#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Farming & Gardening In Thailand >  >  Siam Kubota KRT 140 Riding Tiller

## suayandchris

Hello TeakDoor, hello everybody.

This is my first post here, please excuse my bad english, i am a 34year old german guy, living in a small village in Roi Et Province.

Now my Question:
Does anyone of you have any experiance with the Siam Kubota Riding Tiller? There are almost no information in internet. googled, and youtubed for nearly 6 hours now. The las post here is 2 years old.

My wife and me have 63 Rai of land. it is good land, not to hard earth. 2 Ponds and a working water system. I did that last year.
40 of this 63 Rai i planted rice now. 20 Rai i just throw the seeds, 20 Rai use the transplantation system. My fingers are bleeding now,... i did all alone. serious!

I prepared the land with a walk behind tractor this year, and i am searching for a more comfortable way. Today i went to Surin, and stopped at a Siam Kubota Dealer. There i found the cute small KRT140. Just a 1cyl 14HP engine. 208.000thb including 3disc plower and the big fork (excuse my english, i really dont know the right word).

I thought it should be enough. this year i did it with the Kway Lek, it has a weaker engine. and the tractor should just be more comfortable.

Everything over 200.000 thb is out of budget. I dont have more right now, and i dont like making debit, so a big tractor isn´t an option now.

What do you think? is the Riding Tiller worth the money? does anyone of you use one?

Best wishes, Christian

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## artist

Sounds like your in the shit

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## suayandchris

absolutely not. why do you think i am in the shit? in fact i love my life right now. the house we have has hot water, a european style toilet and kitchen, satelite tv,... everything we need. my monthly income from ebay is enough to pay all bills and have good food. so i am definitly not in the shit. after 1 year hear in esaan, i still feel like in paradise.

about the work i did,... i didn´t do it only because the money. i did it, cos i really love to do it. seeing the rice growing every day, hear the jealous thai neighbours, why farang can do dam na 20 rai alone, and they cannot even do 5 rai alone.

i just want to work a little more comfortable  :Wink:

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## Perota

I faced the same problem 6 month ago and decided not to buy the tractor.

It was a very good opportunity, 40 hours only, for only 170K with some implements I don't know the name in English.

Without entering into details, the guy was selling it for the same reason I didn't want to buy it. It's for gardening, not farming.

Now other people may have different opinion, I'm also interested to hear them as I haven't buy anything yet.

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## Tubtaywun

> about the work i did,... i didn´t do it only because the money. i did it, cos i really love to do it.


You sound like you have the same ideas as me.

I have worked hard for money.... got it.... and lost a fair chunk of it. I have had little satisfaction in accumulating paper, watching figures go up and down and paying bills all round me. I want to simplify my life and feel that the work I do is for living....now...not some distant target.

It is good to read your thread to see you are happy doing what I had planned to do.

Do you have a work permit for agriculture? Was it hard to get? I did not think farang were allowed to farm rice....

Sorry I know nothing about this machine but will be interested to hear what others have to say.

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## usual suspect

Suayandchris..
          ...my Thai family,- c/o my richer brother in law now have a 4wd Kubota 34hp
 tractor..it works great, but I have not much money to give my new farming family in
Buriram..but I've been around farm-machines for most of my life, and next year,when I am well again I will start to make
small tools & machines to help my brothers. I got a 'Chinese Buffalo', then a grinder, and a welder, & soon It will be a 4wd sit-on model, then I will make small cultivators for this cheap tractor so they can go up & down the sugar crop & kill the grass/weeds...There's lots can be done without big expense if you have the time..& the welder..Good luck to you my friend...where did you say you were?

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## usual suspect

..As an extra note, the KRT140 is only two-wheel-drive..in this country where land can be tinder-dry, then like s**t within an hour..that may prove its not such a good buy when its gonna be your MAIN TOOL for getting all that land prepared.
Check-out Kubota's lease deals..that may open some doors/options..???

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## Bettyboo

> about the work i did,... i didn´t do it only because the money. i did it, cos i really love to do it.


Good luck to you mate.

A good work ethic never hurt anyone. US, above, seems to know what he's on about, so email him for more info.  :Smile:

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## justincase 13

I'm not in Thailand now, so little hard to ask the family any questions, but in the last year or so up my way north of chiang mai I've seen lots of rice farmers make a switch to Japanese rice..it is planted and harvested with a tractor of some sort. And yields more profit. Wife even said something about government help to get started. Might be worth looking into...

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## PaulBunyon

Still would be nice to hear more info about the tractors.

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## Vansana

I looked also in the KRT140 as well as the Kubota B2420.
The KRT has 14HP is Belt driven and has 2-Wheel Drive. The B2420 has 24 HP and 4-Wheel drive with a hydrostatic Gear/Clutch. It is a real Tractor with a 3 Cylinder Engine while the KRT has a 21 Cylinder Took-Took engine.

Even I didn´t try try out the KRT yet I think you could do light Farm work and it sure would be more comfortable than a walk behind tractor.

The price for a B2420 is around 400.000 Baht while the KRT costs only around 200.000 Baht. So I could get myself a small Ricetransplanter and a KRT for the Price of one B2420.

Vansana

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## CQFarmer

We have had a KRT140 for about 2 years, and use it to keep weeds down between the eucalyptus trees on 100 rai of sandy soil, some of it gets hard in the hot season, some of it gets wet and soft in the wet season, but most of it is just light and sandy.
I drive it sometimes, and have cleared weeds and ploughed wet and dry ground. The engine is surprisingly strong, and the belt drive is not a problem if you keep them properly tensioned. The secret of sucess is the skill of controlling the plough depth, and that comes with experience.
Its small size is an advantage when we want to plough weeds between rows of trees 1.5 metres apart. It is a disadvantage when we want to plough a new 10 rai section with trees and heavy weeds. Then we hire a big tractor at 290 to 300 baht per rai.
Our KRT140 has sunk to its belly in soft wet ground and needed my four-wheel-drive D-Mak to pull it out, and it has needed a pull from sandy soil a few times. But those are small problems with friendly Thai willing to help get you out, or even a big tractor for 200 baht, if you need it. All of those problems were in the first few months before I learned what to avoid, and how to drive in the wet or sandy soil. We have had contractors' bigger tractors and 4WD tractors get bogged, and the KRT140's lighter weight let it plough where they couldn't. You need to know and understand your own soil and fields for problem areas.
We have suplementary steel wheels that can be added to the tyred wheels, and full steel wheels, both are good for sandy, soft and wet ground. I have watched a neighbouring farmer preparing a paddy field for rice planting with steel wheels on a KRT140 in 30 centimetres of water with no problems.
My wife is the keen farmer and loves the trees like children. She often uses Thai tractor drivers can who make the KRT140 do everything better than I can, they are experienced and most of them quite skillful.
We have tried to sell the KRT140 a few times and upgrade to a 24/20 4WD, but the agents who have promised to sell it several times have never brought us a buyer; I am not sure if the big expense of upgrading to a new 24/20 or 26/20 tractor would be justified for us, but we might do it one day.

We are in Isaan, not Phuket, but I can't find how to change that on the profile.
CQF

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## charlie2011

I bought the first generation KRT and it is a night mare, the later versions are much better but kinda useless for plowing in Surin area unless the land is wet,but not too much. The harrows were redesigned as well on the later models

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## poorfalang

> Siam Kubota KRT 140 Riding Tiller
> Hello TeakDoor, hello everybody.
> 
> This is my first post here, please excuse my bad english, i am a 34year old german guy, living in a small village in Roi Et Province.
> 
> Now my Question:
> Does anyone of you have any experiance with the Siam Kubota Riding Tiller? There are almost no information in internet. googled, and youtubed for nearly 6 hours now. The las post here is 2 years old.
> 
> My wife and me have 63 Rai of land. it is good land, not to hard earth. 2 Ponds and a working water system. I did that last year.
> ...


ofcourse it is worth it,
but would you be better off buying a 5, 6 year old L3408 4x4, 3 cylinder too. 
plenty more power and capable of a lot more.
if you are doing such a big land by yourself, well done mate.
don't spend such in a shit little tractor,

welcome to teak door by the way

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## pseudolus

> 16-08-2010, 06:07 PM


I think he might have made the decision by now....being that he asked this question 3 years ago.

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## pseudolus

> 16-08-2010 08:01 PM


Has not been back since 2 hours after his first post either. Did not feel welcome then? 

 :rofl:

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## poorfalang

:rofl: 
what a jackass that charlie2011 is eh?
could he not see this was an old thread?  :mid:

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## pseudolus

He's a newbie on his first post. 

What was your excuse? lol

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## poorfalang

err.. i didn't make that mistake did i?

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