My Truth on RK Tractors

[MikeH-OH]

Sea2summit, thank you. Love the adventure your name implies. I'm not a climber, but do love the mountains and the sea.

Cycledude, per my handle, I'm a Buckeye, east central Ohio hill country, and love to lean into the twisties between me and the OH river.

Jchonline,
I figured it would be as reliable as any other TYM. My tractor experience to date did not prepare me for this hassle. I'm a roofing contractor by trade, and the few days I have available to tend to property, I need my equipment to work. At this point, I'd be afraid to buy anything other than another Deere, but per Sawyer Rob, maybe they've lost some reliability as well. I don't know the model Rob references.

I found the forum looking for RK reviews, to see it was just me, or a common problem. When I saw some of RK Tractor Guy's comments, I was moved to enroll and share my own experience.

So far, TSC has met my needs well after swearing of RK due to this lack of service.

Thank you for the welcomes and participating in my post. I am surprised at how few pictures I have if my machine, but here are the first 2 I i found.

PS: big fan of Mike and Melissa Morgan. Our properties, lifestyle and equipment needs are similar. He does a superb job sharing his life and experiences in YouTube. I wish he'd been able to keep his RK'S long enough to get the hours I have. Just into my first scheduled service post- break in, I expected better, but it's the lack of service that finished me as an RK customer.

 

[Cycledude]

Can’t really tell much by the pictures but it does look like a pretty decent tractor, very unfortunate that you don’t have a decent dealer nearby

 

[paulfun9]

I was wrong. If you've never owned JD hydros, and do a lot of bucket work, you would be happy with it. But it's no Deere. The hydros are painfully slow in comparison and I got more done with a smaller bucket. Shaking it to empty stubborn dirt, manure etc... is a challenge.
I have owned and still own JD, but fail to find thier hydro or loader operation any better than anything else! Makes me wonder if it’s set up correctly? I have had to have one of my JD’s fixed from the get go as it’s operation on delivery was very poor.
The cab AC is underpowered for hard engine work (running a 78"flail mower) on 90 degree days, otherwise it's good, and the heat is excellent. My experiance would have me rate almost any tractor air as substandard. I find them all lacking but I gather you have no experiance to compare to other makes and assume they are all better.
It was advertised and sold as having a Bluetooth radio. They lied. I was told that radio wasn't available to install on the earliest assembles. "Well When are you going to install the system that was advertised? " he just laughed and said "we aren't".

You purchased it anyway? No right to complain then!

Here's the real crux of the tractor after a couple years of use.

With 330 hours on my RK55 I I have:
1. Had to replace the very cheap aluminum battery cable ends at around 60hrs.

Had to replace cables on my JD, my NH and my last 2 Kubotas along with the batteries and some didn’t make the 3 year mark.

2. Replaced a failed AC compressor idler wheel bearing at about 150hrs. When I tried to order the part, the delivery time was crazy. I got an identical bearing from NAPA that day and fixed it myself. It's a very awkward job without the right tool.

So many think everything is only availiable from the dealer. I have purchased many things from other sources both to save shipping time and to avoid paying a premium for it. Trust me I can get most bearings and bushings for any of my tractors quicker than the dealerships unless they have it in stock. Same actually applies to other mechanical things also.

When replacing the idler wheel a much more serious issue was found... the tractor frame mounting bolts for the front lifting arm assembly were loosening badly. This is a very dangerous issue.

This in my opinion is something everyone should be having a look at no matter the brand machine, I have seen loose frame, loader and other structural fasteners on almost every brand over the last ten year period.
I do feel most times it’s poor dealer assembly but unfortunately that’s the world we live in.
My Kioti seems to have been exempt from this issue but again the old guy at the dealership who has some ethics was the one who assembled it. So it wasn’t just rat tat tat with an air ratchet or poorly set up impact but he actually can tell you the proper torque specified. The young guy who also worked there at the time is not as ethical. Thankfully he is gone now and replaced with someone who cares.

3. The front brush guard mount is flimsy mild steel and is bent beyond usefulness. It is not sturdy by any definition.

It’s bent? Meaning you have benefited from its presence because you have no damage behind it. It’s sacraficial in design, maybe?

4. At around 300 hrs, I developed a drastic loss of power. My local RK store claimed they were undergoing a service dept remodel and couldn't get me in. Said "the Wooster store should be able to help you" and gave me the number. I was told "get it hear this weekend and I'll dig into it on Monday". 2 weeks later it has not been touched. I call my local dealer and he gets some action.

I was called 4 hours later and told it was ready for pick up.

In addition to the power issue, I had requested my 350 hr service be done while they had it. I am a busy guy and the service is worth paying for with my time constraints. I use the tractor nearly every day and down time is a real problem. Ialso requested new left side door hinges because I had ripped the lower hinge off on a tree and had the door duct taped shut.

When I arrived to the 1 hour distant facility I discover the power problem was a simple cleaning of the contact points on the computer board that controlled the exhaust regeneration system.

NONE of the other work was done.

About 2 months later the same loss of power occurs as I am unloading pallets of feed (about $400/ month of RK feed buyer) and as my tractor is sitting still with a full pallet on the forks, the seal in the left front axle fails, dumping hydro oil all over the barn floor.

The next day I call my local store. Again I'm told bring it over I can start tomorrow.

I get it there, he said he'd call me tomorrow with what he finds.

Again I request the door hinges be replaced, and, now at 330 hours, a full service.

Long story short, 6 weeks later my tractor is still sitting outside, the contact points had been cleaned. The tech basically told me he was swamped, hadn't been able to get to it, and if I want to come get it and have someone else fix it, it was fine with him.

2 weeks later, I pulled in, loaded it and left. No one asked what I was doing or who I was, 3 more weeks later, no one has called to tell me my tractor is missing.

Between myself and my construction related business, RK has lost a fairly significant customer.

I wish I had gone another direction.
I hope someone finds this useful.

Sorry for the brevity, lack of detail and any typos. Doing this on a phone.

Saddly poor service is becoming commonplace in many industries. I assure you many have experianced the lack of customer service from other dealers as well.
Myself I won’t even deal with my local JD dealer or any of his affiliates. I travel over 100 miles farther to get good customer service. There is only one Massey dealer in the state that I will even talk to.
People have accepted this poor service for so long that they just expect you to deal with it. You get it at the car dealership, the local restraunt, your cell phone carrier, and heck even the local minute market wants to dictate to you and they all expect you to just play along. People just kept doing nothing about bad service for so long now it’s commonplace!
If you think your going to get better service from anybrand I suggest you do some real searching and get explicit feedback from customers before you buy because they all have thier good and bad.

 

[DieselBound]

Yes, service IS a big thing. One can hope for a perfect machine but that's a bit rare. I had the rear diff on my NX5510 resealed (one side first and then the other a year or so later): close to 300 hrs on the second job? I am not a big fan of the customer service from my dealer but all things said, the bottom line is that they've resolved every issue and done so under warranty (biggest beef is that sometimes they're really coy about just what was done; service manager likes to think he's smarter than me).

 

[MikeH-OH]

Paulfun9 says " You purchased it anyway? No right to complain then!"

If you are referring to the Bluetooth, I didn't inspect the radio that closely before purchase. It was only after failing to make a Bluetooth connection in the field that I asked the question.

 

[4get gto]

Paulfun9 says " You purchased it anyway? No right to complain then!"

If you are referring to the Bluetooth, I didn't inspect the radio that closely before purchase. It was only after failing to make a Bluetooth connection in the field that I asked the question.

All legitimate complaints. Good to hear from people that actually owned these for a while and get their views. Thanks for posting up.

 

[dodge man]

There is local chain called Farm King, they have maybe 6 stores in the area. They had a couple tractors they were trying to sell several years ago. I never figured out who made them, Foton maybe? At the time I owned a Kubota BX and these tractors were maybe 35 hp, came with a loader for less money than my BX. They were pretty crude looking. They sat for months unsold.

If I were you and you afford to get out from under it get a different tractor.

 

[sea2summit]

Yes there are nightmare service stories with every brand. I personally would not buy a RK, but would consider TYM. I dont like rebranded machines. Bobcat, no. Kioti yes. New Holland WM no, LS yes. Thats just me...no reason to complicate things...they are hard enough to understand as it is.

What happened to the RK Tractor Guy on these forums? I cant search his username any longer.

Youtube guy? Think it changed to ODWTM? Something like that, he's not on much any more...also went back to Kubota.

 

[Jchonline]

Youtube guy? Think it changed to ODWTM? Something like that, he's not on much any more...also went back to Kubota.

No he was a member on these forums. He used to post a bunch. This thread seems to say he has been gone for awhile.

Is Brian still around?

I tried sending him an email this morning and then it was returned undeliverable! Interesting. I hope this isn’t a trend with RK. Not making me very trustworthy. Gunny

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[Jchonline]

There is local chain called Farm King, they have maybe 6 stores in the area. They had a couple tractors they were trying to sell several years ago. I never figured out who made them, Foton maybe? At the time I owned a Kubota BX and these tractors were maybe 35 hp, came with a loader for less money than my BX. They were pretty crude looking. They sat for months unsold.

If I were you and you afford to get out from under it get a different tractor.

Are you sure they were not Tractor King?

Rural King began importing tractors from China in 2001 using the Rural King name. They later established the Tractor King brand in 2002. Tractors were built by Jinma and Foton Lovol; however, as of about 2010/2011, the importing of tractors had stopped.

Tractor King

Tractor King was a brand of tractors imported by the Rural King chain of farm supply stores. Based in Mattoon, Illinois, USA, Rural King began importing tractors from China in 2001 using the Rural King name, and established the Tractor King brand in 2002. Tractors have been imported from Jinma...

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