Kioti or Kubota

Dargo · Jun 23, 2010

MtnViewRanch said:
I think that most all of us have our own individual situations and conditions to deal with. It is foolish to think that what positively works for one person and their conditions is simply fact for someone else and their situation.

I agree. That's why if I only had one tractor there would be no choice. I'd buy one that can be heavy when needed and lighter when needed. I'd not box myself in to something that is not flexible in the way it can be used.

crazyal · Jun 23, 2010

I'm not sure why you guys are arguing over Koren steel quality. Unless you know what Kioti specifies in it's alloys it's pointless to talk about it. Tools from China aren't junk, tools with a poor choice of steel are junk.

I use to do work for a large valve company. I inspected numerous valves from most parts of the world. I can't say any came from Korea though. I would have to say India was the biggest. Of course with it's ship breaking and lack of any regulations or worker protections it's no wonder.

Usually there were two reasons why a part was made with thicker steel. One was because it was rated for higher pressure. The other was it was a lesser grade of steel and needed to be heavier to be equal strength to a more robust alloy.

Gittyup · Jun 24, 2010

All good points. I just want to add that the Kiotis are heavier, at least in part, because they use bigger front and rear ends. It's not that they necessarily use thicker steel (which they may or may not be), but they are just much bigger all the way around.

I was at the JD dealer yesterday picking up some parts and took a good look at their 2720. Nice little tractor. But everything about it was smaller than my CK25, from the axles to the 3PH, to the fenders and tires. Some plastics where the the Kiotis use steel too. Then when you look at the specs, the CK out specs it accordingly: weight, hydraulic pump, lift capacities. Almost like the CK is just in a bigger class. I've been looking at the 2000 series JD as I'm considering "down sizing", replacing two tractors with one. But, everytime I look close at them they are too big for ideal mowing and not big enough for serious ground engagement. So, I come back to deciding to keep what I have: a good mower and a good digger. I come to the same conclusions when I look at the Kubota B's and BX's. There's no one ideal tractor that can do it all with excellence.

IslandTractor · Jun 24, 2010

crazyal said:
I'm not sure why you guys are arguing over Koren steel quality. Unless you know what Kioti specifies in it's alloys it's pointless to talk about it. Tools from China aren't junk, tools with a poor choice of steel are junk. .

Exactly.

Recycled steel is not the issue either. Apparently about 95% of the structural steel (most critical strengthwise) used globally is recycled. About 30% of rolled steel is from recycled material too. And, the largest Korean steel maker is not only number three or four in the world volumewise but they also operate a joint venture with US Steel in California. Doesn't sound to me like a fly by night operation.

Finally, steel import patterns are pretty wild. Korea imports some steel from Japan, some from China and exports to both markets too. You'd really need to do an analysis of exactly what steel in what component came from what manufacturer to make any comment on tractor steel quality.

Yota_85 · Jul 3, 2010

Back to the original poster's question:
I have owned both a Kubbota B7610 24hp and a Kioti DK35se.
The Kubota is a great machine. It is phenomenal in performance for that size machine.

The Kioti has been great so far. It is much heavier than my B7610. It is truly a beast. (put 350 hrs on kubota compared to 90 hrs on the Kioti.)

Slight issues I have with the Kioti........ Trim not quite up to snuff compared to the Kubota. Still great, just very little things...paint imperfections, stickers funky, rattles on ROPS . Also, the Grand L compared to the the DK series, Grand L is superior. But 3-5 K more. The dual 3-speed tranny (6-speed) of the Grand L is superior to the DK tranny. I miss that EVERY day on my hilly property. Med is too slow, and High wont move on the hills. So I have to shift gears constantly with my DK. I thought getting a HST meant NOT having to shift gears. Also, I bent my bucket edge in less than 40hrs on the DK. My bucket looked (almost) new on my Kubota B7610 when I sold it. And I beat the crap out of that bucket. Not sure what's up there. Maybe I grabbed a rock the the wrong way with my DK, but donno? Not sure if the metal on the Kioti is inferior to Kubota's or not.

However, I did choose the DK over my obvious upgrade to a Grand L.
I did so because it was a solid machine for 4K less, though if I had the extra 4K I woulda got the Grand L

Kioti offers great tractors for much less $$$
For example, for the same $$$, I'd take my DK35se over a Kubota B2630 any day. Not even a fight. However, not sure you can put my DK35se and a Grand L-3940 in the same league. Of course, we all have pretty shallow pockets, so the bang for the buck factor ranks very high, as well as reliability and parts availability. And for that, Kioti is king of the hill.

art · Jul 3, 2010

Yota_85 said:
Back to the original poster's question:
I have owned both a Kubbota B7610 24hp and a Kioti DK35se.
The Kubota is a great machine. It is phenomenal in performance for that size machine.

The Kioti has been great so far. It is much heavier than my B7610. It is truly a beast. (put 350 hrs on kubota compared to 90 hrs on the Kioti.)

Slight issues I have with the Kioti........ Trim not quite up to snuff compared to the Kubota. Still great, just very little things...paint imperfections, stickers funky, rattles on ROPS . Also, the Grand L compared to the the DK series, Grand L is superior. But 3-5 K more. The dual 3-speed tranny (6-speed) of the Grand L is superior to the DK tranny. I miss that EVERY day on my hilly property. Med is too slow, and High wont move on the hills. So I have to shift gears constantly with my DK. I thought getting a HST meant NOT having to shift gears. Also, I bent my bucket edge in less than 40hrs on the DK. My bucket looked (almost) new on my Kubota B7610 when I sold it. And I beat the crap out of that bucket. Not sure what's up there. Maybe I grabbed a rock the the wrong way with my DK, but donno? Not sure if the metal on the Kioti is inferior to Kubota's or not.

However, I did choose the DK over my obvious upgrade to a Grand L.
I did so because it was a solid machine for 4K less, though if I had the extra 4K I woulda got the Grand L

Kioti offers great tractors for much less $$$
For example, for the same $$$, I'd take my DK35se over a Kubota B2630 any day. Not even a fight. However, not sure you can put my DK35se and a Grand L-3940 in the same league. Of course, we all have pretty shallow pockets, so the bang for the buck factor ranks very high, as well as reliability and parts availability. And for that, Kioti is king of the hill.

Alright so at forty hours you bent your bucket on the kioti and have lowered the value for resale as well as hindered the ability to grade well unless you have had it fixed! COST
You have settled for less convience as you have to keep shifting the kioti when the kubota wouldn't need to be. inconvience? cost, and time?

On the parts availabilty for the kioti? How many parts have you needed in ninety hours to claim they have a good parts system? cost, inconvience?

I keep seeing less of the four thousand dollar difference the more the two are compared!

Ah, I have some customers that we take care there 8N fords and farmall cubs, they are very happy to use them and pay the repairs and use them from time to time with out a payment at all. So to speak! They have paid for several with some of the repairs! They know the tractor, know what it is and how to operate them. Do they take longer to do the work, yes! Do they talk of the effort to operate them, yes they do. They also know they can't do what many of the new tractors can. They have made the choice to kewep what they have with it's short comings and not change.

When you look at the posts here, and think that Kubota has about 1/3rd market share in this country and has for thirty years and kioti has? 5 maybe 10 tops and in just the last 15 why are there so many repairs, updates?

The difference is what you really need and how you want to do it and when you want to pay! It can be up front, or possibly never end.

DK35vince · Jul 3, 2010

The reliability on my Kioti DK 35 has been excellant for me so far.
In 9 years and 1440+ hours I have replaced a tachometer cable ($8) and a fuel filter bowl ($10). I'm still even running on the original battery.
Hard to do much better than that.
No sign of any wear or weak areas anywhere on the tractor.
Still looks and performs like new.

IslandTractor · Jul 3, 2010

art said:
Alright so at forty hours you bent your bucket on the kioti and have lowered the value for resale as well as hindered the ability to grade well unless you have had it fixed! COST
You have settled for less convience as you have to keep shifting the kioti when the kubota wouldn't need to be. inconvience? cost, and time?

On the parts availabilty for the kioti? How many parts have you needed in ninety hours to claim they have a good parts system? cost, inconvience?

I keep seeing less of the four thousand dollar difference the more the two are compared!

Ah, I have some customers that we take care there 8N fords and farmall cubs, they are very happy to use them and pay the repairs and use them from time to time with out a payment at all. So to speak! They have paid for several with some of the repairs! They know the tractor, know what it is and how to operate them. Do they take longer to do the work, yes! Do they talk of the effort to operate them, yes they do. They also know they can't do what many of the new tractors can. They have made the choice to kewep what they have with it's short comings and not change.

When you look at the posts here, and think that Kubota has about 1/3rd market share in this country and has for thirty years and kioti has? 5 maybe 10 tops and in just the last 15 why are there so many repairs, updates?

The difference is what you really need and how you want to do it and when you want to pay! It can be up front, or possibly never end.

Art, you are getting kinda loose here with your logic. First, anyone can bend a bucket. There have been very very few reports of that with Kioti's and I'm sure we could find a few Kubota's with bent buckets too. Gotta think about denominator not just a case report if you are interested in making statements about the incidence of a problem.

Same goes true for what you refer to as "so many repairs, updates". There are lots and lots of problems, failures and repairs not to mention updates (plastic fenders on a BX or PTO on a L2800 anyone?) on Kubota's as well. You cannot seriously make a comment about reliability of either type of machine based on TBN reports. Kubota and JD buyers are more likey to be looking for a turn key solution and would go directly to their dealer with a problem. Kioti owners do not have the dealer network that Kubota or JD have so more owners do their own maintenance and hence post questions on TBN looking for advice.

Denominator Art, Denominator.

ethiojazz · Jul 3, 2010

So I am not sure we are helping anyone except stating some hard held dogma's.

Here is what I know... Kubota's are good tractors... the newer ones and the ones especially targetted to the "luxury" market are no different than the Lexus vs Toyota... I truly believe there are differences in the "features" sure.. But this is not comparing a farmall to a new tractor... that I think definitely misses the mark...

GL series are I am sure great tractors... But a tractor is a machine of utility as I previously stated, So does the 2 stage hydro work better than a three range hydro on a DK? sure... is it worth 4K? personal decision...