Kioti

[rScotty]

Hope you get another 15 trouble free years too. I hear you on the seat. None of the imports have a seat to fit me - and I'm a pretty much normal 190 lb six foot guy with size 13 feet. Frankly, it doesn't matter which imported tractor we talk about, as far as seats go, all the seats and platforms seem small.

Every new tractor I promise myself that this time I will spend the money toput an Grammar air seat on it....but in the end didn't do it.

What I did do was spend a day rising the seat up on some wood with rubber grommets for cushions & some big washers changed the seat angle a bit - just little things.

It was a day well spent. Take care of your back.

 

[Username Taken]

My CX2510 has a grammer seat. One of the reasons I bought it.

I don't think it's correct to compare one manufacturer to another without comparing models directly.

My CX2510 is very well appointed, I like it. Other models of Kioti are not so much. Some Kubotas are well layed out, some aren't. Deere is the same way anymore.

Personally, I like creature/convenience comforts. I don't need to practice being miserable, it happens all by itself.

I don't have enough experience to make a recommendation but I do like my Kioti a lot. Kinda wish it had a 3rd range but the 2 range Hydro is really quite good.

 

[k0ua]

Spinning means you have more horsepower (torque actually) than weight and/or traction. Put enough weight on your tractor with a good traction tire/surface and it won’t spin.

Well the relief valve will always open to what ever it is set at. What I am saying is my tractor will pull a loaded trailer uphill on a gravel road all day or the tires will spin. What the OP was worried about is that if he was going to buy a hydro tractor was it going to go into relief so that he couldn't pull the trailer. And all I am saying is that it is nothing to worry about. And the tests I have performed are with my tractor with my ballast barrel on the back. It will spin tires in LO and Med. Of course it will not spin them in HI, the relief valve opens as it should.

 

[kantuckid]

@kantuckid I don't have much experience with this, yet, but I was looking into some beefy winches that are supposed to be useful for getting logs through more congested woods. Any idea if that actually works?

Of course it does as loggers use winches all the time when the skid roads don't allow getting good stuff out without them.
However, realize that at nearly 78 years old I'm not a FT logger nor am I logically going to spend big bucks for a winch to assist my logging work. I'm an active guy who does stuff most at my age cannot but I am not into becoming a pro logger. I mostly process falls which tend to be very large oaks & polar on steep slopes up near the ridgeline on our property. For an e.g, I have a beautiful White oak that fell early this summer not too far for fetching it with a couple of log chains. It's a scary tree in spite of my experience in the woods. It's maybe 30" at the butt cut, toppled with a root ball ~ 15' in diameter and of course it fell downhill. It landed across a fairly deep gap and I've been busy surfacing 136 pieces of 2x6 pine for T&G roof decking on my cabin. I'll "sneak up on it" this fall and decide if it will allow some cuts w/o dying for the wood, so to speak. Honestly i can see it from a main upper skid road and it would be a stave oak in the market. These smaller tractors in discussion here are not intended for such work in reality but idiots like me try to make them do stuff anyway.

Spinning means you have more horsepower (torque actually) than weight and/or traction. Put enough weight on your tractor with a good traction tire/surface and it won’t spin.

That's it!- but only if you can find that traction which can be the real challenge.

 

[kantuckid]

Ok I bought my first new tractor in 2006 it was a 2007 Kioti DK40. It was basically a trouble free tractor through its life. Normal maintenance was the key I believe. I was a heavy equipment operator in the Marines for 20 years and I know that some of the things I did with this tractor were WAY out of it’s designed capabilities but it never let me down. I guess what I’m trying to say is that it was not babied and maybe a little abused. I traded it with 1546 hours on it Last week. Again I went with a Kioti because of the history I had with the DK40. In 2006 I paid $17800 for it and traded it for $14000 on a new DK5510. The new DK5510 has a hydraulic top link and 3rd function Hydralics on the front. The new tractor was $23300 OTD.
I have 6 whole hours on the new tractor so I’m not about to evaluate it yet. I will point out a few things that are immediately apparent. The FEL definitely has more lifting capacity. The engine is much smoother and quieter than the dk40. The Hydralics are much more responsive. The seat is NOT as comfortable as the old tractor.
I own 40 acres in the mountains of TN, my driveway is a mile long with an elevation change of 1100 feet over the mile so the tractor will see its share of road maintenance, along with mowing a 11 acre orchard.
I hope I get another 15 trouble free years this time

My first Kioti was a DK40 I bought off a dealer in GA on Ebay auction. Costs lots less than $17,800 for sure. It was barely used and the guy was selling it for his daughter from her divorce- as I recall it was a 2004 model? I'd still own it if it had had a FEL. I sold it on CL and delivered it to near Ducktown, TN in the edge of NC. My Kioti experience has been good and as a pro mechanic I know what I've got with the brand. I'd like to have a DK 4510 or 5510 for certain but living on teacher retirement checks I play all things very conservatively. The DK4510 is my conservative choice not m y best choice.
Given that I'm a patient shopper plus I have a good working tractor, I'm now entertaining the TYM/Branson tractors that have stronger FEL's and similar engine strength yet less bucks. As an e,g, the Branson 20 series or TYM T494 is a heavier tractor than a DK4510 with a stronger FEL for similar money , yet less money than the NX series Kioti's. Time will tell where I end up.
I don't trade tractors or anything else.

 

[kantuckid]

Well the relief valve will always open to what ever it is set at. What I am saying is my tractor will pull a loaded trailer uphill on a gravel road all day or the tires will spin. What the OP was worried about is that if he was going to buy a hydro tractor was it going to go into relief so that he couldn't pull the trailer. And all I am saying is that it is nothing to worry about. And the tests I have performed are with my tractor with my ballast barrel on the back. It will spin tires in LO and Med. Of course it will not spin them in HI, the relief valve opens as it should.

Do you tire ballast fluid? A long time Kioti dealer, who's a fan of HST and uses one himself by choice, he told me that many users will push the HST pedal hard (typical pedal to the metal mentality) when asking for what I'll call "UMPH" when they should actually back off and allow the HST to stay and work in a lower gear where the pulling powers best.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Do you tire ballast fluid? A long time Kioti dealer, who's a fan of HST and uses one himself by choice, he told me that many users will push the HST pedal hard (typical pedal to the metal mentality) when asking for what I'll call "UMPH" when they should actually back off and allow the HST to stay and work in a lower gear where the pulling powers best.

That is correct. Ease off a little for more actual power to the ground.

 

[Username Taken]

That is correct. Ease off a little for more actual power to the ground.

I'm not entirely convinced of that. On a CVT? Yeah.

On an HST? I honestly don't know. Does it really have infinite gears or is it just the pump working harder?

Seems to me like the harder/more you depress the go-pedal, the more power it generates.

I could be wrong, as usual but, I'm just not convinced it's like a CVT or if it even has gears at all.

 

[Williy]

On an HST if you let up on the pedal your transmission will select a lower gear for more
power other wise you will be trying to apply more
power to the same gear not so good! Makes cents??
With a standard transmission going up a hill you would
normally down shift is what the HST is doing when you
let up on the pedal.
willy

 

[Username Taken]

On an HST if you let up on the pedal your transmission will select a lower gear for more
power other wise you will be trying to apply more
power to the same gear not so good! Makes cents??
With a standard transmission going up a hill you would
normally down shift is what the HST is doing when you
let up on the pedal.
willy

What gears? Does an HST have gears?

Hydrostatic Transmission - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

www.sciencedirect.com

15.4.1 Hydrostatic transmissions​

The hydrostatic transmission transmits energy using hydraulic fluid. The usual transmission has two hydraulic devices; one working as a variable displacement pump and the other working as a motor connected by hydraulic lines. The pump converts mechanical energy into pressure and the motor reconverts the pressure energy to mechanical energy. By varying the displacement of the pump a continuous ratio from zero to the maximum value can be obtained thereby forming an infinitely variable transmission (IVT). As a result the hydrostatic transmission does not require any starting clutch. The torque direction is reversed by the pump acting as the motor and the motor acting as the pump. The hydrostatic transmissions are simple to construct and offer flexibility; however, they are bulky and noisy, so they tend to be used more in heavy vehicles than in passenger cars. Figure 15.3 shows a typical hydrostatic transmission