres in eastern WA and plan to retire there and do gardening, clearing, hauling, chipping, snow removal, etc with it. I have looked at the Jinma 284 as well as used Kubotas and the new Kubota 2620. I realize that there are alot of Jinmas out there and tons written on improvements made, setup, etc. I am comfortable doing basic repairs, mods and troubleshooting, but I don't want to be rebuilding transmissions every year either. I am handier on the electrical side than mechanical. The crated model sounds appealing as well because it would be fun to assemble and you could ensure everything is tight at the start.

My wife is concerned that the Jinma will end up being a lifelong "project" with constant repairs. I am a little concerned about not having hydrostatic, and the weight making it difficult to haul to someone for repairs. However, the Jinma new is at least $5000 less than the Kubota 2620 for the same basic functionality, which is alot of dough for implements. A used tractor may bring other unknown reliability issues.

Any advise? How much of a pain in the arse can a Jinma be?

 

[Diamondpilot]

I think everyone hear was in the same situation you were. I looked at JD and New Holland and decided I could buy 2 Jinmas for the same money. I use the heck out of mine and the only problem I have had was I had to either rebuild or replace the starter. I replaced with a American Made Gear Reduction Unit. I also had a thermostat get stuck open, again I replaced it with a US made one.

These tractors are tough as nails and stronger HP to HP than anything else on the market. If you want a unit that is really gone over good get one from one of 4 or 5 dealers I can lead you too. If you go the crate route you will not know all he little things to look for while putting it together and will end up with more troubles in the long run.

My tractor just turned over 550 hours on Friday when I was using it to drag wood out. Its a 2004 model and I would do it all over again.

There are a couple good dealers in Washington that can get you a well put together unit with all the flushes and quality fluids in place. They support what they sell and you will be happy. That said there are 10 times as many fly by night dealers that will not be around in a year and do a quickie job to get them sold.

Chris

 

[3RRL]

I can tell you the 2008 Jinma 284 we bought for my wife was vastly improved even over Chris's model.
As usual, there were areas that needed improvement but would have worked as bought. I just made them better. It is a true little work horse. I'm impressed at the quality improvements over the years. The engine is very strong, smooth and quiet. We do all our own maintenance and it's pretty easy. The tractor is very basic and designed to do work, so comfort features are not it's strong suit. But that's what we use it for ... work. The money we saved was far greater than any of the improvements we've made on it. We added a new FELvalve, rear remotes, dump trailer valve, bucket grapple up front and top and tilt all for under a grand. That's still is waaay less than having it done by someone and still way under the price difference for a name brand stock tractor without those features.
Rob-

 

[glenndehaven]

I have a 25 hp Jinma that I got new from Farm Pro in 2005.I have a small horse farm in Chester Co PA. I have had problems since day one.I saw your post as I was looking for info on what to do next with My backhoe.I can only tell you from My expierence You will spend more time working on the tractor then using it.Parts are harder to find and what I saved upfront would now have bought a Kubuta.

 

[dreeds]

Great - thanks guys. One of the points that many people have brought up when I talk about buying a Chinese import tractor is parts. Difficult to find, have to wait for months, etc. What has been your actual experience with parts?

The other concern we have is hauling it around. Do you just not do that at all or do you have a trailer hefty enough for 3500+# weight? I guess the only reason I'd need to haul it would to be taking to the dealer for a repairs.

We do have a couple of Jinma dealers who sound like they know their tractors in Newport, WA (Spring Valley Equip) and Neal's Tractors in Davenport, WA. Spring Valley offers a 1 yr powertrain warranty.

 

[studor]

My 2006 284 is right in the middle of Mrs 3RRL's and Chris' in hours and years. It has a North American loader (Spirit) and was half the price of any similar tractor new. Like most machinery it has some annoying "features" (clutch safety switch, some pos wiring, levers meant for really long arms, etc) but it seems like most of the issues I have encountered have been pioneered by others and all in all have been relatively minor. I have not found the absence of HST an issue but would look seriously at shuttle shift with the amount of loader work I do. I would also prefer to have the two hydraulic pump setup than the single. In the winter,I plug it in for 15 minutes to half an hour and it fires right up. In the summer just have to make sure the rad is clear after mowng. If you read about Jinmas on this and other forums you will get a good idea of the potential problem areas and things to watch out for. As for it being a forever project ... I think you can make any tractor a hobby but I spend a lot less time fixing and more time working with the Jinma than other tractors I have owned (or still do). SWMBO actually encouraged me to buy the Jinma . -- neither she nor I have regretted it. So far I have been able to get parts for the Jinma faster (and cheaper) than I have for my other tractors. My dealer lets me borrow his trailer if I have to move it.
Regards
Steve

 

[Catch95]

I have a Jinma 204 and now have over 700 hours on it. The only issues I have had have been electrical. Other than that - just the normal servicing and parts like hoses etc. It is running fine and showing no signs of anything major being wrong.

We have 130 acres and I use it for mulching/slashing, post hole digger, spraying. It's too small to drag a disc plough but I work it pretty hard. Compared to my neighbours tractors I don't seem to have anymore problems than they do.

I'm in Australia and parts can be a pain but I often get them from the US and they're here in a few days. Can't imagine its too hard there.

I would certainly buy another one but with more horse power. The money I saved on the tractor has gone into fencing and the endless list of things you need to spend money on.

Hope this helps

Mark

 

[TTTTTT]

I recently (the last 1 1/2 yrs) have done exactly what you are doing and many of have done. I studied the forums over and over, asked a few questions of the very knowlegble and helpful guys on the sites, went over the specs, pros & cons of a new Chineese crate or assembled, (got some quotes). I basically educated myself as much as I could. Compared with 10-20 yr old name brands with 2000 + hours. I went to see many used older tractors and new Chineese. I went back and forth as to what was going to work the best for me, I had made my decision probably about 10-15 times or so I thought. I was putting myself in the position that if the right deal came along I would be ready to jump on it and be confident it was the right one. I was lucky becauce I had no set time I had to get something but was ready anytime. I was definitely leaning toward a Jinma for all the reasons that others have them , dealer and parts network is excellent throughout North America. I could do most if not all of my maintenance as needed and am now more confident when I see what some of the forum members can do, I think I can tackle with help from guys some of the bigger jobs. I came across on a deal for a Dong Feng 354 (35hp) that was too good to resist in my area. While the dealer network is not as extensive the DF's quality was excellent. While not critising the JM's I think the DF's are a slightly better over all tractor with better and more up to date features. Small design issues that I hear owners wish were different are that way on my DF. But I am taking a bit more of a risk possibly down the road. I have only had mine since last Oct. but I am very happy with it. If your choice is more limited to the JM's because of where you are, you will definitly be getting a good hard working tractor with lots of invaluable owner support. When it came down to it, I had a very hard time paying twice as much for a 20 year old used tractor than what I spent for a brand new one. At least I am the only one the would have used or abused it. The only advise I would give, is do your homework and when your ready you won't regret it.

Good luck with the purchase

Dave

Chips Agtrac (DF) site
POWER UP WITH AGTRAC TRACTORS

 

[denmansoft]

When I was looking, the price difference after equipping the jinma with the options I wanted, was only about 20% before taxes. It initially looked much better but when I got down to hard numbers the difference wasn't that great. What really sold me on the Kubota was the HST operation vs. clutch and gearing on the Jinma. (I have always driven a manual in my vehicles so I was used to it.) The gearbox and clutch operation on the Jinma just didn't measure up to the HST on the Kubota.
My kubota dealer is closer but has turned out to be a PITA. I now go to one that is 100km away from the house or the island.....
There seems to be good online jinma dealers here on TBN that can assist on parts/service. All the parts for my Kubota have had to be brought in anyway so it is not much difference.

Good luck, You will have fun with whatever you get.

PS. don't forget to budget for the BB, chipper, PHD, log splitter, trailer sooner than you think.

 

[Rich Waugh]

Dreeds,

I went through the same thing you're going through just a while ago and I ultimately decided on the Jinma 304 tractor in a crate. I purchased that, the Jinma ZL30 front end loader, a 5' bush hog and a 5' box blade scraper all for about $13k, delivered to my house in the Virgin Islands. I couldn't touch that in a Kubota for less than $20K. My decision was based on a couple of primary factors:

I went with the 304, rather than the 284, because the 304 is built considerably more robustly. In fact, a friend who has a larger Kubota remarked that the front end components on my Jinma are just as large as those on his much larger Kubota. He was very impressed. The additional weight of the 304, plus the greater torque at lower RPM makes it a better bet for hard work in my opinion. It also has two hydraulic pumps rather than one, a feature I appreciate.

The decision to go with a crate tractor as opposed to a ready-built one from a good dealer like Affordable Tractors in Texas or Ranch Hand Supply in Virginia was based on my desire to know more about my machine through the process of putting it together. That has certainly proved to be an excellent decision, I must say. It was not at all difficult to assemble and took only two days working alone. I have a "cherry picker" type engine hoist that made the process of getting the front running gear and all the wheels on a simple matter. I did all the recommended fluid changes, minor mods, checkout and tightening of fasteners, etc, so that I know they are done right. With a good dealer like the two I mentioned this is not a worry, but with others it might well be, from what I have read.

If you get a Jinma crate tractor, one thing that is good to know ahead of time is that the crate for my tractor came equipped with roller wheels so it could be off-loaded from a rollback tow truck bed. I didn't know that and paid to have a crane truck move it from the shippers, a needless expense. The crate itself is welded steel and yielded a good bit of very useful steel after cutting it up.

My loader came with the older block-style valve and it is without doubt a piece of crap as valves go. I will be replacing it before long with a Brand valve that features float and regeneration. I'll also be fitting the bucket with a grapple for moving brush and logs. Other than the crappy valve and a fundamental flaw in the geometry of the lift cylinders (which is a simple fix), the loader is a decent unit. It is the quick-attach type with quick detach bucket and actually is pretty easy to put on or take off, a useful feature to me.

I haven't put a lot of hours on the tractor yet but it seems to function just fine. The manual trans is no big difficulty on loader work, though shuttle shift would be handy. Unfortunately, it is not available on the 304. However, for the difference in weight and beefiness, I'd much rather have the 304 than the smaller frame unit like the 200 series that does offer shuttle shift. HST is another option that is not available and I don't mind that a bit as I can repair a clutch or trans and have little idea hwo to approach a hydro trans. I like the brute-force simplicity and durability of the Jinma 304 much better than fancier units. The Chinese have been using these simple workhorses for decades under very adverse conditions and that tells me something.

Whatever you decide, good luck with it and enjoy your new tractor!