Tractor in a crate

[hunter63]

FYI only,
Just got my "Farm Show Mag, and they had an article on "The Tractor in a crate"
This are Jinmas and are sold and shipped to you, to put together:

Here is their site as published in the Mag.
http://www.tractorconnection.com/JM204.html

Also have other equipment, sold the same way.

[nathan104]

$5795 for a new 20hp 4x4 tractor is pretty good.

[Scrounger]

I talked to several people that have gotten them, and they seem well pleased. If you can turn a wrench and do some heavy lifting (safely), then go for it. About the only thing negitive I've heard about them is that you MIGHT be missing some nuts, bolts, etc....

[saramark]

There is a guy in Union, Maine (next town over) that assembles the John Deere, Kubota, and other tractors for the local farm equipment dealers. He makes good money, works at his own pace, from home. He then gives away the angle iron and pallets that they come in. The locals love him for the free stuff and he never has to worry about working away from home. Great setup if you are so inclined.

mark

[foxtrapper]

They all come partially disassembled and crated that way. Even the really massive ones. Motorcycles, snowmobiles and such come that way as well. Typically, the dealer or a contractor to the dealer puts it together and charges you for it. In this case, you're getting the crated equipment directly.

[buffalocreek]

I considered the Jinma but I'm several hundred miles from nearest dealer. What do people do when they need serious work done on one of these chinese tractors and no local mechanics will touch them?

[Windy in Kansas]

Originally Posted by buffalocreek

What do people do when they need serious work done on one of these chinese tractors and no local mechanics will touch them?

Or an obscure part that should never have broken?

[Scrounger]

The ones I've seen are pretty durable. Parts are easy to get through a large number of dealers. Most diesel mechanics will work on them. The ones I've seen had Perkins diesels in them.

[neolady]

Check on some of the tractor boards - there are a number of unhappy people there who bought them - there seem to be complaints about metal "fatigue" problems at only 35 or so hours. If you buy one, you need to be very mechanically inclined to do your own repairs. A number of the dealers apparently have gone out of business. Parts availability is a problem, and local parts are not necessarily available which can mean downtime on your tractor of several months while you wait for parts from China. Tractorbynet would be one good tractor board to check out, and there are lots of others - check out the Yahoo Groups.

I researched them (and a lot of other brands) a couple of years ago and decided to buy an "old" tractor (1980s) instead - even though there was not a great deal of difference in price - and I don't regret my decision or purchase two years after the fact.

[Jim S.]

Junk. They don't have it where it counts. And check out where you are going to get parts...it almost makes me laugh to think about it...but find out for yourself. Check the price of parts, and check out how long it will take you to get them.

Gray market "Kubota" parts take 6-10 weeks to arrive from overseas. Let's see, planting would be OVER by then, right? The trannies in them are about half the beefieness of the Kubotas...look the same outside, though.

Take $3,000 and buy yourself a good used medium sized tractor from the '60s. IH, John Deere, Massey Ferguson, with 3-point hitch. It'll be tougher. You'll get parts for it before you do for that gray market junk.

[Scrounger]

Dunno - while I like the old iron, a lot of things that come up on the internet about the China tractors is posted because of the misconception that, just because it is from China, it HAS to be bad. There is a big difference between a new crate tractor and a "Grey Market" tractor.
Don't believe everything you read on TBN....

[ET1 SS]

cool

[Jim S.]

Originally Posted by Scrounger

Dunno - while I like the old iron, a lot of things that come up on the internet about the China tractors is posted because of the misconception that, just because it is from China, it HAS to be bad. There is a big difference between a new crate tractor and a "Grey Market" tractor.
Don't believe everything you read on TBN....

I have nothing against China; it has nothing to do with China. I based all my earlier comments on the experience gained at a farm shop of a friend of mine. He takes in all these oddball tractors and the gray market tractors for a 50-mile radius and works on them because there is noplace else to get them fixed. It's his sideline at nights.

Parts are outrageously high, it takes a really long time to get them, and when you fix the thing, it is STILL just as substandard as it always was. The transmissions and drivelines tend to be consistently weak.

Most of his steady stream of business is helped along after the owners have found out that their "bargain" tractor instantly became worth near-zilch on the resale market on the day they had bought it new.

On the other hand, my 1963 MF50 has appreciated in value as I have worked it over the past 17 years.

These are all things to consider when making a financial decision, and they are the basis for my earlier comments.

[65284]

I looked into buying one these several years ago, but when I talked to a friend that worked at the dealership he strongly advised against it. According to him the overall quality was poor. A big downer with these tractors is the quality of the castings, voids in them, prone to cracking/breaking, and bad machining on the mating surfaces. Also Chinese metalurgy leaves a lot to be desired, anything that looks like metal and will melt is thrown into the furnace. Of course they may have improved since then.

I bought a 3000 Ford with a front end loader and couldn't be happier with it. I have had very little trouble with it and when I did parts were readily available, many from our local auto parts stores, and several other sources and very reasonable priced.

[Scrounger]

Originally Posted by 65284

I looked into buying one these several years ago, but when I talked to a friend that worked at the dealership he strongly advised against it. According to him the overall quality was poor. A big downer with these tractors is the quality of the castings, voids in them, prone to cracking/breaking, and bad machining on the mating surfaces. Also Chinese metalurgy leaves a lot to be desired, anything that looks like metal and will melt is thrown into the furnace. Of course they may have improved since then.

I bought a 3000 Ford with a front end loader and couldn't be happier with it. I have had very little trouble with it and when I did parts were readily available, many from our local auto parts stores, and several other sources and very reasonable priced.

Yes some of the China cast products USED to be sub par. I have done a lot of structural steel and other metal testing. Things have changed in recent years. I know several owners of Chinese tractors and ALL of them are well pleased. Parts are NOT outrageously high - they are usually CHEAPER then their (supposedly) US counterparts. Things have changed, but old attitudes stay the same.
I don't own one, personnally - I have an 8N and a couple of older IH, but when I DO have enough money saved, I won't hesitate to buy a China Tractor. A lot of the parts, sometimes the whole machine, of an "American" tractor, are made in places like India, Japan, Vietnam, and (gasp) even CHINA. Even some of the castings are done overseas. Depending on what year, your Ford 3000 was probably made in India - or at least a good part of it.

I love my old tractors, but they can nickel and dime you to death, too.

[Gary in ohio]

The chineese tractors are getting better. The engines now need to meet epa regs and are much better than 10 years ago. Parts are plentifiy and there are a good number of stocking parts dealers in the US. One of the nice thing about the chinesse tractors is there all about the same, even though they have 20 or more names on them them they are all built at a handfull of factories.

Now dont get me wrong, I am not sure I would want it as my ONLY tractor if my life depended on having a tractor day in and day out, but if you need a good tractor that will give you a good service the chineesse are not bad for the price.

[gccrook]

Probably the real key here is the requirements. If you just need a tractor for ocasional work around the homestead, these chinese tractors are not too bad. If you are farming every day, and your livelyhood relies on it, you want a better tractor.

[hunter63]

Just a note to all the China made stuff is all junk.

I spent last summer working up on the roof of the Racine, WI, CNH (Case Plant) fixing rooftops and other equipment, so spent a lot of time in the "shop".
Of interest was a sticker on a shop maintenance cart: "I thought Chinese junk was a ship, Fiat says it's a casting!"
CNH is owned by Fiat.

[Jim S.]

BTW, I did want to add that all import tractors are shipped to the USA unassembled because they then do not incur tariffs as a completed vehicle. Cub Cadet gets all it's midsize Japanese-made tractors that way. They then are assembled at the plant. I've seen it. John Deere and the rest are no different.

My beef with the off-brands has nothing to do with the castings or metallurgy, it has to do with the basic engineering. They just don't have the snot to hang in there long-term, and all those shortcuts are hidden away where you can't see them while kicking tires.

Things must be a whole lot different where Gary in Ohio lives, because I live near a county of 350,000 population (where my buddy's shop is), and it takes an average 6-10 weeks to get a part for these type tractors. It is very, very difficult here to find anyone who can order the parts, you often have to scrounge the Net for them, and virtually no dealership wants to work on them. They haven't been sold in enough numbers to turn up much in boneyards, either.

Best of luck, whatever you do.

[BlueFlames]

Jinma Tractor parts readily available here:
http://www.circlegtractors.com/view/?pageID=215101