Best quality ?

[stumppuller]

In my experience of of things Chinese, quality is always several notches lower than products made in most other countries. This situation is constantly improving as China markets to the west and is forced to conform to national and industrial standards. But, for now we must struggle with compromises such as rough finishes, soft metals, sloppy tolerances, poor fits, missing parts, illogical designs, pre-rusted finishes, questionable lubricants, poor electrics, leaking everything, and the list goes on. Makes one wonder why we bought Chinese in the first place.
(I know....$$$ )

My question is to all of you is: which chinese tractor in your experience & research is the best in quality, and which would rank as the worst? Any data would be the most convincing (ie: logged 1,500 hrs without a major problem; or crankcase broke in half while idling in the barn after 30 min).

[rayh]

I have sold tractors for 40 years. We sold David Brown and Leyland tractors for 30 yrs. Then we sold Universal (UTB) for 15 yrs. This was completely different. All the stuff you said and more. Now we sell Dong Feng tractors for 2 years. I compare Dong Feng to the David Brown tractors of the mid 70's. Simple, but well made. Service problems are very few. Finish is very good. Finding loose bolts on predelivery, almost zero. Synchromesh transmissions are very smooth and no trouble. This eliminates all the gear chips from being picked up in the hydraulic system, therefore hydrualic problems are greatly reduced. My opinion is Chinese equipment has greatly improved over the past 5 years.

[stumppuller]

Interesting. When I first started looking for a Chinese tractor I inspected a Dong Feng & it struck me as having poor fit-up & rough castings.Since that time ~ 2 years ago, I have been reading mostly favorable things about them. I didn't realize that any of the Chinese tractors offered synchromesh, but after 2 years of operating my Jinma 284, I've finally learned to take my time while clutching & shifting thus avoiding the grind. Now the parking brake was another matter.

My current gripe is the constant oil leaking which I think & hope is from the hydraulic connections. This sucker's going to contaminate my well water if it isn't stopped soon.

Bruce

[PJ]

Well fellas, I've had this for a couple years now and I'll tell you straight out, It's one hell of a good tractor for the money! I've done nothing to it other than scheduled service on oils and filters. I do go over it every month or so and check for loose bolts and nuts. Nothing in that department is different than anything else I use, such as a JD, Farmall and on occasions an old Ford. The'll all get a loose bolt every once in a while if you just ignore them.

60 hp Perkins powered Foton,