Buying Advice kubota vs. nortrac

[creekbend]

YES, Nortrac is the brand...but they are built for NT (Nortrac - AKA: Northern Tractors) by Foton and previously built by others. NT does NOT build tractors.

Thanks for the additional info from you and Roy Jackson. When the OP mentioned Nortrac tractors sold new by Northern Tools, I reviewed their catalog and did not find any reference to Foton. I was not aware that Nortrac was made by Foton. My only reference point available at the time was the listing in the Northern Tool catalog listing the Nortrac brand. That is where the discrepancy originated. Thanks for the assistance.

 

[wdchyd]

Didn't I read in the NTE catlog that their tractors are Foton now..??

Creekbend, the catalog is where I read it, maybe they don't give that info out in the newer catalogs

 

[Martian]

This is taken out of the third page of the .pdf brochure of the XT25

"The XT Tractor Series are built by FOTON, one of the world痴 leading agricultural machinery manufacturers. For the past 12 years, FOTON痴 ISO9001 quality authenticated factories have been producing tractors for use in over 112 countries."

http://www.northerntool.com/downloads/brochures/nortrac.pdf

 

[Canada_CT230]

Yup...I knew that going in that Daedong makes my Bobcat and like you said...they are not junk.

 

[jpm1]

Welcome to TBN! First of all I in no means want to bash any tractor but . . . personally i would never buy a tractor from a catalog, where i couldn't touch, kick, sit, ride, well you get the idea! This to me is a personal thing and something that will stay in the family for many-a-year. IMO stick to red, orange, green, blue, or white. I've owned Belarus, MF, international, Long, Mahindra, Deere, Kubota, and Kioti all of which i have personally visited before purchasing. Good luck. . . John

 

[namesray]

thanks everyone for all the warm welcomes and advice on nortracs. that is kinda the way i was leaning too, to advoid nortrac. there must not be too many out there because the northern tool website that sells them only has ONE review on the 25xt with fel and it is not a helpful one. that alone proves not too many of them are being sold and as far as the ones i have found ok feedback on at different websites (mostly the jinmas before northern switched to fotons), i get the sense that they are just being used for general purpose stuff and not used that often: example: "i have 198 hours on my nortrac and it runs great." that isn't anything. i can put that much on one piece of equipment in a year. the nortrac 25xt with fel costs 13,000 and the kubota b3300su costs around 18,ooo. both costs are out the door and both tractors have simular power & size (nt=25hp kub=33hp) the nortrac has remotes and a canopy that the kubota doesn't but that is about where it stops. the kubota has a hydrostat trans. compared to a shuttle shift (save a lot of wear on clutch and brakes) and the nortrac has dry brakes?? the kubota has internal wet brakes which i trust more as i have some pretty steep hills to operate on. both have a two year warrenty so i thought that most of the bugs would be worked out of the nortrac by then, but i have also heard horror stories on northern's warrenty service. the kubota dealer is 15 miles away and has been extremely good to me so i think i will stick with what i like best. the b3300su will be about 5,000 more but that isn't completely true. the nortrac is shipped for free and has no sales tax applied due to me living in pa. the kubota price is around 16,700 but i have to add sales tax, so really the cost of a kubota is not much more at all then nortrac "at a fraction of the price of the other brands" and the kubota has a hydrostatic transmission to boot. that alone i bet is the price difference. but i will always be curious as to how good nortrac/fotons really are as i am sure alot of other people out there are too. thank you all for your kind support and advice. happy new year.

 

[firejunkie]

To be honest your not comparing apples to apples, forgetting brands for a moment your pricing a 25hp tractor to a 33hp tractor almost 10hp difference, that a huge hp gain in tractor land, they have a 30hp listed and if I remember the catalog price it was around 14-15k (don't have the catalog with me). I would stick with the Kubota, or price around a Kioti/Mahndria/Mcormick etc if you have those dealers close by. I would buy one of those before the nortracs any day of the week even if they were thousands more, It will cost you more in parts and repairs later.

 

[Soundguy]

i don't think you can even compair a nortrac to a kubota on any real level playing field..

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Nortrac is a rebranded JINMA tractor.

They are inexpensive tractors to buy, but as noted, they have a very high maintenance level. Simply put, if you love to tinker, don't mind doing your own maintenance work (and I mean you'd rather bust your knuckles than bust sod), and have an extensive tool box and indoor stall to work on it in, go ahead and get a Nortrac. If you prefer to be using your tractor most of the time, buy a name brand from a local dealer like JD, Kubota, Mahindra, MF, NH, Kioti/Bobcat, etc.