Buying Advice Kioti CK2610SE HST Cab?

[LouNY]

Well, a backhoe adds around $9,000 to the price of the 2620. Quite frankly, if adding just 10 horsepower would cost me that much money, with no other notable differences in the overall tractor myself, I would not be inclined to do that. I would feel like I was volunteering to be raped.

I expect that a lot of the cost increase is going from simple old style mechanical fuel injection to common rail fuel injection and all the associated sensors and then the dpf and required garbage.
I would like the additional Hp and from reading and "utube" videos the 2620 can be turned up that 10 hp quite easily. Doing so brings that engine to the Hp rating before the tier 4 kicked in. Of course doing so will void the warranty but it definitely is in the back of my mind after I do the 50 hour service on her.

 

[paulsharvey]

I expect that a lot of the cost increase is going from simple old style mechanical fuel injection to common rail fuel injection and all the associated sensors and then the dpf and required garbage.
I would like the additional Hp and from reading and "utube" videos the 2620 can be turned up that 10 hp quite easily. Doing so brings that engine to the Hp rating before the tier 4 kicked in. Of course doing so will void the warranty but it definitely is in the back of my mind after I do the 50 hour service on her.

I have the same thing in mind, but probably won't pull the trigger for now. I do like the ability to easily do it, if I ever feel the need. No idea how much HP you really gain? Can you push a 2610 to a 3010, or clear upto 3510?

 

[LouNY]

I've read 10 Hp which is considerable starting with 25 Hp.

 

[Mark N]

I was just out for 2-3 hours working on the neighborhood 1.5 mi. gravel road. 25 HP would have done fine for 95% of the work, but there were a few moments dragging a 4-scarifier land plane through *very* old compacted road surface that the 35 HP almost was not enough. I'm sure the same work could have been completed with a CK2620, just slower, either with a bit more back-and-forth movement or setting the scarifiers up to not dig as deep and making multiple gradually-deeper passes, to break up the surface a little bit at a time. That said, it was nice to have enough HP to not have fiddle around.

As the folks above have noted, you have to assess your intended uses to decide whether 25 is sufficient or you want more "just in case." FWIW, I would not have thought that the extra 10 HP would be nice to have for our gravel road -- as a typical 1st-time tractor buyer, I had no idea how much HP was needed for various tasks.

FWIW2: Big picture, whatever you choose should be fine. The best comment I read about horsepower when I was doing my research is that most compact tractors will do whatever you want them to do, with the lower HP ones just taking longer to do it.

 

[D&D]

The cab is surprisingly large for a small tractor and fairly easy to get in and out of.
I've only climbed up on the hoe a couple of times and it's not bad.
I'm getting up in years and am not the most agile, also being a large man, 5'10", 300# with a size 14 foot and I fit easily. Even with one knee replaced and the other one needing to be done some day.
There isn't a lot of clearance between the foot pedals with the brake and forward and reverse pedals all being on the right side.

I don't plan on a full day of using the backhoe for a long trench and having to switch back and forth repeatedly in a day,
would likely rent an excavator in that case, for convenience and comfort.

Thank you

 

[Rich_Z]

Make a list of things you actually want the tractor to do for you and then evaluate what will get it done. There's no point buying a backhoe if you aren't going to make enough use of it to justify the cost. It will just be in your way if you don't have a specific use for it.

Have you thought about posting some pictures of the areas you want to clean up? That would help everyone to better understand what you want to accomplish.

I guess that might be a good idea. I scrounged up a couple of videos I took using some drones I have bought over the years. The first one is more recent with a "follow me" mode around the walking path my wife and I use. I would like to level it out and smooth it out. Also would like to branch off other paths from this one. We have 50 acres with a sandy county maintained easement through the middle of it. So I would like to cut some paths on the other side as well. We have a stream on the north end, and not sure how close I will get to it for path clearing, as to be perfectly honest, we have not set foot over much of our land even after living there for 30 years.

The second video is pretty old, but gives a pretty good birds eye view of our property. It is heavily wooded, and I would like to clear a wide circumference around the house and buildings, just leaving the larger trees, and any others that I will mark as "keepers".

I have watched some videos of a flail mower being used, and this looks like an excellent tool for cutting trails and paths through the woods. Of course, with a cabbed tractor, I would have to go through and pole saw off any branches that might be an issue. I am assuming a cab would be pretty robust, though, since it also acts as a roll cage. I am guessing that having the glass slapped by a wayward branch would be a whole lot less unpleasant than getting slapped in the face with it.

 

[Jrasband]

Yes, it has the little backhoe on it and it was a bit north of 40. It was hard to spend that kind of money on a small tractor. One of mine was that my wife wanted something that she wouldn't be afraid to drive. Notice I said drive not operate, quite a big difference there. I honesty believe that my Branson 8050 with the power shuttle is very easy to operate, and the NH 8160 with the semi-power shift and left hand reverser is even easier to operate but the size of them intimidates her.
Last winter we got one storm that brought down a lot of trees into the driveway and a lot of heavy wet snow with it. I had to push and shove with the loader to get a path out and she got nervous thinking what she would do in a similar storm if I couldn't get out for some reason. So this is a concession for her, I would have preferred an older unit for less money.
It is a bit underpowered on steep grades with the AC on, but you can turn it off for a bit then back on. It does have an excellent AC system in it, good distribution and very cold. Then the electrically defrosted rear window will be nice.
One of my reasons for the CK2620 was the discussed ease of getting more Hp quite easily on the mechanically injected engine.

I would call it a lot under powered after my experience of using a open station 2610 on slopes.

 

[LouNY]

I would call it a lot under powered after my experience of using a open station 2610 on slopes.

It may be but it also isn't my only tractor, it is for the smaller places I have difficulty getting into and for my wife if she wants it. So far other then while roading it up my steep driveway it hasn't been severely under powered. Moving gravel around mid range is working good. It certainly isn't as fast as my 10,000 pound tractor with 3 times the power.

 

[2manyrocks]

I guess that might be a good idea. I scrounged up a couple of videos I took using some drones I have bought over the years. The first one is more recent with a "follow me" mode around the walking path my wife and I use. I would like to level it out and smooth it out. Also would like to branch off other paths from this one. We have 50 acres with a sandy county maintained easement through the middle of it. So I would like to cut some paths on the other side as well. We have a stream on the north end, and not sure how close I will get to it for path clearing, as to be perfectly honest, we have not set foot over much of our land even after living there for 30 years.

The second video is pretty old, but gives a pretty good birds eye view of our property. It is heavily wooded, and I would like to clear a wide circumference around the house and buildings, just leaving the larger trees, and any others that I will mark as "keepers".

I have watched some videos of a flail mower being used, and this looks like an excellent tool for cutting trails and paths through the woods. Of course, with a cabbed tractor, I would have to go through and pole saw off any branches that might be an issue. I am assuming a cab would be pretty robust, though, since it also acts as a roll cage. I am guessing that having the glass slapped by a wayward branch would be a whole lot less unpleasant than getting slapped in the face with it.

Very nice walking trail you have there. Relatively flat, too. I'm also impressed that your drone was able to dodge the trees to follow you.

The area in which to operate a tractor looks tight to me. One of the problems with operating a tractor on a trail is the length and the turning radius of the tractor with a front end loader which is no problem in an open field, but can be a problem on a woods trail. I have to drive to the end of mine just to turn around.

Many of your trees are big enough that this looks much like a chainsaw job, and then you would have to move the tree cuttings out of your way. You can move the cut material with a tractor grapple into a pile, but a tractor isn't really good for grinding it up when you start getting into trees maybe more than 2 inch in diameter. It's hard on the tractor PTO system.

You mentioned a rodent problem. Would having debris piles give them more places to live?

I'm wondering if you could get someone with a skid steer mulcher or mini X mulcher to open up the areas for you and or do some smoothing of the trail? Those mulchers can grind a tree to mulch in short order. Then you wouldn't have the debris piles. Would also save you a considerable amount of chainsaw work.

One challenge with using a tractor to maintain a woods trail is whether the trail has many tree roots because roots will make things much harder to smooth out.

I also wonder if you might want to rent a tractor of the size you are considering just to get a feel for how one of that size might work for you.

 

[Rich_Z]

Anyone have pricing info comparing the CK2620SEH CAB with the CK3520SEH CAB and CK4020SEH CAB models? Those units are nearly identical except for the horsepower ratings.

Well I got an email from a salesman I have been talking to and he said he has a CK4020SE CAB (39.6 HP) coming in soon. With the pallet fork and 3rd function add ons I requested, the price would be $42,800. The originally quoted price for the CK2620SEH CAB (24.5 HP) with same options was $36,300. So they want $6,500 for that additional 15.1 horsepower.

 

[2manyrocks]

FWIW, the 47 hp Tym T474cab with the shuttle shift transmission is retailing around $32,000 in Tennessee with the HST being about $1,000 more. Can't speak to Kioti prices nor can I say which is more reliable. I'm just offering a price point for comparison.

One Tennessee dealer told me that tractor sales have slowed. Sorta doubt many will be tractor shopping in the August heat.

After looking at your videos, I didn't see much open area that would need to be maintained with a rotary cutter. If you aren't doing a lot of cutting, you aren't plowing, and you aren't logging large trees, you may not need more than 25 hp.

One question I would ask is how much time you are going to spend with a chainsaw or pole saw versus how much time you will spend in the cab? When I'm clearing brush and small trees, I'd say the ratio is 80 or 90 percent on the ground versus 10-20 percent in the tractor seat. Is it worth it to you to have a cab?

One thing that merits consideration is that most cab tractors have their interior AC components mounted in the cab roof. It could get expensive if a limb goes through the cab roof or any of the cab windows.

If it weren't for the heat and humidity, I start to think that a smaller tractor without a cab would be more nimble in your woods than a larger one. I also think even the most nimble of tractors can't match something like a Power Trac for the ability to turn in tight spaces. You could maintain the PT yourself and it would be smaller to store.

Maybe your buddy would bring his tractor over for you to try on your trails or maybe he would let you drive it on his place? I think you could more easily decide what you want if you could do some test driving.

 

[Rich_Z]

FWIW, the 47 hp Tym T474cab with the shuttle shift transmission is retailing around $32,000 in Tennessee with the HST being about $1,000 more. Can't speak to Kioti prices nor can I say which is more reliable. I'm just offering a price point for comparison.

One Tennessee dealer told me that tractor sales have slowed. Sorta doubt many will be tractor shopping in the August heat.

After looking at your videos, I didn't see much open area that would need to be maintained with a rotary cutter. If you aren't doing a lot of cutting, you aren't plowing, and you aren't logging large trees, you may not need more than 25 hp.

One question I would ask is how much time you are going to spend with a chainsaw or pole saw versus how much time you will spend in the cab? When I'm clearing brush and small trees, I'd say the ratio is 80 or 90 percent on the ground versus 10-20 percent in the tractor seat. Is it worth it to you to have a cab?

One thing that merits consideration is that most cab tractors have their interior AC components mounted in the cab roof. It could get expensive if a limb goes through the cab roof or any of the cab windows.

If it weren't for the heat and humidity, I start to think that a smaller tractor without a cab would be more nimble in your woods than a larger one. I also think even the most nimble of tractors can't match something like a Power Trac for the ability to turn in tight spaces. You could maintain the PT yourself and it would be smaller to store.

Maybe your buddy would bring his tractor over for you to try on your trails or maybe he would let you drive it on his place? I think you could more easily decide what you want if you could do some test driving.

Interesting you should mention that TYM T474HC. My wife and I went out to look at tractors today. First went to the Kubota dealer, but honestly nothing there really caught my eye. None of the cabbed versions I looked at had the 3 point hitch controller on the back, which I just feel is a real good idea. Plus they were all in the mid to upper $40Ks. We then went to the TYM dealer, where I had first looked at the TYM T25 model, thinking that was what I wanted. TYM offers that model with a cab, but it is heat only, no AC. Which obviously is useless here in north Florida. There was a Branson model there, but just wasn't what I was looking for. They had a standard T474, and the more I looked at it the more I liked it. So I asked them to work up a price for me for the cabbed version and they came back with $32,700.

So it seems that this T474HC has a hat thrown into the ring. Not sure if that Kioti dealer is going to get back to me or not. I told him I thought the amount being charged for just that small horsepower increase, and nothing else, was a bit steep.

So we will see. That TYM dealer (which is really just a trailer seller selling these tractors as a sideline) is only about a 20 minute drive from me. The Kioti dealer an hour and a half. I wouldn't make a decision solely on that, but it certainly is on the comparison sheet. I guess at this point it will boil down to which dealer is most interested in making a sale. Having to chase down a salesman to give them my business has never set well with me.

 

[finn1]

I bought the 4010 for use with a front snowblower. I have added a box blade, landscape rake, and now a flail mower. With the exception of the rake, all the other implements could use more power on occasion, so I wouldn’t recomm the 2610 at all. The box blade is traction limited sometimes as well, so a heavier tractor, with a flat floor would be better for me.

I looked into getting a backhoe attachment, but with all the limitations and the cost involved, I took the plunge and bought a mini excavator. Best decision ever, in my opinion.