My wife is looking at a 5610 with sugarcane grabber at Koonthavee Tractor Co. in A. Nong Rua, C. Khon Kaen.

Her first choice is Kubota but didn't qualify for finance.

I've searched this forum for info on JD tractors but found little.

Any opinions on value, quality, service, parts, etc?

Thanks in advance.

If model numbers are the same in LOS as they are in the US, that is a really big tractor unless you plan to farm a lot of land. Ballasted, its operating weight is about 10,000 pounds (4500 kg.)

They started making that model in early 1980's and stopped about 2001. Parts might be hard to find and they will be expensive.

If you can find a John Deere with 50 HP or less, it will be made in Japan by Yanmar. To prove that, open the hood and it will say Yanmar on the engine. Now you have something you can find parts for at less expense.

You couldn't run fast enough to give me that old 5610.

OP, do you know anything about those tractors in general? When you first start the engine it should start easily. It should put out a few puffs of black smoke and then put out only light gray smoke and not much at that.

If it puts out black smoke under a load when warmed up, the engine rings may be bad. It could be injectors or both. If it puts out black smoke all of the time the engine is worn out. If it puts out black smoke when you reduce power, it could be the injectors.

The dealer will have it tuned as well as possible without spending much if any money on it. He can run an injector cleaner and even a heavier weight oil and reduce some black smoke, but figure that when you see it at the dealership it will be as good as it can (temporarily) get.

I had a quick look over one there the other day,not sure on price but they are well presented and the dealer doesnt look like going anywhere with the money spent on his setup.

I was looking at the harvester,unfortunately that was a bag of bones.

To be used as a sugar grab i dont think you would have to many worries with it.

If model numbers are the same in LOS as they are in the US, that is a really big tractor unless you plan to farm a lot of land. Ballasted, its operating weight is about 10,000 pounds (4500 kg.)

They started making that model in early 1980's and stopped about 2001. Parts might be hard to find and they will be expensive.

If you can find a John Deere with 50 HP or less, it will be made in Japan by Yanmar. To prove that, open the hood and it will say Yanmar on the engine. Now you have something you can find parts for at less expense.

You couldn't run fast enough to give me that old 5610.

I think we're talking about completely different critters. This is brand new.

Are JD and Yanmar parts interchangeable?

http://www.khoonthavee.com/

I had a quick look over one there the other day,not sure on price but they are well presented and the dealer doesnt look like going anywhere with the money spent on his setup.

I was looking at the harvester,unfortunately that was a bag of bones.

To be used as a sugar grab i dont think you would have to many worries with it.

My wife says the dealership is owned by an American but I find that hard to believe. Lost in translation?

I had a quick look over one there the other day,not sure on price but they are well presented and the dealer doesnt look like going anywhere with the money spent on his setup.

I was looking at the harvester,unfortunately that was a bag of bones.

To be used as a sugar grab i dont think you would have to many worries with it.

My wife says the dealership is owned by an American but I find that hard to believe. Lost in translation?

If you look up john deere dealerships in thailand,the dealer principle is a farang in nakorn rachitsima i think.

Times change as we all think of jd being american,technology yes,made no but least its all jd parts.

I looked at a claas harvester the other day,european technology made in india with a tata engine in it.

I had been looking at Kubota Tractors as assumed everyone was buying those in Thailand.

Then I was designing at a farm building and looking at a building and saw the farmer had a John Deere.

I asked him where he bought it from and he said his daughter's husband was Swiss and it was imported from Europe.

I think it was a 6800 so European mid size tractor but large for Thai (equivalent (Kubota M7040).

Cost nearly 1,000,000 bt with attachments and import costs and taxes 5 years ago.

I asked how many rai he has. He said the whole family have 100 rai and they also do some hiring.

I asked him if he had problems getting spares. He said that he has had the tractor 5 years and no problems.

I must say that when I looked at the machine closely it does look stronger than the M series Kubota.

He told me that there is a John Deere dealership with all spares down the road (Kumpawapi).

When I got back to Bangkok I decided to do a bit of research.

I was happy to find that John Deere are now officially in Thailand.

That there is a dealership only 2 Kms from the farm (Kubota is in Udon Thani - 40 kms away).

This is the official Thai John Deere Web Site web site in English language.

https://en.deere.co.th/en_TH/regional_home.page

They seem to supply the 5 and 6 series (open) John Deere models.

I notice that the tractor you are looking at (John Deere 5610) is not one of the products that is on the official web site of products so maybe a direct import from that shop as opposed to the official John Deere Thai company.

As far as I know; Yanmar supply the engines for the very small John Deere tractors and even possibly build the tractor for John Deere and re badge it.

I read on the UK John Deere site that the 5 series is considered utility and 6 series is considered a mid sized tractor.

Has anyone any experience of John Deere tractors for ploughing?

People were advising me to buy a Kubota M Series because the L Series wasn't powerful for deep ploughing and hire work.

The John Deere 5 Series seem to have models considerably more powerful than the Kubota L Series.

Would a John Deere 5 Series be strong enough for hire work or should I splash out and go for a 6 Series?

we use to use a rule of thumb that a tractor needed about 12 hourse power per each 14 inch mole board plow or a disk/ example a 4 bottom 14 inch mole board or a disk with like coverage, required right at 50 hp to handle comfortably. the modern tractors and their multiple grears as well as high low ratios makes this rule somewhat argumentive but its a starting point.

I had a quick look over one there the other day,not sure on price but they are well presented and the dealer doesnt look like going anywhere with the money spent on his setup.

I was looking at the harvester,unfortunately that was a bag of bones.

To be used as a sugar grab i dont think you would have to many worries with it.

It's working fine.

Hows the wifes weigh station working out,