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Why so many JD problems?
I have been reading this site for some time because I am in the market for a new tractor. I have noticed all the problems people seem to be having with JD and how few with Kubota. My understanding is that there are more Kubota compacts than JD compacts, so why the tremendous disparity on complaints? Please, enlighten me..... Dan
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Why so many JD problems?
Dan--having owned a Yanmar, two Kubotas and two JD compact diesels, I can only speak from my few experiences. I owned one Kubota (B8200HST) for ten years and during that time it was fully operational and dependable for 99.999+ percent of the time (a tachometer cable needed replacement once was its ONLY failing during those ten dependable years). I have owned my current JD 4400HST for a little more than a year and a half and in that length of time the PTO locked up and needed replacement, the brakes locked up and needed replacement, the hydrostatic transmission gave a lot of trouble and finally was replaced and the front end was replaced. At this point, I am still awaiting the last of the PIP upgrades to the linkages after months, the right rear axle seal is leaking transmission fluid and I never know when I let up on the forward pedal IF it is going to stay down a few extra seconds allowing the tractor to keep going another 5 to 10 feet before stopping. In addition, periodically in road gear, the RPMs will drop to the point that I have to stop the tractor and shift down and the mower deck leaves stripes of poorly mowed grass even with new blades. Perhaps my three acre yard is too tough on this tractor. The truth as I see it is that JD had poor engineering and even worse quality control on the 4200+ compact diesel tractors. Whereas my Kubota was functioning correctly over 99.99 percent of the time, this $20,000 JD marvel of poor engineering and undependability has only functioned fully correct about 10 percent of the time. Some owners were able to receive new tractors in lieu of JD spending $3500 on the front end replacement, but when I requested a new tractor when it went in for about $9000 worth of warranty work and even proposed kicking in some money, I was told that the JD area rep said no. Thank goodness that many other JD owners have had better experiences than I. Unfortunately, I am at the point of frustration in which I must consult my attorney in order to determine if any Missouri consumer protection laws have been violated and what course of action is available to me since I feel that 19 months is more than long enough to get my tractor fully functional since I have been wanting to trade it off on a Kubota and cannot do so until it is fully repaired. Mike S.
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Why so many JD problems?
Dan, in my opinion the problems with the 4000 series tractor simply relate to a rush to production before the design problems were resolved. Deere had a very suffessful line of compact tractors in the 755-955 series. These tractors were unmatched in terms of implement compatibility. The loaders were amazingly quick to attach (usually 3-4 minutes total) and you keep the midmount mower installed. You had separate control of the mid and rear PTOs so if you had a 15 minute tilling job you could attach the tiller and keep the mower on. The foot control two speed hydros were tough and generally problem free. These tractors were disigned and built in Horicon Wisconsin. None of the other manufacturers offered the features on the 55 series. These tractors were introduced in 1986. I ordered an 855 with mower, tiller and snowblower two hours after attending a field demonstration. I was impressed. As good as these tractors were Deere sat on the basic design for 12 years. The 955 arrived in 1991 but with the exception of some minor changes like exhaust and fuel tank movement the tractors were the same in 1986 as they were in 1998. Deere waited too long to give us a new tractor. I believe that Deere felt they owned the market for e hydro compact tractor and that they would sit back and enjoy the nice proffit margin. The strategy was working nicely until about 4 years ago when NewHolland introduced the Boomer series. The Supersteer MFWD axle offered the tightest turning radius in the industry and the operator controls were superior to Deere's. I believe that Deere failed to see that tractor coming. The 4000 series tractor may have been on the drawing board at the time the Boomer arrived but I believe they rushed the production prior to proper testing in order to have a tractor to compete. The 4000 series tractors are also built in the same factory as the 5000 series tractors. Deere was changing the 5000 series to the 5000 ten series and I believe that there may not have been enough resources to handle the changes in the 5000 series and the introduction of a the new 4000 series as the same time. I suspect that the Deere officials in Augusta, in retrospect, would like to have waited 6 months to a year before the production began. I also believe that Deere and other manufacturers make a common mistake. They fail to get the consumer involved in testing prior to production. Two minutes on a 4000 series tractor with the old MFWD axle on turf and I would have made it clear that this would not be acceptable. Potential buyers should be brought in to be given the opportunity to evaluate the product. Had this been done, and assuming Deere would have listened, the MFWD axle mess could have been avoided. A few extra months of a wait for the new tractor with the correct axle would have saved Deere a ton of money and grief.
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Why so many JD problems?
Dan, I think Mike and Terry are right. Early in production JD did not properly evaluate their product. I bought a JD in March 2000 fresh off the assembly line and have had no problems with it. I have noticed everytime the subject comes up about problems the same people respond, as they should, so it appears there are lots of problems when, in fact, they are some problems reported multiple times. I am not faulting anybody because generally they are responding to questions such as yours and should be letting people know. For those of us that read the board fairly regularly it appears there are constant problems when it is the same problem over again. I have did no evaluation of the number of responses that are first time as opposed to repeat responses nor do I intend to but it does skew the picture somewhat. Understand, before I get bombarded by a bevy of rebuttals, I am offering my opinion to the question Dan asked not commenting on the problems. I find it egregious that Mike S. may have to resort to litigation to get the product he paid for.
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Why so many JD problems?
Just to set the record straight the Deere compacts in the X50, X55, X70, and X90 series were manufactured to JD specs by Yanmar in Japan. The 4100 compact is also built by Yanmar in Japan. The other models in the 4000 series are the first compacts Deere attemped to build and design themselves.
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Why so many JD problems?
Dan I bought my tractor in November of 1999. I now have 97 hours on it and the only problem I have had with it was the front axle. I did know about the axle problem before purchasing the tractor, and my Dealer made good on his promise to replace the axle. I also believe alot of the early problems with the 4000 seris was a failure of JD to do proper testing. As to why some owners are having problems getting there tractors repaied. Maybe they did not spend as much time shopping for a dealer as they did shopping for the tractor. I could have saved several hundred dollars from other dealers. I just believed the dealer I did buy from would provid better service, and I have no complants about there service. I believe that the JD tractors being built now are as good as any of the others, and believe that the ease of mounting & unmounting implements is much better than the any of the others. Chris
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