Rural King's New Tractors

This message is a reply to an archived post by kevanos on May 10, 2017 at 13:42:20.
The original subject was "Re: Rural Kings New Tractors".

Continuing.... TYM has been in the USA since the 1990s when America Jawa (Zetor importer) and Itc (under the Millenium brand) began importing them. Parts are available. The person with the TYM-built Montana tractors can get parts through http://www.partsformontanatractors.com/, or through TYM (http://tym-tractors.com).

The previous Rural King tractors were Chinese built by Jinma and Foton, two of the largest Chinese tractor manufacturers.

Branson was mentioned, and is built by Kukje in South Korea. TYM just bought Kukje in 2017.

For a list of tractors by TYM, see http://tractors.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_tractors_built_by_TYM_for_other_companies
Tractors built by TYM for other companies

The problem with these little tractors coming from private branded, relabeled, and overlapping govt run companies is that thry come and go so much.

Dive into the market, get out of the market. Get bought out and consumed by the bigger company.

Nothing remains constant for long enough to feel good about the longevity of a tractor from these companies.

Kubota and Yanmar has shown some long term stsbility.

The rest, I just don't trust. Does t mean I wouldn't own one, but the price I'm willing to pay for one reflects the distrust I have in finding parts 10 years from now. It is a throwaway tractor, and needs to have a throw away price.

Paul

Lately, I have been hearing adds on the Radio from non Ag dealers now selling TMY tractors. They are Recreational Vehicle dealers that sell trail bikes and quad bikes to side-by-sides.
They are not a business that I would go to buy a tractor, any more than I would go to RK for one They all are out of their zone of expertise. Most probably don't even have a means of delivering such a tractor or picking it up for warranty service issues.
Loren

I bought one of the prior Rural king tractors (Foton 404) in 2006. It was Cheaply made and crude but 4wd and economical to run and more importantly, it had a ROPS, seat belt, pto shields, fenders, etc. I purchased after a near miss involving a JD60 which I had restored.

I got Rural king Foton on sale for cheap (6000) and kept it in barn and in nearly new condition. Used for brush hogging and baling hay on small farm in addition to a Case 730. I Put maybe 200 hours on tractor over ten years. During that time, the price of new tractors continued to rise. I sold tractor for $500 less than I paid after ten years. Only routine maintenance was ever needed despite questionable pedigree. So it cost me under 100 bucks a year to own. Rural king could not even provide the obscure oil filter needed, so I modified tractor to take a standard filter (simple nipple change to filter housing but I had to design and make myself). My other option was to buy filter from Foton dealer on internet.

My takeaway is that many of these brands are adequate for casual use and more importantly come with a manual and safety features built in that you won't find in many craigslist or roadside finds. After the sale dealer support is probably the biggest unknown and maybe not all that important in the internet age.