Garson
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2012
- Messages
- 53
- Location
- New Brunswick, Canada
- Tractor
- RX7320 Kioti Shuttle Shift, Toro TimeCutter SS5425 Zero Turn
My thoughts on Kubota vs Kioti- I had an L275 (heavy frame 27 HP) for 20 years with shuttle shift but no tire loading. It performed flawlessly even with an oversized Allied Loader. It was sold (marriage breakup) and my next tractor, International 254 (heavy frame about 20 HP with tires loaded) with 10 HP less than the Kubota was amazing, partly because the tires were loaded. Next upgrade was to Kioti DS4510 and this was a great performer. It was used mostly as a landscape tractor and cutting firewood and building 2 miles of woods road including stump removal. Finally the last upgrade to a Kioti RX 7320 with tires loaded.
These tractors have taught me that loading the tires on your tractor will markedly improve the ability of any tractor to push or pull with the added traction and the stability is much improved on sloped ground. Even the 20 HP International would bring home a cord of firewood on the back box + loader and another cord or two yarded behind the tractor, albeit slowly in gear 2 out of 8. The two Kiotis with extra power were much faster pulling the same wood load.
So HP is much less important in a tractor than tractor weight. Don't load tires with salt, that will rot your rims. Beet juice is far superior for tire loading. All working tractors should have tires loaded if heavy work is their purpose. Tractors used for pushing snow or mowing will benefit from hydrostatic transmissions, if you don't mind sacrificing 30% of your HP for this easy forward/reverse action, but if you are working the tractor, shuttle shift is large improvement. My RX 7320 has mechanical syncro-mesh shuttle but the clutch action is still required. Within any of the three ranges, you can shift up or down while still moving with no grind. Changing transmission range requires stopping. This is near the convenience of hydrostatic with no power loss. Kioti also has the option of a hydraulic shuttle shift that works well with no clutch depression required but initially it was slow before they changed the algorithm to streamline the shift. It would be a good option now.
Note that Kubota mechanical shift tractors use a 2% increase in front tire speed when in 4WD to ensure the tractor handling performs well and this 2% works perfectly. For some reason, Kioti uses a 7% front tire speed increase which also works well, but at the expense of the transmission struggling a bit because of the front/rear speed difference. Your Kubota will drive along on solid ground with little struggle with 4WD engaged, whereas the Kioti will whine and struggle a bit on hard ground and this may possibly result in decreased front end gear reliability over thousands of hours. I questioned Kioti top dogs about this extreme difference in front/rear speed and they thought it was necessary to help the tractor pull around steep turns. I would prefer the 2% design of Kubota but my RX 7320 with no factory cab ($44,000) was $10,000 cheaper than the equivalent Kubota.
Regarding the regen of new tractors, Kioti seems to have one of the best designs. If I run my RX7320 above 1500 RPM it will never demand a regen. Not sure about other brands or models. Regarding tractor cabs, you can spend $10,000 extra for a factory cab or you can do your homework and build a cab for a grand or two, if you have or know someone with welding skills. Your homebuilt cab can be a foot shorter in height to allow entrance into a garage door entrance. My RX7320 fits under an 8' high door. The lack of air conditioning or heater is quite acceptable in my Canadian climate of typical -20F to +85F temperature range. The entry door and back window are removed in the summer months and often stay removed in the winter. Us Canadians know how to dress for cold weather and the open air eliminates the window fogging problem completely. I've driven factory cabs where the defroster was totally inadequate in cold damp weather and the doors needed to stay open.
Bottom line, I love the reasonably priced Kioti. It is a great road builder. Set the loader for a 2" slice out front, and drop the 7' box drag to take another inch or two and the 7320 will move a 2 foot road hump into a hollow very quickly with no struggle. It will remove a healthy 1' stump with some preliminary perimeter digging. For larger stumps it's best to push the tree over first before cutting. Be careful with any 4WD tractor when removing stumps. A full lift on the bucket will exert tons of down pressure on the front end and pushing while lifting can strip out front end gears. There is no shear pin mechanism and something has to give when deep treaded agriculture tires are turning in good traction.
One of the most difficult decisions in a tractor purchase is power/traction requirements but be assured, the bigger the tractor, the easier the job will be for tough jobs. Blowing and mowing are easily done with a medium powered hydrostatic tractor so they are the best choice. If you are going to work your tractor under heavy load like ground shaping or stump pulling, get as big a geared tractor as you can afford. Note that a self-leveling bucket will add convenience but it also adds some loss of rigidity in the bucket which can be important in landscaping with the bucket. In hindsight, I would have preferred a non-self-leveling bucket on the 7320.
Kubota is a great tractor if you can afford it and if you don't mind dealers who have little respect for "your" money. In my experience, Kioti dealers are much nicer. Having said that, I might buy a Kubota if their long-established dealer is nearby and their competition dealers are hours away. But first, one has to examine the performance of each individual model of any brand tractor. All brands have good and bad models. Never buy any tractor without detailed due diligence. TractorByNet is a great resource.
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