Would you buy your Kioti (or another) again?

[DK35vince]

I've owned my 2001 DK 35 for 16 years (2100 hours). Still runs and works like new.
Never been back to the dealer and never gives me any problems.
I would purchase the same tractor again. (A cab would be nice though)
What few parts I have needed seemed easy to get to me. Call on the phone and the come to the door.

 

[cat fever]

If Vince's post doesn't put everyone's mind at ease about Kioti nothing will.

 

[dfkrug]

If Vince's post doesn't put everyone's mind at ease about Kioti nothing will.

Well the dealer network is STILL crappy. Good thing that was not a high priority for me back in '05 when I
bought mine.

I was only a lurker on TBN back in '01 when VINCE bought his. His good Kioti experiences as well as others
on TBN helped convince me to buy three. The new tractor I almost bought was a Kubota L3130HST. My '05
CK30 cost thousands less, and still runs like new. Only 700hr on it.

 

[seacap04]

07 DK 45 SE HST. Just under 1500 hrs. It works hard and takes abuse. No issues that you would not expect from a machine that does what it does. I would buy another one if it is non tier 4.

 

[450]

Why does everyone seem so scared of Tier 4? If the engine is run like it should be, there shouldn’t be any issues. At least the equipment at my work does fine. Just curious because I am also looking to buy a new Kioti.

 

[countrybumpkin]

Why does everyone seem so scared of Tier 4? If the engine is run like it should be, there shouldn’t be any issues. At least the equipment at my work does fine. Just curious because I am also looking to buy a new Kioti.

That in itself is the biggest problem, with most issues that people are having on here. The majority of the uses that people do here are short runs , lite loads. Yesterday I dug several post holes, 60 degree weather and running mostly at 1200 RPM, temp gauge just barely moved off the cold mark, this was for a few hours so not really a good thing on a diesel, let alone a tier 4.

 

[finn1]

Since all manufacturers have to meet the same emissions standards, why is Tier IV an issue?

Seems like a red herring.

 

[RSKY]

My little CK20S is approaching the 500 hour mark if not over it. I have had a few problems but nothing major. All could be considered normal for a tractor.

I would buy the same thing again from the same dealer without hesitation.

My wife says the little tractor has saved us more money than it cost due to the landscaping and other work we have done with it.

If I ever buy another tractor it will be a Kioti and it will be from the same dealer.

RSKY

 

[kantuckid]

Op says I'm not allowed to comment given I'm under 500 hours on both of my Kioti tractors? Truth be known, many compact tractor owners use them often but don't rack up huge hours on smaller land holdings. In my area of KY not many people doing large cultivation areas but plenty of farms & tractors around.
My DK40 had ~400 when sold to gain a machine w/FEL. My current DK35se is a dandy. As a trained wrench I can say they are well built and strong performers that sell below some other more well known brands, orange, green, red & blue.
Dealers vary in many brands, be it tractors or road vehicles, Kioti's no different and the ones I use for parts are knowledgeable and helpful. I bought both my tractors on the used market as that's what I tend to do. Most Kioti dealers get few trade-ins as people keep them, typical of most farm tractors.
Yep, I'd do it again.

 

[Rock Crawler]

Op says I'm not allowed to comment given I'm under 500 hours on both of my Kioti tractors? Truth be known, many compact tractor owners use them often but don't rack up huge hours on smaller land holdings. In my area of KY not many people doing large cultivation areas but plenty of farms & tractors around.

I just didn't want to get a bunch of responses from folks with 50, 100 and 200 hours on the machines saying how reliable they are. I get 500-700 hours from a Craftsman tractor with a non commercial engine... so I don't consider 500 hours to be a good evaluation point for reliability of a $20,000+ commercial grade piece of equipment. I fully understand that we may have hoses fail and little crap like that, but what I want to see is how the frames, engines, HST units and drive components hold on after 2,000 and 4,000 hours. In other words, are the Kioti tractors a lifetime purchase or are they not equal to what you typically expected in years gone by. There are many 40 and 50 year old tractors around my way still being used, they look like they have been through a war, but they still start up and run like the day they were bought. If I saw folks saying that hey... my Kioti HST was junk at 1,500 hours, or my engine went belly up at 2,000 hours.... I would be sour. I would fully expect that these machines with proper fluid/filter changes should provide 5,000+ hours of run time very regularly even if used at the limits, so long as the proper maintenance is being done with quality fluids and filters.

My teeth itch when I see a fellow saying that he has 80 hours on his 3 year old tractor and it's real reliable and well built. No... you don't know that. You barely crossed the very first oil change interval. I would think that about every Wallmart lawn tractor is also reliable to 80 hours. As I think I said in the original post, I expect to see 200 hours a year pretty regularly. So in 10 years, I would think that 2,000 hours would be pretty easy. And if my buddies come up with projects for me to haul it over and do more work at their places, I can see that 200 pass by and get more like 300 some years.

I'm having 18 acres logged next year, doing 16" and above. I will spend a ton of time doing clean up work after that, so 2018 and 2019 may be exceptional use years with far higher use times. So what I buy, I want to be able to run long and hard and keep going for a long long time until I die, or at least until I get too old to care about maintaining things around this property.