King Kutter vs Chinese Tillers

[dougg]

Agrisupply had three rototiller brands: Ceroni (Italian), King Kutter and Chinese. Upon close inspection the KK and Chinese looked exactly the same except for the stand and color. Either the Chinese is an imitation KK or the same unit with red paint and a different stand. The bolts on the Chinese were unpainted, meaning the parts were painted before assembly, whereas the KK had everything painted after assembly. The KK could be the Chinese unit just painted yellow with a new stand. MY buddy thought they were identical so he bought the Chinese one and saved $400. We will keep you posted on how it works out.

 

[Don87]

Keep us posted.

I personally would never recommend anyone ever buy a chinese built tiller over the KK though.

China tends to 'copy' good brands of things, but they use inferior parts and they tend to break easily.

Another thing about chinese products, beside the total lack of any quality control, is the fact that when the chinese change a design...........there are never any more parts made for the old design.

Basically, you are screwed on the chinese made implements.

 

[Baby Grand]

For a while, TSC carried Dark Horse tillers. Painted black or dark gray. Obvious KKII knock offs. The welds looked bad, and the gearbox was a scary looking thing. After a few months, TSC stopped carrying them and went back to selling what I think is their contracted Tarter Gate/County Line tillers. When it comes to saving $400 by buying Chinese vs KKII, I'm with Don.

 

[Botabill]

Keep us posted.

I personally would never recommend anyone ever buy a chinese built tiller over the KK though.

China tends to 'copy' good brands of things, but they use inferior parts and they tend to break easily.

Another thing about chinese products, beside the total lack of any quality control, is the fact that when the chinese change a design...........there are never any more parts made for the old design.

Basically, you are screwed on the chinese made implements.

It's sad but many American brand names we have come to respect have opted for making easy money by manufacturing in China or other cheap poorly paid labor countries. I have the Italian made tiller and it is a well built and dependable.

 

[Martian]

Good luck with the purchase. I hope it works out well.

I usually don't like to buy the knock offs, but my mother was just in China, little did I know she picked up a knock off Rolex for me while she was there. This thing is identical, in looks, but the gears and stuff, all different. It winds really loud and when it's quiet you can hear it tick, can't in a real Rolex, and it won't last near as long, but I saved about $20,000 from getting a real one.

 

[bulldog69]

Unless they have changed KK's are made in Ala. My brother bought one and it by far was the best built, heaviest tiller I have been around. A well built product made in the USA is enough for me. The extra $400 would be money well spent.

 

[dougg]

Here is my theory, and I want to be proven wrong!
If you look real close at this large picture:
http://www.kodiakmfg.com/products/Kodiak_Rotary_Tillers.pdf
It looks exactly like the Chinese tiller at Agrisupply. It seems Kodiak, King Kutter, and the TSC tillers are all Chinese tillers painted and rebranded. Not one of these tillers says "MADE IN USA" on it. Now here is the good part: All these tillers have a great reputation and they perform very well! But lets not fool ourselves that we are buying US made products. OK, please prove me wrong, so we can buy a real MADE IN USA tiller!

 

[bulldog69]

Not going to start a war over this. My brother's KK tiller had Made in USA all over it.

King Kutter Inc, established in 1978 and incorporated in Winfield, Alabama.

 

[Taylortractornut]

My neighbor has a Branson dealership and also sold Jinma tractors and some Chinese tillers. He had alot come back with the tops of the gear boxes broken out. I think they are KK clones.

 

[McGeesEquip]

Here is my theory, and I want to be proven wrong!
If you look real close at this large picture:
http://www.kodiakmfg.com/products/Kodiak_Rotary_Tillers.pdf
It looks exactly like the Chinese tiller at Agrisupply. It seems Kodiak, King Kutter, and the TSC tillers are all Chinese tillers painted and rebranded. Not one of these tillers says "MADE IN USA" on it. Now here is the good part: All these tillers have a great reputation and they perform very well! But lets not fool ourselves that we are buying US made products. OK, please prove me wrong, so we can buy a real MADE IN USA tiller!

Why do you posts up some pics of the chinese tiller that you saw and the one your buddy purchased. I get e-mails all the time from factories in China that want me to purchase their products. Also, I got distributors here in the US that do bring them in wanting me to sell them and if your buddy only saved $400.00 Well....:laughing:

 

[sweettractors]

We sell Phoenix and Tarter Roto Tillers. Ken Sweet

 

[bilrus61]

I am willing to be proven wrong but I think the Keen Kutter, Taylor way and all those "gear driven" tillers are made mostly in China and delivered here as parts. They are then bolted together and painted and labeled. I don't think there are any gear boxes used in smaller impliments that are made in USA. All are made in China. Even my new JD MX6 has a "made in China" gearbox on it. The poster that thinks his brother's KK tiller is made in usa because of stickers all over it is exactly why they import parts and put them together here in the states.....to avoid the "Made in China" tag.

I recently shopped for a new tiller and wound up getting a Kuhn El62. Made in France. But some Kuhns are made in Brazil. The terra force is made in Korea and looked very high quality. I used to grimace at the Keen Kutter tillers with the made in usa stickers because my "research" indicated that the gearbox, side gears, side gear case, rotars,bearings, blades and fasteners were made in China. All KK did was add some sheet metal, bolt it up and paint it. This can get emotional for some folks when they realize exactly where the tool is really made.

Companies are no longer required by law to state the nation of origin for their products. I was looking at some fishing rods at Gander Mt. and I'm sure they are made in China. Not a single word about where they were made. However the tag did give the location of the company, and they were deceptive about it. "Denver Co. USA" Anyone that just glances over the rod will think they are buying a USA made fishing rod but they aren't, Just the way the business model is being run these days. China can and does make great stuff........as the tough tillers with the made in USA stickers all over them shows.

 

[bulldog69]

I can't say for sure but I read in several places that KK uses omni gearboxes made in texas. Suppose to be the same one that Bushhog and several others use.

Everything about KK says made in USA, have seen nothing about assembled in USA. Makes me want to go to their place and see for myself though.

 

[DennisH]

I just emailed King Kutter asking them to clairfy where their product was made. Will let you know what responce I get back.

 

[sawduster98]

Not much being said here about the Italian brands so....
I have a Savona that was abused for 13yrs before I got it, now I've abused it for 3. Unbelievably well built. I had to replace a gasket last season and there's a minor leaking oil seal but no other problems.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I would have bought the Caroni, no questions. I had a 5' KK finish mower. Paid $1000 for it on the 4th of July 2003 and by year 4 had put $800 into repairs. I then bought a Caroni 6' finish mower in April 2007 and have spent about $.25 on it in 5 years of service for a metric bolt that worked loose in the belt cover. Its been a fine piece of equipment versus the POS KK I had.

I do have a KK 2 bottom plow that has been fine but no moving parts to fail.

This is all behind my Chinese Tractor that I also bought on the 4th of July 2003 and it been virtually trouble free other than a starter, battery, and thermostat. Really did not need a starter but they came out with a new gear reduction starter that was much better in cold climate.

Chris

 

[ruffdog]

I found this on the everythingattachments web site:

Everything Attachments is proud to welcome King Kutter as an American Manufacturer of Quality Mowers and Farm Implements to our product offering. King Kutter was founded in the 1960's, and has been family owned and operated under current ownership since 1978. King Kutter Incorporated has an excellent track record of producing some of the best brush mowers on the market. They then expanded from this success and began to manufacturer a full line of farm implements for fullsized tractors and subcompact tractors as well.
They are now the largest manufacturer of rotary tillers in the world that are also built here in the USA. Look for the full line of King Kutter to start popping up all over the place on our site to provide an even better product offering and quality choices for our customers!

After reading this, I wondered if KK has a china plant building for the foreign markets?:confused2:

This was also on same site: KING KUTTER PROFESSIONAL GEAR DRIVEN ROTARY TILLERS are built in the USA and are the ideal tractor implement for preparation of seed beds, renovation of pastures, orchards, vineyards and mulching-in cover crops and stubble.

 

[McGeesEquip]

Here is my theory, and I want to be proven wrong!
If you look real close at this large picture:
http://www.kodiakmfg.com/products/Kodiak_Rotary_Tillers.pdf
It looks exactly like the Chinese tiller at Agrisupply. It seems Kodiak, King Kutter, and the TSC tillers are all Chinese tillers painted and rebranded. Not one of these tillers says "MADE IN USA" on it. Now here is the good part: All these tillers have a great reputation and they perform very well! But lets not fool ourselves that we are buying US made products. OK, please prove me wrong, so we can buy a real MADE IN USA tiller!

I had to go to King Kutter and other MFG's today to pickup a trailer load of tillers and other products, so some of the MFG's had some other products that I wanted to look at, so I decided to take my camara. I thought about this tread and told some of the employees at King Kutter about this tread and they could not stop laughing.:laughing:

Do need any salt with that foot?:licking:

 

[sweettractors]

I had to go to King Kutter and other MFG's today to pickup a trailer load of tillers and other products, so some of the MFG's had some other products that I wanted to look at, so I decided to take my camara. I thought about this tread and told some of the employees at King Kutter about this tread and they could not stop laughing.:laughing:

Do need any salt with that foot?:licking:

I see everything except gearboxes being made. Being a retired tool and die man, these pictures look like a typical assembly process. I would like to see the machine shop that makes the gears and foundry that cast the gearbox housings? Ken Sweet

 

[kebo]

FYI..... The King Kutter rep that posts on the forums occasionally has stated that King Kutter tillers are all made in the USA. I believe he said there are three plants, one of them in Ohio which is where most of them are made at.